Every day of Women’s History Month the MSU Women*s Student Services have been posting to their instagram different women that have had an impact. Here is the link to Serena Williams’ Virtual Trading Card.
The youngest of five girls, Serena Williams comes from a huge, loving, and supportive family. Williams, as her website states, is “Multifaceted. Creative. Iconic. Serena is mama to Olympia, an entrepreneur, philanthropist, designer, daughter, sister, friend.” Williams is best known as the record-breaking tennis champion of today. She has also had roles in movies, series, music videos, etc. In 2018, her docuseries, Being Serena, was released. Now, Olympia centers her world.
In 1995, Williams turned professional (just one year after her sister, Venus). Soon after, the sisters were dominating tennis. Serena won six U.S. Open titles (1999, 2002, 2008, 2012, 2013, and 2014), three French Open titles (2003, 2013, and 2015), seven Wimbledon championships (2002, 2003, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2015, and 2016), and seven Australian Opens (2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2015, and 2017). She also holds the most Grand Slam singles titles for both women and men with 23. In the Olympics, she has won gold for the singles event (2012) and doubles with Venus (2000, 2008, and 2012).
“I really think a champion is defined not by their wins, but by how they can recover when they fall”
Williams’ tennis career has given her nearly 20 corporate partners and she has received $94 million in career prize money, which is twice as much as any other female athlete. Outside of tennis, she has invested in 66 startups through Serena Ventures as well as owning about a 0.5% stake in the Miami Dolphins. She is a prominent investor in the NFT platform Bitski. Also, she is on the board for Poshmark and Momentive. In 2018, she launched S by Serena which is a direct-to-consumer clothing line that promotes loving yourself and what you wear. In 2019, she launched her jewelry line. In April 2021, Williams signed a TV deal with Amazon which included another docuseries about her.
“The success of every woman should be the inspiration to another. We should raise each other up. Make sure you’re very courageous: be strong, be extremely kind, and above all be humble”
So, why is Serena Williams important?
Honestly, I hope this has already been answered. But, if you haven’t yet gotten it: she has been so influential for many young, Black girls that are dreaming of being successful, she’s a great advocate for health and feminism, and she’s really, really good at tennis.