Serena Williams Causes and Companies With Equal Determination And Finesse

She’s a sports icon, designer, investor, channeler of parenting advice, philanthropist and, of course, branding tour de force. And she’s not done yet.

- Ron Stodghill

Serena Williams’ signature move has always been to display grace under pressure, to pivot away from the mundane toward the metaphysical, to plant her feet firmly in her most inspired authentic self. And so it came as no surprise that a couple of days after her disappointing loss to Naomi Osaka at the 2018 U.S. Open, she seemed remarkably unfazed by all the drama that had unfolded some 48 hours earlier. As she sat for a photo shoot and interview with Adweek in a Hell’s Kitchen loft in Manhattan, this year’s Brand Visionary thoughtfully reflected on her victories off the court.

“I just feel like sometimes, for whatever reason, anything that I do gets amplified, and so I use it for my brand,” Williams says. “I use it to promote messages that are affirmative, like ‘you are strong, brave, proud, great’ and all those things that I feel like I’m in a position to not only express playing tennis but can also be expressed in my fashion line and other products.”

Indeed, surpassing the familiar roles of tennis champ or celebrity athlete, Williams is a businessperson, defender of the downtrodden, designer, investor, channeler of parenting advice, the icon onto which millions of people project their expectations of African Americans, women and sports stars—and, of course, a branding tour de force. Williams, 37, represents products across multiple industries, from sportswear (Nike), tech (Beats) and beverages (Gatorade) to finance (JPMorgan Chase), and has collaborated on products with the Home Shopping Network. In May 2017, she joined the board of SurveyMonkey. And later that year, she was named chair of Oath’s board of advisers, bringing with her a determination to leverage the Verizon subsidiary’s platform “to make change.”