Jessica Tellian on ADHD, Feminine Energy and Building a Business That Works With Your Body
She was afraid to speak. Now she speaks for a living. Jessica Tellian on ADHD, feminine energy, and building a business that finally works with her body instead of against it.
Jessica Tellian grew up in what her school called the basement classroom. That was the name they gave it… the special needs class, literally located downstairs, away from everyone else. She was diagnosed young with ADHD and auditory processing disorder, struggled to focus, avoided speaking, and spent years trying to work the way everyone else seemed to manage without thinking about it.
Today, she mentors founders across the world, runs a six-figure coaching business, hosts a nationally recognised podcast and has invested over $100,000 in her own development. She did all of it by eventually stopping trying to work like everyone else and figuring out what actually worked for her instead.
We sat down to talk about labels, feminine energy, taking risks that don't make logical sense, and why she'd go back to that basement classroom and speak to every kid in it.
Let’s start at the beginning. What was your childhood like?
JESSICA: I grew up in New Jersey and was diagnosed young with auditory processing disorder, then ADHD. I was constantly pulled out of class, and ended up in what they literally called the basement classroom. It made me feel broken. Like I was already behind before I even began.
And yet now I have a friend from back then who recently reconnected with me. She sees what I'm doing and gets so inspired. She says, “Jess, do you remember we used to be in the basement?” I would love to go back to that school and speak to the kids in the basement. I'd love that so much.
And now you're mentoring business owners around the world.
JESSICA: It still blows my mind. I used to be afraid to speak. Now I speak for a living.
I don't see my ADHD as a flaw anymore. Actually, I don't even say I have it. I say I was diagnosed with it because words are incredibly powerful. I don't identify with it anymore. I've learned to use it as a superpower. It's helped me listen to my body, tune into my intuition, and stop forcing myself to sit still when I'm not meant to be sitting still.
A lot of people are self-diagnosing with ADHD right now because it feels relatable and maybe for some it is. But I manifested my way out of it. I'm not saying that works for everyone. I'm saying it worked for me, and that I'm not the same person I was when I was handed that label.
You started out as a personal trainer. What made you shift?
JESSICA: I'd always loved the gym. But I was working 14-hour days and totally burned out. Then I got recruited by Nike. I had offers from Rumble and other major brands and I walked away. I didn't want to build someone else's dream.
Before all of that, I'd left a hospital job (good pay, good relationship on paper, but miserable inside) and moved to Miami. I started reading for the first time in my life. I'd never read books because my teachers told me I couldn't focus, and I believed them. One of the first I read was The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success. Then a Joe Dispenza book. Then I found an author who was hosting a retreat and signed up.
The thing is: I thought it was going to be an art retreat. I genuinely bought paint beforehand to practise. I showed up and it was deep healing, meditation, awakenings. I was like, oh. But something in me had said go, and that something was right. That retreat cracked me open completely.
You talk about building a business with your body. What does that actually look like?
JESSICA: It means knowing when you're in a season to push and when you're in a season to rest. I started tracking my cycle, planning around my energy, and building systems that felt natural. Women aren't meant to operate the same way every day. We're cyclical… we run on a 28-day cycle, not a 24-hour one. I stopped working against that and leaned into it.
A big part of that shift came from reading In the Flo by Alisa Vitti. It helped me understand my own rhythms and how to actually work with them. That book changed how I launch, how I plan, even how I rest. I recommend it to every woman I work with.
Was slowing down scary at first?
JESSICA: Yes. Because the world rewards the hustle. And I was good at it. But I was also exhausted. So I started experimenting with slower launches, EFT tapping before creating content, and actually resting. And the results didn't drop. They exploded. My business got clearer, my income went up, and I started attracting clients who actually felt like a match.
It's not about being fully feminine or fully masculine. It's about learning to intertwine the two. The women who are so deep in their masculine (grinding, planning, always doing) often have no trust that things will flow without force. And they can't receive what they've been working towards. The feminine side is what allows you to receive.
You've invested heavily in your own development. Why?
JESSICA: I've spent over $100,000 on coaches and mentors across my journey. And I'd do it again.
Most recently, I invested $25,000 with a mentor, and I did it right after moving into a new apartment that was three times any rent I'd ever paid. Watching my bank account with both of those decisions at once was genuinely uncomfortable. It didn't make logical sense.
But money loves to move. Money loves to have a purpose. Sitting on it out of fear isn't safety; it's playing small. And when I play small, I get small results. When I play big, I get big ones. That's not just a motivational quote for me. It's what I've watched happen in my own business every time I've stretched.
On the apartment: I was looking at smaller options, trying to stuff my big energy into a small space because it seemed more sensible. Then I saw a unit that was way over budget and asked about it out of curiosity. The apartment number was 222. The other one I'd liked was 213. Both are angel numbers that mean a lot to me. I took it as a sign and I said yes. It worked out.
You're also known for your take on manifestation. What does that mean to you?
JESSICA: It's not just visualising a car or a house. It's about identity. You become the version of you who already has what you want. That means nervous system work. Self-concept work. Deciding what you want and building safety around receiving it.
I have a goal to be a millionaire by 33. I've put it out there publicly, and I'm not attached to it in the sense that if it doesn't happen on that exact timeline I'll see myself as a failure because the only one who can judge me is me. But I claim it out loud because claiming it is how you start becoming the person who achieves it. The fear of looking like a failure if it doesn't happen is exactly what keeps most people from ever saying what they actually want.
What did you want to be when you were growing up?
JESSICA: A teacher.
And I was laughing as I said it… because that's exactly what I am. I started with personal training, which is teaching. Then I moved into mindset and coaching, which is teaching. Now I run my own academy, the Manifestation Academy, which is literally a school. It's free, it runs weekly live calls, and it's for women at any stage who want to learn about energy work, manifestation and identity shifting.
The school I went to put me in the basement. I'm building my own.
What do you wish more women in business knew?
JESSICA: That you don't have to trade your health, your nervous system, or your joy to be successful. That rest is a business strategy. That you're allowed to do things completely differently from how you were taught.
And be easy on yourself. The labels other people put on you when you were young (the ones that told you what you couldn't do, what you were too much of, what you weren't enough of) those were other people's interpretations of something they didn't understand. You are not the same person you were when they said those things. You've grown. You're still growing. Don't let old labels follow you into the life you're building now.