diff --git a/app/helpers/avatars_helper.rb b/app/helpers/avatars_helper.rb
index 3dccac678..f572434ec 100644
--- a/app/helpers/avatars_helper.rb
+++ b/app/helpers/avatars_helper.rb
@@ -19,6 +19,16 @@ module AvatarsHelper
     end
   end
 
+  def mail_avatar_tag(user, size: 48, **options)
+    if user.avatar.attached?
+      image_tag user_avatar_url(user), alt: user.name, class: "avatar", size: size, **options
+    else
+      tag.span class: "avatar", style: "background-color: #{avatar_background_color(user)};" do
+        user.initials
+      end
+    end
+  end
+
   def avatar_preview_tag(user, hidden_for_screen_reader: false, **options)
     tag.span class: class_names("avatar", options.delete(:class)),
       aria: { hidden: hidden_for_screen_reader, label: user.name },
diff --git a/app/views/layouts/mailer.html.erb b/app/views/layouts/mailer.html.erb
index 564fe55b2..cd7502ec1 100644
--- a/app/views/layouts/mailer.html.erb
+++ b/app/views/layouts/mailer.html.erb
@@ -43,27 +43,29 @@
         width: 100% !important;
       }
 
-      .avatar {
-        border-radius: 50%;
-        height: 2.75em;
-        margin-right: 0.2.75em;
-        max-height: 2.75em;
-        min-height: 2.75em;
-        overflow: hidden;
-        width: 2.75em;
-      }
-
       .avatar__container {
-        padding-top: 1em;
         vertical-align: top;
         width: 3.25em;
       }
 
+      .avatar {
+        border-radius: 50%;
+        color: white;
+        display: block;
+        font-weight: 600;
+        height: 2.75em;
+        line-height: 2.75em;
+        mso-line-height-rule: exactly;
+        overflow: hidden;
+        text-align: center;
+        width: 2.75em;
+      }
+
       .btn {
         background: #2d71e5;
         border-color: #2d71e5;
         border-radius: 3rem;
-        color: #ffffff !important;
+        color: white !important;
         font-weight: 500;
         padding: 0.5em 1em;
         text-decoration: none;
diff --git a/app/views/mailers/notification/bundle_mailer/_notification.html.erb b/app/views/mailers/notification/bundle_mailer/_notification.html.erb
index 5dfddcf31..543f1515c 100644
--- a/app/views/mailers/notification/bundle_mailer/_notification.html.erb
+++ b/app/views/mailers/notification/bundle_mailer/_notification.html.erb
@@ -1,8 +1,15 @@
 <table class="notification">
   <tr>
-    <td class="avatar__container"><%= image_tag user_avatar_url(notification.creator), alt: notification.creator.name, class: "avatar", size: 48 %></td>
+    <td>&nbsp;</td>
     <td>
       <%= render "notification/bundle_mailer/header", notification: notification %>
+    </td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="avatar__container">
+      <%= mail_avatar_tag(notification.creator) %>
+    </td>
+    <td class="what">
       <%= render "notification/bundle_mailer/#{notification.source_type.underscore}/body", notification: notification %>
     </td>
   </tr>
diff --git a/test/fixtures/files/avatar.png b/test/fixtures/files/avatar.png
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..82632a317
Binary files /dev/null and b/test/fixtures/files/avatar.png differ
diff --git a/test/mailers/notification/bundle_mailer_test.rb b/test/mailers/notification/bundle_mailer_test.rb
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..fbc4274c9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/mailers/notification/bundle_mailer_test.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,44 @@
+require "test_helper"
+
+class Notification::BundleMailerTest < ActionMailer::TestCase
+  setup do
+    @user = users(:david)
+
+    @bundle = Notification::Bundle.create!(
+      user: @user,
+      starts_at: 1.hour.ago,
+      ends_at: 1.hour.from_now
+    )
+  end
+
+  test "renders avatar with initials in span when avatar is not attached" do
+    create_notification(@user)
+
+    email = Notification::BundleMailer.notification(@bundle)
+
+    assert_match /<span[^>]*class="avatar"[^>]*>/, email.html_part.body.to_s
+    assert_match /#{@user.initials}/, email.html_part.body.to_s
+    assert_match /style="background-color: #[A-F0-9]{6};?"/, email.html_part.body.to_s
+  end
+
+  test "renders avatar with external image URL when avatar is attached" do
+    @user.avatar.attach(
+      io: File.open(Rails.root.join("test", "fixtures", "files", "avatar.png")),
+      filename: "avatar.png",
+      content_type: "image/png"
+    )
+
+    create_notification(@user)
+
+    email = Notification::BundleMailer.notification(@bundle)
+
+    assert_match /<img[^>]*class="avatar"[^>]*>/, email.html_part.body.to_s
+    assert_match /<img[^>]*class="avatar"[^>]*src="[^"]*"/, email.html_part.body.to_s
+    assert_match /alt="#{@user.name}"/, email.html_part.body.to_s
+  end
+
+  private
+    def create_notification(user)
+      Notification.create!(user: user, creator: user, source: events(:logo_published), created_at: 30.minutes.ago)
+    end
+end
diff --git a/test/mailers/previews/notification/bundle_mailer_preview.rb b/test/mailers/previews/notification/bundle_mailer_preview.rb
index 3c279e916..9242aaa60 100644
--- a/test/mailers/previews/notification/bundle_mailer_preview.rb
+++ b/test/mailers/previews/notification/bundle_mailer_preview.rb
@@ -1,6 +1,5 @@
 class Notification::BundleMailerPreview < ActionMailer::Preview
   def notification
-    ApplicationRecord.current_tenant = "1065895976"
     Notification::BundleMailer.notification Notification::Bundle.take!
   end
 end