Dakota Rose Ostrenga, known professionally as Dakota Rose, is an American model, fashion blogger, and television personality based in Tokyo, Japan. Rose achieved early Internet fame by posting make-up tutorials on YouTube, which went viral in Asia and earned her the nickname "real-life Barbie doll." After gaining attention in Japan, Rose modeled exclusively for the magazine Popteen and also appeared on runways, commercials, and variety shows. She is represented by Platinum Production.
Early life
Dakota Rose Ostrenga was born in Chicago, Illinois to Cathy and Scott Ostrenga. Her siblings include an older brother named Kyler, and an older sister named Kirsten, known as Myspace and Stickam personality Kiki Kannibal. Rose moved to Coral Springs, Florida in 2005 when her father's computer engineering job transferred him there. Throughout the mid 2000s, Rose was active in the scene culture, posting videos on MySpace with Kirsten. Rose's family moved from online harassment before finally settling in her grandmother's house somewhere outside of Orlando, Florida after their house in Coral Springs was foreclosed.
Career
2011–2012: YouTube career
Rose joined YouTube in 2011 under the username "dakotakoti" and began posting make-up and styling tutorials, most of which were unvoiced and gave instructions through subtitles. Her videos gained media attention for her doll-like appearance, comparing her to a "living doll." Despite criticisms of digitally altering her appearance, her videos went viral in Asia and were uploaded to Niconico. Rose's make-up tutorials were profiled in Japanese talk and variety shows :ja:行列のできる法律相談所|Gyōretsu no Dekiru Hōritsu Sōdanjo, Pon! and Down Down DX. Media reports nicknamed her the "real-life Barbie doll" and her YouTube channel gained more than 500,000 subscribers, with her videos gaining more than 50 million views.
2012–present: Modeling debut
In April 2012, Rose signed with a Japanese model agency and moved to Japan. Japanese television program Zip! did a feature segment on Rose, where she personally appeared for the first time. On September 1, 2012, she made her model runway debut in the Tokyo Girls Collection in Nagoya. In April 2013, she also appeared at the Sapporo Collection 2013 show. Later that year, she released her first photobook, All About Dakota Rose. Rose also appeared in the commercial for Rage of Bahamut. Rose was an exclusive model for the magazine Popteen from the April 2014 issue to the September 2015 issue. She also became the image model for the fashion brand CandyDoll. Rose also modeled for Baby, The Stars Shine Bright and Alice and the Pirates at a promotional event for the online RPG The Tower of Princess. In 2017, Rose appeared in a commercial for Lotte Fits. She also modeled at the Girls Award 2017 Autumn/Winter show, Fukuoka Asia Collection 10th Anniversary Spring/Summer show, Girls Award 2018 Spring/Summer show, and Toita Fes 2018: Sirius.
Personal life
In 2018, Rose revealed via Instagram that she has leukemia.
