Tennis Legend Venus Williams & Zeel CEO Samer Hamadeh

If you’re interested in ways to keep a calm head and healthy body during times of crisis and high-pressure, then this podcast is for you. And while you’re at it, pick up a few workout tips from Venus Williams!  

This week, I was lucky enough to riff with Zeel CEO, Samer Hamadeh, and tennis great, Venus Williams. Zeel provides health and wellness services (both in person and virtually), to consumers and businesses. Venus, in addition to being one of the world’s all-time greatest athletes, is a Zeel board member.

We covered a lot of topics ranging from what they each do to keep a calm head during times of crisis, to keeping employees (and yourself) fit using virtual environments. How can you combat “tech neck” (if you’re spending too much time hunching over your device like the rest of us!)? Plus, you’ll hear a lot around their incredible entrepreneurial mindset.

As an added bonus, Venus shares her workout regimen in today’s work-from-home environment (hint: she does uphill lunges while taking team calls) and you’ll get to hear about her virtual workout with 15,000 people, hosted by Zeel and Salesforce.

Samer Hamadeh is the founder and CEO of the on-demand wellness company, Zeel, and co-founder and former CEO of Vault.com. Hamadeh began his career as an associate at the Los Angeles management consulting firm L.E.K. Consulting, where he focused on corporate and business strategy. Before that, he co-founded and managed a customized textbook printing company, worked at Chevron Corporation, and co-authored The Internship Bible and America’s Top Internships, published by Random House's Princeton Review imprint.

In 1996, Hamadeh co-founded Vault.com and served as CEO until the company was sold to the New York private equity firm, Veronis Suhler Stevenson.

Hamadeh sits on the board of the non-profit PeaceWorks Foundation and is or has been a board observer, angel investor and advisor in two dozen early-stage companies, including Directly, Campusfood.com (sold to GrubHub Seamless), Crunched, Splurgy, and PublicStuff (now part of Accela). Samer is also a mentor at several accelerators, including German Accelerator, Lazaridis Institute, Blueprint Health, NYCSeedStart, and First Growth Venture Network, as well as a member of Young Presidents' Organization and the Executive Board of Venture for America.

Hamadeh holds a Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry and a Master of Science degree in chemical engineering from Stanford University and is a David Rockefeller Fellow. He is a scout at Lightspeed Venture Partners, which he joined in January 2010 as an entrepreneur in residence.

Venus Williams has 22 Grand Slam titles (7 Singles, 13 Doubles, 2 Mixed Doubles) and 4 Olympic Gold Medals and is known as one of the best players of her generation.

Venus’s first singles Grand Slam victory came in Wimbledon 2000, where she defeated World No. 1 Martina Hingis in the quarterfinals, her sister Serena in the semifinals, and defending champion Lindsay Davenport in the final. She also won the U.S. Open singles title that year, defeating Hingis in the semifinals and Davenport in the final. She won the ladies singles event at the Sydney 2000 Olympics that year, as well as the women’s doubles title with Serena to clinch 2 Olympic gold medals. She successfully defended her Wimbledon and U.S. Open titles the following year, making her only the sixth woman in history to win the singles titles at both Wimbledon and U.S. Open in consecutive years. At the U.S. Open final, she defeated Serena in a fierce contest; this was the first time in the Open Era that two sisters had faced each other in a Grand Slam final.

Her ranking rose to World No. 1 for the first time on February 25, 2002 which made her the first African American woman to hold the top ranking. That year at Wimbledon, she reached her third consecutive Wimbledon final, facing her sister for a second time in the final. Serena was victorious this time, and also snatched the World No. 1 rank with this victory.

Venus  is considered of the all time tennis greats, but her life off the court is just as active. She has her own clothing line called “EleVen” and is a talented artist and interior designer. She also has her own interior design company and promotes gender equality. Lastly, she serves as a director and strategic advisor at Zeel.

Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Overcast, Castbox, or your preferred podcast platform.