Long before email became the structured, strategic channel we know today, Monica Hoyer was already working in it.
Her career began on the technical side and unfolded alongside the industry itself. Over the years, roles changed, companies changed, even the global landscape changed — but email remained a steady presence in her professional life.
What stands out most in Monica’s story isn’t just longevity. It’s perspective. Having witnessed the channel’s growing pains firsthand, she carries a quiet conviction about its value — one shaped not by trends, but by experience.
I fell into email through coding. Moved into working for ESPs, first analyzing data of hundreds of servers, then on to programming ads into emails. Finally, I have been leading teams of people marketing email as a product.
For a long time, people didn't like email -- oh, you're the people who SPAM me! -- and so part of my job was convincing people every day that email isn't bad, there are just people out there who abuse it. And because for so long it was the unwanted (but needed) child, I became an advocate for it and wanted to see it succeed.
Shifts in the economy mostly! ◡̈ Job changes due to workforce reductions or companies being purchased. I had to reinvent what I did and evaluate the parts of my career I wanted to keep and what I wanted to shed. I worked in email through 9/11 (in NYC), through the recession in '08, and most recently the COVID pandemic. Email has stayed steady and constant throughout these and has always been a part of my career that I could depend on to position me as an asset in any organization.
I started in email before there were laws around permission. And we were personalizing emails during this time too. I think longevity in this industry is sometimes missing and people don't realize that the 'old guard' still has a lot to contribute.
Email doesn't need to be the *only* thread in your career. It can support other areas that you may want to explore. But know that it will always be there for you in whatever form you want.
Economic shifts, acquisitions, and workforce reductions pushed her to reinvent herself more than once. Each transition meant deciding what to carry forward and what to leave behind.
Through it all, email endured.
What I personally loved about Monica’s story is this steady confidence in something that others often underestimated. I deeply relate to that feeling — building a career in a channel that people sometimes dismiss, while knowing its real power and potential. There’s something incredibly grounding about having a craft you can rely on, even when everything around you shifts.
Monica’s journey is a reminder that email doesn’t have to define your entire career — but it can support it. It can steady you during uncertainty. It can evolve as you evolve.
And sometimes, the thread that quietly runs through your career becomes the one you can rely on most.
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Add Your Voice!
This interview is part of The Email Freelancer Pathways Project, a series documenting the many different paths into email.
Through a short survey, I’m collecting experiences from email professionals to make these career journeys visible — and to help advocate for better access to the tools people are expected to master.
If you work in email in any capacity, your experience matters.
📩 Connect with me on LinkedIn or send a message.
With Love from Canada
Annett
Founder, EmailBoutique.io
