Gamechanger Olivia "Livvy" Dunne By Shaun Petipas

Image Via Olivia Dunne IG

As a student athlete in the NCAA one of the oldest rules was that you couldn’t make any money from sponsors or from the school or any other endorsement deals. That has now changed since June and athletes can profit off of their image and likeness. This has created a whole new type of student athlete. The student athlete influencer and the biggest example to date is LSU gymnast Olivia “Livvy” Dunne.

The LSU sophomore has changed the way student athletes can make money and how they can continue their success outside of collegiate sports. As a Freshman in the 2020-21 school year she became an All-American on the uneven bars, made the SEC academic honor roll, and positioned herself to become an even greater social media sensation. She has mastered the social media realm with confidence as she has skyrocketed to one of the most popular faces on either Tik Tok or Instagram with 5.7 million and 1.6 million followers on each platform respectively. With the amount of followers she has on either platform she has been able to strike deals with Vuori Clothing, American Eagle, Plant Fuel (a plant-based supplement) and Bartleby (a study helper) among other companies as well. For Dunne, the new NIL policy has been very good for her as she has amassed over one million dollars just this past year and could be growing exponentially.

Her popularity has also helped the sport grow in ways that it might not have in the past. With more and more people seeing her on different platforms and learning she’s a gymnast for LSU she draws more viewers to their meets. Just the other night in a Boston bar I saw a replay of a meet between LSU and Alabama instead of March Madness. That just shows the magnitude of her following/subscribers and her ability to use social media as a tool to further herself and the sport she loves.

After college nobody would be surprised if she continued her success as an entrepreneur and continued to grow her booming brand. If you want to check her content out on Tik Tok her username is @livvy Her instagram is @livvydunne