Venus Williams, Hank Green to Deliver YSU Lectures

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Tennis champion Venus Williams and Hank Green will kick off the 2024-25 Youngstown State University lecture series.

Williams, one of the most accomplished women in the history of sports, will present a Thomas Colloquium lecture at 7 p.m. Oct. 23 in Beeghly Center on the YSU campus.

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.

After earning an interior decorator certification, Williams founded V Starr, a full-service commercial and residential design firm. She 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. 

Williams’ entrepreneurship in the health and beauty space also includes her role as chief brand officer for Asutra and creator of the plant-based protein company Happy Viking. She 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.

The lecture is free and open to the public, but tickets are required. Tickets, which will be available on a first-come, first-served basis, can be picked up at the YSU athletic ticket office at Stambaugh Stadium starting Sept. 16. 

Green, known as the Internet’s Science Guy, will present a Skeggs lecture at 6 p.m. Sept. 26 at Stambaugh Auditorium.

Green is a bestselling science fiction novelist and the co-founder and CEO of Complexly, which produces SciShow, Crash Course and nearly a dozen other educational YouTube channels. With a combined social media following of more than 20 million people, he shares his excitement about everything from microbes to supernovae.

Green created The Awesome Socks Club, a charity sock subscription that has more than 60,000 paying subscribers and donates more than $1 million to charity every year.

The lecture is free and open to the public, but tickets are required. Tickets are available on Stambaugh Auditorium’s website and at the DeYor Performing Arts Center box office, 260 W. Federal St.

For more information, call 330 941 2136 or email [email protected].

Pictured at top: Venus Williams and Hank Green.

Published by The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.