Maria Sharapova on Building a Business Portfolio After Tennis | WSJLI

So Maria, thank you. Thanks for having me. This is my entry into con, not bad, you guys. Oh, your first one? Well, I was here two years ago for like a quick speed dating thing. I mean, all of these things are like speed dating, right? I'm getting the hang of it. We get 28 minutes, and that's not so bad. But it's a little too early for Rosé, so I'm saving that for lunch. But no, so happy, thank you for inviting me. Of course. So you recently were inducted into the Hall of Fame. Serena Williams said that you really changed the game. What was that like, getting her to come and do that with you? Oh, it was so much fun. You know, we had such a, we had so many battles. I mean, we played over 20 times over the span of my career. She got the better of me for many of those. I had an extraordinary victory as a teenager against her at Wimbledon. It was kind of the start of my big career. So it was this full circle moment to celebrate, you know, over 20 years of competing 10 months out of the year, and to see someone on the stage that you have such great respect for. And I don't know, it was just like, it was a big celebration. My dad said it was like going to the Grand Slam where you knew who the winner is. And I was like, yeah, well, that's kind of how you, because there's always so many nerves, right, at a Grand Slam, and you never, you can be as confident as you want, you can be the number one player in the world, but they still put the nets up, and you still have to play, and you still have to, you know, prove your level. So going to an event like that, it was a celebration of all the accomplishments, which as an athlete, honestly, you rarely get to do, because you're always thinking of the next one. So, I mean, tennis is a competitive game, and she was definitely your competitor, but now that you're both sort of on the other side, do you feel a sense of community with other people that you used to compete with? Yeah, and it's funny looking back, because when you're young, especially in individual sport, you're always thinking like one against one. And of course you have a team, and you know, they walk with you all the way till the end of the tunnel, but when you get on court, like it's just you and your opponent, and I guess that's the beauty of the sport. But in retrospect, when you look back at all the accomplishments, all the players, you know, we're doing the same thing. We have deep respect for the commitment it takes. Every single day, you're the first person in the gym, you're the last person that takes care of your body when you're recovering. And that commitment, it's kind of like that silent commitment that not a lot of people talk about, but it's there, and so we always, no matter how ferocious we are as competitors, we always have that sense of respect for each other. So that competitive spirit and that resilience that you're describing, how did you bring that to the world of business? Well, I recognized from an early age that as a woman, my career would end much sooner than in other professions, and so I was like, I gotta hustle. I gotta start, you know, I gotta start learning from other people. I also recognized that I had a platform, and I had a press conference after every single match and before every single tournament, and little by little, as you grow, you know, more comfortable with the things that you do and say, and you make a little bit more money, you know, you start experimenting with, well, hopefully it's not an experiment, but you start making investments that you hope, you know, turn into solid return of investment in the future. So yeah, that's kind of how it started. So one of the things I think about with professional athletes is that there is this cliff sometimes, and some of them find a way forward, and for others, that sort of is a cliff that's hard to overcome. What do you think it is about you that you knew you needed to hustle on the other side? Well, you're always, as an athlete, you're a competitor, right? So anything that you touch and you do, you're always thinking about, you know, one year ahead, five years ahead, and it's very similar in business, like the way that you form a team. You know, how do you win with a team, but then how do you lose? Like, it's more significant to know that the person that you're gonna look in the eyes of is someone that you respect, is someone that you trust, is someone that you can be vulnerable with. So all those elements, I think, between sport and business align very well, but they're equally different, and that's why, you know, when I was injured or I had a break, I would, you know, I'd go to business school. I would take a few weeks. I would grow. I would take internships. I went to the NBA for a few weeks to shadow Adam Silver. So there are elements of growth that even though you're progressing in one arena, I thought it was really critical and important to help grow in others. But you weren't afraid to say, I don't know, and I wanna learn. Like, not a lot of people would go shadow Adam Silver. I mean, maybe they would now after the Knicks game. I don't know, but. It's not easy. It was actually, I remember being so nervous sitting in Harvard Business School and raising a question not to have the answer, but actually raising your hand to ask a question, but once you do, everyone around you's like, thank goodness you asked, right? I thought of the same thing, and so you eventually let your guard down, and some of the greatest lessons you learn is when you're unfamiliar with a subject or a question. What do you think it is about you that has you wanting to use your voice in all these different ways? I think, selfishly, to continue to grow and to continue to, you know, I got to meet incredible people along the way that through their wisdom, I was able to grow myself, and that's how I think of the next step forward now, you know, being on a board of Moncler and sitting with Aremu Rufini, who's, you know, Mr. Luxury, and being able to learn from him and how is he growing Moncler, and, you know, seeing it evolve from a winter luxury brand and making it seasonal all year long. Like, those are the little things that, you know, when you're young and you're a tennis player, that they seem so far, and they seem so unattainable, but if you get your, you know, if you get yourself in the right door, you can grow so well. So, one of your early ventures in the business world was actually in the candy space. What made you decide to do candy? Like, were you obsessed with candy as a kid? Like, how does that? Oh, I love sweets, but two things. One is I wanted to put my own money into something that I was passionate about, and two is I wanted to start my own business, and I funded the entire thing from the beginning to end. I never took external capital, and boy, did I learn. I mean, it was an everyday MBA on the job. I mean, I didn't know what a P&L was. I didn't know how much you spend on marketing, so all those things while I played. Why did you decide to go on your own? Why didn't you do it differently? I don't know. I think there's strength in being, I know that we, you know, when we talk about business, there's a lot of large valuations, but I thought small and mighty. I felt more comfortable with the idea of small and mighty because that's how I developed my tennis career, and that's kind of the sense of business that I gained along the way. And what's a messy part of that journey that you've now learned from? It's all messy. Well, it's always messy. It's all messy. I mean, we're just talking about the podcast space. You're like, every day, you know, it's a messy journey. So, but what did you learn from that experience that you're applying now to the other things that you're investing in or sitting on a board, for example? There's nothing that you're above of. Like every, no matter what your, whether you're a CEO, whether you're a junior that just got the job, like you have to be hands-on through the whole process. If someone asks you to do something, you might not have the answer, but give it a shot. Like find a way, and I think just being, yeah, putting yourself in a position that you're not always comfortable with. Ultimately, I think, and selfishly, you end up, you know, growing through that. So you moved on from that and then started investing in wellness. Yes. Like a more natural thing, because you think like, oh, she knows something about sports, wellness is related. Is that sort of how that happened for you? I think through brand partnerships, I worked with Nike, I worked with Tag Heuer, worked with Land Rover from a very young age, and through that, I got myself in business rooms, right? And some of the times I didn't even know what the heck they were talking about. But ultimately, you learn from those conversations. I mean, at 18 years old, my father said, you go and you negotiate your next Nike contract because this is your future, the next 10 years of you making money, right? So, flew up to Portland, was there, you know, didn't know what the heck was being spoken about. But I think there's something, you know, I drew on those lessons, and then my first investment was into Supergoop because it was a sunscreen I found at Sephora. I was a fan, I knocked on the founders' doors, they had, I think, just a handful of employees at the time, and I said, I love your product, I want to get behind it. I don't need a check right now, I want to help you grow internationally, they're only in the US, and they sold for 750 million just a few years ago to Blackstone. And that, little by little, I learned, you know, that was, if you can believe, that was my first ever investment where I put my money into something, but. What is it that has you trusting your instinct? Because that story is about trusting your instinct, really. And trusting the people behind it. You know, sport is, it's emotional, it's a connection with people and teams, and you learn a lot through that, like how to navigate team dynamics, how you choose leaders, how you choose winners, and occasionally, you know, people you lose with. Yeah, I learned a lot on that. You know, it's interesting, watching the Knicks play New York, I'm from New York City, who's from New York City here? All right. You know, I learned this word, collective everfestence, right, this idea that people experience joy together, and having watched tennis, when somebody wins, you also have that experience. What did you take away from sort of the in-real-life experience of creating joy, right, for other people, as you think about sort of experiences, because now you're actually in a different form of media. But what did you take away from that? Because it's a powerful feeling. Well, the day that I felt like I could impact one young girl or boy was so powerful. I remember having a really tough match, and I was the favorite going into the match, and it was a three-hour battle, and I was the heavy favorite, and a lot of times, you go in, and, you know, it ends up being a quick two-setter, and in this case, it was three sets, and I thought, oh, I'm already, you know, I'm wearing myself out for the next match. And then I saw this young boy in the crowd, and I thought, imagine if he's had a tough day, right, whether it was at school, or with his friend, or whatever it was, and he's seeing me battle, and he's seeing me go through a really difficult match, but he comes out, and he sees me win, right, or be victorious, or just find a way in a really tough day. Imagine, what is the mind shift in the next day? Imagine him going back to school, or having a tough conversation with his parents. Like, if I can help change this emotional, you know, growth through a child's perspective, then that's a win. So, I mean, we all have messy parts. We all fail. We all lose at points. When that happens for you, what is the trick or the obstacle course you've learned for yourself to pick yourself back up? Like, what's the resilience that you've learned? Well, I think it's important to feel, you know, to feel the challenge. We often, especially now, and I'm a mother of a four-year-old, and it's so easy to want to distract them when they are uncomfortable, and when there's a little bit of pain. And through sport, you learn that actually some of the best moments come from losing, because that's when you get back to the drawing board and you end up doing your best work because you become scrappy and you really think hard about your future and what you want to accomplish and how you'll do it and who you'll do it with. So, leaning into the challenges instead of trying to find distractions has always been a really valuable lesson for me. In some ways, what you're describing is allow yourself to feel the grief as opposed to push past it so that you pretend it's not there. Is that what you're describing? Exactly. Okay, so let's talk about podcasting. Okay. You decided... We both know a little bit about it. Yes, as it turns out, we were comparing notes. We actually have similar-sounding podcasts. Wait, first of all, how did you pick the name? So, Pretty Tough is really the lifestyle that I loved for so many years of my career, being gritty on the court and being vulnerable, but equally being soft and being female and wanting to feel pretty. And so, it's this combination of having a fist pump, but then showing up on a red carpet. Okay, now I have to think about, is that how I name my podcast? Because I'm very messy, and it's called The Messy Parts. What made you decide to go into sort of this video-audio medium? Because we can both agree, it's a long game and not so easy. Well, one, because storytelling is so important. Storytelling, when it comes to women, we're on our ninth episode, and today's episode, it's releasing in a couple hours, but it's with Misty Copeland. And, you know, I've been interviewed for so many years of my career, and now being on the other side of it. After every single interview, and especially the one with Misty, I leave, and I am so deeply inspired. I've met incredible people along the way, right? I've been so fortunate to travel the world and learn from some of the greatest female CEOs and leaders of companies. But I get to sit and have a conversation with someone that is a high performer, a high achiever, but also that has a lot of lows. I mean, look at Misty and how her body has let her down in so many occasions, but that's usually the time when she's come up on top and she's gotten the greatest opportunities in her life. We interviewed Zoe Zaldana, and as I mentioned before, in the green room, it was 9 a.m. on a Sunday. It was the only time that we could get, you know, our husbands to watch her sons. And you shoot in person. We shoot in person, yes. All of them have been in person. Do you do it through remote? There's something, that human connection is so important, and at least in the beginning of it, I was very intentional about doing it in person. Well, I think if you're gonna get people to open up about the things they don't normally get asked about or talk about, the things that go wrong, the in-person actually somehow makes a difference. Yeah, well, in our first interview, I interviewed Jeannie Buss, former owners of the Lakers, and toward the end of our interview, she cried, and I was like, well, this is my first interview. I do not know what to do with this. You were Barbara Walters out of the gate, a high bar. I was like, wow, okay, where do I go from here? And it's amazing how every interview just shifts and takes a turn, and you come prepared, but it ultimately goes its own unique direction, and I've loved it so much. And why only women? Well, it was intentional for the first season. I think we're gonna sprinkle a few in the second that we're starting in August. But from my career, and listen, I was so lucky to have a platform that was for myself, and it was international, and these conversations are powerful. I mean, women have achieved incredible things, and they deserve to have a platform. You know, there are a lot of male podcast hosts in this space, and I felt like I had something fresh and new to offer within what they're calling the manosphere, and I certainly have years of track record to prove it. So what's the thing that surprised you the most in doing this new excursion? Well, scheduling. Scheduling, it's time. That's a silly one, but... But an actual, really important one. It's like real life issues. You're like, wait, I thought the interview was at 10, or it's like 11. The one, the weaving thread has been how so many of the CEOs and these high achievers take care of their body. Whether it's 5 a.m., the last episode was with Christine Dorfler, who's the CFO of the NFL. She works under Roger Goodell. 5 a.m., former Marine, she wakes up, and she works on her body. She has three kids at home. Amy Asler, who's the editor-in-chief of Architectural Digest. Same thing. Always setting the time for yourself and prioritizing that, and we do feel guilty. We're moms, we have the opportunity to spend, if we have a minute, we usually do that time for others, and we commit the time for others. But committing time for themselves, which was surprising, because... So interesting. All of my life, I had to be selfish, because from the first time I opened my eyes in the morning, I was working towards becoming a better player. I gotta tell you, I've done 60 episodes weekly, and I don't think I would say that about most of my guests. So it might be who you're picking. Perhaps. I think most of them are like, no, I need to actually focus on my wellness. I work all the time. Funny, no. That's been, I've been very surprised by that. Like, pleasantly. Yeah, okay. I'll have to think about that. It's hot as heck in here, isn't it? Yes, are you all hot in here? Maria's lightening it up. Okay, and so what do you think has been, I mean, besides the scheduling, what do you think is the hardest thing, right? When you get into this new medium? Because I remember when I started, people said, this is a marathon and not a sprint. You have to commit to the long game. Because it's hard to build an audience. I think it's a combination. I want the conversations to be honest and serious, but I equally want them to be entertaining. Because when we have an hour of time, whether it's in the car, on our commute, or travel, wherever we are, like, it has to serve so many different purposes for us, right? We want to learn from it. We want to grow from, you know, from the person that we're listening to. But we equally, you know, occasionally, we just want to have a laugh, right? And we want it to feel relatable to our life. And we want to feel like we really get along and connect with the person. And we just know them on a level that we didn't know them before. Who's a dream guest that you haven't had on yet? Ooh. Marina Abramovich, who's an incredible artist and a mental artist, I'd say. Lena Nair, who's the CEO of the Chanel. Yeah, Donna Langley. So a range. Yeah, quite a long range. So I want to go back to Montclair. You joined a board, which is definitely a different seat. It's a different seat than being an athlete, different than, you know, starting a candy company. Yes. You know, I sit on a public board. It's a very different vantage point. What has that experience been like for you? And what have you learned? It's very Italian. It's very corporate. And one of the toughest things is that it's all done in Italian because it's a public Italian trading company. Do you speak Italian? I do not, no. So I'm always with the little earpiece. It's very UN-like. There's always a slight delay. It's a large room. It's like a UN meeting, right? Where you have a proper microphone. Wait, are you the only person with the earpiece? No, no, there are several. Multiple non-Italian speakers. Multiple non-Italians, yep. So we all share the same pain, but we're learning. And what, I mean, I've, it's been, this is my fourth year, fourth or fifth. And when we start, I mean, look at, you know, if you look at their campaigns and how they activate, like they don't do four shows a year like other companies, right? They focus on one big show every 18 months. It's usually in a remote location where they bring hundreds or thousands of people in where the focus is on them. So they activate slightly differently. I learned through that. Their budgets are slightly bigger because it's a single focused event. So all those aspects of, you know, marketing I've learned through them. Would you do a second board? If I didn't have to travel so far, I would, yes. Interesting. Okay, there's a lot going on around women's sports, particularly after COVID, do you think that's hype or do you think that that's something that we're going to see continue? Oh, I hope it's not hype. I mean- We all hope it's not hype. No, I hope it's not hype. Oh, it's so real. I mean, the talent is extraordinary. The effort and part of the storytelling, I think that's perhaps a piece that was missing before was that there's always talent, but you didn't know much outside of the court of these incredible players, right? Of their story, of how they started, of how they've grown into their role as an athlete. And now they have their own platforms, their own brands, and now they're choosing brand partners that help elevate their story, right? So most of the time we know someone that's in the top five, but we don't know someone that's ranked 50 in the world. And when you know their story and you can become their fan, I mean, then you're just, you're a fan of the sport for life. Can you look back and see a moment where there was that pivot, where it actually broke through? I mean, it's definitely pivoted in the last three years. I mean, since the WNBA has skyrocketed in the last few years, but also that's a great example because from that story, you probably know five to 10 names, right? That are in the news, but then what about the other hundreds, right? How can we help elevate their stories? And what about sort of this whole issue of pay equity between women and men players? What about it? Well, do you think it's been addressed? Has it? Slowly, not quickly, but little by little. Yeah, we have a long way to go. I think of Billie Jean King and she also had a very long legacy and she sort of had a moment. She still does. I mean, she's at every women's sporting event, Billie's there. And she had a moment where she held the line, but then there was yet another moment where she came back up. Yeah, I mean, it's a conversation that I've had with media and the press since I was a young girl. We're not where we wanna be, but I think we're moving in the right direction and seeing so many incredible female athletes gaining the recognition they deserve will only make that better. Well, it's interesting. I saw a documentary about Alison Felix and recognizing that when she got pregnant, they actually took away her contract. There's no way I would have ever known that if I hadn't seen that. So bringing that conversation to light, I think sort of opens up a lot of maybe doors and eyes. Oh, that's back to honest storytelling is understanding the dynamic. It's one thing to hit a forehand and backhand, but there are so many challenges and grief and disappointments that these athletes face. And now you have production. A lot of them now have production companies that help grow their own stories with documentaries. And then it's like, how do you draw the line between controlling that narrative so much that you don't know what's real and what's controlled? So as you think to the future, do you have other things besides the podcast that you'd like to do? Yeah, raise my son in this crazy world. That's a big job and a huge responsibility. Yeah, I continue to invest in many brands. I mean, I speak with founders on a daily basis. I get to come to Cannes and work with incredible brands like IBM and Stella Artois and have done work with them for many years. So yeah, I don't have a single day free, so. What do you think is the most surprising thing to being a mom? Like, what did you expect and how has that been different? Well, as an athlete, I was very used to controlling things. Like you control everything up to the result. When you have a child, there's not a lot of control. I think we can all relate to the parents in the room. You can navigate, but the control element is out the window. So that was surprising. So how did you adjust to that? I have no choice. I'm going to say just for me, it was not well. I go with the flow. You know, some days are better than others, but that's life, you know, getting, being ready. I mean, sport really prepared me for that. Being able to pivot at a time when you think you're just on cruise control and excuse my language, but ---- hits the fan. And you need to find a way to readjust and navigate. And, you know, they do one thing for a week and all of a sudden they lose that interest and then you have to find another interest. I love that you and Zoe had to find your husbands to watch the kids in order to be able to record a podcast. Our husbands gave us 9 a.m. on a Sunday. Yep. Amazing. Okay, I'm going to do a speed round. Uh-oh. Okay, you ready? Who is the dream guest you'd love to, well, we already did that one. Yeah, we did that. Okay, what's your favorite candy? Oh, I don't, I love candy. All candy? I love all candy. I love ice cream. You also did chocolate. Yeah, yeah, I love all of it. All of it, okay. Sorry, that's not very specific. Go-to comfort food when you've had a brutal day. Oh, I like potato pancakes, like my mom. Yeah, traditional, like lock case. Yeah, yeah, so that's kind of like my comfort food. Okay, carry-on or check-in? A carry-on. Carry-on. Yeah. Yeah, me too. I mean, did you see the airport the other day? But I worked at Hyatt, and if you checked your luggage, the team would leave you. They'd be like, see you at the hotel. So you knew, don't check. Okay, last one, what's your favorite sport to watch outside of tennis? The NBA. Yeah. The NBA. I'm a Lakers fan. No, I don't like that. I'm an X-Fan. Okay, before we end, is there anything you wanna talk about with this group in particular? And also, what do you think marketers should know about partnering with athletes? Because several people here do those kinds of partnerships. And I think it would be interesting to get your perspective about what would make that better. Oh, wow. I love that question. Because one of the things I often say to young players and young athletes is, you know, make sure you choose the right partners because your priority when you wake up is to be the best in the world. And anyone, whether it's family, whether it's friends, whether it's your brand partners, can get in the way of that very, very quickly. And you lose track, right, of where you're going and your lane. So be mindful of their schedule, be mindful, you know, of their priority. Their priority is to wake up and be the best. And if you are taking them off that path, if you are asking for extra time, you know, before a grand slam, that's a no-no. Like, that's when they're focused, that's when they're getting ready to compete. And you wanna be standing by their side when you're holding the trophy. So always have that in the back of your mind. Oh, that's a good tip. Okay, well, thank you so much for joining us. Thank you for having me. I hope it's a little cooler. Thank you.