Williams does not view her businesses as just a retirement plan for when she decides to call it a careerV STARR INTERIORS
Venus Williams' day-to-day schedule, in addition to training and playing in tournaments, includes "being involved in most decisions" at both V Starr Interiors and EleVen, the two small companies she owns that have "about 25 employees combined," according to Elizabeth Weil of the N.Y. TIMES MAGAZINE. V Starr "specializes in hotels, condo developments and athletic clubs and serves primarily corporate clients (plus Serena)." EleVen "makes active wear -- largely tennis clothes, though it has recently branched into streetwear." The businesses are "not just a retirement plan" for Williams, who is "vehemently not talking about retirement." V Starr does "not want to work with people primarily interested in Venus’s celebrity." But with EleVen, her "stardom is an explicit part of the brand." The company’s identity is "built around excellence -- 10 is a number, EleVen is a lifestyle, or so the tagline goes -- with Venus herself representing that goal." She always "wears EleVen apparel when she competes." Williams recently fielded an offer for a reality TV show centered around a "few concepts that interested Venus not at all." Venus then "presented her own, tentatively titled Designing Doubles" (N.Y. TIMES MAGAZINE, 8/25 issue).
