Porta-potties to partnerships: How Amalia Dorion turned vulnerability to profitability

The modern professional athlete wears many hats. Not only do they compete to win prize money and woo potential sponsors, but they must also market themselves, building a personal brand to achieve recognition on a larger scale. In a society growing consistently closer with their phones, the fastest or strongest athlete doesn’t necessarily win the hearts and minds of the people or garner more than a glance from potential sponsors. Instead, it’s the most electronically connected athlete. 

With 52.5k followers on Instagram and 87.6k on TikTok, Amalia Dorion (@amxlixa) has become just that.

Coming from humble high-school beginnings as a runner, Dorion first began documenting her journey through collegiate athletics during her time at Adams State University, a Division 2 institution in Alamosa, Colo. This documentation came via raw, TikTok footage, filled with mid-run porta-potty stops, walking on tough days, and post-run floor talk. Dorion prides herself in keeping things real, and often finds herself drawn to similar content on socials. 

“I'm like, ‘I wanna know who you are as a person and like what you stand for, and like your goofy side and like what you're training for or why you started running,’ rather than just everyday videos like ‘Day 67 of posting every day until I'm famous.’” Dorion said. 

Inspired by the likes of Phily Bowden and Lydia Keating, Dorion’s desire for making connections through her authenticity on camera began as a simple, fun endeavor. However, after taking over the Instagram account for the Adams State art department, Dorion began to recognize her potential in this passion.

“I always kind of had a knack for marketing that I didn't really realize,” Dorion said. “I think it's just knowing what's kind of trendy, or being very aware of what's going on, like, popular and stuff.”  

A quick fan-favorite amongst fellow collegians, Dorion’s popularity only grew upon transferring to grad school at D3 Suffolk University in Boston, Mass, where she became a two-time D3 national qualifier. 

“I honestly think it was fun for everyone to kind of join me on a new journey,” Dorion said, “Like, a lot of those videos did really well because I moved.”

Moving not only allowed Dorion to gain more followers on the D3 side of athletics, but also presented opportunities to turn social media into a greater career through profile management. Dorion took on roles managing profiles for the famed Heartbreak Running Company, as well as media outlets such as Track and Field News. 

“When I click my little Instagram thing, there’s like 20 (accounts),” Dorion said.

Managing so many accounts blurs the line between personal endeavors and a profession for Dorion, constantly keeping her on her toes.

“My biggest concern is when I open one and I'm like, ‘oh God, what if I post my personal Instagram post to, like, Track Field News, or something?’ which has happened,” Dorion said.

While working in social media management for a variety of businesses and companies provides Dorion with a paycheck and slightly more traditional career, her own social media has grown to present such opportunities as well by way of brand deals.

“My own personal stuff is like a whole different pay system than, like, a salary.” Dorion explained.

As Dorion’s personal brand grew in popularity, brand deals such as endorsements for Nike, Hydroflask, Heartbreak Running Company, and LMNT gave Dorion opportunities to earn compensation for certain posts. This came with benefits and downsides, as Dorion negotiated certain deals and compensation on her own, also handling things on the tax side of the spectrum. Following her experience as a collegiate creator, Dorion experienced a large uptick in brand deals and partnerships, adding another layer of complexity to her personal branding and management.

"I think a lot of brands were a little bit hesitant with me being in college, just because there are a little bit more rules,” Dorion said. “But now, after college, I've noticed a significant increase.”

To best manage such deals and ensure that brands recognize her full value, Dorion recently signed with Momentum Management - an agency created by fellow runner and creator, Erin Bailey, to help negotiate fair deals for creators as well as communicate with potential new partners. Bailey has worked with marketing teams for ASICS and Adidas, making her team the perfect match in showcasing Dorion’s aforementioned authenticity. 

While Dorion doesn’t make a living influencing just yet, Momentum Management has definitely helped level up her game. Despite Momentum Management requiring a cut of her earnings, Dorion has forged deals with larger brands, such as Nike and Lululemon, and negotiated far greater benefits on her end.

“Prior to that (signing), I was like ‘$200, like, oh my gosh, wow, that's crazy,’ And then I signed with them and they were like, ‘girl, you should have been making way more. And I was like, ‘well, sounded like a deal to me!’”

Before leveling up with Momentum Management, Dorion found most of her success via the TikTok Creator Fund (now the TikTok Rewards Program) - a program  hosted by the platform to support creators meeting certain standards, such as follower count and video length. This system rewards creators with payouts around  $0.02-$0.04 for every 1000 views for qualified content (videos over 60 seconds). For someone with Dorion’s following, creating roughly 2 videos daily, each earning anywhere from 2000-15,000 views, this can add up quickly.  

“That’s when I started realizing, ‘oh my gosh, I can actually make money.’” Dorion said. 

In pairing promotional content - often reshared by their respective brands, ergo earning more views - with Dorion’s earnings from the Creator Fund, Dorion has a multitude of opportunities to profit from social media. Even so, her ultimate passion for the pastime of socials continues to help her stand out. At its most basic level, this revolves around Dorion telling her story in an incredibly vulnerable and public manner, opening herself up to public judgement and scrutiny. 

“There's always the haters. So many haters. Like, when I did come down (to D3), people were like ‘she went down in divisions just to roll on everyone,’” Dorion said, “And I was like, well, I didn't roll on anyone, and I didn't move down divisions just to do that. There's more to it than that.”

Dorion has effectively mastered being true to herself, true to the camera, and true to her morals, sometimes turning down opportunities for products she doesn’t need or brand endorsements that don’t align with her beliefs.

“Just be true to your morals,” Dorion said. “Don't take everything you see - it can be really easy, people are like, ‘Free stuff, free stuff!’”

Even with the seemingly instant success Dorion has seen across multiple platforms and accounts, this concept of storytelling aligns with a concept every runner knows: Consistency.

"Everyone's, like, ‘consistency is key,’ and I was like, ‘okay, for running,’ but social media is the same. Work is the same, school is the same. Consistency,” Dorion said. “You don't have to be the best. You don’t have to be the most aesthetic. You don't have to be the fanciest, you just have to be consistent.”

Dorion’s frequent posting and raw content allows viewers to read her story without any missing pages, so to speak. And with the limitless content Dorion continues to create, her story appears far from over.