Olivia Dunne Dishes on Her Confident Mindset, How She Embraces Positive Self-Talk

Olivia Dunne.Alberto Tamargo/Getty Images

When Olivia Dunne posed for the 2023 SI Swimsuit Issue in Puerto Rico, it was the 20-year-old’s first-ever editorial photo shoot. You’d never guess that the LSU gymnast and social media influencer’s feature with the brand was her first time modeling swimwear due to her natural confidence and grace.

We recently caught up with Dunne during magazine launch events at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Fla., where the New Jersey native divulged a few secrets to her self-assured disposition.

“I feel like confidence is not really like what you wear, it’s just a mindset that you have,” she says of the demeanor she adopted while on location. “So if you go into the day before you shoot already feeling confident in a good mindset, then the pictures will speak for themselves.”

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While that positive mindset certainly applies when she’s in front of the camera, it’s also one Dunne implements in her day-to-day life as a student-athlete, daughter, friend and sister.

“[Confidence is] definitely a mindset,” she shares. “I usually wake up and even if I’m in a funk, it’s just about getting up, getting active and having positive self-talk.”

On a related note, Dunne adds that manifestation is one tactic she uses to make her dreams a reality. In fact, she says mentally visualizing her SI Swimsuit feature helped bring it to fruition.

“I’m a strong believer in manifestation, and I feel like I’ve manifested everything that I have right now and all the opportunities that I’ve been blessed with,” she says. “With [posing for SI Swimsuit], it was something I thought of this past summer, and it was a dream of mine. I told my mom, I told my sister. My sister actually made me a visual of me at the beach with SI on the picture so I could see it and feel it, and it ended up coming true. And one of the mantras that I always think is, ‘You gotta believe it to see it.’ So you have to believe in yourself to see the outcome.”

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