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Winning the Moment: Perseverance, Championship, & Navigating Disruption
SERENA WILLIAMS has built a legacy as a once-in-a-generation tennis champion. Everyone knows her as the GOAT on the court. Off the court, she is a champion of girls and young women in sports, a self-made entrepreneur, and a venture capitalist. In this enlightening conversation, Serena explains what it takes to reach the top on your terms—and stay there once everyone is coming for you.
The Importance of Identity: How Knowing Who You Are Powers Your Next Step
Cultural icon SERENA WILLIAMS’ journey emphasizes embracing her unique self and staying true to her nature amidst challenges on the court and in the media. In this motivational speech, Serena gives the keys to embracing what you want for your well-being and not worrying about external opinions.
Resilience in the World of Sports
Tennis legend SERENA WILLIAMS underscores the significance of resilience and grit. Whether on or off the court, Serena demonstrates the value of perseverance, determination, and teamwork in overcoming challenges.
Lessons on Leadership: From the Court to the Boardroom
SERENA WILLIAMS’ leadership prowess extends beyond her athletic achievements, offering valuable lessons in determination, discipline, and drive. From launching a makeup line to investing in 14 companies that have gone on to reach unicorn status, Serena’s unwavering commitment to excellence serves as a blueprint for both aspiring and established leaders, emphasizing the importance of focus, hard work, and resilience in achieving goals.
Gender & Health Equity Fundraising and Awareness
By investing in woman-owned businesses, advocating for fair pay in sports, and launching the BirthFUND health initiative, SERENA WILLIAMS has shown her sustained commitment to gender and health equity. Using her platform to amplify voices, promote opportunities, and fight disparity, Serena adds to the conversation by driving change and progress.
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Excellence Across Industries: What Ties Together Serena Williams’ Diverse Portfolio? Serena Herself.
After retiring as a world-class professional athlete, turned to business, kicking off yet another meteoric rise. Using the learnings of over a decade of investment experience, she opened Serena Ventures, a fund empowering underrepresented founders. 14 of her investments have reached unicorn status, valuing $1B or more. Tying the companies together is Serena’s keen eye for culture, leadership, and world-changing ideas. In live engagements, Serena shares how she uses her unique life experiences to pay it forward as a change agent in sports and business.
Watch Serena Williams’ keynote at Watermark Conference for Women >>
How Serena Williams saved her own life (& is now making advances in Black maternal healthcare)
After experiencing life-threatening complications while giving birth to her daughter, SERENA WILLIAMS realized that she could make a profound impact on the lives of countless women. In the book Arrival Stories: Women Share Their Experiences of Becoming Mothers, Serena admirably shared her story of undergoing three emergency surgeries. Creating an outlet to realize change, Serena founded BirthFUND, a need-based grant provider of holistic perinatal care and midwifery birth support services. Serena’s commitment to telling her story while creating tangible change is an inspiration for anyone trying to make the world a better place.
Watch Serena Williams’ keynote at Watermark Conference for Women >>
Serena Williams Embraces Her Role as a Business Leader
The name SERENA WILLIAMS is synonymous with determination and excellence, on and off the court. Serena has long been a leader in brand development, leveraging her name and likeness for endorsements with global brands like Nike, Wilson, Gatorade, Pampers, Stuart Weitzman, Beats by Dre, and Wheaties.
Over the past decade, she expanded her personal empire by founding S by Serena, a fashion line celebrating body positivity and female empowerment, and Serena Ventures, her own venture capital fund with a focus on investing in companies that embrace diverse leadership, individual empowerment, creativity, and opportunity. She explained to Forbes, “I want to be in the infrastructure. I want to be the brand, instead of just being the face.”
Serena Ventures has found enormous success with investments in 50+ companies, with a combined market cap of $14 Billion. Williams has proven herself to be a generational leader and a whiz at following market trends. She is also a champion for women and believes in harnessing the power of business and entrepreneurism for social good. Williams motivates audiences with stories from her extraordinary life as a tennis pro and business titan.
Tennis Legend Serena Williams is named to Sports Illustrated Unrelenting List
Sports Illustrated has recognized SERENA WILLIAMS on their Unrelenting List of the most powerful, most influential and most outstanding women in sports right now—the game-changers who are speaking out, setting the bar and making a difference. Here is what they said of Williams:
A longstanding figure in the sport of tennis for more than two decades, Williams has 23 Grand Slam titles to her name—and at age 39, she’s still competing and clawing for her record-tying 24th major title. A cultural and sporting icon, Williams’s influence extends beyond the court. From battling injuries to surviving serious complications after giving birth to her daughter, Olympia, in 2017, to withstanding racist remarks and body-shaming comments throughout her career, Williams has confronted adversity head on, with strength, resilience and courage. Since becoming a venture capitalist who invests in early-stage startups, she's taking on the problem of racial bias and resource allocation in Silicon Valley, calling attention to the bias against Black female founders. She was recently profiled in Fast Company about her business plans, from Serena Ventures to what she calls her "S umbrella," her collection of personal brands. And all the while, she serves as a constant inspiration for both working moms and a new generation of young tennis players around the world.
Serena Williams is an incredibly inspiring, powerful woman who is a remarkable example of leadership, tenacity, and vision
If you are a tennis fan (or not), you know SERENA WILLIAMS as the larger-than-life tennis icon. Few athletes become bigger than their game--Williams is one of them. Previously the #1 Women’s Single tennis player in the world, with 23 Grand Slam singles titles - the most of any other player currently playing and the second most of all time - Serena is a true trailblazer. Recently gracing the cover of VOGUE, Serena reminded the world that despite her tremendous success in the sport, “tennis is a small play in the whole scheme of things.” Can you imagine that? Serena, essentially, is just getting started. Using her platform, Serena continues to work to advance intersectional issues from women’s equity to society inequities. For her feature in the TIME100, Dwyane Wade writes, “Serena does not take her abilities for granted. She deserves all of her success, because she is one of the most hardworking and disciplined people I know. She is a world-class athlete and a true champion in every sense of the word. Serena is on a mission — and how amazing that we all get to witness it.” At virtual and in-person events, Serena Williams delivers an incredibly inspiring, powerful message and serves as a remarkable example of leadership, tenacity, and vision.
Serena Williams embodies style, power, beauty, and courage. The longest-ranked #1, she has won 23 career Grand Slams, making her the most successful female player of the Open Era and the prized WTA player of all time. Her success extends beyond tennis to beauty, venture capital, film, television, and fashion. Her athletic prowess combined with her off-court presence makes her one of the most recognizable names and faces in the world.
Serena has won titles in all four Grand Slam tournaments. She has won 73 singles championships, 23 doubles championships, and was a gold medalist at the 2000 (doubles), 2008 (doubles), and 2012 (singles and doubles) Olympics. In 2015, Serena won four Grand Slams: Wimbledon, The French Open, The Australian Open, and The 2014 US Open, a feat affectionately known as the “Serena Slam”. Sports Illustrated named Serena their “2015 Sportsperson of The Year”. In 2017, Serena clinched her 23rd Grand Slam title at the Australian Open.
Off the court, Serena has become a respected entrepreneur, investor, and fashion designer. She served as executive producer for the critically acclaimed 2021 film “King Richard” and the soccer documentary “COPA 71”, which premiered at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival and was later acquired by Greenwich Entertainment.
In July, ESPN premiered the first episode of IN THE ARENA: SERENA WILLIAMS, an 8-episode docuseries chronicling her legendary career. Each episode explores the pivotal moments in Serena’s life on and off the court, illustrating the steps that show the incredible distance traveled throughout her career. This premiere was followed by ABC’s broadcast of the 2024 ESPYS, hosted by Serena.
In April 2024, Serena launched WYN Beauty in partnership with Ulta Beauty, inspired by her locker room routine. WYN Beauty aims to inspire people to show up for themselves and others.
Serena graced the cover of Fast Company’s Most Productive People issue in 2020 and Forbes ‘Self Made Millionaire’ annual issue in 2019. In 2017, she established her venture capital firm, Serena Ventures, focusing on investing in women and founders of color. In November 2023, Serena received the prestigious Fashion Icon honor at the 2023 CFDA Fashion Awards.
In the entertainment space, Serena announced a first look film and television deal with Amazon Studios in 2021. She previously released the Emmy-nominated HBO docuseries “Being Serena” in 2018.
August 2022 marked Serena’s final matches at the U.S. Open as she announced her evolution away from tennis. She has since focused on new opportunities including publishing her children’s book, ”The Adventures of Qai Qai”. In December of 2022 Williams announced that she had teamed up with two CPG veterans to launch Will Perform, a line of clean, cruelty-free topical pain relief and daily muscle care solutions designed to reimagine recovery.
In April 2023, Serena introduced Nine Two Six Productions, a multimedia production company that aims to elevate female and diverse voices through content. In September, it was announced that Williams joined as an executive producer through Nine Two Six Productions on the upcoming Diahann Carroll documentary, BETWEEN STARRSHINE AND CLAY: THE HIDDEN DIARY OF DIAHANN CARROLL.
In October of 2023, Random House announced that Serena will author two books: an intimate and open-hearted memoir exploring the experiences that have shaped her life, and a guide offering rules for living that draw on her experiences as an entrepreneur and advocate. Both books will be bound by an unwavering belief in the power of perseverance, overcoming adversity, and dreaming unabashedly.
My Speaker List
