Serena Williams beats Beyonce and Meghan Markle to become second-most searched African American woman in 2022

Serena Williams surpassed Beyonce, Meghan Markle and Michelle Obama to become the second-most searched African American woman in 2022.

The 23-time Grand Slam champion ended her professional tennis career in September with a third-round loss to Ajla Tomljanovic, 7-5, 6-7(4), 6-1 at the US Open.

Lifestyle website ThatSister performed looked at search data for more than 100 of the most powerful African American women since January 1, 2022, to determine who the most talked about people of the year were.

The results (via Yahoo) revealed Zendaya to be the most searched African American woman in 2022, followed by Serena Williams. The former World No. 1 was searched 1.65 million times each month this year, with a sharp increase in interest during the US Open.

Williams was followed by Meghan Markle, Beyonce and Michelle Obama in the top five. Jada Pinkett-Smith, Oprah Winfrey, rappers Nicki Minaj and Cardi B, and Whoopi Goldberg rounded out the top 10.

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Serena Williams begins new chapter with her lifestyle brand ‘Will Perform’

Serena Williams pictured during the 2022 US Open

On Thursday, Serena Williams launched Will Perform, her first wellness brand. It is a collection of topical painkillers, daily muscle care lotions, and roll-ons designed to offer pain relief and everyday muscle support to both athletes and non-athletes.

The 23-time Grand Slam champion took to social media to mark the launch of the brand and wrote:

“This day has been years in the making, and I am super excited to be launching my new brand WILL PERFORM!!! Recovery has been such an important part of my career and my life-especially as a mom-so I can’t wait for you all to experience the recovery collection that I curated. Head over to @wiillperform and willperform.com to learn more!” wrote Williams.

The American recently stated on The Business of Feelings podcast with Daniella Pierson that her father Richard Williams instilled in her an entrepreneurial mindset.

"I've always seen my dad be an entrepreneur, and so it was natural for me to want to do more. He always told me, 'Have a backup plan in case tennis didn't work out,'" shared Serena Williams.

"I've always been someone that has been business-minded. I was just at Black Tech Week. I was speaking to them, saying, I think, in particular, Black people and African-Americans are always entrepreneurs because of what we had to live through," she stated.

The former World No. 1, who also runs Serena Ventures, a venture capital firm, and a clothing and jewelry line, said she always knew she would have a career outside of tennis.

"I always wanted a different part of my career. I know that's clear that Serena Ventures is going to be the bigger part of my career, and that's kind of how I always saw it since I was a kid. Of course, I didn't know it was going to be Serena Ventures at the time, but I always knew it was going to be something else. So that's kind of how I modeled my career," she said.