By: Jackie Dean

“You just can’t forget that you’re actually talking to someone,” Perry Sheraw said on The Corvus Effect. The reminder shaped the entire discussion. It was simple, direct, and provided a clear view of how she approaches email after more than 20 years in the field.

Perry spoke with host Scott Raven about communication, customer journeys, and the discipline needed to build a business that supports real freedom.

From Print Journalism To Early Digital Signals

Perry started her career at the Cincinnati Enquirer. “I was working at the Cincinnati Enquirer in the nineties, and I was one of the only people in the newsroom with an email address,” she said. She worked on database journalism projects while print processes stayed in place. She saw digital growth coming before the industry adjusted.

She later moved to St. Croix, first as a reporter and then as a scuba instructor. She eventually shifted into digital marketing. In 2002, she launched her own email marketing business and focused on email strategy full-time.

How Tanzania Inspired the Name Duma

A 2005 trip to Tanzania helped her define her brand. She picked up Swahili and found the name that matched her style. “The name Duma comes from the Swahili word for cheetah,” she said.

The meaning aligned with her approach. “Just the swiftness cheetah [it] is, of course, the fastest land animal,” she correlates that to email and “the swiftness of delivery direct into the inbox.” Early in her work, she focused only on email. She wanted to advance in the field quickly, with precision and a narrow scope. Those principles continue to guide Duma Marketing today.

Email Works When It Feels Like A Real Conversation

Perry returned to one idea throughout the interview. “You just can’t forget that you’re actually talking to someone,” she said. She uses the same mindset she learned in print. “I tried to speak in print as if I were speaking to a person sitting right across from me.”

Her rule is straightforward: know the audience and stay helpful. “Who are you talking to? What do they need? How can you help them?” she asked.

She also explained how layout supports tone. “It’s so interesting because line breaks [in] design and now the use of emojis, but [setting the tone] starts with being helpful,” she said. If the content offers something valuable, people respond.

Why Customer Journey Mapping Still Drives Results

Perry described how customer journey mapping supports both clarity and revenue. “That customer journey is the map that helps you get into the shoes of your audience and feel what they’re going to expect at each step along the customer journey,” she said.

She recalled one project where the process revealed how complex the path could be. “The whole board looked like spaghetti by the time we were finished. It was just like a Jackson Pollock scenario,” she said. Even so, the exercise helped her team build high-converting touchpoints across the entire journey.

Perry ties every project to data. “It’s so important to start with your baselines and to do that on every project,” she said. Metrics like open rates matter, but they do not fully reflect their value. “If you’re telling a story of success and you can’t tie it to revenue, I know over all of these years that those are the hardest stories to tell,” she added.

Letting Go And Building A Business That Supports Life

Perry also discussed the freedom she needed to support her family. Her daughter now pursues an international sailing career, and Perry homeschools both of her children.

To make that possible, she had to change her role. “At some point, you just have to say, I’ve raised this as best I can, and I have to let it go into the world now,” she said about trusting her systems and team.

She encourages founders to examine how much the business depends on them. “If you haven’t taken a solid two-week vacation, you should,” she said. Time away reveals what only the founder must handle and what the team can take over.

When asked what she would tell her younger self, she kept it short. “Do it the same. Follow the same steps, but have less fear.”