Serena Williams

Serena Jameka Williams was born in Saginaw, Michigan, United States, to Richard Williams and Oracene Price. She grew up in Compton, California, and began playing tennis at a young age; in 1991 she moved with her family to Florida, where she trained with her sister Venus WilliamsVenus WilliamsVenus Williams is an American tennis player, design entrepreneur, and investor who has won seven Grand Slam singles titles and four Olympic gold medals and has been ranked world No. 1 in women’s singles. She founded the design firm V Starr, co-founded Happy Viking and Palazzo, and has invested in ventures including Ellevest, Asutra, WeWard, and Los Angeles Golf Club.Open the full entry under Rick Macci.⁠[1]

In 1995, Williams began her professional career in the qualifying draw of an event in Quebec; in 1997, she reached a tour main draw for the first time in Moscow. In 1998, she won the Wimbledon and US Open mixed doubles titles with Max Mirnyi. In 1999, she won her first tour singles title in Paris, and at that year’s US Open she defeated Martina Hingis in the final to win her first Grand Slam singles title.⁠[2]

Williams first reached world No. 1 in women’s singles in 2002. From the 2002 French Open to the 2003 Australian Open, she won four consecutive Grand Slam singles titles, holding all four major titles at once across two calendar years in what became known as the “Serena Slam.” She later achieved this again between the 2014 US Open and 2015 Wimbledon.⁠[3]

In 2006, Williams worked with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) for the first time, traveling to Ghana to take part in a local child health campaign. The United Nations recorded that she helped with vaccination activities, distributed mosquito nets, and took part in demonstrations of how to use the nets.⁠[4]

In August 2009, Serena and Venus Williams joined the Miami DolphinsMiami DolphinsThe Miami Dolphins are an NFL professional American football team in the AFC East. Awarded an AFL franchise in 1965, they began play in 1966 and now use Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida. Under Don Shula, they won Super Bowls VII and VIII, including a 17–0 regular season and postseason in 1972. Stephen M. Ross owns the team, and Jeff Hafley is head coach.Open the full entry’ ownership group. Team owner Stephen RossStephen RossStephen Ross, whose full name is Stephen Michael Ross, is an American real estate developer and investor, the founder of Related Companies, chairman and CEO of Related Ross, and owner of the Miami Dolphins. His work spans affordable housing, large urban mixed-use developments and sports entertainment. He co-founded RSE Ventures and has supported university education and sustainable-city research.Open the full entry introduced the two as limited partners; their individual investment amounts and ownership percentages were not disclosed.⁠[5]

On September 20, 2011, UNICEF appointed Williams as a Goodwill Ambassador. She would support children’s access to quality education, with a particular focus on children in Africa and Asia.⁠[4]

At the 2012 London Olympics, Williams won the women’s singles gold medal; with Venus, she also won women’s doubles gold medals at three Olympic Games, in 2000, 2008, and 2012. At the 2017 Australian Open, she defeated Venus in the final to win her 23rd Grand Slam singles title. Her 23 titles comprise seven Australian Open, seven Wimbledon, six US Open, and three French Open titles; over her career she was ranked world No. 1 in singles for a total of 319 weeks.⁠[1][3]

In 2018, Williams launched the apparel brand S by Serena, extending her business activities from athlete endorsements to founding her own brand. In a July 2026 interview looking back on this business, she said she had chosen to pause the brand because of disagreements over judgment and direction with investment partners.⁠[6][7]

During the 2018 US Open women’s singles final, chair umpire Carlos Ramos ruled that Williams had committed a violation after observing a hand gesture by her coach, Patrick Mouratoglou, and a dispute between the two followed. Williams later said she had not received coaching and questioned her coach’s explanation of the gesture; Mouratoglou, for his part, acknowledged making a coaching gesture.⁠[8]

In 2019, Williams and Nike established the Serena Williams Design Crew (SWDC), an apprenticeship program to develop design talent from diverse backgrounds. The first cohort brought together 10 New York designers, who completed a six-month program at Nike and designed a collection of women’s apparel, footwear, and accessories. When Nike presented the first cohort’s results in August 2021, a second cohort of 11 apprentices from the Chicago area had already begun. A Nike executive said Williams took part in reviewing portfolios, product briefs, and design reviews.⁠[9]

Angel City FCAngel City FCAngel City FC is an NWSL women's professional soccer club in Los Angeles, playing at BMO Stadium.Open the full entry announced its formation plans on July 21, 2020, and began play in the National Women’s Soccer LeagueNWSLThe National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) is a professional women’s soccer league in the United States with 16 clubs in 2026. It stages a regular season, playoffs and the Challenge Cup, while a collective bargaining agreement governs employment relations between clubs and players.Open the full entry in 2022. The club’s official website lists Williams among its founding members; she later discussed her investment in the team in interviews.⁠[10][7]

On March 24, 2021, the bitcoin shopping rewards company Lolli announced that it had completed a $5 million pre-Series A funding round, with participants including Serena Ventures, Alexis Ohanian’s Seven Seven Six, and Night Media. In a statement, Williams said she supported making bitcoin accessible to and owned by more people. The $5 million was the total size of the round, not the individual contribution of Williams or her fund.⁠[11]

On January 20, 2022, Sorare co-founder Nicolas Julia announced that Williams had joined the company as a board advisor. She would advise on athlete relations, women’s sports, new sports categories, and engagement with wider audiences.⁠[12]

In August 2022, in a first-person essay in Vogue, Williams said she was preparing to shift her focus from tennis to family and business. She also disclosed that Serena Ventures had raised $111 million in outside capital that year, with an investment focus on pre-seed and seed stages.⁠[13]

In May 2023, Williams previewed her own YouTubeYouTubeYouTube is Google’s video-sharing and creator platform, founded in 2005 by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim and acquired by Google in 2006. Built around video uploading, viewing, and creator earnings, the platform has developed Shorts, YouTube Music, Premium, YouTube TV, and products for children, and is headquartered in San Bruno, California, United States.Open the full entry channel on social media, with content focused mainly on behind-the-scenes footage of her life. The channel uses the handle @SerenaWilliams and is verified on the platform.⁠[14][15]

On June 8, 2023, the law firm Paul, Weiss, which worked on the transaction, disclosed that Seven Seven Six had formed the ownership group of Los Angeles Golf Club together with Serena and Venus Williams, as one of TGL’s first teams. The announcement did not disclose financial terms. The club’s official website still lists a profile card for Serena and her founding relationship with the club.⁠[16][6]

In November 2023, Setter, a New York-based Web3 consumer app, completed a $5 million seed round led by a16z, with participation from Marcy Ventures Partners, Superlayer, Thirty Five Ventures, and Williams. Setter initially targeted streetwear and sneaker brands, helping brands promote exclusive merchandise and release limited-edition drops to users. Public information did not disclose Williams’s individual investment amount, nor did it specify the vehicle through which she holds her stake.⁠[17]

On April 4, 2024, WYN BEAUTY announced its launch. The brand was founded by Williams and Good Glamm Group through a joint venture, debuting with 10 face, lip, and eye products in 91 shades. The announcement said the products were already on sale on the official website at the time, with plans to enter 685 Ulta Beauty stores in the United States and its website on April 7. Williams said the product idea came from her experience of needing her makeup to hold up after long matches and daily activities.⁠[18]

On March 3, 2025, the WNBA announced that Williams would join the Toronto Tempo ownership group led by Larry Tanenbaum and would take part in designing uniforms and merchandise. The announcement stated at the time that the investment was still subject to final league approval. In a public interview in July 2026, she continued to discuss the Tempo as an investor.⁠[19][7]

On September 8, 2025, Williams publicly clarified on her own X account that she had not invested in Unrivaled in a personal capacity; the investor was Serena Ventures, an institutional fund run and managed by Beth Ferreira. She said she remained a partner in the fund but did not hold an operating role. The statement responded to claims at the time that treated her personally and the fund bearing her name as the same investor.⁠[20]

On June 1, 2026, the WTA announced that Williams would return in the doubles event at Queen’s Club. She and Victoria Mboko won their first match, then withdrew from the rest of the event because of her partner’s injury; that same month she also partnered Karolina Muchova in Berlin and accepted a wildcard into the Wimbledon singles draw. She then lost to Maya Joint in three sets in the first round at Wimbledon.⁠[2][21][22]

In a Rapid Response interview released on July 28, 2026, Williams said Serena Ventures had been renamed Starfire Ventures, as she hoped the investment firm could move beyond her personal name. She emphasized a focus on often-overlooked founders while aiming to generate returns for the fund’s investors; she summarized her way of making decisions as a combination of investment principles and intuition, and mentioned the role of partner Beth Ferreira on the team. The official website still showed the Serena Ventures brand at the time.⁠[7][23]

On the night of September 4, 2026, Serena and Venus Williams lost in three sets to Hao-Ching Chan and Maya Joint in a roughly three-hour first-round women’s doubles match at the US Open. The two had previously played together in Cincinnati, and this was the latest milestone in the sisters’ return to Grand Slam doubles.⁠[24]

Serena Ventures: Official website: https://www.serenaventures.com/ (opens in a new window).⁠[23]

Los Angeles Golf Club: Official website: https://www.lagc.com/ (opens in a new window).⁠[6]

Angel City FC: Official website: https://angelcity.com/ (opens in a new window).⁠[10]