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I moved to Mallorca in 2020, seven months pregnant with my second daughter. Excellent timing for a big life change, obviously! I'm originally from Vienna, but I've spent the past 17 years living abroad, including several years in Southeast Asia and South America. My background is in luxury travel, events, marketing and hospitality, so discovering places, connecting people and creating experiences has always been part of my life. When I arrived in Mallorca, I was entering a completely different chapter. I had two little girls, a new island to discover and a real desire to build a community around us. Little did I know that trying to figure out what to do at the weekend would eventually turn into a full-time obsession!
It started with a very simple frustration: I'd constantly hear about amazing things happening on the island - usually the day after they'd happened!
There were already a few websites and Instagram accounts sharing events, but nothing quite how I imagined it. I wanted something beautifully designed, easy to use, genuinely curated and focused on the people who actually live here, not just tourists.
So in February 2024, I launched The Calendar Mallorca on Instagram, followed by the website in June. I did everything myself, from researching events and contacting organisers to creating content and figuring out how to build a user-friendly website. All while working another job and raising two small girls.
There was no investor, no big team and no magic formula. Just my own money, an idea I believed in and a slightly ridiculous number of late nights. I created something I genuinely wanted to use myself. And apparently, quite a few other people did too!
From day one, I wanted The Calendar to feel more like a lifestyle magazine than a traditional events directory. Clean, bold, colourful, easy to navigate and with a little personality. Before moving to Mallorca, I worked for an amazing sustainable fashion company in Peru so a lot of my inspiration came from my favourite fashion brands. I love good design, strong typography and brands that don't take themselves too seriously. We're informative, but we can also be a little cheeky. Life's too short for boring event listings!
What people might not realise is how much thought goes into every detail, from the colours and categories to the wording and the way information is presented. I want someone to recognise a TCM post before they even see our logo. And most importantly, I want people to enjoy using the platform. I want them to have fun - even before arriving at the event!
This has become more important than ever with the rise of AI. Anyone can generate a list of events these days. But does that mean the information is correct? Is the event actually happening? Is it worth attending? And who are the people behind it? We've seen websites scraping our content, republishing information without properly checking it and, in some cases, sharing details that are simply incorrect. And AI can repeat those mistakes with remarkable confidence.
My biggest nightmare is someone driving across the island because they've been told something is happening, only to discover they're at the wrong place or there on the wrong day. That's why human curation matters so much to me. We research, select, check and give context to what we feature. We want people to discover the artist behind an exhibition, the family behind a local business or the traditions behind a village festival. Don't get me wrong, I love AI and use it in my business. It can be brilliant for streamlining processes, improving workflows and helping a small team achieve more. But it cannot replace genuine relationships, local knowledge or editorial judgement. The more AI-generated content there is, the more valuable I believe trusted, human-curated information becomes. Curated by humans isn't just a nice tagline for us. It's the whole point.
That being your own boss sounds considerably more glamorous than it actually is! People see the colourful posts, exciting events and collaborations. What they don't see are the website crashes, endless emails, technical problems, personal financial investments and the many, many hours behind the scenes. I've built TCM with my own money, while working other jobs and being a mum to my two girls. And there have definitely been days when I've questioned why on earth I decided to start a business that never stops. Because luckily for everyone else, events in Mallorca don't stop either!
The past two years have also brought some serious health challenges, including hospital stays and treatments. I've sent far too many emails from hospital beds, scheduled newsletters between appointments and worked from school car parks, dentist waiting rooms and just about anywhere with Wi-Fi.
I'm incredibly proud of what I've built, but I don't want to pretend it's always easy. There have been plenty of sacrifices, late nights and moments of exhaustion. Building something independently can be lonely, expensive and incredibly demanding. At the same time, we've now reached over 1.5 million website visits and grown to more than 40,000 Instagram followers, without investing in Google Ads or big advertising campaigns. That growth has come from word of mouth and people genuinely finding TCM useful.
One of my favourite recent moments was when I took my daughter to the dentist and several people working there started telling me how The Calendar Mallorca had changed their weekends. They couldn't believe that their patient's mum was the person behind it! Those moments make every late night worthwhile. Especially when my girls get to witness them and I can show them what hard work can build. My biggest lesson? You can't do everything yourself forever. I'm getting better at delegating and building a team around me.
I'm ridiculously excited about this! We've been working on a major redesign of TCM, and it's so much more than giving the website a facelift. I've personally invested a significant amount of money, time and energy into building a platform that's faster, smarter, easier to use and much more ambitious in what it can offer.
We've listened closely to our community, looked at how people use the website and completely rethought how we can make discovering Mallorca even easier. There will be improved features, better ways to explore events and local businesses, and some exciting additions I'm keeping under wraps for now. AI has also pushed me to think bigger. With so much automated and often unreliable information appearing online, I want TCM to become an even more trusted resource. Somewhere people know the information has been carefully selected and checked by people who actually know and live on the island.
But don't worry, it will still be very much TCM. The same bold design, cheeky personality, local focus and human touch. Just better, in every possible way. We're hoping to unveil the new website in the coming weeks, and for me, it's also about preparing for the next challenge.
That even people who've lived here their entire lives don't necessarily know half of what's happening! Running TCM has made me endlessly curious. I've discovered incredible traditions, quirky village celebrations, independent artists, creative businesses and people who put so much love into their communities. Some of my favourite discoveries are the smallest, most unexpected events. The kind that make me think, "How wonderful is it that someone actually organises this?" It's also made me quite protective of the island. Mallorca isn't special because of another TikTok about five secret beaches. It's special because of the people who live here, create things, preserve traditions and bring communities together. And those are the people and stories I want TCM to celebrate. I think the biggest lesson is that you never really finish discovering Mallorca. There's always something new around the corner. A new planazo, another fiesta!
Autumn. Without a doubt! The sea is still warm, the temperatures are finally bearable, the island starts to breathe again and the cultural calendar comes alive. I love September and October for the art exhibitions, village festivals, wine events and that wonderful feeling of everyone rediscovering their social lives after summer.
And then there's November, when the Christmas lights go on in Palma. Having spent years living in Asia, where Christmas often meant plastic trees, tropical temperatures and trying very hard to feel festive in 35-degree heat, I absolutely love that moment. Seeing the city light up, especially with my girls, always gets me into the Christmas spirit. And this year the switch-on is moving to a new location, so there's another little surprise to look forward to.
Asking me to choose a favourite event is a little like asking me to choose a favourite child! I'm a huge art lover, so Nit de l'Art in September is always a highlight. And I love that Palma's art scene continues throughout the year with Art Palma Brunch in March and Art Palma Summer in June. I'm also a big fan of RAÏM, the wine festival that pops up in different locations across the island. The edition in front of Palma Cathedral at the end of October is particularly special. Good wine, local producers and that incredible backdrop - what's not to love?
And of course, I'm already looking forward to Palma's Christmas lights in November. But what I love most about my job is still discovering something unexpected. An exhibition I've never heard of, a tiny village festival or a brilliant new creative project. After all these years, Mallorca still manages to surprise me. And I hope it always will.
