‘Staples Baddie’ prints out a new page of her career

By Harmeet Kaur, CNN

(CNN) — Two months ago, Kaeden Rowland was just a print specialist at a Staples in upstate New York: bored at work, looking for subjects for her TikTok account and wondering how to inform the masses about the office supply chain’s services and products. So on January 13, while on the clock, she posted a quick video of herself in her red work shirt and lanyard, click-clacking her long fingernails on her name badge and offering to help with print projects.

Now, after 100 or so videos, Rowland, 22, is better known as the “Staples Baddie,” and she seems to be the retailer’s de facto employee of the year.

Under her TikTok name, Oblivion, she has invited customers to use Staples to create direct mail campaigns, renew their passports or emblazon a photo of their choice onto a mug. “You’re not getting your shawty a 40% off mug from Staples?” she mused in one video. “And men wonder why women cheat.” Her subjects swing from making ASMR content out of printer sounds to earnestly explaining the various coil sizes for book binding.

By last week, her efforts had brought her down to Manhattan’s Meatpacking District, at the invitation of MAC Cosmetics, to attend the brand’s launch party with Sephora. “Ever since I was little, I literally had the thought of, ‘I’m gonna be famous, and it will work out,’ Rowland said. “I just put that in the back, got my job at Staples, kept posting my content … And then it took off, and my life changed.”

The day after the event, she was at the Standard Grill, next door to the hotel where MAC had put her up. She had ditched the red Staples work gear for head-to-toe Rick Owens, along with her usual septum rings and a set of Sanrio-themed nails that she did herself.

Rowland kept extending her stay in the city as more opportunities opened up. On Sunday, she hosted the hotel’s weekly bingo night, and she said she was scheduled to appear at other cabarets, burlesque clubs and drag shows later this month. “Now, I’m, I guess, a queer icon, I’ve noticed,” she said.

At a time where the public seems to be growing weary of paid influencer marketing, Rowland’s genuine, organic enthusiasm for Staples provided an unexpected boost for the brand. People are posting videos about how “Staples Baddie” made them want to visit the store, and advertising and marketing publications are analyzing her impact on the office supply retailer.

“I don’t have any formal training in marketing,” Rowland said. “I’m just opinionated with cheekbones.”

Already, though, there are signs that some Staples employees are souring on her — in a recent Reddit thread titled “Staples ‘baddie’ on tiktok low key makes me mad,” one user reported dealing with “a higher volume of annoying/needy customers at print” since Rowland’s videos took off, while another user lamented that the retailer wanted employees to replicate the phenomenon in other stores.

Staples, however, seems delighted by the attention — the company’s official brand TikTok account has eagerly commented on several of her videos, and Rowland said she’s had meetings with people on the corporate side to share her ideas for the company. “I’m so glad to be showing people that you don’t have to be so sterilized with your marketing,” she said.

Rowland’s passion for Staples does seem sincere — she’s always been interested in digital art and graphic design and she said she’s used the store’s services for her own small art business on Instagram. But though she hopes to work with the brand as long as she can, other doors are opening for her. “Now, with all the influencer stuff, all the meetings and brand deals, it’s super hard to balance it,” she added. Recently, she landed a deal with Lyft, and she has aspirations of being a high fashion model some day.

Since she got to New York, countless people have recognized her as the “Staples Baddie” and have stopped to chat and take pictures; one fan even offered to do her hair at their salon.

“That’s what I was worried about, was getting these brand deals becoming quote, unquote corporate and fake and rich and successful,” she said. “I was afraid people would see that and kind of generalize it as I’m some big, evil billionaire.”

Rowland’s boyfriend Patrick Schnelly, who has been accompanying her as her informal adviser, insists she’s the same person she’s always been. “She’s still that same person with 6,000 followers posting the same yapping in front of the camera videos every single day,” he said. Rowland added, “It’s just now I’m in designer.”

A server at the Standard Grill came up to greet her warmly and told her to ask to be seated in her section later that night. For now, at least, people seem to be rooting for her success.

“I’m just a trans girl getting her ups,” Rowland said, “at a really hard time for trans people to get their ups.”

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