For Venus Williams, defying expectations has been the defining characteristic of her life. Not only does she thrive in challenging situations, “I never slow down,” says the triple-threat athlete-turned-designer, who made her name on the tennis court but has also laid down professional roots in both fashion and interior design.
Creativity has always been at the forefront for Williams, who pursued a fashion degree in tandem with her sister, Serena, at the Arts Institute in Fort Lauderdale and eventually developed her own athletic apparel company EleVen. Then there is her other day job as a world-class tennis player on the WTA circuit, with seven Grand Slam major titles and a current ranking in the top 100 to her name. Still, she found time to earn an associate’s degree in interior design from the Art Institute of Pittsburg (she’s currently working on her master’s in interior architecture as well), followed by the launch of her West Palm Beach, Florida-based firm V Starr Interiors in 2002.
Led by a deep curiosity “in everything from color to pattern and how they can apply to the world around us,” she says her design sense is eclectic, bold, and timeless. Consider her first hospitality project, the Presidential and Royal suites inside the InterContinental Miami, where shades of blue and tangerine mix with natural tones. In an opportunity to mix her two loves, she designed the V suite and the tennis lounge at the Midtown Athletic Club in Chicago (alongside local firm DMAC Architecture), as well as the Southeast Tennis and Learning Center in Washington, DC. Here, she created a space for underprivileged children to have “access to after-school programs that provide a place for them to cultivate a healthy lifestyle and get support from their community,” says Williams, who was born and raised in Compton in Los Angeles. A forthcoming multifamily residential building will offer affordable housing in New York’s Harlem neighborhood. Plus, she and Serena have created the Williams Sister Fund for various philanthropic projects.
It’s no secret Williams’ father played a pivotal role in her tennis career, but she also credits him to her multi-prong career, encouraging her to think about life outside of the sport: a lesson that success comes in all forms and that her greatest victory is doing what she loves. “I thought about many different avenues I could go down, but design just felt like the perfect fit,” she says. I love tennis so much, but I feel like it was chosen for me, and design was something I got to choose for myself.”
