Click here for the Daily Orange's inclusive journalism fellowship applications for this year


work wednesday

Olivia Rudensky got her start from a Miley Cyrus fan account

Kai Nguyen | Staff Photographer

Olivia Rudensky is a student in the Bandier Program. She deferred her acceptance into the program for a year so she could travel to Israel.

Olivia Rudensky has attended multiple red carpets and worked closely with celebrities like Miley Cyrus and Hailey Baldwin. And she’s only a sophomore.

Over the past few years, Rudensky has interned for Scooter Braun Projects, worked with iHeartRadio Syracuse and co-managed her own client.

“I’m going to keep expanding, whatever I can do,” she said about her work life. “There are people who want to hear my story.”

webbed

Kai Nguyen | Staff Photographer



Growing up, Rudensky was always captivated by pop culture. From a young age, she attended concerts and was exposed to red carpets through her aunt’s modeling management company. These factors made it her personal goal to break into this industry.

At the age of 12, she created a fan account for Cyrus on Twitter. As the account began to gain traction, Rudensky learned about social media along the way.

“I was young and had to learn how to make it look professional,” Rudensky said about the fan account.

A few years later Cyrus noticed the popular account and messaged Rudensky. They would talk about anything from career advice to personal information. In 2012, Cyrus invited her to Los Angeles to meet in person at The Ellen Show. Around the time Cyrus released her “We Can’t Stop” album, Rudensky was active in helping her reinvent her image.

Later on, Cyrus invited her to spend the summer in Los Angeles working for her team. As is common among some 16-year-olds, Rudensky had committed to working as a camp counselor. She decided to spend half the summer at camp and the other half with the Los Angeles team, running the official fan source Twitter.

As her work with Cyrus started dying down, she pursued other work opportunities. In high school she interned with Z100 radio station and was flown out to award shows for her work with Dick Clark Productions.

In 2015, Rudensky was accepted into Syracuse University’s Bandier Program. She chose to defer her acceptance for a year and travel to Israel. Finally at SU, she began work at the iHeartRadio Syracuse station, helping with its events. She then interned with Scooter Braun Projects and Moxie Raia. Rudensky’s manager referred her to IMG Models, which led to her to work with actress Hailey Baldwin.

Although her work with Cyrus’ fan account slowed down, she took advantage of the 300,000 followers she had gained to develop her own image. With years of social media experience, Rudensky shifted focus toward her personal accounts, strengthening her Twitter and Instagram pages, starting a blog and promoting companies.

Recently she received a call from Cyrus and her manager. They complimented Rudensky on her current work and spoke about working professionally together.  Rudensky said she owes all of her success to Cyrus and is glad her experience is coming full-circle.

Currently, Rudensky is co-managing a DJ, Jessie Block, and working on plans to start a company related to “super fans” with a Syracuse alumnus.





Top Stories