From London to the Lagoa courts.

My technology journey started at college, making web pages and e-commerce for businesses, where I learnt the basics. I then went on to a more intense course at a Microsoft Academy, which was more about user support, system design and telecommunications.

I started working as an analyst when I turned 18, but soon realised it wasn't for me — I wanted to be more creative. So I went to university to study Film & Television Production. A lot of the fundamentals of the creative process were the same as web design, so I picked it up fast.

In my second year I went to the BBC Academy to learn documentary making and live broadcast. Soon after, I became a live television director and vision mixer. Then I started my own business and began travelling the world, filming short films, music videos, adverts and documentaries.

My journey took me all around the world, and in 2017 I found myself living in Sicily for a while, shooting a series of short films. My career was going great, and I decided it was time to give back and do some charity work.

I wrote an email to a friend who had been working across Brazil for more than 20 years. He asked when I'd be back in London. I told him the end of October, and he said: “November, you're coming to Brazil.” Soon I was teaching photography to kids from the communities in Recife and Niterói.

I fell head over heels for Brazil and worked here for the next two years — filming as a researcher for a book and a TV pilot, while also shooting my pet project about the underground world of electronic music in Rio de Janeiro. My projects spanned the whole country, but in the end I spent the last part of that time in Florianópolis.

I was done with London life, so I packed up everything and moved to Florianópolis in 2019. Here I've built a family, a home and a whole new lifestyle.

For two years I didn't even know there were other gringos around. I just thought it was little lost me in the north of the island. I'd meet the odd gringo or two, but nothing like the community we have today.

When I moved here I wanted to completely change my lifestyle. I used to drive past the volleyball courts in Lagoa da Conceição and wish I had friends to play there with.

Then, by luck, someone invited me to a digital nomads group, and I asked if anyone played volleyball. We played as a group for a month or so, until the creator said he was moving on — as nomads do. We played a couple more games, and the group began to die.

I thought: no way, let's keep this going. Volleyball had become an escape for me, and a place where I was meeting amazing new people. So I started a new group. We began with six to eight people. Then one day, sixteen signed up.

Sixteen signed up. Four showed up.

It was impressive — until, on the day, everyone cancelled except four of us. It turned into a great couple of hours of bonding. I was a little deflated by everyone bailing, and I'd had to pay for pretty much two courts. But I thought: I will never let this happen again. With some organisation, I'm going to grow this group.

Three strong years later, we have one of the biggest communities in Floripa, and everyone is super welcoming and non-toxic. I've since created a WhatsApp community with sports groups for volleyball, futevôlei & altinha, football and pool.

This site is how nomads find us and join those groups freely, so we can keep growing. It's also how we branch out into the things nomads need — like our visa group, where nomads swap what they’ve learned about staying in Brazil legally.

Next, I'm building a place to find and advertise rooms and homes for long-term rent, so nomads don't have to rely on Airbnb and high rents. After that come events, partnerships and giving back to the community.