CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — With her college gymnastics days behind her, influencer and Sports Illustrated swimsuit model Livvy Dunne is moving on with life — but that doesn’t mean she’ll be far from the public eye.
Dunne, who has more than 13 million followers on social media, created a multimillion-dollar personal brand while competing as a gymnast at LSU. Now she's trying to help other female athletes do the same, helping to educate them about name, image and likeness deals and personal branding.
“I’m going to miss gymnastics so much because it has been a part of me for almost 20 years,” Dunne told The Associated Press at AthleteCon, where she had a speaking engagement. “What’s next? Everything. I want to do all of the things that I couldn’t do while I was a gymnast” because of the time constraints of being a student-athlete.
“So there are some really cool opportunities — stay tuned,” she added.
Dunne didn't disclose any details, but it’s clear she plans to maintain her personal brand, which she developed along with the help of older sister and manager Julz Dunne.
AthleteCon CEO Sam Green, who has helped land more than 1,000 NIL deals, invited the Dunne sisters to speak to college athletes as part of a two-day seminar. Athletes met with representatives from social media platforms including TikTok, Snapchat and Meta, created live content and competed for NIL deals. They learned how to turn a creative idea into a brand.
More than 100 athletes attended, with another 150 turned away because of space constraints.
Green’s company slogan is “all athletes are creators.”
“I’m really big on giving athletes the tools to monetize their brand,” Green said.
Few, if any, have done that better than Livvy Dunne.
She helped the Tigers to the 2024 national championship as a junior before missing this past season because of an injury. But she was better known on social media, where she amassed more than 8 million followers on TikTok and 5.3 million on Instagram before leaving LSU.
Advertisers took notice.
She was the highest-paid female college athlete across all sports during her time with the Tigers, earning more than $4.1 million, according to On3. She worked with brands like Nautica, Crocs and Sports Illustrated, where she recently did a split on the catwalk on a “triple dare.”
Her boyfriend is Pittsburgh Pirates star pitcher Paul Skenes, who played baseball at LSU.
“She’s it,” Green said. “She’s the road map. She’s the blueprint and she was the first to do it. The Dunnes are so innovative and they have done it with genuine intent. Livvy is the definition of NIL, in my opinion, at least true NIL and what it was meant to be from the start.”
Dunne said navigating the ever-changing world of NIL was like living in the wild West.
“I learned that you don’t have to do one thing and be great at that one thing,” Dunne said. “You can do multiple different things and find success in tons of different areas.”
But there were trying times as she balanced classes, competition and the constant demand for multiple daily social media posts.
She remembers walking into LSU gymnastics coach Jay Clark’s office in tears because of stress about her schedule.
She fought through it and is glad she did.
“I hope people here take away that you are more than your sport and everybody deserves to capitalize on their name, image and likeness,” Dunne said. “Curiosity is key. Ask questions, network, and just create because, who knows, the sky is the limit. It got me to where I am today. Don’t just consume, but create.
“Keep posting,” she added. “The audience is there. People are interested. They want to see what you have to offer. Everyone’s story is different and has to be told.”
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Livvy Dunne walks the runway at the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Runway Show at W South Beach on Saturday, May 31, 2025, in Miami Beach. (Photo by Scott Roth/Invision/AP)
Livvy Dunne, middle, sister Julz Dunne, left, and Sam Green pose at an AtheteCon event on Thursday in Charlotte, N.C. designed to help college athletes, promote their name, image and likeness brand. (AP Photo/Steve Reed)
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump said Iran wants to negotiate with Washington after his threat to strike the Islamic Republic over its bloody crackdown on protesters, a move coming as activists said Monday the death toll in the nationwide demonstrations rose to at least 544.
Iran had no immediate reaction to the news, which came after the foreign minister of Oman — long an interlocutor between Washington and Tehran — traveled to Iran this weekend. It also remains unclear just what Iran could promise, particularly as Trump has set strict demands over its nuclear program and its ballistic missile arsenal, which Tehran insists is crucial for its national defense.
Meanwhile Monday, Iran called for pro-government demonstrators to head to the streets in support of the theocracy, a show of force after days of protests directly challenging the rule of 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Iranian state television aired chants from the crowd, who shouted “Death to America!” and “Death to Israel!”
Trump and his national security team have been weighing a range of potential responses against Iran including cyberattacks and direct strikes by the U.S. or Israel, according to two people familiar with internal White House discussions who were not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
“The military is looking at it, and we’re looking at some very strong options,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One on Sunday night. Asked about Iran’s threats of retaliation, he said: “If they do that, we will hit them at levels that they’ve never been hit before.”
Trump said that his administration was in talks to set up a meeting with Tehran, but cautioned that he may have to act first as reports of the death toll in Iran mount and the government continues to arrest protesters.
“I think they’re tired of being beat up by the United States,” Trump said. “Iran wants to negotiate.”
He added: “The meeting is being set up, but we may have to act because of what’s happening before the meeting. But a meeting is being set up. Iran called, they want to negotiate.”
Iran through country's parliamentary speaker warned Sunday that the U.S. military and Israel would be “legitimate targets” if America uses force to protect demonstrators.
More than 10,600 people also have been detained over the two weeks of protests, said the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, which has been accurate in previous unrest in recent years and gave the death toll. It relies on supporters in Iran crosschecking information. It said 496 of the dead were protesters and 48 were with security forces.
With the internet down in Iran and phone lines cut off, gauging the demonstrations from abroad has grown more difficult. The Associated Press has been unable to independently assess the toll. Iran’s government has not offered overall casualty figures.
Those abroad fear the information blackout is emboldening hard-liners within Iran’s security services to launch a bloody crackdown. Protesters flooded the streets in the country’s capital and its second-largest city on Saturday night into Sunday morning. Online videos purported to show more demonstrations Sunday night into Monday, with a Tehran official acknowledging them in state media.
In Tehran, a witness told the AP that the streets of the capital empty at the sunset call to prayers each night. By the Isha, or nighttime prayer, the streets are deserted.
Part of that stems from the fear of getting caught in the crackdown. Police sent the public a text message that warned: “Given the presence of terrorist groups and armed individuals in some gatherings last night and their plans to cause death, and the firm decision to not tolerate any appeasement and to deal decisively with the rioters, families are strongly advised to take care of their youth and teenagers.”
Another text, which claimed to come from the intelligence arm of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, also directly warned people not to take part in demonstrations.
“Dear parents, in view of the enemy’s plan to increase the level of naked violence and the decision to kill people, ... refrain from being on the streets and gathering in places involved in violence, and inform your children about the consequences of cooperating with terrorist mercenaries, which is an example of treason against the country,” the text warned.
The witness spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity due to the ongoing crackdown.
The demonstrations began Dec. 28 over the collapse of the Iranian rial currency, which trades at over 1.4 million to $1, as the country’s economy is squeezed by international sanctions in part levied over its nuclear program. The protests intensified and grew into calls directly challenging Iran’s theocracy.
Nikhinson reported from aboard Air Force One.
In this frame grab from video obtained by the AP outside Iran, a masked demonstrator holds a picture of Iran's Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi during a protest in Tehran, Iran, Friday, January. 9, 2026. (UGC via AP)
In this frame grab from footage circulating on social media from Iran shows protesters taking to the streets despite an intensifying crackdown as the Islamic Republic remains cut off from the rest of the world in Tehran, Iran, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026.(UGC via AP)
In this frame grab from footage circulating on social media from Iran showed protesters once again taking to the streets of Tehran despite an intensifying crackdown as the Islamic Republic remains cut off from the rest of the world in Tehran, Iran, Saturday Jan. 10, 2026. (UGC via AP)
