Gulfport woman named to Forbes ‘30 Under 30′ list

GULFPORT, Miss. (WLOX) - One Gulfport resident is making strides in education and her Gulf Coast community proud.

Jessica Shelley is a former teacher, a mother of five, a successful CEO, and now one of Forbes’ “30 Under 30.”

“We didn’t really have any sort of prep or anything to know when the list was going to be posted or shared or anything,” said Shelley. “I was getting my kids breakfast and just scrolling through my email before I started my work day, and I got the email notification right there at the table. My husband was not in the kitchen at the moment, and I was like, I don’t know. So I just sent him the link.”

Shelley finds herself on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list for her work as the founder and CEO of an online learning program called Dailies. As a teacher, she saw the need for stronger communication with her students’ families.

“Really just trying to focus on parents and education and realizing that there wasn’t a lot of resources out there,” she explains. “It was just more of, like, you have to wait for the parent conferences and things.”

So, she works to bridge the learning gap from school to home.

“We love connecting with families, so, I am like frequently hopping on calls with parents just to kind of talk through their current situation. ‘What’s happening with my child’s learning? Is there anything I can do to support at home?’ We answer all of those questions every single day.”

Through Dailies, a team of qualified teachers leads virtual classes with progress reports for parents.

“Ultimately, you know, if your child is needing support in math, reading, writing, want to join an art class or an engineering class, we kind of have the full gambit available for families.”

According to Forbes, Shelley’s business is currently valued at about $ 5 million. She’s reached more than 15,000 families across the world in her first two years.

“We are a tech company, but we are really focused on building relationships,” she adds. “And it’s not done in, you know, the face of media or anything like that. It’s just genuine people connecting as people to support families and students.”

Along with virtual classes, Dailies also provides one-on-one tutoring, preparation boot camps, a homeschool program and more.

“On our parents’ side of things, it’s like, oh my gosh. I’m so glad that this recognition is coming for the work that we’ve been doing for the past couple of years.”

Shelley says Dailies is expanding next year to offer what she calls a “high dosage tutoring model,” which will be available for school systems to take advantage of.

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