"My audience can detect if something isn’t authentic" - Gymnast Olivia Dunne on making the Top 50 of Forbes' Top Creator list

20-year-old Olivia Dunne recently achieved another milestone in her influencer career by making it to the Top 50 of the second annual Forbes Creators list. The gymnast, ranked at number 48, also shared her perspective on brand collaboration and her familiarity with her audience.

Besides being a well-known gymnast, Olivia Dunne from Louisiana University, is a social media star. Within two years, she amassed a great deal of followers on her various social media platforms, becoming the most followed college athlete in the world. Dunne not only enjoys a captivating fan base but has also generated a definite source of income through these platforms.

Olivia Dunne at the LSU v Auburn match

With 12 million combined followers on Instagram and TikTok, Olivia Dunne recently joined Fobers’ Top 50 creators list alongside top personalities such as Jimmy Donaldson (Mr. Breast), Jake Paul, and many others. According to the prestigious publication, the social media creators who have made it to the list together have a combined 2.6 billion followers and have earned a total of $700 million.

Talking about her experience as a social media influencer, the $2.3 million net-worth gymnast told Forbes,

“My audience can detect if something isn’t authentic,”

She also shared the core values that drive her to select brands for endorsements. She said,

“My core values have to align with a brand.”

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Here’s how Olivia Dunne became the most followed college athlete

Dunne at the LSU v Auburn match

Practicing gymnastics from a young age, Olivia Dunne joined the LSU team in 2020. Although her talent was recognized by many at her college, the gymnast’s fame truly elevated when she joined TikTok in 2020, amassing a staggering 7.7 million followers.

Dunne posted gymnastics videos along with some beautiful pictures of herself, gradually gaining massive attention on social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok. Moreover, her influencer journey began in 2021, when the NIL policy was introduced by the NCAA for college athletes. As per the Names, Image, and Likes policy, college athletes could enter into deals with brands and generate income.

Today, Dunne earns an estimated $3.5 million annually, and on several occasions, she has earned more than $500,000 for a single post. Some of the major brands that Livvy has collaborated with this year are BodyArmor, Sports Illustrated, and Motorola.

Dunne also aims to help other female athletes to elevate their careers through the NIL policy. In July 2023, she started ‘The Livvy Fund’ which focuses on educating female college athletes about strategies for smart collaborations with major brands.

She explained her vision in an interview with SI.com,

I want to continue to elevate women's sports as a whole because they really deserve the same publicity as 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.