How The Local Optimist Launched a Mental Health Newsletter With a Built-In Referral Engine

Overview

The Local Optimist is the content arm of Madhappy, the streetwear brand known for normalizing conversations around mental health. Founded by Peiman Raf and Mason Spector, Madhappy uses fashion, media, and community to reduce stigma and make mental health discussions more accessible, especially for younger audiences.

In early 2022, the team launched The Local Optimist Digest, a weekly newsletter delivering a digestible, approachable roundup of mental health news, research, and resources.

Built on beehiiv, the newsletter pairs playful design with serious topics and uses referrals to turn engaged readers into a sustainable growth engine.

The Situation

Madhappy already had a deeply engaged audience across apparel, social, and community initiatives. What they needed next was a content channel that could:

• Live independently from e-commerce campaigns
• Build a direct relationship with readers
• Grow organically through community participation

Email was the obvious choice, but the platform had to support editorial storytelling, not just product sales.

The Problem

Before beehiiv, the team was using Klaviyo, which worked well for e-commerce—but fell short for a content-first newsletter.

Key limitations included:

• Built primarily for promotional and product emails
• No native referral program
• Limited flexibility for editorial layouts
• Friction when launching landing pages and archives

Most importantly, growth, not revenue, was the primary goal, and Klaviyo wasn’t designed for that.

The Solution: beehiiv

The team moved to beehiiv for two core reasons:

• A built-in referral program designed specifically for newsletters
• A clean, customizable publishing experience optimized for editorial content

beehiiv allowed The Local Optimist to launch quickly, experiment with incentives, and manage referrals, rewards, and fulfillment—all in one place, without custom engineering or third-party tools.

Growth Strategy

Growth is driven by a combination of:

• Organic sharing from highly engaged readers
• Promotion across Madhappy’s existing social channels
• A referral program tied directly to physical Madhappy products

Referral rewards include:

• Madhappy stickers
• The Madhappy Journal
• Madhappy dad hats

Because the rewards were native to the brand, referrals felt authentic—more like community participation than marketing.

Content Strategy

Each issue of The Local Optimist Digest curates:

• Weekly mental health news
• Research and policy updates
• Internet and culture trends impacting mental health
• Practical toolkits and resources readers can actually use

The tone intentionally balances serious subject matter with humor and levity, using bright design and playful copy to make difficult conversations more approachable.

Favorite beehiiv Features

Referral Program
Enabled a reward-based growth loop without engineering or manual tracking.

Landing Pages & Archives
Made it easy to promote the newsletter beyond email and give new readers a place to explore past issues.

Design Flexibility
Allowed the newsletter to match Madhappy’s optimistic, brand-forward aesthetic without heavy customization.

Results

• Successfully launched a new content vertical tied to an existing brand
• Activated readers as referral partners
• Reduced operational overhead compared to Klaviyo
• Built a scalable foundation for long-term audience growth

Build an owned audience that grows itself.
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