Serena Williams Joins Poshmark's Board of Directors

Tennis superstar and businesswoman Serena Williams is joining the board of directors of Silicon Valley-based social commerce platform Poshmark, the company announced Wednesday. “Poshmark is disrupting retail by making shopping and selling social again, and I love working with a company that gives anyone an opportunity to become an entrepreneur,” Williams said in a press release sent to Total Retail. Poshmark allows users to create an account and then either buy items from other users or try to sell unwanted items — apparel, handbags, shoes, jewelry and even makeup — themselves.

Williams, the 23-time Grand Slam champion and fashion brand owner, will help build and grow the site, as well as sell pieces from her wardrobe on the platform. She will be donating all of her proceeds to the Yetunde Price Resource Center, a nonprofit organization founded by the tennis player and her sister Venus to honor their late sister, who was shot to death in Compton, Calif., in 2003.

Poshmark Founder and CEO Manish Chandra added that Poshmark was built "by a community of strong, independent women just like Serena Williams ... As both our company and community continue to grow, it's important that we bring smart and diverse new voices to the table, and we we couldn't be more thrilled about what the future holds with Serena in our corner."

Total Retail's Take: Silicon Valley and fashion aren't foreign to Williams, so it's not surprising she has joined Poshmark's board. For example, she launched her own clothing line, "Serena," in 2018. Furthermore, Williams has served on the board of consumer survey startup SurveyMonkey for two years. She said she's learned more about Silicon Valley since meeting her husband, Alexis Ohanian, co-founder of Reddit and a handful of other startups.

And Poshmark is a great place for Williams to be: According to CNBC, the company reported last May that sellers on its platform had earned a total of $1 billion since Poshmark's inception in 2011.