Featured #bloomgirl: Miracle; Founder of OpportuniME!

This month's featured #bloomgirl is Miracle Olatunji! We are inspired by her drive, passion, and voice for a younger generation. Keep reading to learn more about Miracle and her amazing endeavors as a young entrepreneur!

Tell us a little bit about yourself!

I’m a senior at the Charter School of Wilmington, an entrepreneur (founder of OpportuniME and The MIRACLE Organization) and a public speaker. OpportuniME is a newsletter and mission-driven startup company with the goal of helping high schools, guidance counselors, and their students to efficiently find and create high-quality opportunities and experiences (enrichment programs, internships, study abroad, events, etc.) for passion, career, and self discovery. The web platform will be launching very soon! Second, MIRACLE is an acronym for the three main goals of the second company that I'm working on; it stands for: MI-Making impacts, RA- Raising awareness, CLE- Creating learning experiences. The mission of The MIRACLE Organization is to create social enterprises that empower (MI), enlighten (RA), and educate (CLE) others through social entrepreneurship and conscious capitalism--elevating humanity through business. Entrepreneurship and creativity are my biggest passions. I am an ambassador for the Diamond Challenge, the largest global entrepreneurship pitch competition for high school students. It's a fantastic opportunity! Being an entrepreneur has helped me realize just how important it is to voice your ideas. I speak at conferences, companies, organizations, and various events about: diversity & inclusion, entrepreneurship, economic empowerment, productivity, and purposeful leadership, which helps me to keep improving my public speaking skills frequently.

Who or what is your biggest inspiration?

Oprah Winfrey has been one of my biggest inspirations since I was a little girl. Her story of breaking barriers and overcoming so many challenges makes me realize that there is really no excuse for not going after my goals. Oprah has made history as a ‘first’ for so many of her amazing accomplishments. I hope to meet her one day! Recently, I was about to go on stage to speak at a conference and the emcee introducing me whispered to me and said  “When I  introduce you, I’m going to only say your first name. You know how people hear ‘Oprah’ and automatically know who that is? That’s going to be you.” That itself was such an honor and I found it really motivating.

What’s the biggest challenge you’ve faced, personally or professionally? How have you overcome it?

The major obstacle I’ve had to overcome is self doubt. I believe that total self confidence is not a destination, but a never-ending journey of stepping out of your comfort zone, and accepting yourself for who you are- each and every day. It’s very true that the biggest enemy everyone has to overcome is themselves. What has really helped me with dealing with self doubt is by applying gratitude and self awareness to my thoughts and actions.

-Gratitude: I’ve found a method that works for me to daily express gratitude for the people and experiences in my life. Personally, I use a daily gratitude journal and make sure that I express gratitude to people whether they’ve helped me a lot or even just a little. Expressing gratitude makes you happier and others happier too!

-Self awareness: I’ve Identified what my strengths and weaknesses are. I work on improving my weaknesses, but don’t obsess over them. The practice of self awareness teaches me to acknowledge these weaknesses, work on them periodically, but to not let them consume my life. Instead, I focus more discovering your strengths and making them the best they can be.

If you could talk to yourself 5 years ago, what advice would you give yourself?

I don’t like the question: “What do you want to be when you grow up?”. I’m sure this was a FAQ that a lot of kids have heard. The advice I would have given to my 13 year old self five years ago would be to not wait until I’m “grown up” to pursue my goals and start exploring potential passions. Thankfully, I’ve actually been following this advice and am building an entire company around seizing and creating opportunities- which will allow people discover passions while they’re young. It breaks my heart that many adults today feel disengaged at work; they stay at jobs that aren’t allowing them to feel fulfilled. I don’t want our generation to have this same problem!

What are some key books/learning experiences that helped shape you/your company?

One of my all-time favorite books is “What Wakes You Up?” by Justin Lafazan, a young entrepreneur like myself. I actually had the opportunity to meet him and listen to his keynote speech at last year’s Youth Entrepreneurship Summit. In Justin’s book, he discusses how young people can design the lives they want to live through entrepreneurship and actually feel excited to get out of bed every morning because of the feeling of greater purpose and passions in life. This book was a guide for helping me find what excites me and it motivates me as I’ve started the two companies that I’m so very passionate about.

Some of my other faves are: Good To Great (about effective company leadership), Rich Dad Poor Dad (powerful lessons in personal finance & talks about entrepreneurship too), and The Miracle Girls (this is a book about literal miracle girls- like me. I relate so much to this book!).

I’m also currently writing my own book titled ‘Living Purposefully On Purpose’ which I hope to have published by this summer!

What are your favorite bloom products, and why?

I love the Vision Planner; visualization is a proven way to finding motivation to achieve your goals. Fabulous product! I also find the Work-Life Balance Pad to be so useful! I’m a big believer in being well-rounded and this planner helps me put this into action.

We hope you enjoyed learning more about Miracle and OpportuniME! Do you have a #girlboss story to share? Email us at bloom@bloomplanners.com for a chance to be our next featured bloom girl!

xoxo,

the bloom team