Meet the 27-Year-Old Latina Entrepreneur Worth $220 Million

27-Year-Old Latina Entrepreneur Worth $220 Million

Daniella Pierson started The Newsette, a women-focused newsletter, when she was just 19. At 27, she is now one of the richest women of color in the U.S., joining a small group of self-made young women with fortunes over $100 million.

Pierson grew The Newsette from nothing into a company making $40 million in revenue and $10 million in profit last year. She recently sold a small part of the company, which is now valued at $200 million. She still owns most of it and has taken very little outside funding—just a $15,000 loan from her parents, which she paid back.

She also cofounded a mental health startup called Wondermind with Selena Gomez and Gomez’s mother, Mandy Teefey. Her shares in Wondermind, plus her other investments, give her an estimated net worth of $220 million, according to Forbes.

Pierson is younger than most women on Forbes’ “Richest Self-Made Women” list. Only Kylie Jenner (25) and Lucy Guo (28 in October) are close in age.

Her journey began in 2015, when she was a sophomore at Boston University. She wanted a quick way to read culture, beauty, and business news, so she created a newsletter. At first, she even pretended to be an intern instead of the founder because she lacked confidence. She printed copies and left them around campus to attract readers.

After college, she started bringing in advertisers. Revenue grew quickly: $1 million in 2019, $7 million in 2020, and $40 million in 2021. Advertisers include Bumble, Fidelity, Old Navy, Twitter, and Walmart.

Today, The Newsette has over 500,000 mostly female subscribers ages 18 to 35. Readers can earn points by referring friends, redeemable for rewards like mugs, sweatshirts, or even free coffee for a year.

Pierson also launched a creative agency, Newland, in 2020. It runs TikTok campaigns and connects brands with influencers. Its first big project was for Amazon on International Women’s Day. Without much marketing, Newland now makes more money than the newsletter and employs most of Pierson’s 40-person team.

Despite her success, Pierson is open about her struggles. “I have OCD and depression. I was a horrible student,” she says.

Pierson’s mother grew up poor in Colombia but later became an oral surgeon. Her father grew up in Niagara Falls, New York, and now owns car dealerships in Jacksonville, Florida, where Pierson was raised.

As a child, Pierson struggled with sleep. She felt upset if things weren’t even, like when one side of her bed had black tape and the other didn’t. She created rituals, such as checking under her bed until it “felt right.” In high school, during a health class on mental health, she realized she had OCD.

She often compared herself to her twin sister, Alex Aster, who was very successful in school. Aster graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with top honors, has over a million TikTok followers, and published two popular young adult fantasy/thriller books—one now being made into a movie by Universal and the producers of Twilight.

Pierson didn’t get treatment for OCD until her senior year of college. By then, her grades had dropped below a 2.0 GPA, and she feared being expelled. Her rituals had become so extreme that she sometimes hurt herself, slamming her hands on the floor until they bled. She cried every day for months but was afraid to tell her parents, who didn’t believe in therapy. Using her own money from her company The Newsette, she finally saw a therapist, started Prozac, and did cognitive behavioral therapy. Her grades improved, and she made the dean’s list in her final year.

Her sister Aster says they both share a willingness to talk openly about struggles. Aster herself faced rejection from publishers and even lost her agent before promoting her book on TikTok, which led to a bidding war and a six-figure book deal. The sisters have always supported each other—Aster helped edit The Newsette in its early days, and Pierson is the first to read Aster’s new chapters.

Despite her success, Pierson admits she still pushes herself hard. She only took her first week-long vacation in four years recently, and even then, she couldn’t relax. “Nothing makes me happier than building companies,” she says. Her OCD hasn’t gone away, but she has learned to manage it and hopes her story inspires others.

“I don’t want anyone with mental health challenges to think they can’t succeed,” Pierson says. “Success can look different for everyone.”

(Updated August 11, 2022: Pierson’s net worth is now estimated at $220 million, including the $100 million valuation of Wondermind.)

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