Olivia Dunne defends social media millions
Gymnast-turned-social media star Olivia Dunne has defended her decision to embrace a career as an influencer - insisting she's worked hard to secure brand deals which made her a millionaire
Gymnast-turned-social media star Olivia Dunne has defended her decision to embrace a career as an influencer - insisting she's worked hard for her millions.
The 20-year-old LSU student is the most-followed college athlete in the US and is said to be worth around $3.2 million with her fortune coming from NIL (Name, Image, and Likeness) deals which allow college athletes to team up with brands for endorsement deals, adverts and social media campaigns - and Olivia says it's taken her years to reach the top in such a competitive world.
She told Sports Illustrated magazine: "People definitely discredit what I do. People need to understand that I’ve worked for everything I’ve earned. I’ve spent years building an audience, and brands pay me for what they believe is worth the reach of the demographic that I offer.”
Olivia - who has more than four million Instagram followers - has also set up an organisation called the Livvy Fund to help connect female college athletes to brands because they need to capitalise while they are at college because money-making opportunities for women sports stars often dry up.
She explained: "There's definitely an underlying problem, which is that the money needs to go to support women’s sports, because there’s not many [lucrative] professional leagues for women’s sports after college. So it’s really important that women can capitalize on it now while they’re in college.”
Olivia currently boasts deals with brands including Drink Accelerator, Vuori Clothing and American Eagle.
She previously told Elle magazine she suspects she gets more criticism of her sucess because she's a woman. She said: "To see a woman winning? People sometimes have a lot to say. If you’re a woman at the forefront of something, when you’ve got eyes on you, people are going to downplay your success and say that you’re not doing it right, that you don’t deserve all the opportunities.
"I don’t want to say ‘F you,’ but the best way to get that to stop is to keep being successful at what you’re doing, because your success, and love for what you do, will outshine any of that."
