Jul 8, 2020
There is nothing more encouraging to
me than seeing young people making a difference and pursing
entrepreneurship; being the change-makers. They push me to do more
and be better. My guest today is an incredibly inspiring young
leader named Miracle Olatunji. Miracle is an entrepreneur,
international speaker, and the author of the book,
“Purpose: How to Live and Lead with
Impact.” In high school (yes, high school), she founded
OpportuniMe, an education startup that connects
high school youth to summer experiential-learning opportunities for
passion, career, and self-discovery. Miracle is absolutely that.
She is an incredibly inspiring young leader and you’re going to
love my conversation with her today!
2:27 - The Miracle 101
- Miracle’s story starts before she
was born. The fact that Miracle is alive today is exactly why she
got her name. When Miracle’s mother was pregnant, she started
having premature contractions and doctors told her that the changes
of her baby surviving prematurely were pretty much non-existent.
Despite that grim statement, Miracle was born full-term and
healthy.
- Her path to entrepreneurship
started in a program called The Diamond Challenge, a
entrepreneurship contest for high school students. Miracle decided
to try it out and pitched an idea with her friends. That experience
gave her the confidence to never limit herself based on her age,
gender, or anything else.
- Through the Diamond Challenge,
Miracle started her first organization, OpportuniMe. OpportuniMe
helps people realize and reach their full potential through
connection to opportunities and resources to explore different
career paths and connect with other young people. Miracle’s first
book “Purpose” was published in the summer of 2019.
4:25 – The Diamond
Challenge
- The Diamond Challenge that Miracle
participated in is a competition run through the University of
Delaware but is specifically for high school students. The program
gives students access to video courses about entrepreneurship and
the process of turning an idea into reality. There are two tracks
to the competition, the business side and the social enterprise
side.
- Various colleges, high schools,
and churches all over the world host “pitch sites.” Students can
also pitch their ideas virtually.
- Miracle participated in the follow
up event after the Diamond Challenge. While in her first year at
the follow-up event, she was inspired by the closing keynote
speaker who said that one of the key parts of entrepreneurship is
solving problems.
- When she returned to school in the
fall and talked about her experience with the Diamond Challenge,
she realized how many of her peers didn’t know about the
opportunities out there for them or that these programs
existed.
- Miracle learned that your passion
must be cultivated. It doesn’t fall from the sky and into your lap.
She knew her peers simply didn’t have the same access to
opportunities that open the doors to interests and
passions.
9:05 – OpportuniMe
- Miracle started OpportuniMe when
she was just 17 years old. Since then the biggest lesson she’s
learned is the power of her mindset. She didn’t know a lot in the
beginning. She had to work on herself push through the fear of
rejection when starting things she’d never done before.
- She realized that if you don’t ask
for anything, you don’t even have the opportunity for a “yes”,
“no”, or “not right now.”
- Miracle is realizing now in
college, that many college students are experiencing the same
feelings of trying to discover what they are passionate about and
that they are also trying to find purpose. She has extended the
mission beyond high school students to also include people who are
going to be entering the workforce soon, are entering it now, or
have been in it for a few years.
15:37 – Purpose: How to Live and
Lead with Impact
- At the start of the new year in
2018, Miracle made a vision board. She researched about
visualizations and how things become more real in our minds when we
are able to see a picture of it first.
- One of the things on Miracle’s
vision board was a quote, “Write a book, change the world.” She had
always had the desire to write a book, but it seemed overwhelming
and she didn’t think it was possible. She decided to stay dedicated
to achieving it anyway.
- In a community called “NextGen
Summit”, Miracle joined a webinar about writing a book. She sent
the instructor an email introducing herself and talking about her
goal to write a book. The next week they spoke on the phone and
Miracle enrolled in the program and stared writing her
book!
- The program is based around a
community of aspiring book authors supporting other aspiring book
authors. Each cohort releases their books on the same day. Miracle
was inspired to write her book based on her own personal
experiences and aspiring leaders from all different walks of
life.
- Purpose seems very abstract, but
Miracle wanted to break that down to help people realize that it
can be simplified to personal reflection on your values and what
makes you come alive.
- You can find Purpose: How to
Live and Lead with Impact on
Amazon.
20:12 - On the Horizon
- As you know by now, Miracle really
wants to help create opportunities for others. This summer to
(especially now to help offset the effects of Covid-19 on college
internships), she’s hiring college students with skills in social
media, content marketing, and more. She wants to help students
build their skills, learn new ones, and get compensated for their
time.
- In the future, Miracle also plans
to participate in more campaigns like Barbie’s #rolemodels
#youcanbeanything campaign to inspire people around the world that
they have potential that shouldn’t be limited by any aspect of
their identity.
23:00 – Getting to Know Our
Guest
- Learn about Miracle’s unusual
talent, what her “walk up/hype” song would be, what makes her feel
most alive, who she’d pick to play her in a movie, and what she’s
learning about herself during Covid-19. Be sure to stay tuned to
hear what it means to Miracle to run a business with
purpose.
Memorable Quotes
- 3:43 - “I realized that I
shouldn’t limit myself based on age or gender or anything. I should
see myself as someone who is able to make a difference in the world
because I truly believe that every single person on this planet has
a purpose and s
unique impact that they can make on the world.”
- 7:17 – “These programs create a
way to explore, and you can’t know if you’re passionate about
something unless you try it.”
- 7:40 - “The thing about passion…is
that it takes exploration and trying different things. It would be
nice if our passion just fell into our lap, but we have to do the
work to figure out what makes us come alive.”
- 10:52 – “It’s important to not
reject yourself before you give anybody the opportunity to give you
a yes or no.”
- 22:25 “You have unlimited
potential. You shouldn’t limit yourself based on any aspect of your
identity.”
About Miracle Olatunji:
Miracle Olatunji is a student at Northeastern University,
entrepreneur, public speaker, and author of Purpose: How To Live
and Lead With Impact . She is the founder OpportuniMe, an
award-winning social enterprise which helps the next generation of
leaders to realize their potential and make an impact in their work
and in the world. At Northeastern, Miracle is a business and
finance major with a passion for entrepreneurship, technology,
social impact, health & wellness, fashion, and innovation. She’s
been honored as one of The Tempest Magazine's ‘40 Women To Watch
Who Are Changing The World’, a Young Futurist and Game-changer by
The Root Magazine , and she was selected as a Young Global
Leadership Scholar.Her work has also been featured in Forbes,
Thrive Global, Technical.ly, BostInno, The CEO Library, ReadWrite,
The Female Lead, and other publications. Miracle is also building
Her Wallet Media, a new platform for women and girls to gain
knowledge and resources on the topics of building their "net worth,
network, and self worth" through content, community, and coaching.
She was honored as an EXTRAOrdinary Woman by Boston.gov during the
International Women’s Day Celebration at City Hall. Miracle was
recently part of Barbie's #YouCanBeAnything #MoreRoleModels
campaign aimed at closing the dream gap and inspiring women and
girls around the world. She was also part of Melinda Gates and the
Harvard Business Review ’s ‘Equality Can’t Wait’ campaign.
Social Media
& Links
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/miracleolatunji/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/miracleolatunji
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/mirolatunji
- Speaking:
https://www.apbspeakers.com/speaker/miracle-olatunji/
- Book:
https://www.amazon.com/Purpose-How-Live-Lead-Impact/dp/1641372664/