The Ace Behind Black Girls Tennis Club
Kimberly Selden didn’t grow up playing tennis. While living in Brooklyn as a 20-something working in production, she would walk past her local courts wanting to play, but having no idea where to start. After moving back to her hometown of Virginia Beach, she decided to do something about it: Enter Black Girls Tennis Club, her nonprofit encouraging Black women and girls to get into the sport. The group now operates in Virginia, New York, and Washington, D.C., providing programming, partnering with city governments to fix courts, archiving Black tennis history, and creating a pipeline for young Black women to become tennis coaches.
Selden, whose résumé boasts stints at MTV and with the Clinton, Biden, and Harris presidential campaigns, still does some social-impact consulting on the side while she grows the nonprofit from Los Angeles, where she now lives with her French bulldog, Prince Tony. “I default to working on Black Girls Tennis Club full time because it’s my baby,” she says. “I would love for it to be a full-time role with a salary eventually, but for now I’m making it work.” When we speak, she’s coming down from hosting four activations at the U.S. Open alongside pros like Ben Shelton and Taylor Townsend. Here’s how Selden gets it done.
On her morning routine:
I’ve changed time zones four times in the last 30 days. Right now, I just drink water and try to get my steps in. I have my Oura ring, so that holds me accountable. If I’m home, I walk my dog first thing. I go through phases when I eat breakfast every day and then phases when I don’t. I’m figuring out what works best for me, but I do respect the routine girlies. I don’t know if I’ll be a 5 a.m.–gym person ever, and I don’t want to feel guilty if I’m not.
On building community:
When we had a clinic in Atlanta, there were a lot of doctors, lawyers, and super-successful Black women, and some of them were crying on the court because they needed the community. At the time, I thought I got it, but I didn’t get it. I’d been somewhat of a loner for a lot of my life. But I’ve been thinking about the level of support that I have now, which I’m not used to, and how certain people have shown up. It’s been an incredible journey to be doing work that impacts so many people.
On changing tennis culture:
Tennis is historically exclusionary. It’s been a country-club sport with a vibe that not everyone belongs. The culture of it excludes certain people, and we’re changing that. You come to our summer camp, and then what? Okay, you play with us and have a great time, but then you play after high school and you’re the only Black girl on your team. There are cultural conversations that we’re having with our young girls. We have a whole curriculum that talks about stuff like hair care — things that might be unique to them. But we go beyond that: We’re talking about nutrition, wellness, and joy.
On managing stress:
I take lots of walks. I came from live television, so it wasn’t normal to me to not be stressed out, especially working in politics. I’m figuring out how to be okay with not being stressed. It’s like, Wait, am I bored? Or is my nervous system just relaxed? That’s new for me and scary, but I know there’s a better way to live.
On her exercise routine:
I go through phases where I’m working out all the time, and I go through phases where my life is the workout. Tennis I really have to schedule and be intentional about. As far as daily exercise goes, I like Pilates or walking. When I get back to L.A., I’ll have a consistent tennis schedule. But I haven’t played tennis while I’ve been traveling, unless I’m popping on the court, like I did at an event with Ben Shelton.
On a typical day:
It’s all calls and emails and decks. We have a small but mighty team, and I spend a lot of time planning for the future. As soon as something ends, I’m thinking about what it looks like for the following year. I’m talking to our board members; I’m fundraising; I’m talking to brands about partnerships. I used to do any and every call with anybody who wanted to meet. My schedule was packed. Now, I’m strict about my calendar. I analyze everything to make sure that I’m not working on stuff that’s going to create more work my team doesn’t have capacity for, because if it was up to me, we’d be in every city.
On the biggest challenge of her job:
I’m used to working in very fast-paced environments, but it doesn’t matter if I’m going one pace if everybody else isn’t. I have to do what’s manageable for everyone. Now I’m an executive director, and most of it is managing relationships. It can be tiring. I find myself wondering if I’m an introvert or an extrovert. I think people would see me as an extrovert, and I’m only like that when I’m really comfortable around people. I need a lot of alone time.
We also have good marketing, but nobody has full-time salaries. We present ourselves well, but we still need help. Running a nonprofit is hard, especially when you have big ambitions, and personally, I’m a reluctant leader. You have to go through the pain to get the glory.
On the advice she wishes she had at the beginning of her career:
Be present. When I worked on all these live events, I was always looking for a job, even during the job. I remember being at NBA All-Star Weekend. My nephew texted me to tell me he spotted me on TV, and I was on my phone, drafting emails for my next job. I worked on the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show and Beyoncé spoke to me. I’ve had these cool moments, and I don’t know if I was really present for them because I was focused on the future.
On celebrating wins:
For me, it’s about seeing everybody else happy — like playing with Ben Shelton, I knew my team was going to go nuts. I didn’t grow up playing tennis, so for some of my friends who felt like tennis was their whole life, certain moments mean more to them. I get joy out of being able to create these moments for others. My favorite thing to do after the whole thing is said and done is be in my hotel room, order room service, and do nothing but look at all the pictures, chill, and reflect.