Staples Employee Goes Viral on TikTok for Turning Office Supplies into Content Gold

If you spend any time scrolling through TikTok, you must be aware that there are a lot of creators working hard to sell you lifestyle upgrades, skin care regimens, and Amazon deals. A red-shirted retail employee who markets printers, personalized stamps, and planners as designer drops is less common.

Earlier this year, 23-year-old Kaeden Rowland became bored while working at a Staples in upstate New York. She began posting on TikTok about all the services the office supply store offers, and she unintentionally went viral.

After only a few months, Rowland’s life has changed. The internet gave her the nickname "Staples Baddie." She claims, “They ate down with that.” “I’ve just been going with it. I’m honored that’s the name they chose for me.”

Rowland, who has been working part-time at Staples for less than a year, appears, in her videos, unironically impressed by the company’s products. In a video that has received over 6.2 million views, Rowland shows viewers how to create a stamp with her own signature while ASMR-style clicking her long nails.

People are just as excited to visit their nearby Staples and buy their own stamps, as seen in the comments. Her makeup is flawless as she used to work at Sephora.

She uses youthful internet slang in most of her content: “You finna need something printed?” Rowland claims that her excitement is entirely real. She said, “I just remember when I was doing the onboarding training, I was sitting there with my jaw slacked open because I was like, 'What do you mean?' Y’all aren’t marketing this more? And that kind of planted the seed.”

She has 15.7 million likes on TikTok, where she often trends. With more than 500,000 followers on the platform, she now collaborates with corporate giants like Amazon and P.F. Chang's to create sponsored content that can bring in tens of thousands of dollars per post.

She says, “I’m glad that I’m in a position now that college would have gotten me.” “And people see my true potential even though I don’t have a degree to back it,” she told Yahoo Life. Rowland didn’t tell her boss or her coworkers when she first started posting. After finishing her remaining tasks, she started filming and editing content.

Among Rowland’s many endorsements are large-scale banners, lanyards, and personalized mugs from Staples. The Gen Z retail employee attracted Rowland’s TikTok followers, who were interested in what else could be done at Staples.

She recalls, “I was like, I got you, I’ll let you know.” As her video started going viral, Rowland wondered whether posting during work day might result in her being fired. However, she reasoned that her actions would only help Staples.

“In my head, I was like, if Staples doesn’t like this and they want to fire me, then so be it. Because I made something great. And if they can’t recognize that, then truly I’m needed elsewhere,” she said.

One day, Rowland’s video got a comment from the official Staples social media account. Rowland told her manager what she had been working on during her downtime. “She was so happy. The reception of it was overwhelmingly positive,” she said.

Since then, Rowland has received her own affiliate link from Staples, which allows her to get a commission when customers buy products that she recommends. Nearly all of her videos include supportive comments from the official Staples account.

“It fell together beautifully, and it truly is something very unique that we’ve put together,” Rowland said.