Nathan BarryFounder and CEO, Kit · Founder and CEO at Kit

She Turned a Local Newsletter Into a Six-Figure Business

16 Apr 2026 · 1 min

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In this interview, Nathan Barry (founder of Kit) talks with Marissa Lovell, the creator and operator of the From Boise newsletter, about how a small local email list grew into a six‑figure business. They discuss the newsletter’s highly engaged audience, the experiments that turned community interest into revenue—such as a Dinner Club, discount cards, merchandise, and monthly meet‑ups—and how Marissa shaped the voice and personality of the emails. The conversation also covers the transition from working on the newsletter part‑time to committing full‑time after crossing the six‑figure revenue milestone, highlighting the strategic decisions and mindset that enabled the growth.

You probably know me as the founder of Kit, which is an email marketing platform that automates your growth. But there's actually another business that I started that most people don't know about. It's a local newsletter called From Boise, and I brought on the right person to run it. That person is Marissa Lovell.
We recently started From Boise Dinner Club. We said, hey, I'm thinking about this dinner club. If we're going to 100 people, let's try it. And we had 656 people say yes. And I was like, oh boy, I guess we're definitely doing this.
Our readers are some of the most engaged I've ever seen. I'd argue she has more influence with her list than most creators have with 10 10 times that number. How this thing makes money.
Discount cards, dinner club. I sold merch, t-shirts, stickers. I also had a meetup group called BFFs and I planned different monthly meetups. It's monetizing it in a way that feels good and makes sense for everybody involved. I love that.
Today, Marissa and I get into how it all happened. The monetization experiments she ran, how she shaped the voice and personality of the emails, and what it took to go from working part-time on the newsletter to full-time. You crossed 6 figures in revenue last year, which is a huge milestone. What were some of the points along the way where you were figuring out.
Well, so—