Sylvia Shaqueria Fowles (born October 6, 1985) is an American professional basketball player for the Minnesota Lynx of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). Fowles, who joined the Lynx in July 2015, was MVP of the 2015 WNBA Finals, was named the WNBA Defensive Player of the Year for the third time in 2016, and won the 2017 WNBA MVP Award. She is 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) tall and weighs 227 pounds (103 kg).
She was born in Miami, Florida, the daughter of Arrittio Fowles. She has three brothers, Walter, Jeremy, Morris, and one sister, Dorothy. Sylvia grew up in some of the rougher neighborhoods of Miami-Dade, including Coconut Grove, Little Haiti, and the Victory Home Housing Projects. She attended Little River Elementary School, Horace Mann Middle School, Miami Edison Senior and graduated from Gulliver Preparatory School.
She also led Edison Senior High School to two state championships before transferring to Gulliver Preparatory School. Fowles averaged 20.6 points and 11.6 rebounds at Gulliver and led them to the class 3A state championship against Melbourne Central Catholic High School. Fowles was also named a McDonald's All-American. Fowles was named a WBCA All-American. She participated in the 2004 WBCA High School All-America Game, where she scored fifteen points, and earned MVP honors.