Vitoria Lima

In a world where everything is possible, make something beautiful.

NYC, October 6th 2025

In a world where everything is possible, make something beautiful.

I am in a crossroad in my life where I am asking myself what is valuable to me, other than my loved ones, my health, my loved ones' health.

Growing up, there was no money. My childhood dream was to become a concert pianist, Martha Argerich and Vladimir Horowitz were my heroes growing up. Due to my mother's endless sacrifices, I decided to take a safer option at 18. Now at 28, 2 degrees (one of which from Harvard), 6 languages, a maxed out 401k, a 1-year-survivor-belt at a hyper growth startup, under my belt, I wonder: if money wasn't a constraint, what would I be actually doing?

Money is today still a constraint. Food, rent, my cat's doing, are not free. I am not a multi-million-dollar net-worth exited founder. However, technology isn't a constraint anymore. Claude code, cursor, fiverr, youtube, these are all resources that allow you to build software at almost little to no cost.

Therefore, I asked myself in the shower: in a world where everything is possible, what am I longing to do?

Growing up, I have been brainwashed by others and by me that the arts will never make money. The piano is a bad path to follow, because the worst case scenario is becoming a teacher - not the income my mother has aimed for when she left the Amazon forest and moved to Italy to bet on my education like a crypto coin by sacrificing everything and more. I knew that I was a bet that had to work out, so since 18 I have completely un-allowed myself to chase beauty. Beauty is useless. Beauty is not profitable. Beauty cannot make money. Beauty does not buy food.

Yet, it is 2025. And my pianist heart and investor mind can't help but look at:

To note, this is not a diss to my mother. Rather, a recognition that the tools that served me to take me out of poverty and bring me from the Amazon Forest to New York City, for how noble and powerful tools these might have been given their incredible impact in my life, they might not be the same tools adept to take me into my next journey in life.

Beauty can make money. Beauty can be profitable. Beauty, is not useless. Beauty is what I see when I stroll down the street of the west village in NYC, or what I see when I stroll down Central Park, what I see when I walk down the streets of Rome, what I see in an art exhibition, what I see in the sistine chapel, l'Orangerie and the MET, what I see in sunset on the ocean on a beach stroll, what I see surfing a wave, what I see chatting overlooking waves in a surfing lineup, what I hear when I go to the Carnegie Hall or when I tune into Spotify via my apple earpods, what I feel when I watch an A24 movie, what I feel when I see a well done campaign, what I feel when I put on a nice outfit that makes me feel pretty - beauty is what lowers my cortisol, what makes me feel like a breeze of fresh air and serotonin, what reminds me that life is still worth living, that the good and the bad days are still worth it.

I want to build beauty, and if I am not the one building it, I want to invest in beauty. And I do not want to feel ashamed of it. My strict upbringing (done by necessity, not a lack of love, again, not a diss to my family who did everything for me for me to be where I am today) instilled in me the shame and forced repression of desire of beauty. Yet beauty, is what helped me survive in the darkest, most underfunded, most financially restrained moments of my life.

So, let's start chasing beauty!

How? And when?

Beauty can be done at any time. For start, I will start taking more photos.

I own a Canon AE-1 camera! Internet accountability: I will post my film here 1nce a month.

ETA: 1st of Nov 2025!

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