Annie Canales—Nomadic Art director

2016-06-22 In Friends By Benson Chou

Annie was deeply involved with arts since she was a little girl, including designing her own clothes at a young age. She studied graphic design but realized that she wanted to do something else and travel, which led her to Argentina to study fashion design. She ended with an Art Direction career and specialized in visual communication. Since then, she has worked with and managed all types of creatives—from art directors, writers, designers to photographers, producers and stylists via fashion editorials, runways, and visual productions.

This was before she began her life as a digital nomad.
Now she has more experience with the creative part online, she works as brand ambassador and she creates visual content for social media & marketing while traveling across the world.

She’s currently in Mexico and she’s been in Argentina, Chile, Bolivia , Brazil, Uruguay, El Salvador, Honduras,Belize, and U.S. ( New York, San Francisco, Miami ) in the past 3 years.

Current Favorite Spots to get work done?

Sight glass (San Francisco)
Dulcinea (Mexico)
PH (Argentina)
Me Hotel Resort (Cancun)
Paradisus Resort (Cancun)
Devotion (Williamsburg, Brooklyn)

What was the moment that made you decide to pursue the nomadic lifestyle?

I used to lived in Argentina, and I stayed there for 8 years, I traveled while I was there, I made good friends from so many countries, and I really made that my home, but in the last 2 years I was living there, when I finished my career, I felt something was missing. I met other people who were traveling as nomads, I had no idea you can travel and work at the same time. so, that opens my eyes and gave me an idea of what I wanted to do next. I have always feel motivated about traveling, I do since I was kid, so It was something I always had on the back of my head. When I knew I can do both, I decided to jump and leave my comfort zone in there. and take the risk to try new things, so I left I traveled to Chile with all my life, and I have been traveling since then. Once you start traveling and you figure it out a way to make money online. It’s something you can’t stop. Making the decision of being a nomad is the best thing ever happened to me.

Does it cost a lot to travel around like you do? And if you don’t mind, can you share your monthly expenses for your travels?

It depends on where you go and what you want to do, sometimes you can travel between cities and find very different things in one place, there are always cheaper options where you can save money. Approximately spending between 500 and 1000 USD for a trip. with passage and transportation. food depends on where you go. In the end, the most important thing is not what you spend but the adventures you live.

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Never stay in your comfort zone.

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What your current favorite city as a nomad?

Argentina It’s a very charming place to live and travel, It has certain kind of Magic in it like New York, so I will say these two are my favorite ones.

Do you usually travel alone or with friends? What do you do to meet new people or establish relationships when you travel around the world?

Sometimes I travel on my own and for the last 2 years I have been travel with my boyfriend, who is also a digital nomad, I’ve always had the chance of meeting other travellers or nomads who travel the world and work online on my trips. but I prefer to travel with someone because the experience is enhanced when shared, and also many of the fun activities to do involve other people!

What’s your day like joggling through all the roles you currently have?

Usually I try to make the goals of the week, and make a list of things that I have to finish. I use some apps to make this happen. (process street, Asana and others) the fun of working with different projects is that t’s not monotonous and there is always something to do, I also try to put some of that time on my personal projects, because this is also very important in my career.

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One of your bigger projects is Thread Magazine, tell us about it.

Thread Magazine, is a fusion between fashion, art and photography, the magazine started with other colleagues when I was in Argentina, I wanted to create something where artists , photographers and producers can express their ideas and their work on it. It was made with the idea of create a platform where everyone can express themselves. There are lot of writers and producers that send content to me every month, I also write some articles sometimes, when I have time. Right now I’m working in changing the main idea of Thread to add a travel section where travelers can also share their adventures and their experiences. It’s an open place for anyone who wants to share with others their creative projects.

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What’s the toughest challenge you face (or faced) as a nomad?

The though part to being a nomad is all the different rules you have to deal in each country. specially the visas and the questions they always ask why you’re traveling etc. No one wants to stop traveling but you need to be careful to not break the rules.

Another thing I had to deal was the Internet, as a nomad you need to find the right place with a good service, to make your work more productive.

What’s the craziest story you can share when you travel around the world over the past 3 years?

That’s a tough question! I think it would have to be: SWIMMING WITH SHARKS in Belize, in an island called Caye Caulker, because it was an extreme experience to be reef watching and feeding the sharks in the open ocean and also, because im terrified of them so, It was kind of a challenge for me to do that.

What advice would you give a novice traveler?

Be strong, go with your heart and always believe in yourself, because anything can happen and move out of your comfort zone because there is where the magic happens. all the things you always wanted. Just be patient. good things takes time.

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