🎾 Happy Birthday to the Icon Who Inspires The Beauty Ed. - Billie Jean King
Last year, I had the incredible privilege of meeting BJK at the Billie Jean King Cup in Málaga, where I attended as a guest of e.l.f. Cosmetics - find out why she is such a legend.
Billie Jean King is known for many things. At just 15, she made her debut at the U.S. Championships (now the US Open). It was 1959. Then in 1961, Billie was only 17 when she and her tennis partner Karen Hantze Susman won the Wimbledon women’s doubles title. She would eventually win 20 titles across singles, doubles, and mixed doubles at the All England Club.
Billie Jean King’s 1973 “Battle of the Sexes” match against 55-year-old Bobby Riggs became one of the most-watched sporting events in history. Bobby had boasted that no woman could beat him, but Billie proved him wrong, turning the match into a cultural victory for women’s equality and cementing her status as a global icon for women’s rights. They even made a movie about it.
Here’s a photo from that day last year when I met BJK. I’m the one standing next to her on the right…
Billie didn’t just fight for equality in tennis - she helped shift the landscape for women in business, media, politics, and leadership. Her work with the Women’s Tennis Association, the Women’s Sports Foundation, and countless advocacy groups continues to open doors.
Billie’s partnership with e.l.f. Cosmetics is rooted in their shared mission of empowerment, accessibility, equality, and showing up authentically. Attributes that The Beauty Ed. too celebrates and strives towards too.
When I met Billie, she and another The Beauty Ed. icon, Kory Marchisotto - the CMO of e.l.f Beauty played a game: “Serving Facts: Change the Board ” where armed with her tennis racket , Billie smashed some balls printed with statistics about gender inequality into the audience.
Here’s some of those facts:
Women make up only 27% of U.S. corporate boards
The average U.S. corporate board is 88% white.
The average U.S. corporate board is only 12% diverse
Gender-diverse boards are 27% more likely to outperform financially. e.l.f. Beauty+1
Out of approximately 4,200 publicly traded U.S. companies, only 4 have boards composed of two-thirds women and one-third diverse representation (highlighting e.l.f. itself as one of them).
Billie is warm, funny, and disarmingly down-to-earth - the kind of woman who makes you feel instantly seen. And during one of our chats, Billie delivered a casual story that made everyone’s jaw drop:
Elton John wrote “Philadelphia Freedom” specifically for her.
A global hit written for a woman because of her impact on the world.
Legend behaviour.
💬 “Pressure Is Privilege”: The Quote That Guides The Beauty Ed
but one of her most powerful contributions to modern mindset culture is her iconic quote:
“Pressure is privilege.”
It’s a line I think about often - and my kids even quote it often.
In my work, as a midlife woman and mum, and as someone navigating the kind of expectations society places on women of all ages.
When life feels heavy, when decisions feel overwhelming, or when I’m questioning life in general, Billie’s words remind me:
Pressure means you’re in the arena.
Pressure means you’re doing something meaningful.
Pressure means you’re pushing boundaries - and yourself.
🎉 Happy Birthday, Billie Jean King
Here’s to the woman who continues to inspire generations of women to take up space, raise their voices, challenge the system and live life with purpose and passion.
Thank you, Billie, for:
✨ your leadership
✨ your courage
✨ your legendary advocacy for women
✨ your unapologetic authenticity
✨ and the reminder that pressure is privilege - especially when we’re pushing the world forward.
Meeting you was an honour.
Living in a world you helped shape is a privilege.
