How Creator Economy NYC Went From BCC Emails to a Scalable Newsletter

Situation:

Creator Economy NYC started in early 2023 as a simple in-person meetup. Founder Brett Dashevsky used what he had at the time: collecting emails from event attendees and sending updates via BCC in Gmail.

The goal was not to build a traditional media brand. It was to keep a fast-growing community of creators, founders, and operators connected between real-life events across New York City.

As attendance increased and the community expanded beyond a single venue, BCC emails stopped working. There was no design, no analytics, no consistency, and no clear way to scale communication.

Challenge:

Creator Economy NYC faced three clear limitations:

• No real newsletter infrastructure: Gmail BCC offered no design, branding, or performance visibility.
• Inability to scale communication: Manual email workflows did not support weekly publishing or growth.
• Limited monetization paths: Sponsorships and partnerships were difficult to package without a professional newsletter product.

To continue growing the community, Brett needed a dedicated newsletter platform that was easy to use, flexible, and built for creators.

Solution:

Brett migrated Creator Economy NYC to beehiiv and committed to a weekly newsletter cadence.

beehiiv became the central system for:

• Publishing: A clean, customizable newsletter and homepage that reflected the community-first identity.
• Consistency: Weekly sends without manual effort or technical overhead.
• Design: An all-in-one editor that removed the need for advanced design skills.
• Analytics: Clear visibility into performance and engagement.
• Monetization: The ability to bundle newsletter sponsorships with event partnerships.

Instead of stitching together tools, Brett ran everything from one platform.

Results:

After moving to beehiiv:

• Creator Economy NYC established a reliable weekly newsletter cadence
• The newsletter became a core touchpoint for the NYC creator community
• Sponsorships were packaged more cleanly as part of broader event partnerships
• The newsletter evolved from a utility into a brand asset
• Brett gained the infrastructure needed to grow without increasing complexity

What began as BCC emails turned into a scalable communication channel that supported real-world community building.

Why It Matters

Creator Economy NYC is a clear example of how newsletters do not need to start as media businesses to become valuable.

By moving to beehiiv, Brett turned a scrappy email list into a professional newsletter that supports events, partnerships, and long-term community growth, without sacrificing simplicity.

For creators building communities, not just content, beehiiv provides the structure without forcing complexity.

Start using beehiiv to turn your newsletter into an asset that grows with your community.