The Grit with Mar Vallverdú

The Grit with Mar Vallverdú

On having Rosalía in her bedroom, accidental self-doxxing, and why a niche audience is a good thing

Valerie

and

mar vallverdú

Oct 27, 2026

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The Grit

is a Club Reticent series where I have conversations with my favorite women about their creative lives – unpredictability to craft.

Mar Vallverdú describes herself as a journalist by degree and an inhabitant of the internet by association. I describe her as a visionary, but today isn’t about me. She’s the creator and host of

Radio Noia

, a Catalan culture and internet-themed podcast under the Radio Primavera Sound studio.

I first met Mar last spring at Bar La Polla when I was doing Barcelona solo. Something about splitting a tortilla with Mar’s infectious humor and sparkling generosity filling the place left me breathless and even a little shy, and no wonder: this girl possesses such a distinct ability to make everyone in the room feel like they’re at the best sleepover in town. This, among other factors, explains the cult-like popularity of Radio Noia, where the chronically online gather around Mar as she grants them her fresh takes on culture, celebrities, and social media. Since our date, Mar has gone on to solidify herself as a defining voice of today’s internet landscape. She flew so close to the sun, in fact, she had Rosalía on the show – sitting on Mar’s bed, no less.

Today, I summoned Mar to talk about leveraging one’s knowledge of the internet into an empire of your own. We also touch on doxxing yourself online, non-obvious career highlights, and how to make sure your braincells don’t atrophy

(spoiler: via a four-week course on Foucault.)

Rosalía on Radio Noia

Valerie

: Introduce yourself – only as you would want to be perceived and understood.

Mar

: I’m a journalist, by degree at least. I have a podcast called Radio Noia, which is where most people might know me from. I always say I’m just a person who lives and thrives on the internet. It gets me jobs and fun things to do.

Valerie

: How do you think growing up on the internet shaped you as a person and a woman?

Mar

: I think that’s the characteristic that describes me best. I wasn’t turning on the computer thinking it would later get me a job, or make me an expert in anything. I did it because I liked going online, researching, and discovering new media. We all did. And without realizing, I was exposed to the ideas that would later shape my thinking. For instance, our introduction to feminism was as simple as a Tumblr post. As young people growing up online, I think we needed something very basic to get us interested in certain themes, and from there we started developing our own understanding of things.

Mar in Vogue Spain

My love for art and fashion was born the exact same way: by looking at images all day long. The thing that ended up granting me so many skills and opportunities has been my knowledge of the internet, my understanding of its behavior. I know what works and what doesn’t.

It’s a language, an intuition I developed: I can see something and instantly understand every layer underneath.

But even all the value aside, I like that I was able to grow up with so much information at my fingertips, to hone my own taste and curate my surroundings.

Valerie

: For someone who’s had an unconventional journey, when did things finally start making sense?

Mar

: I’ve had different tipping moments in my career where I went, oh, okay, this means something. People have often asked me what my plan is, where I see myself in five years, to which I would say: I don’t have one. That has always been true. I wake up, I say yes to things and no to things, and live my life. But then one of these moments arrives, and no plan becomes the plan. Something always emerges out of nothing — this has been my philosophy for a long time.

The first time was getting my job. I work in podcast production under the Primavera Sound festival — they have this cultural space we produce under. I really wanted to join the team at the beginning, as an internship, and then they wanted me to stay because I knew a lot about TikTok. They were like,

what is this new app? We don’t know anything about it. You look young, you must know something.

I thought to myself, all those hours I spent online during the pandemic finally made sense for this job.

Then, Radio Noia. I’m actually very shy – I wasn’t looking to start a podcast. I felt adventurous about it, and maybe a little existential, so I decided to go for it.

Life doesn’t have any meaning, we’re all going to die, just do it, Mar.

To my surprise, people started listening. I mean it: people who weren’t my friends or my mom.

And then, obviously, as things progressed, it was the moment Rosalía came on the show. That one got out of hand, I was barely able to process it all. All these moments take time for me to digest, and sometimes they feel like,

oh my God, this is way too big for me

. But it also made me realize she is so culturally involved and tapped in as a person. She wouldn’t say yes to a random niche podcast, so there must have been something she liked about it.

That was a big moment for me, not strictly for the magnitude, but her genuine desire to come on the show meant a lot.

Valerie

: What surprised you the most about having Rosalía on the show?

Mar

: You know, I tend to be a pessimistic person – I’m always prepared for the worst. My thinking was, how do I have this woman in my house, in my bed, and not freeze or go blank? Because then she gets awkward, then I get awkward, and then we are all awkward. That didn’t happen. I think it was my brain’s survival instinct. We almost forgot the iPhone was there. And then at the end, when we were saying goodbye, looking at each other, I thought: wow, this isn’t my childhood friend – there’s an international celebrity sitting right next to me, in my room. I didn’t expect it to go so smoothly that the realization could wait until the very end.

Another thing is in Spain, when someone surpasses a certain level of success and fame, fans tend to get more critical. You know, as

rayne fisher-quann

calls it, they get

woman’d

. When a niche artist goes mainstream, people tend to switch up. So I prepared for people coming for her answers or my questions, for the show in general. I was ready for the hate – nobody could take away the fact that I sat with her and we had a good time anyway. But people ended up being so incredibly supportive. The response was ninety-nine percent positive.

Valerie

: I mean, I think she’s pretty safe from hate now that Anne Carson has written about her. It’s like a bulletproof vest. Who cares what anyone says now.

Mar

: She’s un-womanable.

Valerie

: To have a celebrity sit in your bed is quite an interesting thing. Your room has become such a prominent part of your brand and how you show up online – does that ever bother you?

Mar

: These last few months are the first time I’m really thinking about it, because I do a lot of things impulsively. And I’m like, wow, I really doxxed myself on the internet for views. There wasn’t a thought-out process behind it.

The logic made sense at the time. As a person who is on the internet way too much, I thought: if I was scrolling on TikTok and I saw the background of the studio we have at Radio Primavera Sound one more time, I would k*ll myself. I wouldn’t listen to anything the person is saying, I would scroll. So I will do it somewhere else. And what would I want to see? I would want to see the houses of these people. I would want to see something intimate that they wouldn’t show me.

And with that way of thinking it still makes sense. But at the same time, I made a brand out of my bed. And now there are waves of conversations on the internet around surveillance and privacy. I was literally being Kylie with the Meta glasses.

The other day I was on Pinterest, and my room came up. So cute, I thought. And then the realization hit that it’s kind of scary, actually. It’s just the first time I’m thinking about it, which is crazy, because I’ve been doing it for years.

It’s not that I wouldn’t do it again - but I would think about it a lot more.

Valerie

: Hindsight is 20/20. Also, the intimacy is likely part of the project’s success. Celebrities aside, what is your non-obvious career highlight?

Mar

: One is that Radio Noia is basically all me and Joana, my roommate. We make a great team, and I appreciate what we created, and having someone I can rely on when it comes to the project. I like that I have this sense of relief I’m not doing it alone: I have someone who really understands the project, really understands me, knows how my brain works. It’s like an extension of my brain. And she was there when the Rosalía opportunity came along.

The other one is the people who listen to Radio Noia, or those who are connected to the project somehow. I really love the people, it’s an audience that I feel really represents what I’m about, which makes me very happy. I consider myself a bad communicator: I don’t know how to speak, I lose my train of thought very easily, and constantly feel my message is lost in my inability to speak.

But when I see people interact with the show and really get it, it feels incredible to have a group of people that understands you so well.

They’re the embodiment of what I admire.

I’m really happy this is the case, I know not to take it for granted. Each project and each idea has an audience in mind – sometimes, things can get out of hand and you lose control of who you’re reaching. In my case, it has remained a very niche and cool community.

Obviously, it’s thanks to big voices like Rosalía that these people know I exist. But it could also have happened that a lot of people outside of my desired audience found me and started leaving shitty comments. That never happened, which has also made it easier for the right people to find me. Those are the real highlights. Having people that understand me is priceless.

Valerie

: To make a show like Radio Noia consistently, a lot of research must be happening behind the scenes. What does your process look like?

Mar

: I rely on spontaneity. I don’t like things to feel rehearsed or scripted, so I try not to overdo it. Whenever I’m preparing an episode, I ask myself: what am I interested in right now? What excites me?

I don’t want to create something I wouldn’t consume myself. I try to rely on my own opinion and taste, even though it may feel easier to cater to everyone else.

The problem with doing what I do is that everything I talk about is so now, I can’t really have a bank of ideas or things to approach in the future. A month from now is already outdated! That’s probably the only stress factor for me. There’s a lot of urgency – but I’ve managed to do it for many years now, so I trust myself to continue to be good at it.

Valerie

: Since you have to be swimming in the zeitgeist so much, what does your own relationship to social media look like?

Mar

: It doesn’t really bother me, because I don’t see it as work and don’t seek balance between the work and the personal. For me, the questions are always the same, at work and outside of it: what do I care about? What’s interesting to me? I have always moved on the internet this way.

What’s worrying me now, more than my relationship to social media, is that I’m not learning as much as I used to. I know how to navigate the internet. At university, there was constant external stimuli, things to learn on the curriculum. The majority of what I do now takes place online, and so I feel I’m restricted in learning new things. I want to keep educating myself, so I’m trying to combat the constant scroll a few different ways. For instance, I just signed up for a four-week course on Foucault.

Valerie

: Casually dropping “I’m taking a course on Foucault” in a conversation. I love Club Reticent girls. When are you happiest and most fulfilled creatively?

Mar

: There’s this iconic problematic actress Karla Sofia Gascón, and in an interview they asked her this exact question. And she said:

I’m never happy. I have never been happy in my life

. I was like, wow, me.

Jokes aside, the part that brings me happiness is the moment something is done. But first I love having the idea. For example, to begin this season I wanted to pretend that I was an intellectual, do a kind of

The Artist Is Present

, a Marina Abramović thing. That stage I really enjoy.

Then I hate the part where I have to actually do it. Prepare, organize, write. I hate writing. I hate filming. I get in my head, like, I want to send it by Bluetooth. I hate having to sit down. Then it starts: oh my god, I don’t know how to write, I don’t know how to express what I’m thinking onto paper, I don’t want it.

And then it’s out, and I can see it, and I feel so proud. That’s when I experience happiness. So what I really enjoy is the fact of having done something.

Valerie

: What a Taurus answer. I get it. How do you unwind and celebrate yourself in those moments?

Mar

: By being carefree with my time. I love those days where I can go out on a whim, say yes to all the plans my friends make, and not really care about the agenda. I’m so happy when I don’t have to think about what I have in the morning.

Valerie

: Who are the women that inspire you?

Mar

: Right now I’m obsessed with

Mackenzie Thomas

. Imagine trying to explain Mackenzie to people in Barcelona… Too niche. But I’m obsessed with her Substack and the ideas she comes up with. I really had a moment once where I thought I could convince someone local to fly her out to Barcelona for her show. Also, I really enjoy Ivy Wolk. The things that I admire in other people, I think, are the things that I lack. For example, I don’t think I’m that good at articulating myself. Women that are articulate and expressive and know exactly how to captivate an audience eloquently are the women I admire most.

Valerie

: Would kill to be a fly on the wall in a room with Ivy and Mackenzie. What does your social media diet look like these days?

Mar

: I spend a lot of time on TikTok. I love Terrence O’Connor and his “Cultural Digest” series. I think he’s really spot on. I also spend a lot of time on Substack – have been following you since forever. But it’s been a while since I discovered someone new that really has my attention, in the sense that I have my people, and then I forget how to browse and explore. Instagram is the place where I just go and scroll, see a few stories, get some gossip out of it for the show, and log off.

Valerie

: Your dream blunt rotation?

Mar

: Romy Mars, Nathan Fielder Zsa Zsa Gabor —because I’m reading her memoir now and she is the blueprint— and Drake’s son Adonis, ever since that video of him lecturing Drake about existentialism and death in French. How is this child so intelligent, self-aware and articulate? Obviously, I wouldn’t want him to smoke.

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