Her Story
About Olivia
I graduated from Georgia Tech with a degree in computer science in December 2020, right at the height of COVID. While attending school, I was a caretaker for my grandfather, who was my best friend - a Vietnam War veteran and immigrant from Ecuador who self-enlisted to serve three tours in Vietnam. He taught himself English with a dictionary and candlelight because he couldn't afford electricity, and his story about energy access really got me thinking about how to make it more affordable and clean for next generations. I had some really great job offers to work on video games out west, which is what I originally wanted to do with my career, but those would have required me to leave my buddy behind during his kidney failure and dialysis. So I decided to take a leap of faith, decline all those offers, and build something that made me feel more connected to him while giving me the scheduling freedom to create my day of work around his needs. Within the same week of graduation, I founded Infinite Energy Advisors, my full-service solar firm. I self-financed my entire business from day one and never took a penny from anybody because I wanted to retain ownership. We were able to profit in year one and have become a multi-million dollar solar company. I was able to take care of my grandfather until the very end, and now I get to continue to build the company and his legacy. My second company is a first-of-its-kind solar training school where we established Georgia's first and only Department of Labor registered apprenticeship program specific to solar. We focus on doing good work and high-impact projects - we're the first and currently the only solar installers working directly with Athens Area Habitat for Humanity for a historic community where all 68 homes in the neighborhood are getting solar plus batteries. We also did an amazing cohort with Athens Land Trust and the Young Urban Builders, training underprivileged youth in solar skills and hiring several of them onto our team.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Olivia
01What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
For me, the learning curve was just learning how to step into my own power, which is so funny because we work in a power-generating industry. As a young business owner, I was so intentional with how I grew the business because I knew it had that legacy tied to my grandfather. I wanted it to be great, but I never wanted to lose ownership of my business, so I never took a penny from anybody. I self-financed my entire business from day one, and it's still that way. I think not selling your soul and really focusing on alternative ways that you as a young person or new entrant into your industry can retain that ownership and really be bold enough to trust yourself and make those big moves, but also let yourself sit in that and question yourself enough to make the best decisions for your business. Learning how to say no to certain things and being confident and comfortable in the value that you bring to your customers is really important. As a part of the community and as hopefully a good contributor, you want to see others in your industry do well. You don't want to gatekeep and you don't want to close a door for somebody else. But at the same time, we've got to make a living too and stay in business, so really finding that sort of tight walk of where it is that you're sitting in without ever questioning yourself or questioning others is such an art, and it really makes you feel very wholesome in the work that you do, knowing that you're doing it honestly, you're not stepping on anybody's toes, and you are owning your own power.
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