Daniella Pierson Wants to Empower the Next Generation of Female Entrepreneurs

The Newsette founder Daniella Pierson has a new venture to add to her portfolio: Chasm. According to TechCrunch, all-women teams currently receive just 1.8 percent of VC funding. This initiative aims to close that gender gap in entrepreneurship, supported by an impressive roster of members, including musician Lionel Richie and Sneex inventor Sara Blakely.

Essentially, members like Richie and Blakely will pay $25,000 a year to be a member of Chasm. With the funds Pierson receives from her high-status friends, she will then disperse monthly grants to young, female entrepreneurs, giving them tools and resources for their businesses to thrive.

“Chasm is going to make a massive dent in the gender gap by focusing on one solution that has a domino effect: creating more successful female entrepreneurs,” Pierson says in a press release. “If you think about who has the most wealth and power in the world, they have two things in common: They are men and they are entrepreneurs. We’re creating an ecosystem rooted in community, insight, and real resources.”

As a 29-year-old BIPOC entrepreneur, Pierson says she takes the issue personally. She started The Newsette while still in college and grew it into a powerhouse email juggernaut before leveraging her rapidly expanding network to launch Chasm.

Chasm will offer only one grant per month; those interested can apply for these funds by filling out a form online. The site also offers resources for young entrepreneurs, welcoming every woman to join the community. These could be as simple as a membership to Instacart+, the first partner of the new company, which allows less time to be spent at the grocery store for working women. It even has a newsletter, much like Newsette.

With her impressive list of backers, Pierson emphasizes, in an email interview, that members are value-driven, hence them giving the $25,000 as a direct grant rather than as an investment. “They get to see what they’re fueling every single day, whether that’s through clubchasm.com, our grant winners, or real stories of impact,” she says. “Many of these people are dear friends who believe fully in the mission.”

The organization is also not a nonprofit. “The only way to create sustainable, systemic change is by introducing a business model that can fund itself,” Pierson adds. “If I raise $10 million in donations, I can make $10 million of impact. But, if I use my media background and network to build Chasm into a $500 million company, then we inspire other member-to-many models. That’s when billions start flowing toward real, scalable solutions. If I can prove that this model drives both value and change? That’s a tide that lifts every boat.”

Pierson is also a co-founder of the “mental fitness ecosystem” Wondermind with Selena Gomez, a website offering resources to those in need. The singer and actress made headlines weeks ago as the startup laid off the majority of its already small staff amid financial troubles. Pierson left the company in 2023, and Chasm continues Pierson’s mission-led work.

Others involved in Chasm include Instacart CEO and chair Fidji Simo, entrepreneurs Tony and Sage Robbins, and Drybar co-founder Alli Webb.