From tennis to design, the seven-time Grand Slam winner details her drive to succeed.
On childhood
School, tennis, the ice cream truck, and church three times a week. That was my early childhood—very, very sheltered. Growing up, my parents said, ‘Your best friends are your sisters.’ I have four; one younger and three older, and honestly, that’s all I knew. It was the best experience. I was super happy, super naïve, and super oblivious. There was always someone to laugh with, to turn to. I couldn’t imagine it any other way.
We left Compton, California for Florida when I was 11 to pursue tennis fulltime. It’s not like I never left the ’hood, but I didn’t see what was the worst to see. I think if I had gotten older there, then maybe I would have started to be aware of what was around me, what I maybe didn’t have and the situation of the community around me, but I never got that chance.
My dad had a plan for me [and my sister] Serena before we were born, as he tells the story. I remember he was telling my aunt, his sister, ‘My girls are great. They’re going to be champions.’ And she would say, ‘You’re just a proud father.’ I believed what he told me; when you’re five years old, you believe your parents. There was a ton of work that went behind it.
A 1990 snapshot of Williams’ tennis-filled childhood
First design memories
As a child, I remember trying to sew clothes for my Barbie dolls and not being able to do it. As a teenager, I guess at about 18 years old, I was struggling with the question, ‘Do I go to school for interior design or fashion design?’ I ended up choosing fashion because Serena wanted to study fashion, too, and we do everything together. I found a school in Fort Lauderdale, an hour from where I lived, and that’s how it started. Because of my tennis schedule I could only go once a year, in the fall for a quarter, so it took me seven years to complete the program.
A muted coastal vibe pervades Atlantico at Alton, a residential community in Palm Beach
Then I ended up going to school for interior design for a year—it was only a matter of time before I had to get back into interiors and give that a real go—and ultimately transferred to a business program to complete my BA in business administration before going to school for my master’s degree in interior architecture. I have eight classes left.
Tennis lessons
Education and knowing who you were as a person off the court was important to my dad. When you spend every waking hour on the court from a young age—4 years old—that can just become who you are. Quite frankly, it still is who I am and who I always will be.
I take countless lessons from tennis [for business]. Sport is life and life is sport, so it’s all one and the same. There are wins or losses and you have to understand how to handle things emotionally. When people look at an athlete, they see this great person who’s achieved something, but there is also the stereotypical thought that it’s all they can do. There is an assumption that they’re not thinkers or very cerebral, so how could they possibly be a good designer or good in business. I like proving those people wrong.
A muted coastal vibe pervades Atlantico at Alton, a residential community in Palm Beach
On launching V Starr
I started V Starr to make my parents proud, not realizing that I’d most likely already made them proud. I had a great upbringing and they instilled in me a work ethic, confidence, balance, and belief. All of these things they taught me were the catalyst. My father gave me an entrepreneurial spirit. He used to play foreclosure tapes [teaching how one could make money off of foreclosed properties] for me and Serena in the car on the way to tennis. I was 8 or 9 years old, but the lesson is still there of how to think outside of the box and for yourself.
It was tough, of course, in the beginning. You have to hire the right people and it took me a minute to find a team that synced. It’s tough to get that first client—our first big project was for a basketball player and we were just so happy—and tough to get people to realize that you’re not just a tennis player, that you are more than that. Residential is where we started, but after a while we wanted an opportunity to have a broader impact, eventually switching to commercial design right in the middle of the financial crisis in 2008. It was an interesting time to do that and somehow we made it.
The Tennis Lounge at the Midtown Athletic Club in Chicago features a wall composed of tennis balls
I like to build out my teams organically. In the beginning, I just asked a friend of mine, one of those people who always knows someone, ‘I’m looking to go into commercial design. Do you know anyone?’ I was introduced to [V Starr’s principal Sonya Haffey] through a friend of his. It turns out we lived across the street from each other. It is such a small world. I love working with her and I trust her. She’s a good person and she puts the interests of others ahead of her own.
Where V Starr is now
I hired the best team in the industry to run V Starr. We now have projects across the nation with over 20 active projects running at any time, including bars, restaurants, hotels, spas, multifamily, and selective residential. Everybody’s racing toward a deadline and success is dependent on the team working together, so I enjoy that aspect—an opportunity where your opinion and your expertise really does matter. We all know our parts that we play. Obviously, that takes time, but you also have to let people take pride in what they’re doing and consider the business their own as well. To succeed, it is vital that we nourish our ideals and culture on a daily basis. That’s the most important part and what keeps us going forward and surviving in all these difficult and challenging times.
Sultry tones dominate in the V Suite’s living area
I love winning a project. Winning never gets old. V Starr designed the V Suite and the tennis lounge at the Midtown Athletic Club in Chicago. It was one of the practice sites for a tournament when I was 17, so it’s pretty fun to go full circle. We are also renovating the spa at the PGA National Resort & Spa in Palm Beach, Florida. I’ve been going there forever. It’s my hometown, so I have a lot of pride in the project. The team is very excited to have such a significant hospitality project in our backyard.
On community
Even though I love design, I think some of our most fulfilling work is the community projects, like the Southeast Tennis and Learning Center in Washington, DC, an amazing place for young people who a lot of times are only getting their meals there and at school. The Yetunde Price Resource Center in Compton, opened in honor of our oldest sister [who was killed by gun violence], provides resources to help families recover from trauma and move forward. What’s most important is that you are always giving more than you’re receiving, and there is so much joy in that.
On wellness and growth
I’ve never been busier, but that’s a good thing. Knowing that I have something to give definitely keeps me motivated. I found an opportunity not only to help during COVID through all of the #CoachVenus workouts I did on Instagram to encourage others to stay active during quarantine, but it also gave me so much more, keeping me encouraged, hopeful, and active by engaging with my community.
The crisp white bedroom in the Midtown Athletic Club’s V Suite
It’s been a significant year. At EleVen by Venus Williams [my fashion line], we focus on activewear and are in a really exciting time of expanding the business to include other lifestyle products, like our beauty collaboration with Credo Beauty. Top design houses are also executing activewear and leisurewear pieces beautifully, so the industry is definitely evolving. I love that because an active lifestyle and practicing wellness leads to a healthier, happier life.
This is so important for me at this moment, especially with people stuck at home and wanting more than ever to be healthy. I think more people are going to be working from home because organizations will recognize that their bottom lines benefit if they’re downsizing on office space. I believe that the athleisure, relaxed look can change the way people are dressing and what people expect in terms of dress for the workplace. That’s where I think the world’s going. It’s pushing me to design more and stay creative.
Future aspirations
As an athlete being fit, well, and healthy is critical to my success. I would love to see the concept of wellness as a whole being applied to every type of project that we work on so that everyone can reap the benefits.
Every day on the court is different. The opponent, the surface, the wind’s blowing, the sun’s in your face, you can’t see the ball. My passion for fashion and interior design mirror those challenges I experience on the court and will allow me to continue evolving my story.
Eclectic artwork covers a wall inside the airy clubhouse at Town Lantana, a residential complex in Lantana, Florida
Photos by Ryan Loco, Jock Fistick, Anthony Tahlier, and courtesy of the Williams Family and Blu27 at Edgewater
This article originally appeared in HD’s November 2020 issue.
