WiBT (00:03)
Hi there and welcome to another Women in Blockchain Talks episode. I'm excited to have you here with us today and us being the one and only, my amazing 'am' being Amala Bastian. So Amala Bastian has been working with me for the last, coming up to three years now and it has literally just flown by. And I really wanted to have her on the podcast because I think her story can be encouraging and inspiring for many, especially those who are not or where English is not their first language or they're not from, you know, the UK, America, Australia, those sort of, those places or those parts of the world. So without further ado, let me have Amala Say Hi
Hello everyone. Thank you. Thank you for having me Lavinia. You're welcome. And it's great to have you.
So, Amala, tell me about you or tell the audience, the listeners about you and how you got started in blockchain.
Okay. So it's my privilege to talk about my journey in blockchain. I came to UK in 2021 as an MBA student. And when I came here, I didn't know that I would become this much, this, this big celebrity, like being interviewed by a big celebrity in women in blockchain talks, which is Lavinia. And yeah. So, um, so coming back to what I said, I came to the UK for pursuing my MBA. And, uh, during my MBA journey, I came across the world of blockchain through LinkedIn posts, and job openings and I slowly recognized that the blockchain was creating a wave of new opportunities in the space and I am a sort of person who always possessed a fearless spirit and an appetite for learning so I decided to delve deeper into this blockchain field and what I did is I started learning about this technology absorbing every bit of knowledge I could find and I did one thing like like when I started learning about this technology, I began to write a blog. The blog was called theblockchaingirl .com and this helped me to enrich my knowledge in blockchain and through my blogs people started recognizing my writings and my thirst for learning. Slowly the doors started opening up for me and one day I came across this internship opportunity at Women in Blockchain Talks. I applied to it and fortunately I got selected.
Through my intern journey with Women in Blockchain Talks and under Lavinia's guidance, I continued to flourish. I started assisting Women in Blockchain Talks in organizing events and hosting events eventually and I got promoted to Community and Business Development roles. Along with Women in Blockchain Talks and Lavinia, I got this opportunity to work with various women leaders across the world, entrepreneurs and business warriors.
So yeah, I believe that women in blockchain talks helped me to connect with women from diverse backgrounds, fostering a sense of unity in blockchain world. And I become a speaker. I've been invited to speak at different events, like different events,from different companies, like Intercoin, Ripple. And I'm going to pause you there because you said something that was quite important. You started your own blog.
And what did you say it was called? TheBlockchainGirl .com. Okay. And you're still writing for that blog or? I stopped writing for the blog, but I converted the blog to a LinkedIn newsletter. So my blog is my newsletter now, TheBlockchainGirl. On LinkedIn. Yes. Okay. Amazing. I love your story because, you know, you came here by yourself, right? To the UK to study your MBA. And what was your MBA in?
Oh, I did my MBA in digital marketing. And what was your thesis on? Yeah, I wrote my thesis on blockchain and branding. Wow. Wow. Wow. And there's an interesting point that's going to come up during this conversation about the journey that Amala has been on and how that has impacted or has shown up in her academic life in our academic world. But before we do that, because, you know, culture, inclusion, diversity, you know, equity, all of that is so important to me. And it's a conversation that's deep. And there's many elements of diversity that I don't really touch on simply because I don't feel like I could really lend my voice to it in a way that I would want to. But as you are here today with us, I heard that you said that you're from Kerala, India, right? Yes. And I heard that Kerala, forgive me if I'm pronouncing it incorrectly, is called God's own country. What does that mean exactly and why is it called that?
First of all, thanks for asking me about my country and my state. So I'm from India and this Kerala is situated in the southwest of India. We are a small state, but we are called by tourists as gods own country. Why? Because there are a lot of reasons behind that. The first and foremost is our landscape. We have a beautiful landscape with mountains, rivers, backwaters, beaches. Everything is there. Everything is there in that small state. And we have a rich historical an cultural heritage. We have different dance forms which is called like Mohini Yata and etc etc and and we have a different taste in our music which is so remarkable that the tourists will get attracted and fascinated to Kerala. And we have we have a good cultural and religious thing like in terms of religion we we have three main religion in Kerala Hindu, Christian and Muslim and in every every parts of or in every corner of the state we can see these uh... hindu temples muslim mosque and christian churches and unlike many part of india people believing in different religions are living happily in kerala and with great religious tolerance and uh... thankfully without any uh... clashes and hence we are god -sown country and also we are one of the most educated states in India. So these specialties makes others to call Kerala God's own country.
Oh, wonderful. It sounds small but mighty. And if you are a representative of Kerala, then well done to Kerala. I definitely want to see it. God's own country, God's own child. All right, so you talked about your journey and all the things that you've done since you started your journey with in blockchain. So I'm not going to say you started with women in blockchain talks, but I would say that you kind of formalized your journey and evolved. You've evolved over the last three years as most people would do in their lives anyway. You know, we always grow, we're always evolving.It's just a question of whether it's positively or if it's negatively. If we're stagnant, then we're dying ultimately. So what are the top key things that you feel you've learned on your journey? I could even say entrepreneurial journey and also in the last two to three years and also about yourself. What are the key things?
Key things about me is that I have always had this power of determination and I have a power inside me which can embrace the change. Which means that I came to UK from a different culture and different tradition and everything is different in UK and I can feel that in every moment even from the food to the way of living. So everything is different but I have always had a mindset of embracing the change and I believe that I succeeded in proving that with the right mindset and a thirst for knowledge to learn more. And I believe that these are the qualities that people should possess to understand or to learn, to keep learning. And anyone can, like anyone like me, anyone coming from a different background can step into anywhere they want if they have the right mindset. And as a woman and a blockchain, or we can call it Web3 enthusiast, I always have an urge to seek opportunities, learn new skills and always I have this passion for learning everything and learning the knowledge and acquire the knowledge I need in my life. And finally in a world where constantly evolves, I want to remind me and you that only way to keep forward or a way forward is to keep learning, keep growing everyday. And from the Web3 perspective, I could say that we are in the very, very early stage of this technology and we have this new and novel technology. Now is the time to contribute. Now is the time to take action. Now is the time to learn so that the future is in our hands and we are able to make something out of it.
Yeah, and when you talk about hands, I mean, I always think to myself, when people talk about building, this technology or building the ecosystem, I always question who's building it. I don't have an issue. Me personally, I don't have an issue, you know, if it's white, middle class, middle aged, older, younger, white men. I don't have an issue with that. As long as there are other cultures and people from diverse backgrounds doing it as well. You know, when I think about blockchain, I think of blockchain as that, you know, it's a technology that promotes egalitarian values. And that basically means there's a space for everyone. It's not about a gatekeeper saying, yes, you can come in or that person can't come in. And I think about the example of this for those who are listening and not know much about blockchain and the ecosystem, but let's just take crypto. Crypto is a perfect case study of decentralized currency and if I have a hundred pounds and Amla has a hundred thousand and let's just say Ethereum or Bitcoin goes up by 20%, then my hundred pounds goes up by 20 % and Amala's 100 ,000 goes up by 20%. If it goes down by 20%, then my hundred pounds goes down by 20 % and Amala's 100 ,000 goes down by 20%.That to me is fair because maybe that 100 pounds that I've put in, you know, that is all I have. And maybe that 100 ,000 that Amala has put in, that's just chump change to her because she's got millions more. So who decides or why should someone else decide that because my 100 pounds doesn't have that much value to them, that I should only get 0 .01. But Amala with her 100 ,000 in a bank, So I'm talking about the difference between crypto and fiat currency in a bank, she can get 5 % or 10%. Why should one person or group of people make that decision on my hard-earned money, right? So that's what I mean when I talk about the egalitarian aspects of blockchain technology or how blockchain technology can bring that value to the ecosystem, which crypto, DeFi, that NFTs tokenization is all building in and helping to form. And it's all very exciting.
So with that being said, I know you touched on some of your highlights. You said that you've spoken internationally, Amala, in India, but you are international because you're here in the UK speaking in India, but speaking across the world, right? And I understand just going back to your academic journey and just your, that element for you, you was honoured at your university? Tell us about that.
Yes, yes, yes. So yeah, when I think about everything that I achieved in two years or three years, I'm so grateful for that. And because I believe that I have achieved so many in this short span of time. And yeah, there are different highlights that I want to say because one of the highlights was I've been invited by my alma mater because I studied at University of Sunderland in Canary Wharf. And I've been invited as a guest speaker to talk about my journey and my career in the technology field, how I persuaded my passion. And my professors, they were all proud of myself and they were like, oh, Amala, you did a lot in a short time and you are shining in the world, in the technology world. That was one of my proud moments and it is one of the highlights of my journey. And other highlights were being invited by different companies to speak at their events and that was one of my keynote speaking sessions in India during my holidays which I had in three years. When I was in India, so fortunately enough, I've got this opportunity to talk about blockchain and Web3 in India in a big Web3 carnival festival. And I'm so blessed about what I am being a speaker in blockchain. And also, of course, I started this journey as a writer in blockchain. And I've been invited by some corporate companies to write about this niche, blockchain and Web3, to share my thoughts and thoughts in blockchain, Web3 and crypto space. So I, and these were the three key highlights which I had gained in my journey.
Wonderful. And congratulations and well deserved, you know, this journey that we, when you're a pioneer and in a new space that is so, the market is so volatile and the, the space is so unpredictable. It comes with its feeling of 'unknown' and that unknown creates dis -ease and doubt. So with that being said, like, you know, the last two, three years we've come out of the pandemic, of COVID pandemic, lockdown, and everything took a while to come back. And then there was a lot of activities around NFTs and it felt like, yes, and Bitcoin was going up and other cryptos were going up and then, all of a sudden the back end of 2021, it was 2021, wasn't it? Back end of 2021. Everything started to fall and it just became super difficult and super challenging. So what has got you through the crypto winter and how did you stay positive?
Through all the pandemic and the crypto winter I stay positive because it's better to stay positive than staying negative. And blockchain is not about the crypto. It's all like, it's not only about the crypto, but there are different use cases behind this technology. But of course, it's connected, blockchain and crypto is connected. And when you look at the bigger picture, the good that you can do with this technology, the things that you can experiment with this technology are proof that that gives you power and faith to keep pushing. And I believe that the power of resilience inside me and the consistency made me push through this pandemic as well as crypto winter.
Yeah. So resourcefulness, resilience. And just belief, belief in one side, consistency you touched on. Yes. Yeah, they're very key to just being successful and moving forward. I like to use the term fail forward. Not that you failed forward, but sometimes we just, things when things don't work out the way that we want it to, we have to just move forward, even if we're failing or even if we're falling, just fail forward, fall forward, so to speak.
So to just round everything up, what is your focus going forward into 2024? And as you talk about that, what advice would you give to women who English is not their first language and they're new to the blockchain space and you know, this blockchain, I mean, blockchain, when we talk about the culture, there is a blockchain around emerging tech and that will be influenced by whatever culture that person is and how they want to bring blockchain or bring their culture into blockchain. But again, because Women in Blockchain Talks is about diversity and inclusion, what advice would you give to someone where English is not their culture and English is not their first language? And what are you focused on going forward into 2024?
Okay, what advice I give to people look like me or English is not their first language, I would say that they can learn anything and everything if they have a such a mindset because the world is changing in a quick way because since the introduction of AI and chat GPT, everything is in our in our style or we can we can put forward our effort to learn about the technology and make use of the technology and make your or experiment with what you can build with this technology. So always keep learning and experimenting with the technology. Always look out, look outside what are the upcoming things or changes that coming up with this technology because we definitely know that with the advent of AI, people may lose jobs and it stated that people may lost jobs but what we can do is how we can make use of this technology to build new jobs outside of our thinking outside of outside of the box. So that's one advice I can give keep learning keep pushing through and don't get like don't don't let your mind to be negative because of the new technologies that coming forward and also I have And one of the things I am looking forward to work with or to make changes in the society in terms of women and diversity is that to work with more students and beginners to share the knowledge that I gained in Web3 space and to share with those people who are looking to start a new career in technology. And because we need more people or more women, And this is a great pathway. The communities like Women in Blockchain Talks is a great pathway to get more women in. And recently I was in the FCA exhibiting Women in Blockchain Talks and we were told by one woman that she never, she never watched someone talking about, especially women talking about these technologies, blockchain, web3 and AI. And she heard that for the first time, us, Women in Blockchain Talks talking about blockchain and crypto.So it just shows that sometimes we are in the space, we are talking to the people, but it feels like we are talking to the choir and we need to go outside of that talk and we need to talk to people all over the world who are in need of adopting this technology. So yeah, that's what I need to say. Wonderful. It sounds like a big mission, but of course you're from God's own country.
So I'm blessed. You're blessed. And you will get the job done. So with that being said, thank you for joining us on the Women in Blockchain Talks podcast. I know that you've got a number of things lined up for 2024. You've got your business development skillsets that you have, you know, that you can bring to the market and are bringing to the market. And of course, you are working with Women in Blockchain Talks to bring more students, more women, more diversity to the community and just to spread the blockchain word. So thank you for your input. Thank you for leading, for your leadership. And yeah, I wish you all the best, as you know. I should say that, you know, Amala and I have become very, very close over the years, as you can imagine. And when she was just talking about how she has adapted to new cultures, one of the cultures she has adapted to is British, Caribbean, British, Jamaican. Being British, Jamaican myself. So I've got that opportunity to taste your foods, to listen to your music, to watch the movies of Bob Marley and legends. So thanks for that. Thanks for being my mentor.
and thanks for showing a path for women who are like who are already in the space but they don't know where to go and what to do. And you are a leading example of who a woman should be because women are like, they don't need to compete, they need to empower each other. And that's what you are doing, you are empowering each other, each other woman. So thanks for being you, thanks for that. And thank you for being you. And I appreciate you saying that. I mean,
To me, it's important to walk our talk and you are a perfect example of how if you seed positivity into others and show them the way, then they can evolve in their own right. And I have no doubt in my mind that you are gonna go on and do great things. So if you're looking for a mentor, you should definitely speak to Amala. If you're looking for a speaker for any events.
If you're looking for diversity, not just diversity, you should get her because she knows her staff and she's great. But we still need, representation matters and we need to see it. People need to see it. Brown-skinned girls need to see it. Indian girls need to see it. So it's important to remember that diversity matters, representation matters. So until our next episode, thank you for listening. Thank you.
