Venus Williams has partnered with EZRA to offer The Gift of Coaching, a global initiative providing 1,000 early-career professionals with free digital one-on-one coaching. On June 25, 2026, EZRA announced this collaboration, aiming to help emerging leaders build confidence and prepare for the future of leadership.
What happened?
EZRA and Venus Williams will provide two months of complimentary professional coaching to selected recipients, including their own dedicated coach certified by the International Coaching Federation.
Why it matters for Venus Williams
Venus Williams represents confidence, resilience, and the courage to break barriers, qualities that coaching helps unlock in leaders everywhere, according to Nick Goldberg, founder and CEO of EZRA.
What comes next?
The 2026 edition of The Gift of Coaching will focus on early-career professionals worldwide who are stepping into new responsibility, navigating career transitions, or taking on their first leadership roles, with participants selected based on their growth mindset and potential to positively shape the future of work.
According to EZRA data, coached employees are 78% more likely to progress internally, highlighting the importance of coaching in career development.
Venus Williams stated that having a great coach can change one's life and world, similar to having a great teacher who shifts perspective and puts one on a path toward something they never dreamed they'd do.
The Gift of Coaching initiative aims to fill the gap in soft skills, such as communication, leadership, teamwork, and problem-solving, which are among the most in-demand skills according to LinkedIn, yet 56% of leaders blame weak soft skills for entry-level unpreparedness.
Through this initiative, Venus Williams and EZRA are putting the power of coaching into more hands and inviting HR and learning leaders to help extend that opportunity to the next generation.
The selected recipients will receive one-on-one coaching sessions focused on personal and professional growth, including confidence, leadership, and career navigation, as well as support in defining goals, navigating challenges, and planning future career and life aspirations.
Access to digital learning resources and personalized content curated by EZRA's coaching team will also be provided to the recipients.
As AI reshapes entry-level work and the path to leadership becomes less predictable, early-career professionals have fewer opportunities to practice judgment, problem-solving, and collaboration on the job, making initiatives like The Gift of Coaching essential for their development.
On June 25, 2026, EZRA and Venus Williams took a significant step towards expanding access to professional coaching for emerging leaders, with the goal of helping them build the judgment, resilience, and human skills the AI era demands.