Exclusive: Serena Williams and Bozoma Saint John Talk Fashion And Inclusion at Breakfast of Champions

Serena Williams Bozoma Saint John are two women that are consistently leaving behind positive footprints in the world. As a world-class champion athlete and a successful entrepreneur and CMO- both women have climbed the ladder of success through hard work, dedication, perseverance and more importantly remaining authentically themselves. The message of remaining authentically yourself rang true all morning during September 9th’s Breakfast of Champions. The intimate discussion, held during NYFW and sponsored by Wheaties was the ultimate empowerment event to kick off the week. The Knockturnal was on the scene of the intimate dinner. You can check out some of what the two boundary-breaking women had to say below:

Serena: [In reference to her Serena Williams fashion line]: “So we’re having our show tomorrow for New York Fashion Week. And we’re super excited.We were doing fittings all day yesterday. It’s really fun and I realize I use a lot of the left side of my brain. I’m super artsy and very hands, and good at directing certain things and just bringing a product to life.”

Bozoma: “What are some of the things that you like putting into the fashion? What do you want people to feel when they’re wearing it?”

Serena: “Well I want people to feel like they can actually wear it. I love fashion. Actually we had one of our outfits go viral because we did this thing where we took a red dress and we had everyone in it- from a size two to a size 16 and I wanted people to see it could fit all different sizes and all different styles. And not all of our clothes come in all different sizes, but one thing I always work to do is take away the word “plus” , we call our extended sizes “great” because women are great- they’re not a plus- they’re great. We launched our great line about four or five months after we launched our women’s line so that’s been doing well.”

Bozoma: “So you’re saying there’s the basics and then there’s the greats. (jokingly) “

Serena: (laughs) “Yeah, exactly.”

Bozoma: “Speaking of that, who is your target. Who do you want to wear your clothes outside of size?”

Serena: “When we were doing this people were asking who do you design for? I said I design for someone who believes in themselves or someone who needs a pick me up and someone who can say, you know listen, I’m not feeling my best but when I put this outfit on I’m really going to change, I’m going to walk with my shoulders back.” So I’m not designing for a particular person that looks a certain way. We design as I’d like to say from the inside out. And I think that’s how we’re making a difference.”

 

Bozoma: “Lets talk about your fashion choices not only on the court but off the court. When you were at the Met Gala we saw you wearing sneakers, whereas there were other people wearing a lot of stilettos. Tell us about that bold fashion choice. “

Serena: “Well honestly, I was a little nervous because we designed this dress months in advance, it was with Versace and I actually didn’t see it up close and I was like “okay, I’ve worked with Donatella for years I know it’s going to be great but at some point I need to see the dress.” I had some great volt shoes that Off-White, Virgil, made. And I literally looked in my closet and grabbed them and we were calling everyone like okay this would be the perfect shoes to wear with the dress. And then, of course, Anna was like- there’s you, there’s Lady Gaga and Harry so you don’t need to wear heels (laughs.)So I was like you’re absolutely right and I so agreed. And I have height so I don’t need it, and I was the only person who was comfortable I think every time Gaga sat down she was like “I can’t” “I can’t” and I was like “I can” (jokingly laughs.) So yeah I go for comfort. “

Bozoma: “You can look good and be comfortable. Speaking of being seen, let’s talk about social justice. You have been quite a bit. And it sometimes can be a burden to be seen as a representative of a whole group of people, but also very empowering. I’m always inspired by your frankness and questions that are posed to you. I rarely feel like you’re holding back, you’re not a wallflower, neither am I and so I really appreciate that. Most recently you said the day you stop fighting for equality is the day you’re in your grave. Social justice at this time has been such a conflicted message for people in the public eye. Can you tell us a little bit about why you choose to do it, because I do believe it is a choice- you could choose not to do it but you do.”

Serena: “Well it is a choice. And this goes back to the word authentic. I’m unable to be two people. But I feel like in this digital age. It’s an easy choice for me to use my platform and say a message, or send a message, or speak up on a message, or support something that means a lot to you. And I’m in a unique position because as a tennis player after every single match you have to do an interview and that’s interesting because that’s yet another platform I have that not many people get. So I feel like I have the opportunity to have a platform and speak up on things I feel strongly about or things that are simply not fair. And for me that’s important I will continue to do that because my life has never been extremely easy and in particularly my job- I mean me and my sister were one of four black people in the world when we first started and so I’ve gotten comfortable with uncomfortable so I think that makes it easy for me.”

Bozoma: “I do think the idea of being comfortable with the uncomfortable is a powerful thing. Because the spotlight is on you, and given what is happening in the world you have to have an opinion. And there. Are times you don’t want to speak or don’t want to be asked about any of the hard things. What do you do in those moments?”

Serena: “Yeah, if there’s something I don’t want to talk about and again this goes back to being authentic, I don’t talk about it. If I don’t want to talk about something that makes me.” uncomfortable- I just say listen first of all I don’t have the knowledge to answer that question or I just don’t want to answer the question or I don’t think I should answer that.”

 

Bozoma: “What about entrepreneurship. Do you have any advice or thoughts on entrepreneurship? “

Serena: “I think you have to have a focus. You definitely have to have a focus or you’re not going to be successful and to me, tennis was my focus. And then from there I built a great team and started other things but tennis still remains my main focus. But that’s the only advice I can give- even with us creating a fashion brand we want to grow it but we can’t jump out with 1000 styles our we’ll be told we’re going to fail. So we figure out our focus and grow from there. But if you go out there and try to take everything on, then you can’t hold it, and you have to have something you can hold until you have more hands to help you hold them. “

Bozoma: “For me, I continue to be inspired by what you do. For the future and all accomplishments and the boxes you check, I certainly want to wish you well on your way. We are all marching forward to hopefully make a bigger impact in the world of fashion. Do you have any last thoughts for them as they march out into the world and create greatness?”

Serena: “Well what I will say is, I think being kind is underestimated. Being kind to your fellow person.”