Venus Williams nurtures love of design

JUPITER, Fla. This is what you get when you hire Venus Williams as your interior decorator: an enthusiastic designer who has traveled the world, drawing inspiration from Moscow to Beijing, but never quite had time to complete formal training; a team of professionals working with her; and a place on a client list that includes celebrities and professional athletes.

And, of course, you get Venus Williams.

Shes one of the great tennis players of all time: seven Grand Slam singles titles, an Olympic gold medal, a woman who changed the face of modern tennis. Her father gave her a racket when she was 4 years old and told her she was going to become the best player in the world.

Most people decide what they want to do later in life, and some people know really early, she says. For me, what I was doing was already decided. Thankfully, I liked it. But that was her fathers dream, not hers. This was like when you get to make your own choice about what you love.

And Williams loves, loves, loves designing. She talks about space planning, construction, lighting and fabric swatches like nobodys business. In fact, it is a business: For more than a decade, she has quietly run an interior design firm in her adopted home of Florida, both capitalizing on and overcoming her famous name.

She recently unveiled her latest work in the District of Columbia, the renovated Southeast Tennis and Learning Center, an after-school tennis, arts and academic program created for children. Other people at the gala saw her as the tennis legend; she was there as the person responsible for the look and feel of the space.

As a designer, you design and its beautiful and people feel great when they walk in but how have you changed the world? she asks. For us, this sort of project means so much to us because its going to impact so many lives.

Love of creativity

Williams had been playing tennis for 14 years and was two years away from her first Wimbledon and U.S. Open singles titles in 2000 when a letter arrived on her doorstep when she was 17 or 18. She cant remember if it was addressed to her or was a random solicitation, but it invited her to study art and design at a technical school in Tampa, Florida.

Oh, I want to go to design school! she remembers telling her mom. She loved being creative: She grew up sewing and still has the homemade skirts she made for her first professional tournament at age 14.

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Venus Williams nurtures love of design