Creator Spotlight: Peiman Raf and Mason Spector

What is Creator Spotlight?

Each week we'll feature a newsletter on beehiiv that's experiencing tremendous success with their content and growth. It's a two part initiative packed into a single day:

1. an email showcasing their content, tips, and goals (this email here)

2. and a live Twitter Spaces today where you can join the conversation and ask questions directly

Tell me about ‘The Local Optimist Digest’

We started The Local Optimist in February of this year to provide people with a round-up of all the most important mental health news of the week so they would have a go-to place to stay up to date on what’s happening in the space. We cover everything from national mental health news to specific subcategories, like news relating to the mind-body connection and the internet’s impact on mental health.

Although mental health is a serious topic, we infuse some humor into the newsletter because we feel it’s sorely lacking in the mental health space and provides our readers with some much-needed levity when the news is often bleak.

And how does this connect to clothing?

Madhappy is a clothing brand that’s focused on normalizing mental health and putting out positive messages into the world. The founders wanted to make products that were inclusive, which isn’t always the case in the fashion world.

Having dealt with their own mental health struggles, the goal was always to normalize that conversation and do more than just sell clothing. We saw a white space in newsletters focused on mental health, especially for a younger demographic, and thus “The Local Optimist Digest” was launched.

Tell me about your approach to mental health related news and content—who are you reaching?

We try to bring up topics that might be awkward to talk about with friends or wouldn’t normally make for light reading. The energetic and playful design style helps, even though the content can be heavy. We balance the more serious topics with some lighter pieces, as we don’t want the entire newsletter to be overwhelming. The bulk of the newsletter features bite-sized takes on the latest news and research in mental health for people who don’t have tons of time to read each article top to bottom.

Our target reader ranges from their early twenties to mid thirties, but we’re thrilled that many readers fall outside that age range. The more people we can reach, the better.

What are your plans for growing your audience?

We are trying to grow on multiple channels, beyond just sending the Digest out in email form which is a big reason why we started using beehiiv. We knew we wanted a landing page and an archive of past issues that people could refer to to help encourage them to subscribe, which beehiiv creates seamlessly and makes look great.

We’ve also utilized our most engaged followers to help with growth. We have built strong relationships with them over the years and, as a result, they’ve been really eager to spread the word about the newsletter across their own social media. It offers us a direct line to our audience who gives us feedback on what they’re most interested in.

Tell me about launching the referral program!

We launched our referral program about a month ago and beehiiv made it so easy to set up. We’ve gotten really good feedback from readers so far and it's been awesome to see how many of them are willing to share the newsletter with their friends and family. Our rewards for referrals include Madhappy stickers, The Madhappy Journal (which helps users get in touch with and make sense of their emotions) and Madhappy dad hats, which are all very popular.

Why is it important that we change the way we talk about mental health?

Mental health is just as important as physical health, but for too long the latter has been prioritized above all else. We’re trying to change that perception and remove the shame and stigma that has surrounded it in order to help us all lead happier, healthier lives. It can be difficult and scary to open up and be vulnerable about what you’re going through, and we recognize that, so we do our best to make it easier by offering resources and reminding readers of just how omnipresent different mental health concerns are.

One of the ways our own team has managed to get through different mental health struggles is using humor, so we’ve made that a central part of the Digest – because no matter how serious things may be, a little laughter can be healing and help to ease some of the internal tension we all sometimes feel.

Advice for other writers

Have fun with your design! Although simplicity reigns the newsletter space right now, and you want the content to shine more than anything, it’s helpful to find a sweet spot where your newsletter template stands out from the rest without being too distracting from the content itself.

Want more?

Join the conversation with Mason and Peiman on Twitter Spaces. We'll discuss how they plan to grow their newsletter and how they've incorporated mental health in their clothing designs.

For those new to Twitter Spaces—you can join the conversation and ask them (and others) whatever you want!

When: Tonight at 6:30pm ET Where: Twitter Spaces (link below)

In the meantime, be sure to follow Peiman on Twitter here and Local Optimists here and be sure to subscribe to their newsletter here!