Motherhood doesn’t get easier, you get stronger. Chase has been a proud sponsor of the US Open and Serena Williams for many years. In 2018, ahead of Serena’s first return to the US Open since becoming a mom, we ignited a conversation around motherhood using #ThisMama. It was a conversation that mamas everywhere felt empowered to join, using the hashtag to tell their own stories of motherhood. One year later and we continued that momentum. “This Mama Keeps Going” shows the journey of motherhood from the perspective of Serena. The concept pairs videos of Olympia growing up, from ultrasound all the way through to the present day, with VO from Serena’s interview after her very first US Open win. What’s incredible is how well her words relate to both her life as a tennis player, but also as a mother. The social campaign touches on the fact that, even though it’s been 20 years since her grand slam, as a mother and a player, she will never stop pushing, striving and playing. We wanted to shine a light on the incredible strength of mothers, using Serena as the embodiment of this strength.

This project is:
Client-commissioned

Agency
Droga5

My Role in This Project
When Chase came to us with the brief to continue the conversation of "This mama" it originally started out as a social post and we had only 2 weeks to get something together. From delving further into Serena's story of motherhood and her incredible legendary career, I found a snippet of an interview she did after her first ever grand slam win. I couldn't help but notice the similarities between the way she spoke about her wins and the proud and authentic way she would speak about motherhood. From there we had a mad dash to get all the footage we could of Serena from her own personal files to her documentary to archival footage of her grand slam win. It was important for us to work with an editor who is also a mother because we needed to tell her story in an authentic way and we wanted to have that perspective with our editor. We didn't want to shy away from the hard times she faces and the trials of motherhood. Serena is an incredibly strong woman, athlete, and mother and I wanted to celebrate that but also connect on the hurdles that mothers everywhere face. This came into play for moments like keeping in the footage of her breast pump to wanting to include footage of her baby crying. I felt we had a responsibility to not paint a picture perfect world of motherhood, but a true and authentic one. I wanted people to see this side of Serena and feel like they got a peek into her heart as a mother and connect with her on a human level.