Miracle Olatunji, a Communications Studies and Business Administration student, entered her freshman year at Northeastern University in 2018 with a determination to make a difference in her community. She had this ambition long before she entered her college years, however; by the time she was finishing up her senior year of high school, she had already founded her first venture, OpportuniMe. The startup connects high school youth with personal and professional development opportunities, and has already earned Miracle plenty of well-deserved recognition. She was named “Youth Entrepreneur of the Year” by StartUP Africa, listed in The Tempest’s “40 Under 40: Women to Watch,” featured in Forbes Magazine, and most recently, identified as one of The Root’s Young Futurists.

Miracle first had the idea for OpportuniMe in high school when she realized that finding summer internships, programs, and work opportunities was entirely too stressful and time consuming. Searching for a way to streamline this process, she created a newsletter that would circulate to students and inform them of opportunities to network and explore potential career paths before they go to college. In doing so, she was able to build partnerships with local companies and organizations in order to provide her peers with the best opportunities possible.

It comes as no surprise that founding OpportuniMe has been a rewarding experience for Miracle. Not only did her start-up win the Grand Prize in the World Series of Entrepreneurship competition, but it also opened up many doors for her in the professional world and has earned verbal recognition.

“Being told that I was inspiring people to make a difference and creating solutions that positively impact others has certainly been a rewarding part of this process,” she explained. “Last semester, after I had the opportunity to speak at Harvard’s Young Women In Business and Leadership Conference, one of the high school students in the audience approached me saying something to this effect. The experience was so humbling, encouraging, and reminded me of my purpose and my why behind starting OpportuniMe.”

Miracle still has big plans for her start-up, including a web-based platform that will help connect students to employers more seamlessly, and intentions to participate in various campaigns across the country to promote the organization.

“I’m very excited to share that OpportuniMe is part of a new nation-wide campaign called the YES (Young, Employed, and Successful) Project, which is aimed at bringing youth, employers, stakeholders, advocates together to support and grow a robust youth workforce,” Miracle revealed. “The goal is to achieve full youth employment for young people age 16 to 24 by 2030. We’re kicking it off in San Diego this week at the ASU Global Silicon Valley Summit.”

Miracle was also recently named one of The Root’s 2019 Young Futurists for her work on OpportuniMe. The Root, an online magazine focused on news in African American communities, annually releases a list that celebrates young, creative African Americans who have excelled in their fields.

“I’m honored to be included in this year’s list,” Miracle said. “It’s exciting to be in the company of such inspiring people who are passionate about making a difference – in business, science, social justice, healthcare, media, technology, and more. We’ve always heard that young people today will be the leaders of the future but this list reminds me that we don’t have to wait until ‘the future’ to make a difference. We can start now!”

In addition to taking classes and running her own start-up, Miracle is also heavily involved on campus. She serves as the Director of Innovation at Northeastern’s Thrive, or Center for Financial Independence. She, along with her team, work to promote financially healthy lifestyles for the campus community. This past month, Miracle helped host an event called “Women Empowered to Financially Thrive,” which focused on the themes of educating and empowering attendees on building their net worth, self-worth, and network.

“It was a truly inspiring event and one of the most rewarding experiences I’ve had so far at Northeastern,” she concluded.

She credits much of her professional and academic growth to her business and communication classes, specifically her Business and Professional Speaking course taught by Professor Elizabeth Glowacki. We are excited to see how OpportuniMe grows and what other impressive feats Miracle will accomplish in her academic and professional career.