Valen Correa

Non-developer learning to ship. I build stuff I probably shouldn't, usually things that already exist but don't fit my very niche, slightly silly needs. It's as much about the learning as the tool: I learn by doing, so building it myself is half the point. To keep myself accountable, I set a challenge: build 12 things in 12 months.

Trained in graphic design, photography, and video, I left to roam the world on about 500€ a month and wanted somewhere to put all three to work. That became Un poco de sur, half travel diary, half portfolio. It grew to around 100K readers a month and made me a "travel influencer," back when that still paid the bills and before the word made everyone cringe. It quietly launched my marketing career, and I've never fully unpacked since. Below, the pictures I love most. Still on Instagram.

I've had a blog since I was 14, a gloriously cringe Blogger phase, which means I've been writing for about as long as I've had a sense of self. Fiddling with that blog is also how I fell for design, emo edits and all, and eventually why I went and studied it. Writing has never been neat for me: ADHD means the ideas arrive faster than the proofreading, so I go for the thought over the polish. Not a perfectionist about the details, never careless about the substance. I love reading and writing too much not to do it out loud, typos and all.