Tickets available today for Thomas Colloquium Lecture Series with Venus Williams
Tickets for the Thomas Colloquium Lecture Series featuring Venus Williams are available starting today, Monday, Sept. 16 at 10 a.m.
One of the most accomplished and inspiring women in the history of sports, tennis champion Venus Williams presents Youngstown State University’s Thomas Colloquium Lecture Series on 7 p.m., October 23 in Beeghly Center on the YSU campus.
The lecture is free and open to the public, but tickets are required. Tickets are available on a first-come, first-served basis and can be picked up at the YSU Athletic Ticket Office located on the North end of Stambaugh Stadium. The Ticket Office is easily accessible near the F-80 parking lot, which is along Fifth Avenue. Parking spaces just outside the doors are designated specifically for Ticket Office patrons. For a GPS, use 577 Fifth Ave., Youngstown, OH 44502.
Throughout her career, Williams has earned seven Grand Slam Singles Titles, 14 Grand Slam Doubles Titles, two Grand Slam Mixed Doubles Titles, five Wimbledon championships and four Olympic gold medals.
Beginning at age 14, Williams quickly took the world of tennis by storm rising to the top-ranked position and breaking countless records. Encouraged by her mother to explore her creative side, Williams enrolled in fashion school and parlayed her fine-tuned business acumen with her healthy competitive spirit into two successful design ventures. After obtaining an Interior Decorator certification, Williams founded V Starr, a full-service commercial and residential design firm. Williams then earned an Associate’s Degree in Fashion Design, and later, a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration. She partnered with Credo Beauty to debut an award-winning line of clean, mineral-based products. Her entrepreneurship in the health and beauty space also includes her role as Chief Brand Officer to Asutra and creator of the plant-based protein company, Happy Viking. Sticking to her entrepreneurial spirit, Williams and her sister, Serena, became the first female African Americans to have a stake in an NFL franchise after joining the ownership group of the Miami Dolphins.
Williams is the author of two books: her motivational book, "Come to Win" which reached No. 5 on the New York Times Best Sellers list and "Strive", released in 2024, an inspiring and innovative guide on how to live your best life. Williams served as Executive Producer on the Academy Award-winning biopic King Richard, which detailed the influence her father and coach had on her childhood and careers.
Throughout her career, Williams has been an advocate for equality. UNESCO, the United Nations’ cultural organization, titled her as the first “Promoter of Gender Equality." Williams led the fight to make Wimbledon award women players the same pay as their male counterparts. She also launched an awareness initiative called the #PrivilegeTax to bring attention to the wage inequality and to encourage women to address the issue on a grassroots level.
Williams's achievements have merited her accolades, including being honored as Variety’s “Power of Women”, Glamour Magazine’s ‘Woman of the Year,’ CARE Impact Award for Gender Equality, ESPN’s ‘WTA Player of the Year,’ and Forbes’ ‘Celebrity 100’ among others.
YSU, through an endowment established by Paul J. and Marguerite K. Thomas, began the annual “Colloquium on Free Enterprise” in 1981. Reflecting the Thomases’ involvement in the business community and their interest in the community-at-large, the Colloquium fosters ideas that are conducive to the growth of the free enterprise system. It promotes free enterprise as a viable force in the U.S. economy. The aims of the Colloquium are: to provide a series of outstanding lectures or workshops by recognized leaders in business, economics, and finance for both the public and the academic community, to provide a library for use by business people, students, and citizens of the community, to serve as a clearing house for the exchange of ideas to foster common goals of industry, business, and finance in the free enterprise system, and to stimulate the thinking and long-range planning of business, government, and individuals on ways to foster the growth of free enterprise.
For more information, please contact jmleviseur@ysu.edu or 330-941-2136.