I have always been driven by ideas. Since a very young age, my refuge and my drive have been creative projects. My older sister and I were talking about this last week — we are driven by challenges.
It’s something we can’t avoid — something I can’t avoid. It’s as if I’m fueled by challenges, and when they disappear, or when I reach a goal I’ve been pursuing for a while — I get easily bored.
It’s always been like this. Since I was a child. I had this idea of challenging myself — while other kids played with dollhouses, I discovered the world of miniatures and started LITERALLY creating amazing dollhouses (my fascination was with 23rd-century houses).
Let’s say I wasn’t the most normal kid you could meet.
Everything about me was more advanced — and I had fun doing it.
Then life kept leading me to other challenges. My mom always said I was self-taught (I probably wasn’t, but she said it so much that I started to believe it). With that, I started my career as a Web Designer, then went to YouTube where I shared all kinds of videos about drawing and bullet journals (at that time people in Brazil didn’t even know what a Bullet Journal was and I think I was one of the pioneers of bullet journal and handmade notebook videos in Brazil).
Then my path led me into the world of Architecture, then Graphic Design, Interior Design when I moved to the U.S. in 2019, then Environmental Graphic Design — and before I knew it, my world revolved around being a multidisciplinary and highly creative person.
Creating has always been the way I exist in the world — and also the way I try to understand it.
For years, that took me far. With each step, I proved myself. With each delivery, I climbed a new step. And somehow, that movement gave me meaning.
But the truth is that, in silence, something inside me was always asking for something else. A different kind of presence. A different rhythm.
I never dreamed of being a mother. I have always wanted, one day, but it was never a BIG dream. But five months ago, when I became a mother, that request became a soft cry. Everything slowed down — my body, the days, the projects. But more than that, it slowed down the way I saw myself. Motherhood tears us open. It turns us inside out, exposing the loose ends of our identity. And there, between feedings, tears, and silences, I was being led back to the essential.
It was no longer about “getting there.” It was about staying.
It was no longer about impressing. It was about being honest. Suddenly the idea of “what others think of me” became so small. Just like my constant pursuit of my career which (believe it or not) — used to be my idol. Today I see that very clearly.
She Walks with Light was born from that place.
Not as a project. But as a need to breathe, to write, to share without performance, without expecting financial gain, without expecting millions of followers.
I was thirsty for a space where faith could be spoken without hurry. Where motherhood wouldn’t be reduced to a curated aesthetic feed. Where the hard seasons didn’t have to be edited.
Where my walk with Jesus could be recorded with truth — even when full of doubts.
This blog is an open house.
Here you will find texts about faith, motherhood, identity, waiting, purpose, and rebuilding.
Not in the form of a formula. But in the form of a journey.
I don’t have ready answers. But I have sincere questions.
I have real stories. I have silence that turned into words.
And I have a deep desire to walk together — even if virtually.
If you’ve made it this far, know that you are welcome exactly as you are.
Maybe you’re tired. Or overwhelmed. Or searching for clarity in the middle of the mess.
Maybe you just want a place where things make more sense.
May this blog be that for you:
A breath.
A pause.
A companion.
We’re in this walk together.
In grace and peace,
Marina
