Alumna Dominique Olowolafe Goes From Volleyball To Starting Own Company

Editor's Note: Each Monday and Thursday throughout February, Cal Poly Athletics will celebrate Black History Month with a series of posts on GoPoly.com.

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — Coming out of Lansing, Mich. in 2007 to play for the Cal Poly volleyball team, Dominique Olowolafe was thrown right into the fire as a freshman.

She was joining a team that in 2006 was nationally ranked and coming off a Big West Championship and had high expectations for the '07 season.

"I was terrified, but also committed to that team and doing my part to help us win," Olowolafe recalls about that year.

The middle blocker ended up playing a big role on the 2007 team that won its second consecutive Big West Championship and made a run in the NCAA Tournament to the Sweet 16, becoming just the second Cal Poly team to do so.

For her contributions that season, Olowolafe was named to the Big West All-Freshman Team. Dominique Olowolafe block

"That year and team was very special," she remembers of that season. "It was led by seniors who demanded the best out of everyone and led through their actions both on and off the court. They set the bar high and as a freshmen you're a sponge to the environment."

Olowolafe continued that high level of play into the rest of her Mustang career. She went on to be a three-time First Team All-Conference honoree, was named to the U.S. Collegiate National Team, is fifth in program history for career hitting percentage, and seventh for both career block assists and total blocks.

However, when she looks back on her Mustang volleyball career, her fondest memories have nothing to do with individual stats in a record book.

"Playing at Mott when the gym is packed. The band, buzz, energy, and excitement cannot be replicated. And beating big, bad Long Beach State in the pyramid."

After graduating with a degree in Communications in 2011, Olowolafe went on to play professionally overseas.

Between 2011 and 2013, she played professionally in countries such as Switzerland, Azerbaijan and Italy. It was an experience that gave her a different perspective on volleyball.

"The best part about collegiate sports is that everyone's reward is the same: conference and NCAA championships. When you play professionally, each player's contract is different, which believe it or not impacts the team dynamic and overall output of each player. Playing volleyball because I loved it and playing it because it was my actual job brought a different kind of pressure. I wasn't prepared for that, but I learned a lot. But my time overseas ignited my passion for travel, exploring new cultures, and learning about other ways of life."

In 2013, she made the career transition to working in Hollywood as a freelance costume designer and supervisor. During her time doing that, she worked on such TV shows as 'Criminal Minds', 'Colony', 'SEAL Team', and 'There's…Johnny!'.

"I dressed people for a living, mostly for commercials and TV shows. I was working on a show called 'Snowfall' before the pandemic shut Hollywood down."

When the COVID-19 pandemic caused a halt to her working as a costume supervisor, she used that time to create her own company called Lightly.

Lightly is a premium travel service for parents with infants and young kids that delivers curated packages directly to wherever they are going.

"Essentially I wanted to make traveling easier for parents towing tiny humans," Olowolafe says of what Lightly is. "There's a lot of stuff you end up bringing and so many articles, blogs, chats trying to offer tips and tricks. Lightly allows parents to skip dragging their entire nursery because we deliver all the essentials directly to destination doorsteps. Now you just book your flight, hotel, Lightly box and you're done."

Starting a brand new company in the middle of a pandemic may sound tough, but Olowolafe says Lightly has been growing and has allowed her to find a new passion.

"Even more exciting is that we built touchless vending machines to support families in transit. No one can control flight delays or the inevitable 'uh oh' moments so I wanted to make sure we had products available to help parents at the airports. Our first machine launched at Fairbanks International and we have several more being deployed at airports across the U.S.

"Without COVID-19 I wouldn't have had time to build my business. So strangely enough, I'm incredibly thankful for this unique turn of events."

If you'd like to learn more about Lightly, click here. If you'd like to help Dominique with funding to continue building her company from the ground up, click here.

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