Serena Williams Divulges Motivation for Starting Namesake Design Crew at Nike

She started the group in the hopes of elevating up-and-coming designers.

Serena Williams / Danielle Parhizkaran-USA TODAY Sports

As a player, Serena Williams was a Nike athlete. In 2003, she signed a contract with the brand, creating a partnership that would span the remainder of her professional tennis career.

Now retired, the former pro is no longer sporting the brand’s gear on the tennis court, but their partnership has continued in other avenues. Most notably, Williams is the founder of the Serena Williams Design Crew (SWDC), a group of young designers who help bring the athlete’s visions to life. Her motivation for creating the SWDC was simple: elevating designers who looked like her.

Williams spoke to her reasoning in a recent Instagram post. “Have you ever been a part of something amazing where no one in the room looked like you? Well, I wanted to change that,” she wrote. “A few years ago, I started with Serena Williams Design Crew at Nike. We traveled around the US to find incredible designers who looked like me. It has been incredibly rewarding to bring in talented designers with diverse backgrounds.”

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With the help of the crew, the 42-year-old has released several Nike collections. The most recent, which just dropped on Nike’s website, is “from the May LA designers cohort, which is from my hometown,” she explained. “You all did an amazing job, and I’m obsessed with it.”

Featuring neutral sweats and pale pink Air Max shoes, the collection is a testament to Williams’s good style and the talents of the SWDC. Be sure to check it out—and consider supporting her impressive endeavors.