WiBT (00:00)
Hi everyone and welcome back to another episode of Women in Blockchain Talks. My name is Lavinia and I am your host as well as the founder of Women in Blockchain Talks. It's been a long time since we had our last podcast episode and I can only but apologize. When I think about the time it has taken, it makes me think of this song and give us a like if you know the artist it's an oldie but it is a goodie.
SONG...
So who knows what song that is and who the artist is? If you will leave a comment after this recording in the notes or wherever we post it on social media then I will give a I'll put you in a prize draw and a winner will be will be pulled from that prize draw and announced on a future Podcast and we may do something different as well. So get involved I'm not sure exactly what the prize will be.. But if you do know the name of the Song and the Artist then let us know in the comments, Email us on our you know, put a comment below on the post where we share the podcast But yeah, it has been a long time. My last episode was back in 2021 and we are now in 2024. And sometimes that's just life. You have to take a pause, you take a hiatus, you have plans and sometimes plans don't work out the way that you want it to. And also there's so many different moving pieces. It's like you want to do it, but maybe you don't have or you wanna bring a certain quality. And when it comes to Women In Blockchain Talks,I always think about quality over quantity. We are a grassroots business. We have been a grassroots business, but we've done so much. So I always like to say women in blockchain talks is small, but we are mighty and we've done a lot. So even though we haven't had a podcast in a, or launched a podcast episode in a long while, we have been busy.
And when I say we, It's been myself, my sidekick, Amala Bastian, and she will be coming up in a podcast episode very soon, so you'll learn more about her. So watch this space. And interns we've had working with us and also the amazing Kelly Riggs, who has been with me since...a very very long time so yeah she's way in the background but I still need to bigger up and all the work that she does has done for Women in Blockchain Talks and she has her own projects so if you want to know more about Kelly then I will put her LinkedIn details below and you can check her out. So with that being said as the song said it's been a long time and you know we should have left you with a dope beat, but now we're back with the dopeness. I don't know about the beat, but with definitely some cool content. So what have we been up to? What haven't we been up to, more importantly? So back in 2022, I embarked on a European tour, and off the back of that, we launched Women in Blockchain Talks Global Chapter in Warsaw in Berlin and in Barcelona. And it was just an amazing tour. When I was on that tour, I was in Berlin, I went to Warsaw, I also went to Barcelona, but I was also in Italy. We've yet to launch a global chapter in Italy, but it is on our list. And when the timing is right and the right person comes along, because again, it's always about the quality, it's also about the mindset of the individual. You know, one needs to have an entrepreneurial mindset when running a global chapter. But the opportunity is there and it's a great opportunity for someone to leverage the Women in Blockchain Talks platform and to start a chapter which provides a touch point for people who are new or even established to build a community that focuses on an element of safety, security and support because that's definitely what we need in this space as it's still a nascent technology for many. Maybe not to ask the OGs who's been in the space since 2012, 2015, 2017, which is when I officially came into the space. But you know, we feel like everybody knows, because well, for me personally, I should only, I can only talk for myself, but most of the people that I know,outside of my friends and family, they're all in this space, digital assets, Web3, NFT. And so it's always important to remember that not everybody has the knowledge that we have and that we are privileged to have the knowledge that we have and to speak the language that is used in this space. Like for me, I'm British, English is my first language. And so I'm always mindful of the fact that not everybody speaks English and therefore there is an accessibility issue for people to learn more about blockchain and to be able to come in and add their value and build.
And off the back of that, one of the things that we've done this year and we talked about for International Women's Day was how can we ensure that the information that is being shared and disseminated here in..Central London, so I'm based in Central London, is being shared and disseminated into the regions. So what we did this year in 2024, we are expanding, we're always expanding, we're growing, and we actually launched global chapters online, mind you, for Zimbabwe, and we launched in Brighton, beautiful Brighton, which is a coastal town in southwest of the UK. So it's just below London. And we also launched in the Midlands and the heart of Britain in a place in a city, the second largest city in the UK, Birmingham. And so we're always thinking about how can we take the knowledge that we have and that we are sharing amongst ourselves to different places because...Ultimately, that's what diversity and inclusion looks like. It's not just about ethnicity or age or gender. It's also about languages, culture, regions. And I feel, again, because we are in a privileged position to know about blockchain, to work in blockchain, to build in blockchain, to lead in blockchain and the ecosystem that comes with it. So that's AI, Metaverse, NFT, etc, etc.
Then we should do our best to make sure that we share that information with people outside of the space. And I think this is one way of onboarding and reaching new audiences and that education piece is so and still so fundamental to onboarding and people wanting and understanding why they should come into the space.
So that's what we did in 2021. Like I said, I had a European tour. We launched in Warsaw, Berlin, Barcelona, and we also launched in Manchester. So that's another city, major city here in the UK. And then in 2023, it was about establishing, you know, making sure that those global chapters worked and also getting through crypto winter.It has been very, very cold and I'm so grateful that spring is here and we're starting to see the grease shoots of the crypto market coming back off the back of the launch and the announcement of Bitcoin ETF by the SEC. And of course, we've got Bitcoin halving coming up. So there's lots of reasons to be excited about this space. And I really feel like there has been a sort of clearing of the rubbish because sometimes when lots of people come into a space, they're coming in for the wrong reasons. And I think the people who are still here, those people are here for the right reasons. And I'm grateful to see that and I'm grateful to still be here because it has been challenging, not just for myself, but many of my colleagues and people that I talk to. But, you know, and as we've seen, FTX is not here any longer.
There's other organizations that had the money, had the resources to be pivotal and to do good in this space and they are no longer in the space. So, you know, I'm just happy to be here. So, 2023 was really about building on the global chapters that we launched in, as stated, Manchester and Europe. And there was lots of highs, lots of lows. And we talk about this on our blog. So if you want to know more about what we've been up to these last two years, then please check out our blog, check out our social media platforms. You can find us on LinkedIn. That's where we live. We love LinkedIn. And we also have some posts on Twitter and Instagram and I believe TikTok.
But generally LinkedIn is the place to be when if you're doing anything or wanting to do anything in blockchain, digital assets and the whole ecosystem. So yeah, so we did that in 2023 and now 2024 as I touched upon, we launched Zimbabwe Global Chapter and we launched Brighton and Birmingham and we're also looking to expand even more. So if it's something that is of interest to you and you're like, hmm, I'd like to know more about how I can get involved in Women in Blockchain Talks, what they stand for, you know, then please get in touch, send us an email, [email protected], get in touch with us via LinkedIn or any of the other platforms that I have mentioned. And so, I'm excited to announce that we will be embarking, or I will be embarking, representing Women in Blockchain Talks, a US tour. It's time to go stateside. We have a huge following in the states and just a huge network full stop globally. So I'm excited to see how we can bring the blockchain word to the people of the United States of America. And that's not to say there aren't already organizations, there's some great organizations out there, but no one can do it the way that I do it. You know, I bring the dopeness. I don't know about the dopeness, but I definitely bring my own style. So thank you for listening and I hope that you'll stick with us and enjoy the episodes that we have coming up. So watch this space for announcements on who we have coming up in interviews and talks. And I'm just so happy to be back doing this podcast and one of the things that I love, which is talking. When I first started Women in Blockchain Talks, I said that I want to be the Oprah of blockchain. And in so many ways, I think I have achieved that, but there's always more work to be done and there's always ways to do things better. And so that's what I'm looking to do.
That's what I'm aiming to do with this podcast. And so if there's anyone that you think I should interview, then please again, get in touch, send us an email. But until next time, thank you for listening.
