Naomi Osaka is Victoria's Secret new ambassador

Naomi Osaka joins the VS Collective, a group of 7 female ambassadors chosen by Victoria's Secret to tell the story and represent a type of femininity geared towards empowerment and diversity, which includes plus-size model and body positivity advocate Paloma Elsesser; Brazilian transgender model Valentina Sampaio; soccer player and LGBTQI+ activist Megan Rapinoe; model and mental health advocate Hailey Bieber; and Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Indian actress and tech entrepreneur, among others. The first role as part of the Collective of the tennis star, who already has collaborations and partnerships with Louis Vuitton, Nike, Levi's, and even her own skincare line called Kinlò, is as a guest on the VS Voices podcast, in which she also spoke about the importance of maintaining one's mental health and how women, in general, have to support many more pressures than men even in sports.

The sportswoman opened up to WWD mentioning her earlier feelings about the intimates moghul, making clear how the negative impact of its communication style and exclusive aesthetic standards left marks on young women growing up:

After learning and understanding about VS’s vision for the Collective, I was inspired to join these amazing women. I remember going into [Victoria’s Secret's] stores when I was a kid and wondering why none of the women on the wall looked like me. Now, as a collective, we can inspire the next generation from all different backgrounds, cultures, and sizes. That represents such progress to me.

She exudes such positive energy and continues to inspire women across the globe with her courage, determination and honesty. We are honored to be partnering with Naomi to help drive positive change.

Sharing the same enthusiasm, Janie Schaffer, chief design officer of the American company, said that Osaka was a "natural choice" for the project, the first step of a major rebranding aimed at redefining the antiquated model of unattainable femininity that the company founded in 1977 has always promoted. The angels and catwalks constellated with supermodels, have raised the bar of female competition and inadequacy of many women in an unhealthy way, are now a distant memory of a type of empowerment that reflects natural beauty and redefines the concept of sensuality.