For millions of television viewers, Alana Thompson will always be associated with a glittery pageant dress, an unmistakable Southern accent, and the childhood nickname that made her famous: Honey Boo Boo.
But Alana Thompson is now 21 years old, and the life she is building looks remarkably different from the one that first made her a household name.
Today, she is a college student in Colorado studying nursing at Regis University. She works at a hospital in Denver and is pursuing a future in pediatric intensive care. Rather than building her adult identity around reality television, she has been working toward a professional career in health care—one that she hopes will allow her to help children and families during some of their most difficult moments.
Her transformation is particularly striking because of how early her public life began.
Alana was only five years old when audiences first encountered her on TLC's Toddlers & Tiaras. A memorable comment she made during the show helped create the nickname “Honey Boo Boo,” which quickly became a cultural phenomenon. By the following year, she and her family had their own reality series, Here Comes Honey Boo Boo.
The show premiered in 2012, when Alana was just six. For several years, viewers watched her family life unfold on television, from beauty-pageant competitions and family celebrations to conflicts and personal struggles.
But Alana eventually grew up.
And as she did, she began trying to separate herself from the television character that had been created around her childhood personality.
In 2025, she told PEOPLE that she wanted something bigger for her life than simply being on television. She described her determination to graduate, attend college, and become a nurse as part of the future she had imagined for herself. “I love that I've persevered past who people thought I was,” she told the magazine.
That sentence captures the central theme of Alana's journey.
She is not pretending that Honey Boo Boo never existed.
Instead, she is trying to make sure that Honey Boo Boo is not the only thing people see when they look at Alana Thompson.
The Little Girl the World Met on Television
Alana Thompson was born on August 28, 2005, in Georgia.
Her first exposure to national television came through Toddlers & Tiaras, a TLC series that followed young children competing in beauty pageants. Alana's energetic personality quickly attracted attention.
She was only five years old when one of her spontaneous comments became the origin of her famous nickname.
The phrase “Honey Boo Boo” stuck.
In 2012, that attention led to Here Comes Honey Boo Boo, a reality series centered on Alana, her mother June “Mama June” Shannon, her father Mike “Sugar Bear” Thompson, and her older sisters Anna, Jessica, and Lauryn.
The program presented the family as a colorful, unconventional Southern household living in McIntyre, Georgia.
For viewers, Alana was entertaining and memorable.
But there was another side to being famous at such a young age.
The public did not simply watch Alana grow up. Millions of people formed opinions about her before she was old enough to understand the consequences of being a public figure.
Her voice, appearance, family, personality, and behavior were repeatedly discussed in the media and online.
The nickname “Honey Boo Boo” became bigger than the child herself.
That distinction would become increasingly important as Alana grew older.
In later interviews, she explained that she increasingly preferred being called Alana rather than Honey Boo Boo. Her 2021 interview with Teen Vogue, for example, reflected her desire to speak for herself rather than simply remain the character viewers remembered from childhood. ABC News also noted that by the time of her 2023 high-school graduation, Alana was moving into a new phase of life far removed from her childhood television persona.
Growing up publicly meant that Alana did not have the luxury of simply leaving childhood behind.
Every stage of her life could become a headline.
Every family problem could become entertainment.
Every mistake could be discussed by strangers.
And yet she continued moving forward.
From Television Personality to High-School Graduate
One of the most important turning points came in 2023.
After years of being known primarily as a reality-TV personality, Alana graduated from high school.
Her family publicly celebrated the achievement.
ABC News reported that Mama June shared photos and videos from the graduation, while Alana's older sister Lauryn “Pumpkin” Efird wrote an emotional message celebrating how far her younger sister had come.
For most teenagers, graduating high school is an ordinary milestone.
For Alana, it represented something much larger.
She had spent much of her childhood on television. She had grown up amid family conflict, intense public scrutiny, and the complicated consequences of child fame.
Graduation meant she could begin making decisions about her future.
And she had already made one decision clear.
She wanted to go to college.
She wanted to become a nurse.
In her 2025 PEOPLE cover story, Alana explained that she had repeatedly told herself that she wanted to do something “better” and “bigger” with her life than simply being on television. Her goal was to graduate from high school, go to college, and pursue nursing.
That ambition became reality when she enrolled at Regis University in Colorado.
Why Nursing?
Alana's choice of nursing is not simply a random career change.
She has spoken about her desire to work with children, and her current goal is to become a pediatric intensive care unit nurse.
There is also a deeply personal connection behind her decision.
Alana's older sister Anna “Chickadee” Cardwell died in December 2023 at age 29 after being diagnosed with adrenal carcinoma.
Before her death, Anna had encouraged Alana to pursue nursing.
In a 2024 interview with PEOPLE, Alana recalled that her sister had jokingly told her that she would “haunt” her if she did not go to nursing school.
The remark was playful, but after Anna's death, it took on a much more emotional meaning.
Alana was already enrolled at Regis University and had completed her first year when she spoke publicly about the experience.
She described that first year as difficult.
She was adjusting to college.
She had moved out of state.
She was dealing with the death of Anna.
Her boyfriend, Dralin Carswell, had also lost his father.
The family was traveling back and forth during a period of multiple losses.
Despite all of that, Alana continued her studies.
She later described her second semester as smoother than the first.
The decision to remain in nursing school therefore became more than an educational choice.
It was also a way of continuing something she had promised her sister.
Starting Over in Colorado
Moving from Georgia to Colorado represented a dramatic change for Alana.
She had grown up in McIntyre, Georgia, the small community that became familiar to viewers of Here Comes Honey Boo Boo.
Now her life was centered around Denver and college.
In 2023, Alana moved to Colorado to attend Regis University, and Dralin Carswell moved there with her. PEOPLE has reported that the couple now lives in Denver while Alana studies nursing.
The move was significant for another reason.
For perhaps the first time, Alana was creating a life largely separate from the television environment in which she had grown up.
College gave her a different identity.
She was no longer simply the little girl from a reality show.
She was a student.
She had classes.
She had clinical education.
She had professional goals.
She was building a résumé.