More than a wakeup call, that thing that causes one to become fully alert to a situation, Tia Minzoni’s cancer diagnosis in the first month of 2019 was call to action.

“It makes you think … we don’t have as long as we might think,” Minzoni says. “You just never really know. So, I picked up speed and momentum and stopped saying ‘one day’ and started moving a little faster.”

A serial entrepreneur, Minzoni had always wanted to own an aviation company. It was something almost inherent, this intrigue for air travel. It was actually something passed down to her from her grandmother, who introduced the curiosity to her granddaughter.

One day, Minzoni thought, even as a young girl.

“I always said, ‘One day I’m going to buy a couple of private jets,’ yada, yada,” Minzoni says. “As we were moving along and acquiring smaller businesses, I always looked for aviation as well.”

Well, all of that — the diagnosis and a lifelong curiosity — manifested itself in Minzoni’s October acquisition of Stella Jets, founded in Detroit but now relocated — as fast as she could — to Southlake and completely women-owned.

It’s as family owned as the term allows. Minzoni serves as president and her daughters Jasmine Johnson and Taylor Minzoni act as vice president and associate vice president.

“As soon as possible we moved it to Texas,” Minzoni says. “I don’t have to tell you the benefits of doing business in Texas.”

Stella Jets is an…