Why does making something for yourself always seem to fall to the bottom of the To Do list? There’s always another task to finish, another priority that feels more urgent, another reason to put it off.

Behind that procrastination is something harder to face; the vulnerability of putting our whole selves out there. So, we tell ourselves that we’ll share it when things slow down. We trick ourselves into thinking that the problem is not having enough time, but really it’s not having a deadline.

Release Day on May 29th is our collective deadline to finally share that special thing we’ve been working on.

This story is part of a series celebrating people who participated in Release Day 2025. We hope their stories inspire you to join us this year.

Alina Cristea is an artist and researcher working with photography, film and text, currently based in Brussels and Bucharest. Her work explores urban space, narrativity, and how stories are constructed, fragmented, shared, and retold in both personal and collective contexts.

For Release Day 2025, she released a portfolio site that showcases all of her endeavors.

^{Screenshot of Alina’s portfolio site.}

For years, Alina Cristea had been meaning to publish a website that truly reflected her work.

As a photographer, writer, and academic researcher, her creative output lived in different places but she never had an online home that reflected the entirety of who she is.

At the time, Alina was writing her PhD dissertation; hardly the perfect timing to launch a site. But the Release Day deadline pushed her to stop overthinking and start publishing.

(Please note that this interview has been edited for length and flow.)

Interviewer: Tell us about the project you released.

Alina: I released my website, which was long overdue. For many years I struggled to actually publish a public portfolio. I had different online portfolios, but they were scattered because I do many different things. I’m a photographer, I write, and I also work in academia. I’ve written books and produced research as part of my PhD, and it was always difficult to figure out how to bring those different identities together.

When I saw the Release Day open call, I realized this was the moment to finally do it.

“I’d been thinking about it for 10 years because I do different things and it was always a struggle how to bring everything together and tell all the different stories of me.”

Interviewer: How did having that deadline help you move forward?

Alina: I actually did far less thinking than I normally do. It became more about taking action.

I saw the open call when it launched and made a mental note, but I didn’t really start working on the website until about a week before Release Day. That deadline helped me stop overthinking and just make something happen.

“When I saw Release Day, it felt like a now or never.”

Interviewer: How did you balance everything?

Alina: Honestly, I mostly squeezed it in wherever I could. My dissertation was my main focus for the year, so the website was something I worked on in small moments when I had time.

It might sound strange to say that about a website, but after postponing it for so long, I knew I had to finally release it.

^{A project from Alina’s portfolio site.}

Interviewer: What did it feel like when the site went live?

Alina: I was nervous, to be honest.

But I also reminded myself that no one was really waiting for the website, it was mostly pressure in my own head.

My mindset became, I just want to make it exist first and make it good later. I saw a post that really resonated with me. It showed two circles. The first circle was incomplete, with the caption: “Just make it exist first.” The second circle was perfect, with the caption: “Make it good later.”

That idea stuck with me.

Interviewer: What was your favorite part of participating in Release Day?

Alina: The community call at the end was my favorite part. People from different time zones joined and shared what they had released. Everyone was cheering for each other. It felt incredibly supportive.

Interviewer: Did the experience change how you think about sharing your work?

Alina: Yes. It made me more comfortable sharing complexity. I used to worry about how to present all the different parts of my work together. I realize that I can highlight different aspects and they all add up.

^{Alina’s portfolio site features two sides of her work; research and photography.}

Interviewer: What would you tell someone thinking about participating?

Alina: Mark the date in your calendar. Then choose a project, especially something you’ve been postponing for a long time.

Release Day is a great opportunity to finally take that leap.

What are you going to release on May 29th?

Learn more about Release Day and join us