Naomi Osaka Means Business: Nike, Louis Vuitton, Beats, Levi's -- even Anna Wintour -- Line Up

Naomi Osaka Luanches First Swim Collab with Frankies Bikinis on May 10 AOC Fashion

Tennis stars Naomi Osaka and Serena Williams were 2020’s highest-paid female athletes in the world. Osaka took the top spot. with Forbes estimated earnings of $37.4 million, endorsements generating $34 million. Serena lost her four-years running top spot to Osaka, but hardly wept on her way to the bank with an estimated $36 million in earnings, including $32 million in endorsements.

Among Osaka’s newest ventures is her Frankies Bikinis X Naomi Osaka collection, representing the Haitian-Japanese athlete’s first venture into swimwear. The collab dropeds twice last week on May 10 and today, May 19 on the Frankies Bikinis website.

“I think it’s really important for brands to design for all women, not just certain sizes or shapes or body types. For me, it’s important to align myself with brands that make inclusivity a priority,” Osaka said. “Frankies Bikinis holds high standards for inclusivity, which allows everyone to be able to find products that make them feel confident and empowered. That’s exactly what we aimed to do with this collection.”

Today’s New York Times does a deep dive on Naomi Osaka’s business interests. Cindy Gallop, a brand consultant who has worked with several of Ms. Osaka’s sponsors, tells the Times “She is the perfect storm. She’s a spectacular athlete. She has a strong sense of social justice, she’s prepared to speak her mind.”

Gallop continues: “She’s female, and . . . she’s not white. I hate, loathe, and detest terms like this, but she is, in quotes, diverse. She ticks every box. You can practically hear the brand managers thinking: ‘She is absolutely the right person to sponsor, right now.’”

“She’s the first professional tennis player we’ve worked with,” said Jen Sey, the brand president of Levi’s, “but for us, she rises above that. She’s such a powerful voice, the way she’s encouraged others to speak out about equality. She’s outspoken. That’s what we like about her. There’s no point in partnering with someone if you’re just going to tell them what to do.”

Read on: How Naomi Osaka Became Everyone’s Favorite Spokesperson New York Times

Mozambique's Gorongosa National Park Grows Coffee, Cashews, Honey and Hope

Gorongosa National Park Brings Coffee, Cashews, Honey and Hope to Mozambique AOC Sustainability

Gorongosa National Park has quite a history, from its inception 60 years ago to being battleground the subsequent Mozambique civil war, to its recent revitalization and engagement with the human community that lives among its borders.

The park enlists local people in management at all levels, and focuses on developing schools and girls’ empowerment programs, too, so in this context it seems a natural fit that the park would engage residents in a new, restorative agriculture venture which also serves to reforest the slopes of Mount Gorongosa, via agroforestry.

Matt Jordan is well suited to direct this project, having served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Mozambique after earning degrees in environmental engineering, and being of the belief that the fates of human societies and the natural world are intertwined, and can thrive together. Today, he serves as the Director of Sustainable Development for the park which includes overseeing projects like Gorongosa Coffee, and he answered some questions via email: his responses have been edited for brevity and clarity.

Read on about the inspiring work being done in Gorongosa. The Chimanimani Mountains are an ancient home to Stone Age rock paintings by the San people, also known as Bushmen. Today, the entire park is alive with human activity as people try to put Mozambique’s deadly civil war behind them. As many as a million humans died, and countless, princely animals killed for food. Worse still, their body parts — ivory in particular — were traded for weapons.

Gorongosa National Park Brings Coffee, Cashews, Honey and Hope to Mozambique AOC Sustainability