LSU star gymnast Olivia Dunne has taken social media by storm. The junior is one of the highest-paid college athletes and has grown her social media platform to more than 11 million followers on Instagram and TikTok combined.
Dunne has benefited from the NCAA rules put in place in July 2021, which allows collegiate athletes to receive compensation for their name, image and likeness. Since then, Dunne has since ink lucrative endorsement deals with several major corporations.
She also is a 2023 SI Swimsuit model and is set to make her debut in the magazine in next month. In her interview with SI, Dunne spoke about how admires fellow influencer Paige Spiranac.
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Spiranac, who had a stint at golf before transiting into social media influencer and brand ambassador, apparently offered Dunne some advice on how to keep certain parts of her life private.
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“The biggest thing I’ve learned so far is that you need to make sure to keep certain parts of your life private,” Dunne noted. “Some things you don’t want the whole world knowing, so [you have to] keep certain parts of your life private.”
In many ways, the 30-year-old Spiranac has experienced many of the highs and lows of having a strong social media that the 20-year-old Dunne may currently be facing. Dunne credited Spiranac with helping her identify which pieces of content she should refrain from posting to her social media channels.
“That’s something that [she] kind of helped me with… just keeping certain parts of your life private… Making sure not to post certain things that maybe you don’t want people’s feedback on.”
Some of Dunne’s most-liked Instagram posts feature her preparing to mount the beat at gymnastics practice and a photo of her in Vuori clothing while posing in the snow. Dunne is a brand ambassador for the Vuori, an activewear apparel company.
Her social media posts show depict a variety of her time performing gymnastics, engaging in activities at LSU and spending time with her friends. Dunne expressed pride when she spoke about her ability to attract a new audience to her platforms.
“I feel like in a way I kind of introduced a whole new audience to college gymnastics, which is honestly kind of like a main goal of mine and it’s happening, so I just think that’s really awesome because the sport really deserves recognition and a positive spotlight,” Dunne said.
“I feel like [my target audience connects with my content] because I do relatable, normal things. I am a college student, people do college sports, so in a way I feel like that’s an attainable thing, that I’m not just TikToker or a social media influencer. It’s a way to show that you can do whatever you want with social media and if you do sports, it’s possible to do it all.”
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Last November, Spiranac took to Twitter to defend Dunne after the gymnast received criticism about the alleged methods she employed to land lucrative brand deals.
“I’m so sick of women belittling accomplishments of other women because it’s done differently than they would,” Spiranac wrote at the time. “@livvydunne is getting hate for making 2 million a year. She’s built a successful business (at 20) all while being a student-athlete,” Spiranac wrote at the time.
Dunne expressed gratitude for Spiranac’s support.
“Paige is just so great at showing that you can be beautiful and athletic and successful at the same time, so it just really is awesome to have someone like her stand up for me and be on my side,” Dunne said.
Spiranac has also previously spoken out against cyberbullying, and said he has personally been subjected to.
In addition to Spiranac, Dunne mentioned that she also admires two-time Olympian gymnast Aly Raisman.
“I’m also a really big fan of when Aly Raisman did her photo shoots for SI Swimsuit [in 2017 and ’18] because she’s always been a role model of mine in the gymnastics world. And I just feel like she uses her spotlight to bring awareness to the survivors of the abuse in women’s sports,” Dunne added.
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