A day in the life of Miracle Olatunji looks like many other college students — gym, classes, club meetings, dinners, outings with friends. At 19, however, she is the author of the newly released book "Purpose: How to Live and Lead with Impact." It’s pretty clear that Miracle is, in fact, no ordinary student. 

Her first name was inspired by the fact that her life truly is a miracle — she was not expected to live to be the age she is. The challenges she faced as a young child have inspired Miracle to recognize the importance of embracing every day with a sense of purpose and impact, the very topics of her book. Miracle wants readers of her book to understand that “everyone is on this earth for a purpose and we all have great potential inside of us” and “we all have the ability to positively impact each other’s lives.” 

Miracle has been recognized as “Youth Entrepreneur of the Year” by StartUP Africa, listed in The Tempest’s “40 Women to Watch,” featured in Forbes, and most recently, selected as one of The Root’s 2019 Young Futurists and Game-changers. Her work is inspiring to people of all ages. From starting a UNICEF chapter in high school to donating thousands of dollars worth of headbands to cancer patients across the nation through Headbands of Hope, Miracle’s early knack for leadership and empowerment is admirable. 

However, Miracle recalls that it wasn’t until she participated in a pitch and entrepreneurship program called the "Diamond Challenge" that she found her true passion for business and entrepreneurship, creating opportunities, as well as “seeing what are the problems around me and how can I solve them.” This spirit of innovation and problem solving drove Miracle to start OpportuniMe.

Having spent her summers engaged in various camps, programs, and activities, Miracle not only learned a lot about her passions and career aspirations, but she also realized the lack of access to opportunities for other students. Miracle saw a disconnect between the programs available for high school students and the painful process to find and apply for them. “Even though these programs were awesome, the process of trying to find and access them was not," she said. 

To address this need, Miracle founded OpportuniMe on the principle of “democratizing opportunities.” OpportuniMe connects high school students with summer opportunities to empower them to build their network, develop soft and technical skills, and grow personally and professionally. Looking to breach the walls around access to opportunities, Miracle bravely addresses the uncomfortable truth that while “knowledge is power,” it can also be a luxury. Through OpportuniMe, Miracle strives to bridge the gaps and encourage students to “seize the best opportunities that exist, and create opportunities that don’t exist.”  She is a passionate advocate for access to opportunities because she has seen firsthand how even just one opportunity, connection, or resource can change the trajectory of someone’s life. 

When asked what brought her to Boston, Miracle laughed and said, “Boston kind of stole my heart and here I am. I’ve been inspired by all the innovative and passionate people here.” In the next few years, Miracle hopes to grow OpportuniMe to have a national reach, launch her book tour, and expand an event series and platform focused on empowering  women to build their net worth, self worth, and network. As a passionate public speaker herself, Miracle also wants to encourage other women to share their stories.