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How Venus Williams Is Serving Up Her Entrepreneurial Dreams Tennis trained her to be a one-woman, hyper-focused, do-it-all-yourself machine. But as she's discovering, entrepreneurship requires more balance.

By Isaac Butler

This story appears in the December 2017 issue of Entrepreneur. Subscribe »

Pieter Henket

Venus Williams sits in a conference room, surrounded by branding executives and healthy snacks. And the room is starting to get a little chatty. People aren't focusing on the task at hand. "Shall we continue?" Williams says softly. Most of what Williams says is spoken softly, with a quiet authority, and it's effective. The assembled people snap back to attention like a rubber band.

A conference room may not be where tennis fans picture Venus Williams. But it's a setting where she's increasingly at home.

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