The art of cold emails

Alifya Valiji is Head of Community Product at Beehiiv, building community features within the platform. She's a generalist who studied finance and sustainability, and her career has included investment banking, startup programs, event planning side hustles, launching her own startup, building communities for creators, a media company, and now leading community product at Beehiiv. She's always had multiple streams of work happening simultaneously.

Do the job before you have the title or compensation. Alifya built platforms, ran programs, and took on product work before those roles officially existed. She launched a $3,000 community in two weeks when that wasn't technically her job. When you keep producing results, you create your own role.

Send the cold email, but only when you have something real to say. Alifya's framework: research the person and company for months, track them on their socials or newsletter, wait for the right moment when you genuinely see an opportunity or have value to offer. Then send a short, well-researched email. Don't play the numbers game, play the relationship game.

Your circumstances today are not your circumstances tomorrow. You control what happens next through the decisions you make and the actions you take. This isn't manifesting; it's agency. Do something today that makes tomorrow different.

There's always a third way if you're willing to get creative. No mobile app budget? Launch with a PWA. Vendor can't do what you want? DIY it. This mindset extends to career: there's always plan A, plan B, and plan C.