Telisa Daughtry is an Award-Winning Diversity & Technology Advocate, Serial Social Entrepreneur, Impact Investor, Technologist and Multi-Disciplined Creative
We often read stories about founders who had a grand vision from day one. They dropped out of college, sketched a world-changing idea on a napkin, and never looked back. That isn't the story of Telisa D. Here.
She is an accidental entrepreneur.
Telisa never planned on building a business. Her journey was forged by a series of events—rejection, financial collapse, homelessness, and heartbreak—that forced her to think creatively about survival. She had to turn her passions into profit, her skills into a hustle, and her obstacles into opportunities. She ran a full-service digital agency, sold handmade ice cream in SoHo, designed MySpace pages for record labels, and launched a jewelry line from a place of heartbreak.
Most of these were 'stable side-hustles' she ran alongside a 9-to-5. But they were also her real-world MBA, teaching her lessons she never would have learned in a classroom. In 2014, she finally left her "real job" to find her purpose, which led her to found FlyTechnista a year later—this time, with clarity and intention.
This is the unfiltered story of her journey, and the powerful, unconventional lessons it holds for any aspiring founder.
Lesson 1: Your Rejection Can Be Your Greatest Launchpad
Telisa's first company was born because no one would hire her. Despite six years of experience, creative and digital agencies rejected her because she hadn't worked at an agency before. It was a classic chicken-and-egg problem. So, she stopped asking for a seat at the table and decided to build her own.
She started freelancing for individuals, then small businesses started reaching out. Before she knew it, she was running her own full-service creative & digital boutique agency. The very thing that was born from rejection became the ultimate proof of her capability, which eventually helped her land a fantastic full-time role.
The Mentor Takeaway: Don't view rejection as a verdict on your talent. Telisa's story teaches us to view it as a data point. The market might be telling you not that you aren't good enough, but that you need to create a new path. Your greatest obstacle can become your most powerful origin story.
Lesson 2: Passion is Your Fuel, but Process is Your Engine
Anyone who knows Telisa knows she is driven by passion. When she's doing something she loves, the motivation is endless. There were countless nights she couldn't sleep because she was so excited to be coding, creating, and building. That passion is the "why" that gets you through the hard times.
But she learned that passion without process leads to burnout. She applied the same project management skills she honed as a developer to all areas of her life. The secret to staying on track isn't just excitement; it's structure.
The Mentor Takeaway: Marry your passion with a process.
Be a Virgo (even if you aren't): Take pride in being organized so you can be efficient. Telisa, a natural Virgo, lives by this.
Use the Tools: She is a huge fan of a daily To-Do List and Google's suite of products like Calendar and Drive to keep her life organized. Find a system and be disciplined.
Rest is Necessary: In her most excited moments, she reminds herself that breaks are not a sign of weakness; they are a necessary part of the creative process.
Lesson 3: Confidence Is the Result of Courage, Not the Prerequisite
The biggest obstacle in Telisa's journey wasn't homelessness or financial hardship; it was her own lack of confidence. In 1998, she was so passionate about the web that she would go to Barnes & Noble, hand-copy code into a notebook, and then practice on her school's library computers. She taught herself 8 programming languages in about a year.
She had the skills. But she didn't have the confidence.
In spite of her proficiency, she didn't pursue a computer science degree in college, always feeling it held her back. Years later, she had to face that fear head-on. She enrolled in CS101, then Algorithms, then APIs. That courageous act of finally facing her insecurity changed her entire trajectory.
The Mentor Takeaway: Stop waiting to feel confident before you take action. Telisa's experience shows that the confidence we're all looking for is on the other side of the scary thing. Take the class. Make the call. Start the project. Courage comes first; confidence follows.
Lesson 4: The Blueprint Must Come Before the Brand
Having successfully launched three revenue-generating businesses (and dissolved two fiery messes), Telisa learned that enthusiasm is not a business plan. You have to do the foundational work.
The Mentor Takeaway: Plan, Execute, then Brag.
Protect Your Idea: Before you build the website, design the logo, or create the social media handles, get educated on the legal side. Register, Copyright, and Trademark. Protect your idea and your personal assets from day one.
Write It Down: A plan that only exists in your head is a dream. A plan that is written down becomes a map. It doesn't have to be perfect—it will change and evolve—but it must be tangible. This is how you move from idea to execution.
Execute First: Once you've actually built, launched, or sold something, your work will speak for itself. People will know you're about your business because you've proven it with action.
Lesson 5: Hustle with Heart, or Don't Bother
Telisa's second company, a jewelry line called BrassKnuckle Ballerina, was born after a bad breakup. She started taking classes as a distraction, and it grew into a successful business. But she eventually realized it was a very expensive hobby. She wasn't passionate enough about the business of jewelry to make it sustainable. When she got a 9-to-5, she let it go.
That experience taught her the most important lesson of all.
The Mentor Takeaway: Doing things just for the money sucks the life out of you. Don't build a business or sell a product you're not deeply passionate about. The entrepreneurial journey is too hard, too lonely, and too demanding to be fueled by anything less than pure, authentic passion for the problem you are solving and the people you are serving. Hustle, but hustle with heart.