About Me

Nelson🇺🇸/Roberto🇸🇻

Hi, my name is Nelson de Witt, but it's also Roberto Coto.

I was separated from my birth family during El Salvador's civil war and was reunited with them in 1997 at the age of 16.

I'm working on a novel based on my life and a documentary film about being one of El Salvador's disappeared children.

I also write a monthly newsletter, where I share original content and updates about my book and film. If you'd like to receive these updates, you can sign up here.

If there has been one consistency throughout my varied and unconventional career, it's that I thrive when I'm working on complex, multi-dimensional problems that have no easy answer.

What Makes My Work Unusual

I bridge technical and creative worlds in ways most people don't. Not only do I build infrastructure for documentary production, podcast hosting, and web publishing, but I also produce those creative projects myself, so I understand the workflows from the inside. I can write code and write novels. I can architect systems and architect stories.

Whether it's developing applications that scale an embroidery business in Panamá, building infrastructure for a 13-year documentary project, or consulting on a crowdfunding campaign to fight patent trolls, I love bringing structure to chaotic, unpredictable systems.

My work has been featured in The BBC World Service, The NACLA Report, The Huffington Post, The Christian Science Monitor, and The Los Angeles Times.

If you're interested in finding out what I'm currently working on, check out my /now page.

On this page, you can learn more about me and my background as a:

• 📖Author
• 🎥Filmmaker
• 👨🏽‍💻Developer
• 📣 Marketer & Content Creator
• 🗣️ Public Speaker
• 📷 Photographer
• 🥏 Ultimate Frisbee Coach

📖Author

Growing up with dyslexia, reading and writing was challenging, so calling myself an author as an adult feels strange. However, writing and storytelling are how I spend the majority of my time nowadays.

After years of struggling with the narrative structure of my documentary, I dove deep into story theory, studying frameworks such as the Hero's Journey, Save the Cat, and Story Grid. That education didn't just help me crack my film's structure; it fundamentally changed how I see the world. I now recognize patterns and structures everywhere, from character arcs to software architecture.

I've been writing online since 2007, starting with Ana's Miracle, where my family and I shared our reunion story. In 2012 I wrote A Kickstarter's Guide to Kickstarter (downloaded 5,000+ times), and in 2024 published an essay in The NACLA Report on the Americas. I'm currently finishing a major rewrite of my novel Waking From Innocent Dreams, which combines memoir with magical realism and historical fiction.

You can find more of my writing in the archives, including articles on failure, adoption, and making art.

Writing Focused Projects:

🎥Filmmaker

Identifying Nelson/Buscando a Roberto is my first documentary film and explores the aftermath of El Salvador's 13-year-long civil war. In 1997, when I was 16, I discovered I was one of El Salvador's Disappeared Children, a group of over 1,000 kids who had been forcibly separated from their families during the war.

In addition to being the film's subject, I've played a crucial role in developing its narrative structure and handle all business and technical aspects of production. My study of narrative theory provided the breakthrough we needed to structure this complex documentary.

As part of our research, my co-director John Younger and I produced 86 episodes of a podcast (downloaded 7,000+ times), creating a platform for disappeared children to share their stories publicly. I built all the technical infrastructure from scratch.

The film is currently in post-production, with our second rough cut completed in 2024. You can find updates on the film's website.

Film Focused Projects:

👨🏽‍💻Developer

My enthusiasm for technology began in elementary school when I used to copy simple programs from 3-2-1 Contact Magazine and run them on my Apple IIgs. Slowly, by changing bits and pieces of code, I taught myself how to program.

Below is a sample of one of my earliest surviving programs, written in QBasic. It draws lines of varying length and color from the center of the screen, which was my attempt at making a screensaver.

SCREEN 12
DO
  C = INT(RND(1) * 15) + 1
  COLOR C
  a = INT(RND(1) * 1040) + 1
  B = INT(RND(1) * 1040) + 1
  LINE (320, 240)-(a, B)
  IF INKEY$ = CHR$(27) THEN 142
LOOP

I've used that foundation to build software over the past 20+ years—from Ruby on Rails applications to complete infrastructure for documentary production, podcast hosting, and web publishing.

Since 2007, I've been building and maintaining web infrastructure for creative professionals. I currently manage 10+ websites through Coto.Studio, which I formalized in 2022. What distinguishes my technical work is that I understand creative workflows from the inside—I build infrastructure because I've produced the work that runs on it.

Developer Focused Projects:

To me, marketing is a discipline that lies at the intersection of strategy, storytelling, and design. The best marketing happens when someone recommends a product because they genuinely love it, not because they're paid to promote it.

I've applied these principles to launch numerous successful projects, including Kickstarter campaigns that were among the platform's first 10,000 funded projects. I've also learned that failure can be as instructive as success—when my photography book campaign failed, I wrote a post-mortem that was read 3,000+ times and helped other creators avoid similar mistakes.

I focus on creating experiences that feel curated and handcrafted, whether that's a crowdfunding campaign, a website, or comprehensive project documentation.

Marketing Focused Projects:

I've spoken about my story at numerous schools and colleges, including Yale University, Wellesley College, Dartmouth College, and the University of Chicago.

My speaking topics include identity and adoption, El Salvador's disappeared children, crowdfunding, storytelling, and bridging technical and creative work. I've also appeared on several podcasts, including the BBC World Service.

📷Photographer

I've been doing photography since high school, where I learned to develop and print my own negatives in a darkroom.

I believe there is profound yet often overlooked beauty in the world around us. My photography attempts to capture these moments. I primarily shoot fine art and street photography on film—most photos on this site were shot with a 1985 Leica M6 rangefinder. 

Photography Focused Projects:

During the spring, I coach local high school and middle school kids in the exciting sport of Ultimate Frisbee. I started coaching in 2016 as an assistant and took over as head coach in 2021. A year later, in 2022, I expanded the program to include a middle school. That team finished third at the 2024 Massachusetts state championship.

As a lifelong athlete, I love how sports teach teamwork, resilience, and growth. Ultimate Frisbee is unique because it's self-officiated at all levels. Players have to make their own calls and resolve disputes on the field, which teaches conflict resolution and personal responsibility.