Tigress Sydney Acute McDaniel ran for member of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education in 2023, Mayor of Charlotte in 2022 and 2019, and Mecklenburg County Commissioner in 2020, but she did not win any of those races. She also ran for Mecklenburg Soil and Water Conservation District Supervisor in 2018 and 2020, but she did not win either race.

Tigress owns and operates PurSUEt of Happyness Corporation and Probetur Association LLC, where she works as a lawyer. She previously worked as a research scientist and a consultant for the Savannah River site nuclear power plant, and as a park ranger for Shenandoah National Park and Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument.

Tigress is from Greensboro. She holds a bachelor's degree in agricultural education and environmental science, a master's degree in agricultural economics and rural development, and a doctorate degree in energy and environmental systems, all from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University. She also holds a law degree from Taft Law School.