About ImJustBrighton

Most people in Brighton know me as Tim. My full name is Abdou El Wahid Graichi Cucarella, and I'm the person behind ImJustBrighton.

I'd already built a personal following online before I started this, but I got to a point where I didn't want the attention on me anymore. I wanted it on the city I love instead. A group of mates pointed out I was always out and about in Brighton, loved the place, and knew my way around social media, so why not make a page about it. That conversation became ImJustBrighton.

I'd actually been posting Brighton content since 2019 through @only.in.brighton, but I officially launched ImJustBrighton in August 2021. It started as a personal project to show the city through my own eyes, not as a business.

I was born in Spain in 1995, to a Spanish mother and an Algerian father. I lived there until I was 15, when my father messaged me on Facebook out of nowhere. That message changed everything. I came to the UK to meet him for the first time.

I started out in Haywards Heath, then moved to Burgess Hill. Those years weren't easy. I worked early mornings cleaning offices and long shifts at Domino's Pizza while still finishing school. Whenever I got the chance, I'd head down to Brighton. I loved the freedom, the sea, and the people.

By my early twenties I'd moved to Brighton properly, and it's still the best decision I've made. There's nothing like Brighton's golden hour, that mix of light, energy and community you don't get anywhere else.

At first I just posted what I loved: photos, stories, real moments from around Brighton. As the page grew, people wanted more than the pictures, they wanted the stories behind them and the people behind the scenes. That's where community journalism came in.

I never studied journalism. I actually finished my own schooling later, here in the UK. But I live it every day now, creating, editing, researching and posting content, all on my own and mostly for free. It's never been about the money, it's about the community.