American tennis superstar Serena Williams has been involved with building schools in Jamaica and Africa for some time. Williams has joined with Helping Hands Jamaica, a nonprofit organization, that helped to construct the Mariah Elementary School in Trelawny parish in Jamaica, as well as schools in Kenya, Uganda, and Zimbabwe in partnership with Build Africa. In her role as a goodwill ambassador for UNICEF, Williams has worked with several organizations, including Beyond the Boroughs Scholarship Fund, The Equal Justice Initiative, The Caliber Foundation, and Build Africa Schools. Williams is best known as a world-class athlete and multi-title-winning tennis sensation, but she is also a talented businesswoman and dedicated philanthropist. Her dedication and persistence has been displayed throughout her career as she fought back from serious injuries to win global titles, becoming one of the best tennis players in the history of the sport.
Pursuing an entrepreneurial path, Williams has been active as a designer and manager of her own successful fashion line, which includes clothing, handbags, and jewelry. She is an investor in more than 30 companies in several industries, including firms that impact e-commerce, food and beverages, fashion, health and wellness, and social welfare. Williams launched Serena Ventures in 2014 to provide opportunities to founders in a range of industries; she invests in firms that display diversity in leadership, promote empowerment of individuals, encourage creativity, and offer additional opportunities. Her investments focus on firms in their early stages of development and works to ensure they are heard. As her venture grows, she hopes it will mentor young people who want to become founders as well as encourage fledgling entrepreneurs to move to higher levels of achievement. According to blackenterprise.com, Serena Ventures “extends relationships, encourages collaboration among portfolio companies, and expands partnership opportunities across my vast network” in order to make a difference.
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