Serena Williams’s Motivation for Creating Her Own Makeup Line Is Inspiring

Serena Williams / Nathan Ray Seebeck-USA TODAY Sports

Serena Williams’s professional tennis career brought her a lot things: huge success, worldwide acclaim and, perhaps surprisingly, an understanding of what makes for good activity-ready makeup.

The athlete retired from her historic tennis career in 2022, stepping away from professional play after over 25 years of continued success. Now, she’s putting her time and energy into her entrepreneurial efforts, including her new makeup brand, Wyn Beauty.

Inspired by her years on the court—and her exhaustive efforts to find reliable makeup that would stick around no matter her activity and, particularly, her sweat levels—and the lack of inclusivity in the makeup industry, Williams officially launched her company only a few weeks ago.

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It’s a brand focused on the idea of “longevity,” she told Women’s Wear Daily. “As a tennis player, you’re sweating and dripping and so it’s like, ‘What can I wear that best represents myself?’” But finding the right products wasn’t simply a question of finding makeup that would stand the test of time (or a sweaty hours-long match). It was about finding products that worked for her skin tone. That proved particularly difficult.

“For years I would travel to countries that didn’t have products that were made for me, but I still had to show up to press, to events and I had to look decent,” she said in the WWD interview. Williams was attempting to master her makeup look at a time “when there weren’t these 20- to 40-shade ranges.”

So, Wyn isn’t simply focused on creating makeup that will outlast your day-to-day activity (professional athletics or not). It’s likewise committed to bolstering inclusivity in the makeup space. Williams’s products are meant for all skin tones and all activities. Plus, they’re meant to streamline your routine at the same time that they improve it. “It’s those 10 items where, if you were on Survivor and could only have 10 things in your makeup kit and you still want to look good because you’re going to be on camera—this is that,” she said.