Olivia Dunne is more than a student-athlete. She is a businesswoman with strategic plans under her sleeves and will open them as her trump card after her LSU days are over. Currently, the 21-year-old is on the brink of starting her fifth year in Baton Rouge. Apart from helping the Lady Tigers gymnastics fold get another national championship title, she will be eyeing to land a few more lucrative NIL (name, image, and likeness) deals. She has already cleared the air regarding her mindset on returning for the fifth year: “And 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 what about her life beyond college? 

As Livvy’s coach Jay Clark said, “For our sport, there’s no NBA, there’s no NFL.” Livvy too has concerns about the future of college gymnasts. With a $4 million NIL valuation, she ranks 2nd on the NIL list among college athletes. But as an entrepreneur and a pro in the field, Dunne feels a significant responsibility to pave the way for her successors in terms of earnings. She aims to guide them in navigating deals and signings.

With four years of experience in the NIL lane, Olivia Dunne believes her knowledge of NIL deals may come in handy for the upcoming women athletes. In the podcast with Flau’jae Johnson, the New Jersey native mentioned, “I kind of I finally think I got it down and I think I understand it and balancing it with everything.”

Moreover, she added, “I know at first how confusing that can be for a lot of especially girls, because there’s not a lot of NIL opportunities for the women’s athletics in the first place.” This is where she can truly make an impact, giving women athletes valuable guidance on how to navigate the world of NIL.

That might be Olivia Dunne’s second inning after her fifth year with the LSU Tigers. She doesn’t want to be “complacent” with her current position in the league of student-athletes and entrepreneurs or a social media ingenue. Instead, she wants to get better with time. “I’m always trying to think of the next thing and yes, I would like to enjoy certain moments more but I love to think about what comes next,” she shared with Flau’jae Johnson regarding her post-LSU plans. There are valid reasons for choosing her entrepreneurial path over gymnastics.

During her four years with the LSU Tigers, Olivia has faced significant injuries. She almost missed her priceless moments in this year’s NCAA gymnastics journey due to a stress injury. That experience led her to remark, “I love gymnastics, but I would also love my body to be in one piece.” Yet, her knowledge of NIL deals has allowed her to envision a different future.

“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,” she candidly expressed. This newfound focus may well inspire her upcoming role, and Olivia Dunne is already taking steps in that direction.

Olivia Dunne steps up for the ladies, leaving her imprint in NIL deals

In 2023, Olivia Dunne announced the launch of The Livvy Fund, in collaboration with Bayou Traditions. The latter, the official collective for LSU Athletics, acts as the medium between the NIL opportunities and the LSU Tigers. Now, The Livvy Fund’s job is to maintain HER dealings with the brands and advise female athletes on how to land similar deals in their college careers. Now, these contracts are never easy. In her interactions, Alia Armstrong, the Tigers’ athlete, has already narrated her initial issues with the dealings. But Olivia’s fund is one of a kind to end the issues. 

While launching her fund, Livvy stated, “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.”

However, in a time when women college gymnasts are receiving a paltry 18% of the overall NIL deals, the upcoming road seems to be bumpy. In that case, what do you think about Olivia Dunne’s decision to be the guardian angel for the budding women college gymnasts? Let us know.