Olivia Earl, better known as Livvy, is an ambitious ten-year-old helping the community with her self-made enterprise ‘Luv Livvy’.

Earlier this year when COVID began to spread in Tasmania and wearing face masks became mandatory, Old Beach resident Livvy was scared when she realised how many single use masks were going into landfill every day. She told her mum she had to do something about it and that she was going to “change the world”.

Livvy dug out an old sewing machine from her mum’s garage, and with the help of Google and YouTube videos, she taught herself to sew. After much practice, Livvy began to produce beautifully-made reversible and reusable face masks. Her mum started advertising them on a local Facebook page, and orders for the masks began to roll in.

With the help of her mum, Livvy then created her own Face-book page @LuvLivvyMasks, where she regularly shares updates on new products to her nearly 200 followers.

She has since received orders from the mainland as well, and even all the way from Canada! Customers can choose the type of fabric, pattern and colour they prefer, and the masks come in four different sizes. Livvy also sews fabric keyrings, drawstring pouches, wire head-bands, and knotted headbands.

But what Livvy does with the proceeds, is where her com-munity spirit really starts to shine through. She splits the proceeds of each sale into three parts. One third is used to buy materials to create more masks, another third goes into her savings, and the rest is donated to local charities.

Always thinking of others, Livvy also recently purchased person-al care items such as shampoos, conditioners, deodorants, toothbrushes, toothpaste, and sanitary items, totalling nearly $200, and donated them to the Salvation Army to be distributed.

Livvy is currently raising funds to buy socks for Hobart City Mission’s Safe Space program, a 24-hour service for people who are experiencing homelessness. During the period of Lent leading up to Easter, Libby will be donating 100% of her profits to purchasing socks for the program. Her Easter products include drawstring bunny pouches, bunny scrunchies, and elastic bookmarks.