Mary Odusami is rising senior studying biology with a minor in sociology. She is pre-med and ultimately wants to become a dermatologist. She is a micro-influencer on Tiktok for her content creation centered around skincare. Her Tiktok account “glowingwithmary” currently has 59.2 thousand followers and four million likes. Beyond content creation, she is a member of the Expat Society, works at the Los Angeles Children’s Hospital, and helped created the nongovernmental organization “Build Nigeria”. She is from Nigeria, but grew up in Malaysia and went to high school in Massachusetts.
She told us that she posted her first video on Tiktok last summer, however, the first time she posted a video where she became serious about growing a brand was in posted in August of 2021. “Before that, I was too nervous to try to grow a brand, but with pushback from my sister and friends, I decided I needed to get over that fear. ” Her first video that “blew up” had 150,000 views and she then saw an immense amount of traction on a video she made about Sephora which propelled her to a thousand followers. The reason that Mary became so heavily interested in skincare was because of her mom. “My mom has always been in love with skincare and because of her, I got very involved in skincare that’s how I would bond with her. In my junior year of high school, I was with my mom looking at skincare and she jokingly laughed this should be our job. I went home and googled careers surrounding skincare and the first thing that came up was dermatology. I have always wanted to pursue a people-based career. It felt like dermatology an intersection between being people-based and one of my biggest passions: community service.” In terms of her future plans for Glowing with Mary, she wants to reach one hundred thousand followers by her twenty-first birthday in December. Outside of quantifiable numbers, several creators create intersectional content in skincare that she would want to work with. “In addition to skincare, I would want to be involved in wellness, such as athleisure. While skincare and dermatology are my niches I still want to be more wellness centric and showcase a balanced lifestyle. I want to show more meals or the occasional workout. I want to foster connections as a person, not just as a content creator or a niche.” After she graduates she is hoping to take a year off before medical school to either scribe with a dermatologist or even potentially start something like a skincare brand. “I want to be a dermatologist known for creating a skincare brand.” Some fun facts about Mary are that her favorite place to eat on campus is Cava. Her current favorite song is Cherry Forest by Lucky Day. Her advice to future Trojans is “ The best way to attend USC is to keep the mindset that everyone around is remarkable not just for what they do, but for who they are. You have to believe you are just as steadfast and remarkable and invest in yourself in the same way you invest in others."
