Why I'm Building Amber

Hi, my name is Maria, and thanks for checking out Amber!

For as long as I can remember, I loved reading about places around the world. In college, my curiosity shifted from just reading to living it – I decided to pursue a major in international studies, leaving my home country for the first time to study abroad, chasing every opportunity I had to travel and understand how people lived elsewhere.

From classes, to trips, to social events, photos were my way of capturing the world. And I posted everywhere – Facebook, Instagram – carefully picking photos, meticulously crafting the perfect caption.

But somewhere between the graduations, the new jobs, the new cities, social media got... exhausting. I wasn't sharing memories with people I loved anymore or even for me – I was curating a feed for people I barely knew, a performance of flawless, aesthetically pleasing moments. Counting my likes, watching who liked what, and mindlessly scrolling through a never-ending feed – I was addicted.

By the time I enrolled in business school at Harvard in 2024, I had almost stopped posting on social media entirely. But the memory-making didn't stop – from China to Patagonia, the Philippines, Colombia, and Iceland, I am so grateful to have experienced so many “trips of a lifetime” in those two years, and to have met so many lifelong friendships I will treasure for years to come.

During these two years, I never stopped capturing these moments on my phone. But instead of reflecting back on them or sharing with others, they just sat there in my iPhone photos, alongside hundreds of other duplicate and blurry photos. I wanted somewhere to actually look back on these memories and share them, without the toxicity of Instagram and without the formality of Substack.

That's when I started building Amber.

Amber is a new type of social media – no ads, no sponsored content, no algorithms. Just content from you and the people you actually care about, in one place. With Amber, you upload the photos, add your story, and share it via an email newsletter or a link anyone can open, no account needed - easy for friends and family. Instead of scattering your trip recaps across texts and WhatsApp chats, retyping the same story again and again, Amber keeps it all in one easy place.

In a world of noise, I built Amber as a place for real connection. Thanks for checking us out and I hope to see you sharing your stories soon.

Best wishes,

MC 🧡

We’d love to hear from you at hello@discoveramber.app if you have any questions or ideas :)