While Serena Williams Kills It on the Court, Get to Know Her Super Supportive Husband Alexis Ohanian
We all know that Alexis Ohanian is one of the most adoring husbands ever: The man absolutely and rightfully dotes on wife Serena Williams like it's his job. That's just one of his jobs. Ohanian is a man of many hats: He's a husband, a dad, an entrepreneur, an investor, a feminist and an all-around awesome guy.
"I thought I was the hardest-working person on the planet. I thought we were the hardest-working industry. That's what we tell ourselves. It's all malarkey," he told The New York Times of his relationship with Williams. "I've had this front-row seat over the last three years to greatness. It's a humbling experience seeing really what high-pressure situations actually look like professionally, seeing just what it takes to actually be that great. It is a work ethic on another level."
"I used to change the channel when tennis was on," he continued. "Then I watched my first match when I met her, and quickly got an appreciation for the sport. It's not just the physical requirements but the mental requirements. I could not imagine doing my job with millions of people watching."
Are you swooning yet? Learn about the man who won the tennis legend's heart.
What does Alexis Ohanian do?
Though he initially thought he'd be a lawyer, his life took a turn thanks to what he called a "Waffle House epiphany." Ohanian co-founded Reddit with Steve Huffman shortly after they both graduated from the University of Virginia in 2005. In 2006, Condé Nast purchased Reddit for an estimated $10 million to $20 million; Ohanian remained on the company's Board of Directors during this period. After Reddit became independent once more in 2015, Ohanian returned to run the company with Huffman full-time until 2018, when Ohanian stepped back to focus more of his efforts and attention into investing.
Outside of Reddit, Ohanian has his hands in many pots: He founded charitable merch site Breadpig in 2007 (though he's no longer active in day-to-day operations of the shop), and helped launch travel search tool Hipmunk in 2010 with Huffman and Adam Goldstein. He worked in microfinance in Armenia in 2010, granting funds to banks in developing countries to in turn lend money to help local businesses.
Ohanian launched angel investing and startup consulting firm Das Kapital Capital in June 2010 and co-founded Initialized Capital in 2016; the latter invested in companies including Instacart.
He also hosted two seasons of Small Empires, a series about tech startups. Another fun fact about Ohanian's work history? He's designed every mascot for every business he's worked in, including Reddit.
What were the beginning days of Reddit like for Alexis Ohanian?
Huffman and Ohanian created Reddit in just three weeks in 2005 after Y Combinator told them to make the "front page of the Internet." They later added a comments section, and the rest was history.
During the earliest days of Reddit, Ohanian was faced with personal tragedies: His mother was diagnosed with brain cancer, and his girlfriend at the time fell from a balcony and went into a coma. His then-girlfriend later recovered; his mother passed away in 2008.
Related: Alexis Ohanian Is Calling for Paid Paternity Leave in the U.S. and I’m All Yes, Please
Where did Alexis Ohanian grow up?
Ohanian was born in Brooklyn, New York, and was raised in the suburbs of Baltimore, Maryland. He gave his student address at graduation, though he noted on YouTube that he wasn't valedictorian—he just auditioned to do it.
What is Alexis Ohanian's net worth?
Ohanian's net worth is estimated to be $150 million in 2023. His combined net worth with Williams? A whopping $400 million.
What causes does Alexis Ohanian support?
Ohanian is a longtime advocate for a free and open Internet and supports Net Neutrality. In 2010, he was slated to testify before Congress in support of the Stop Online Piracy Act, but the bill was killed.
Ohanian is also a fierce proponent of paternity leave, writing in The New York Times, "All people deserve fulfilling work and close family ties. No dad should feel forced to wholly prioritize work over family at a time as important as the arrival of a new baby—a time that is not only critical in the beginning, but has far-reaching impact years down the line. Getting dads (and in turn, families) off on the right foot begins at birth, and it can’t just be up to individual businesses to ensure that happens. We need a federal bill that mandates quality paid family leave for everyone—birth parents, adoptive parents and caregivers alike." He added, "Until that happens, dads, let me be your air cover. I took my full 16 weeks and I’m still ambitious and care about my career. Talk to your bosses and tell them I sent you."
Additionally, Ohanian supports the Black Lives Matter movement as well as other racial and social justice initiatives and has taken to acknowledging his privilege following the slayings of Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Rayshard Brooks.
Why did Alexis Ohanian leave Reddit?
Ohanian resigned from his position on Reddit's Board of Directors to support the Black Lives Matter movement and further move the needle to correct racial and social injustice, and he urged the company to replace him with a member of the BIPOC community. They listened, appointing startup accelerator Y Combinator's co-founder and chief executive officer Michael Seibel to Ohanian's former slot.
At this time, he also donated $1 million to Colin Kaepernick's Know Your Rights Camp and pledged to use his Reddit income to support racial justice measures and initiatives.
Ohanian explained on CBS This Morning, "I didn't arrive at this easily. It was absolutely a hard decision. But thinking back, especially on the position our country's been in, and then especially in the last few weeks, I realized I needed to look at myself, look in the mirror and see what I could do to help contribute some real positive change, so that I could look my daughter in the eye when she's a little bit older and she asks me what I did to help make this country and this world a little bit better for her and for a whole lot of people who look like her."
Ohanian admitted that it wasn't until he married Williams and had daughter Alexis Olympia that he realized just how privileged he was—and how sorely social injustice needed to be corrected. He credited Williams with opening his eyes to the struggles of women and people of color that he never realized existed because of his own privilege as a wealthy white man.
Related: Reddit Founder Alexis Ohanian: Why the Internet Loves Pets, and Why Black Cats are Good Luck
"There's this striking double standard because I have never walked in a room and not felt 100 percent confident to be there, not felt 100 percent welcomed there, at times when I really shouldn't have been because of my inexperience or because of my youth or because of my whatever," he confessed. "But that is the privilege that I have walked my entire life…There are things that I do that my wife checks me on that I am doing with the best of intentions, but still, require me to feel that pain…and then dig deeper."
How did Alexis Ohanian and Serena Williams meet?
Williams and Ohanian's first meeting was a funny one: The couple recalled to Vanity Fair that Ohanian sat next to Williams' poolside table at the Hotel Cavalieri Hilton for breakfast in Rome in May 2015, and Williams and her pals tried to tell him there was a rat at his table so he would leave. He didn't, replying, "I'm from Brooklyn, I see rats all the time!" They finally said Ohanian could join them, and he attended Williams' tennis match that night, making it his first ever: He was so green about the sport, in fact, that the first photo he shared of Williams was actually her committing a foot fault.
What was Serena Williams and Alexis Ohanian's first date like?
Ohanian and Williams had one heck of a first date: According to Vanity Fair, they toured Paris together for six hours on foot before she had a match at the French Open in June 2015.
When did Serena Williams and Alexis Ohanian get engaged?
Ohanian told Vanity Fair that by April 2016, he knew he wanted to put a ring on it. That December, he proposed to Williams poolside at the same hotel in Rome where they first met. Ohanian gushed of Williams, "I felt like a door had been opened to a person who made me want to be my best self."
Williams announced the engagement on—you guessed it—Reddit with a poem: "I came home /A little late / Someone had a bag packed for me / And a carriage awaited / Destination: Rome / To escort me to my very own 'charming' / Back to where our stars first collided / And now it was full circle / At the same table we first met by chance / This time he made it not by chance / But by choice / Down on one knee / He said 4 words / And/r/isaidyes." Ohanian replied to the post, "And you made me the happiest man on the planet." We're not crying, you're crying.
One month later, Williams found out she was expecting her and Ohanian's first child.
What is Serena Williams' and Alexis Ohanian's daughter's name?
Williams and Ohanian's daughter is also his namesake: Alexis Olympia Ohanian Jr. was born Sept. 1, 2017.