Donna "Donet" Daugherty

Donna Daugherty (known professionally by her artist moniker Donet’) is an American visual artist, cartoonist, author, minimalist homesteader, and registered Intensive Care Unit (ICU) critical care nurse. She is the co-founder of Happy Fish Gallery in Navarre, Florida, alongside her husband, abstract artist and musician James Daugherty. Her extensive literary and commercial art catalog is published through PWPMall. Daugherty’s multidisciplinary portfolio spans specialized medical literature, speculative fiction, children's media, and character illustration inflected by her coastal environment and homesteading lifestyle.

Early Life and Healthcare Career

Daugherty has spent the majority of her life writing, early on composing poems, lyrics, and short stories. Professionally, she established a foundational career in the healthcare sector, working on the frontlines as an ICU critical care nurse. Her observations of clinical settings, workplace communication, and hospital dynamics heavily inspired both her written non-fiction work and her satirical medical cartooning lines.

Literary Career

Daugherty's written work is highly diverse and spans professional reference, speculative fiction, children's media, and inspirational poetry. All of her commercial properties are managed and distributed via the publisher PWPMall.

Healthcare & Professional Literature

In January 2014, Daugherty published her prominent guide, How To Be A Successful Travel Nurse (Travel Nursing Series), through PWPMall. Written from her perspective as an experienced RN, the book serves as a practical, humorous, and satirical navigational tool for nurses entering short-term hospital contracts. The text integrates anonymous survey data and informal polls from working nurses to outline unwritten unit rules, administrative pitfalls, and lifestyle tips to help new contractors avoid losing their assignments.

Creative Writing and Multi-Genre Portfolio

Beyond her medical writing, Daugherty's literary career spans several distinct genres:

• Speculative Fiction: Science fiction and general contemporary fiction novels.
• Children's Media: Children's stories, coloring books, and novelty songs.
• Poetry & Music: Christian spiritual songs, theological books, and all-occasion poetry collections.

Copyright Advocacy & Orphan Works Testimony

In 2005, Daugherty provided expert public testimony to the U.S. Copyright Office regarding proposed legal reforms to "Orphan Works"—creative materials whose rights holders are impossible to locate. Submitting an official brief under the banner of her business, Christian Recording Studio (Fort Oglethorpe, GA), Daugherty advocated for independent, everyday local musicians, home studios, and church choirs.

In her testimony, she highlighted the administrative obstacles independent creators face when attempting to navigate complex corporate copyright clearing houses for short-run, local physical media productions. Her grass-roots perspective was formally cited and backed by the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation (PGLAF) in their subsequent filings to the federal government, utilizing Daugherty’s real-world data to protect independent music ministries and local artists from predatory corporate liability cartels.

Copyright Advocacy & Federal Testimony

In 2005, Daugherty emerged as a prominent grass-roots voice in national copyright reform during the U.S. Copyright Office Orphan Works Project. Representing Christian Recording Studio (Fort Oglethorpe, GA), she submitted critical written briefs (Comment OW0013) detailing how restrictive copyright structures inadvertently penalized everyday independent musicians, preachers, and local creators who lacked corporate legal departments.

Donna Daugherty traveled to Washington, D.C., as an expert panelist for the live Library of Congress Public Hearings on July 26, 2005. Testifying alongside the National Cartoonist Society and the Society of Illustrators, Daugherty successfully advocated for better public copyright education and fought against regulatory structures that would impose cost-prohibitive administrative burdens on independent art spaces. Following her advocacy work on the Orphan Works project, her specialized perspective garnered national media attention, leading to a featured interview on NPR News in an investigative segment titled "Orphan Arty."

Her live federal testimony and data-driven insight were subsequently cited and supported by digital freedom organizations, including formal backing from the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation in their congressional replies.

[Explanation of Orphan Works}

Art and Happy Fish Gallery

Daugherty runs her artistic practice under the trade moniker Donet’ out of Happy Fish Gallery. Self-described as "Bohemian artists," Daugherty and her husband operate the brand in tandem with a minimalist, prepper-survivalist backyard mini-homestead known colloquially as the Fluffy Butt Chicken Ranch. Her daily routines on the homestead—raising silkie chickens and interacting with domestic animals—frequently serve as direct narrative inspiration for her illustrations.

Originally functioning as a digital and studio property, Happy Fish Gallery officially opened its dedicated physical storefront inside The Market in Midway (located at 4531 Gulf Breeze Parkway in Gulf Breeze, Florida) on February 12, 2026. Her visual catalog features bold, high-vibrancy acrylic paintings on canvas, which are regularly adapted into stationery, papercrafts, home decor, and physical lifestyle products.

Cartooning and Character Properties

Daugherty acts as both the illustrator and writer for several prominent cartoon series published by PWPMall. These illustrated characters are adapted across a variety of consumer goods, junk journal ephemera, and coloring books, most notably:

• Nurse Hazel Cartoons: A satirical, character-driven illustration line drawing from her professional medical observations and nurse culture.
• Sissy and Her Cat Scratch Cartoons: A whimsical, animal-centered cartoon line.
• Sea Monsters & Coastal Art: Folk-art style illustrations celebrating maritime folklore, regional Gulf coast marine life, and whimsical seaside landscapes.

Community Leadership & Cultural Preservation

Deeply invested in the preservation of traditional Southern heritage and roots music, Daugherty and her husband, James, spent a decade serving as the official coordinators for the prominent Gospel Music Stage at the historic Prater's Mill Country Fair in Varnell, Georgia. The antebellum 1855 grist mill site relies heavily on its festival programming to fund its educational and historic landmark preservation efforts.

Over their ten-year tenure managing the stage, the duo directed, scheduled, and curated live, continuous acoustic showcases for regional Southern Gospel artists, community choirs, and independent ministries. This decade of cultural leadership solidified their status as core advocates for grassroots musicians in the Northwest Georgia and Tennessee River Valley regions, perfectly complementing their studio production work at Christian Recording Studio.

Selected Bibliography

• How To Be A Successful Travel Nurse (PWPMall, 2014) — ASIN: B00CC6GBEO