While Venus Williams is probably best known for her prowess on the tennis courts, she is also an entrepreneur who has founded an activewear line, EleVen, and an interior design firm, V Starr — as well as a part-owner of the Miami Dolphins football team.
But the five-time Wimbledon singles champion is also a pay equity advocate who successfully convinced the celebrated British tournament's organizers to give equal prize money to both the male and female champions.
In 2005, the day before she competed to win the Grand Slam for the third time, she met with the International Tennis Federation board to discuss the pay gap for women in the sport. It didn't work.
In June of 2006, Williams took her message to the public, writing an
Watch Venus Williams in her own words
The column went viral and the question about equal pay was raised in Parliament. The following year, Wimbledon finally changed the rules and Williams, who won the tournament, was paid the same as the men's champion, Roger Federer.
On Oct. 26, Venus Williams took to the stage at The Most Powerful Women in Banking conference onboard the Intrepid Air and Space Museum in New York City, along with Ernie Johannson, group head, North American personal and business banking, at BMO Financial Group and Lorraine Hariton, president and CEO of Catalyst, a nonprofit that advocates for women's expanded roles at work. Williams discussed her decades-long fight for pay equality, how to make the workplace more diverse and equitable, and how the right mindset is the key to winning in sports, business and life.
Here's what Williams said, in her words.
Why pay equity is everyone's issue
Williams's advocacy efforts around gender pay parity didn't end with Wimbledon — or sports. She has been an advocate for women in all industries and all countries to be paid fairly. In 2021, Williams announced the "Privilege Tax" initiative that will give consumers the ability to donate $1 when they purchase items from EleVen and other participating retailers. The proceedings are donated to Girls Inc., a nonprofit devoted to educating and empowering girls of all ages.
During the discussion, Hariton noted that in 1980, women made 64% of what men make. Today, that rate is 83%, but for women of color it is still only 64%. Williams noted that while women themselves need to fight for equal pay, the issue is everyone's responsibility. "And why is it everyone's issue? Because whether you're a woman or a man, we all have mothers, daughters, sisters, colleagues, loved ones that we care about and these women are facing these challenges. Eighty-three cents to a dollar, 64 cents to a dollar. When you leave the United States, the gap gets wider. It's a real problem," she said.
"They say it's not about money, but it is about money because with money we're able to affect change. We're not here to make all the money, but we're here to be equal. And that is so important and it's so important to talk about this issue. Once we're able to have these conversations — when it's on people's lips — that's when it starts to be something that's actionable. It's important for organizations to make it a part of their strategy, to make sure things are equal. And I experienced this myself as a 16-year-old going to Wimbledon and it's not equal. So it's a problem across the board whether you're in women's sports, whether you are in the office, wherever you are," Williams added.
How to build a diverse and equitable workforce
Williams founded EleVen in 2007, and has been its CEO for the past 13 years. As such, she has advice for other business leaders to build a diverse workforce and ensure that all employees are paid a fair wage for their work.
The first thing to look at, Williams said, is how the organization is training its employees: "Are we training people to look past their biases? A lot of times we have biases that we don't realize that we have no matter what color that we are. So we have to look at our biases, but we have to make it a part of the organization to realize that we are having these biases."
"Secondly, we have to talk about it. And third, we have to make it a goal within the organizations. This is how many of XYZ we're hiring, such as women. And we also have to make sure that we're able to pay these women at these same prices. It's also important to be transparent with salaries so we know what people are making. And it's also important for women to speak up because when you pave the way forward for yourself, then you're doing it for the next person too. So raise your hand and you speak up. There are so many different parts to this and sometimes it's hard to speak up, sometimes you might be afraid, but when you're afraid, you get what fear gives you — and that's nothing," Williams said.
Sports as a metaphor for business and life
Williams said that mastering a sport will prepare you for all other aspects of life, including business. "When you're playing a sport, anything you could learn out there is something that you're gonna transfer to your life and your business. Life is sport and sport is life. And if you can apply yourself in sport and give it your all, it doesn't mean you have to go to the Olympics. It just means you've learned from pushing yourself physically and mentally and emotionally and gaining that control and mastery over self. And when you do that, you can transfer all those skills that you learn, whether it's winning or losing or resilience or understanding yourself, building confidence — all those things are big factors. "
The importance of a confident mindset
Williams attributes her success on the court and in the boardroom to having a belief that she can handle whatever comes her way. "My superpower is I always find a way and I know I will. And I think that is what has gotten me through any and everything, any and every challenge. Ones that were seemingly insurmountable but I knew that I could do it and I didn't think about how it would get done. I just knew it would, so I didn't worry about it," she said.
"It's about enjoying the battle and looking at how you look at challenges instead of like, wow, this is tough," she added. "Just be in the middle of it, and like, yes this is what I want. This is exactly what I wanted."
"But it's important to know that those are the moments in life that you prepared for and that you're ready for and this is what you always wanted. So it's about changing that perspective and training your mind to look at it a different way."
"Even in business there are some moments where you just have a hell of a day. And I think that's even more stressful than being down a match point at Wimbledon. But it's very tough on those days. And I think one of the skills I use in business is that I allow myself, and I started this in the pandemic—I allow myself a certain amount of time to be upset about something and then I've got to move on."
Being bold and taking risks
Williams, despite being a five-time Wimbledon singles champion, has also had her share of setbacks on and off the court. Nonetheless, fortune favors the bold, she said, people need to push themselves to get out of their comfort zones.
"My coach and I were talking about this — we work with a lot of beginners when we do clinics, and it's very interesting how many people will actually take a risk. Most people stay in their comfort zone and they'll just go ahead and do what feels good to them cause they just want to get the ball in. But getting the ball in is not enough. You have to play to win. So we talk about how many people can actually take that risk and take a chance, even if it means making a mistake, even if it means falling down, even if it means failing completely, even if it means getting hit in the head. You have to be able to take that risk."
"But being bold is important because if you are not bold then it won't be enough. It's okay to be mediocre if that's what you want and you're happy. But if that's not what you want, then you have to be able to take a risk. And I personally learned this very early on at the U.S. Open as a young person when I was playing a huge semifinal match. My other sister, Serena, was in the semifinals as well. She was bold, she took the match. I sat around waiting for my opponent to miss, and I didn't get the match. It was a horrible loss. It just was terrible. Because, of course, we wanted both of us to be in the finals. And I wasn't bold enough and it was a powerful lesson. And I remembered after that I said I'll do whatever it takes to win. I'll do whatever this point requires me to do, and it might be something I'm not even comfortable with. I'm gonna do it anyway. And I had to learn the hard way. So it's OK to sometimes have that loss, but as long as you're doing the right things and dreaming big enough and failing, it's the right way to go."
Advice for the next generation
Williams offered her thoughts on the challenges the up-and-coming generation will have to confront.
"This generation faces a unique set of challenges that my generation didn't face or our generations didn't face in the sense that there's more pressure. Whether that's coming from social media or ideals to look a certain way or be a certain way be, there's a lot that we can't even fathom. And what's most important is to be authentic, to be yourself. Go fully into that, because when you are yourself and when you are investing in yourself and there is no one like you and you can offer something that no one else has. That's so important."
"And for young women, just bet on yourself every time. And that's not always easy and sometimes you might not feel that confident, but make your decision as if you felt amazing. Ask yourself, 'What would I do if I felt amazing?' and make that choice from there. Because sometimes as women, we make choices based on how we feel about ourselves that day. And it's not about just this day, it's about all the other days that are coming ahead of you."
