By JONATHAN LANDRUM Jr., AP Leisure Author
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Serena Williams might have traded match factors for conferences, however the hustle doesn’t cease — even throughout interviews.
When Williams logged onto Zoom for an interview with The Related Press, she was already mid-glam, toggling between touch-ups and enterprise speak. It was a snapshot of the multitasking life she now leads past tennis after stepping away from professional competition in 4 years. The 23-time Grand Slam champion, enterprise investor and producer is among the many featured leaders within the new Prime Video docuseries “The CEO Membership,” which premieres Monday.
Williams has not competed since the 2022 U.S. Open, when she stated she was “evolving” away from tennis. Earlier this month, she became eligible to return to competition after reentering the game’s drug-testing pool, though it stays unclear whether or not she plans to play once more.
For Williams, the transition from elite athlete to entrepreneur attracts on the identical aggressive ideas that outlined her tennis profession.
“I feel the largest lesson is simply by no means hand over, and it’s important to maintain making an attempt,” stated Williams, who stars within the sequence alongside Latin singer Thalia; former mannequin and dressmaker Dee Ocleppo Hilfiger; Market America and Store.com CEO Loren Ridinger; supermodel Winnie Harlow; wellness entrepreneur Hannah Bronfman; and Isabela Rangel Grutman, founding father of ISA Grutman jewellery. The eight episode season follows the distinguished executives navigating high-stakes choices, household obligations and private challenges whereas constructing international manufacturers.
“As a CEO, you don’t win every little thing. It’s important to make actually arduous choices,” Williams continued. “Identical to in sport and in tennis, it’s important to present up day-after-day. You would possibly lose, however you simply have to indicate up once more the very subsequent day.”
Past showing within the sequence, Williams additionally served as an government producer by her firm 9 Two Six Productions, a job she stated felt pure after years within the public eye.
“Being within the public eye for therefore lengthy, you actually need to management the narrative and ensure the reality will get on the market,” she stated. “Not just for me, however for these superb ladies which can be within the present as properly, it’s tremendous necessary that the suitable story is instructed.”
Ridinger stated the sequence highlights the realities behind management that audiences usually don’t see.
“Everyone thinks you’re similar to an in a single day success. They don’t notice it took 34 years to get the place you’re at,” she stated. “Management just isn’t that simple. It’s important to make powerful choices, powerful calls. You’re not at all times a fan favourite of people that you’re working with.”
Ridinger stated constructing a enterprise whereas balancing private obligations requires prioritization and self-discipline, significantly for leaders managing each skilled calls for and household life. She stated sustaining focus usually means making intentional choices about how time and power are spent every day.
“You can’t change into a slave to emergencies,” Ridinger stated. “It’s important to discover ways to prioritize. And the way in which I try this may be very easy. I do the toughest issues first day-after-day.”
Each ladies emphasised the significance of surrounding themselves with trusted helps techniques. They stated that’s a typical theme that runs all through the sequence.
“The curation of a constructive circle is simply a part of life that we have to have,” Ridinger stated. “You’re not going to affiliate with someone that doesn’t imagine in what you do.”
Williams stated the psychological resilience required in sports activities has additionally ready her for the pressures of management.
“Once you’re one of the best, most individuals need you to not accomplish that properly,” she stated. “You simply must lean into making these choices anyway.”
