Venus Williams Wants You to Learn From Her SPF Mistakes

Taking a tour of Venus William’s multifaceted career requires a good amount of math. The pro athlete and entrepreneur has four Olympic gold medals,

21 Grand Slam titles, one lifestyle brand called EleVen by Venus Williams, one interior-design firm, part ownership of one NFL team, and two best-selling mineral sunscreen products. Last month,

four silky SPF lip balms got added to the equation. We caught up with Williams to talk self-doubt, ugly sunscreens, and apple pie.

Do you think of beauty as self-care? Why or why not?
Oh, heck yeah. You definitely have to take care of yourself, and beauty is a part of it. But whatever your interpretation of beauty is, that’s what should lead you and guide you

Has the way you think about beauty changed during the pandemic? How so?

I’ve always been into beauty and self-care, and that’s not just what you can put on your skin; it’s what you eat, what you to your hair. So holistically, all around, I’m just as invested as I’ve always been. I wouldn’t say the pandemic ever changed that.

But I do think the perspective has definitely shifted. People are thinking about what else can they do, not only for that moment, but for the future. People are thinking more about prevention, more about aging, more about what will affect me in 20 years, 30 years, 40 years.

What was your relationship to sunscreen like growing up?
It didn’t exist. I never had sunscreen growing up; I didn’t even think it was necessary. And that’s definitely a myth for African Americans, but we have to protect our skin just as much as anyone else of any different kind of skin tone and background.

Venus Williams is now a K-Swiss ambassador.

Where would you like to see the beauty industry go from here?
It’s already going there! Everything’s going clean, and I love that. The more clean beauty opportunities there are, the more that will encourage even larger companies to clean up their products.

What do you wish more people understood about what you do?
I think people get mostly what I do in tennis, but people know you for one thing.