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02 November 2023

Article in partnership with Vanity Fair  

Serena Williams is an invaluable mentor to The Newsette founder Daniella Pierson, helping the young entrepreneur dream bigger than ever. Our world is shaped by those with vision. 

 

Those who seek beyond the present, surpass the status quo, reaching into the far unknown of the future. Daniella Pierson has always been driven by something bigger than what’s in front of her.

The 28-year-old Latinx founder of conglomerate Newsette Media Group—which includes The Newsette, the popular daily email newsletter for women highlighting trending topics, inspiring interviews, and more, plus Newland, a PR and Social agency—began her business in her Boston University dorm room. This one-woman operation would produce compelling news and lifestyle missive that would empower and engage other young women across the globe. 

But in order for Pierson to propel The Newsette to new heights, she had to seek the guidance, wisdom, and support from other women in business, from all walks of life. Now the company is valued at over $200 million, with more than 500,000 subscribers, and Pierson points to the world-changing relationships she built with inter-generational mentors, including, none other than Serena Williams.

“I like the quote ‘the harder you work the luckier you get,’” says Pierson, a firebrand of energy, with expansive, inquisitive eyes. It was a combination of the two that led her to meeting Williams in 2021 at an intimate dinner for women entrepreneurs at Dominique Crenn and Mario Bello’s Los Angeles home, hosted by Audemars Piguet’s CEO of the Americas Ginny Wright and Vanity Fair editor in chief Radhika Jones.

Audemars Piguet, which has a long history of visionary design and uncompromising craft, wanted to bring together leaders across all industries that share the same daring spirit. There, she told Williams about how she started The Newsette against all odds—“as a Latina with OCD, depression, and ADHD”—and transformed it into a business with $40 million in revenue. Williams then told Pierson about her VC fund Serena Ventures, which was looking to invest in businesses just like Pierson’s: companies with a vision for the future, run by women of color who’ve been looked over for funding in the past.

“I was immediately blown away by Daniella’s ambition and dedication to her work,” Williams told Vanity Fair. “She has accomplished so much at such a young age and there are no signs of her slowing down.” Williams shared her email address, and Pierson, thoroughly starstruck, found a mentor who would help her think bigger than she’d ever dreamed.

Women mentors understand what it’s like being the underdog, because they have always been underestimated,” Pierson says. “And I think that’s why I really value Serena’s advice because she knows what it feels like to be told ‘no’ multiple times and to be looked at like you don’t belong.

Daniella Pierson

The mentorship guided Pierson as she turned The Newsette into a must-read and lead her to co-founded a new mental health company called Wondermind in 2022. 

Pierson, in turn, was able to share her network of intrepid up-and-comers with Williams, helping her find prospective partners and staff for other companies backed by Serena Ventures, and the two volleyed professional—and personal—advice back-and-forth.

And that’s exactly why the tennis icon started Serena Ventures. “I think to have any sort of mentor in life is a gift, but it’s also very important for young women entrepreneurs to have an established woman to look up to,” Williams, who raised over $111 million the inaugural year of her company, says. “The experience of being a woman in business is a unique one, and I think that working with someone who has gone through it, is incredibly valuable.” 

Serena Ventures now has partners in the worlds of sports, technology, health, and social media, and just launched a new production company, Nine Two Six Productions, which aims to elevate female and diverse voices across film, television, and other mediums.

Collaborating with Williams has paved the way for Pierson to take on the role of mentor and help others shape the future. “Becoming a limited partner of Serena Ventures was my first foray into investing,” she says, and since then, she’s invested in companies run by women of color, “which really changed my life in terms of thinking about pulling other people up the ladder.” She also saw in Williams how to better balance family and business hours. “If Serena Williams, who is one of the busiest people in the world, can do this, why not? Why would I ever think that I would have to choose one or the other?”

Pierson packs her days with meetings, photo shoots, and events that will help her propel her company’s success ever forward. Her energy seems boundless, though she’s candid about her mental health challenges and shares her journey on social media in a way that’s both utterly transparent and refreshingly motivating. Whatever’s stood in her way before, doesn’t stand in her way for long.

It’s a mindset of determination she’s seen in Williams, who’s cheering her on from the sidelines. “I hope to see her thrive in her career and achieve her greatest goals,” Williams says. “If she continues to be as willing to grow and learn as she is today, her work will know no bounds. She is only at the beginning of something extraordinary.”

 

And when Serena Williams is in your corner, you know you’re doing something right. Pierson hops off the call and jumps into her next meeting, buoyed by her own boundless ambition and effusively grateful for the support of so many women who’ve rallied behind her. Onto the next chapter.

Find out more about how women are forging their own paths in the next chapter A Mentorship That Was Meant to Be