Venus Williams Learns To Let Go

Tennis trained her to be a one-woman,hyperfocused, do-it-all yourself machine. But as she’s discovering, entrepreneurship requires more balance.

- Isaac Butler

Venus Williams sits in a conference room, surrounded by branding executives and healthy snacks. And the room is starting to get a little chatty. People aren’t focusing on the task at hand. “Shall we continue?” Williams says softly. Most of what Williams says is spoken softly, with a quiet authority, and it’s effective. The assembled people snap back to attention like a rubber band.

A conference room may not be where tennis fans picture Venus Williams. But it’s a setting where she’s increasingly at home.

It is mid-September, about two weeks after Williams lost in the semifinals of the U.S. Open to Sloane Stephens. What follows the loss has been a whirlwind, full of business meetings for her growing portfolio of outside concerns, which she fits in between training sessions and preparations for the fall Asian season of the women’s tennis tour. Today’s is about EleVen by Venus Williams, her athleisure company, which sells workout gear that Williams also always plays in. The company is thriving, growing 300 percent year over year, and has hired boutique ad agency NSG/SWAT to pull together a look book for its spring/summer 2018 collection. This is what retail buyers and marketing companies will soon see, and Williams and her team are here to review the latest draft.