Everything is going well in Olivia Dunne’s story. The 22-year-old social media icon has entered Baton Rouge to pursue her COVID-extended year. The preparations are in full swing. After all, this time the Blue Tigers will enter the NCAA Gymnastics Championships as the defending champion. The expectations will remain high naturally. Being the senior member of the squad, Olivia will have the responsibility to pull off things. Remember, last time, she didn’t find a place in the final hustle. She had to see the match from the sideline. She might not want to repeat it in her last collegiate season. But wait! Does she have anything on her mind regarding her post-LSU days? 

Returning to her fifth year, Olivia already claimed, “No matter how many opportunities come my way off the mat, there’s just something about LSU. And that’s why I’m here to say I’m not Dunne yet.” But does that mindset apply to her future endeavors as well? The information claims that the gymnast already hinted at her life goals several times. 

Olivia Dunne seems to find her feet not on bars but on floors 

On December 12, Olivia Dunne earned her undergraduate degree from Louisiana State University (LSU). Through a commencement ceremony, she earned her certificates, and she made it a memorable affair by sharing the moments on her social media handles. On Instagram, she uploaded a carousel of candid pictures taken in different moods, captioning: “Forever LSU.” The smiling face in the snapshots, however, didn’t give any hint of her future career. But the update says Olivia Dunne cleared the air on it several times. The first hint came in her new resolution video posted on TikTok on January 1, 2023. 

The post was simple, bearing three goals. Those were, “graduate from LSU, start grad school, stay focused and motivated.” The video had 1.5 million views and 230,000 likes. Amazing, isn’t it? But the goals needed a few more revelations, something in her preference for the field. In the same quarter, Livvy shed more light on it. She had the opportunity to sit down with Ross Dellenger, the renowned host from Sports Illustrated‘s headquarters, in March of last year. During their talk, the social media icon spilled additional words. 

In the conversation, Dellenger was interested in knowing about Olivia Dunne’s future career. She inked a lucrative NIL deal with the brand. So, the interest was the obvious part. Meanwhile, Livvy conceded a few words to quench the collective questions: “I want to learn more about the business side of sports… and how I can use my platform to make a difference.” She also mentioned opting for subjects like business or sports management as her preferred subject in grad school. Next month, i.e., in April, she seemed to focus more on her goal. During her interaction with Katie Barnes of ESPN, Dunne claimed, “I’m really excited to start this new chapter… I’m looking forward to grad school and seeing what’s next.” Is she moving in that direction now? But what about her much-cherished The Livvy Fund? Does she have any plans regarding the NIL deals? 

An effort to shape the NIL future of the budding athletes 

In December 2024, Olivia Dunne is still the only female gymnast to make it to the NIL list, published by On3.com. Apart from her, no other college gymnast is in the close vicinity of the list. Livvy knows this bitter truth. Additionally, she also knows the lack of career support for college gymnasts after their graduation year. In her tête-à-tête with another LSU Tigers athlete, Flau’jae Johnson, Livvy looked concerned about the issue. But she had a solution, The Livvy Fund. In 2023, Livvy shook hands with Bayou Traditions to start her ambitious project. 

The setup of it made Livvy emotional. “I really just hope that [The Livvy Fund] is the first of many,” she told SI Swimsuit in her interaction last year. But what is her project’s foundational goal? Livvy disclosed it. She said, “I really hope to get as many women student athletes on board as I can. I want to continue to elevate women’s sports as a whole because they really deserve the same publicity as the men’s. We do equal work, we put in equal time in our facilities every day and in school, so I feel like it would be right for this to be equal.” Ultimately, Olivia Dunne wants to continue this in her post-college years. 

In the conversation with Flau’jae, the national gymnastics champion laid out, “Keep doing new and stay in the NIL space is something that I would love to do because I now have so much knowledge about it.” The role might be suitable as she counts herself as someone who has seen days and nights in the NIL avenue. So are these the last frontiers in Olivia Dunne’s career? What do you think?