Hi there, welcome to another Women in Blockchain Talks episode. Today, we're doing things a little bit differently as today's episode is going to be a monologue rather than a dialogue. So it's me, myself, and I'm gonna be sharing with you my recent adventures in the United States, USA, and the UAE specifically, Abu Dhabi and Dubai.
So back in April, or even prior to April, I was invited to speak at NFT NYC. Now I'd spoken at NFT NYC London, and that was back in October 2022. And of course, everyone had heard of NFT NYC and I felt very privileged and honoured to be asked to speak at NYC NFT London. And then following the year, I wasn't able to attend and then I was invited to speak at this year's 2024 NYC NFT event. And shortly after that, I was also asked to speak at an event in Texas. It's called Texas Eclipse Festival. And it was to honor, celebrate the Texas eclipse that was happening in North America. And it was the first eclipse in, I think it was like 80 odd years, maybe a bit more, 200 years, I can't remember exactly, but I'm sure if you Google it, you will be able to find out when the last eclipse was in North America prior to the one that was in April. And so I thought to myself, since I've been asked to speak at these events, why don't I make a tour out of So I have a number of followers, or Women in Blockchain Talks have a number of followers and community members and also paid members of Women in Blockchain Talks. And a number or one of, a few of them had said, hey, if you're ever out in the States, let us know, let's meet up, let's talk about launching a Women in Blockchain Talks global chapter in this part of the world. Or even it was like, when are you launching in this part of the world? And pertaining to any part of the world. have this question all the time. But the real question for me, or the answer is based on who do I know? Who's willing to step up and be that leader and lead a global chapter? So if you're listening to this and you are a woman leader in this space, then reach out. We do have male co -leads, so we're open to any gender being a co but we do want the main lead to be a woman because we are called Women in Blockchain Talks and we amplify and spotlight women and women's voices for a reason because there's just not enough of us in this space and it's important that our voices are heard and that we are leading from the front rather than chasing from behind. With that being said, a number of people or a handful of people from the community had said we'd love to start Women in Blockchain Talks. One of the individuals in the community lives in Tampa. Tampa is a place I have visited a number of times. It's in Florida. I love Tampa. I love Florida. One of my best friends from when I used to live in Barcelona many years ago. So you're learning something new about me if you didn't know that. And see, you're hablo espanol. So yes, I do speak Spanish.
I speak it well enough, I need to practice more. But more or less, my son, yeah, lived in Barcelona and then the person who I used to, my best friend from then, she was originally from Tampa. So I've gone to visit her a number of times. And so Tampa is a place that I'm familiar with. And the Texas Eclipse was just outside of Austin. I've been to Austin before and I've been to New York before. But as I said, I thought, let me do a trip and connect with people who've been following me, who've been wanting to meet, who have shown interest in setting up a global chapter. The tour was supposed to touch on New York, Texas, then Austin, from Austin to Palm Springs to LA to San Francisco to Atlanta to Tampa, Tampa then to Miami and then Miami to Albany, which is the capital of New York State, even though most people think it's New York City, but it's not. And then to New York City, where I was gonna catch my flight. However, what happened was that I did leave from New York to Texas, and then I went to the Texas eclipse.
And then I then went to Austin and that was amazing. I love Austin. I think it's one of the few cities, there's so many cities, America's so big, Florida's so big, Texas is so big. It's quite overwhelming to be quite honest, but Austin is actually a city I would live in. I like that it just feels compact. Like I don't feel so overwhelmed there. And it's also got a great tech scene and blockchain emerging tech, digital asset scene. They hold consensus there every year as SXSF or SW sorry, there and those are tech orientated events, big events, annual events. So so Austin is a place that I would definitely consider living in.
And then from Austin, I flew to Palm Springs for Coachella, and a Coachella side event. And then I then went to LA. I held the first Women in Blockchain Talks event there. That was amazing, loved it. I couldn't believe that I was actually in California, in LA, Beverly Hills. I grew up watching Beverly Hills 90210.
I'm showing my age here, but loved that program. I didn't go down to Rodeo Drive because this was not a holiday. This was business. I was very focused. So I did see things because I'm not blind. I did enjoy myself because before I am anything, I'm a human being. This trip was challenging and it was a huge adventure for me. It took me out of my comfort zone. And one may ask, why did you do it? The opportunity was there.
It felt right. I prayed a lot about it because I wasn't sure if it was the right thing for me to do for a number of reasons. And so I was very torn. But my spirit was like, if you want to see something different, if you want to see change, if you want to bring you energy, you have to take a step out. You have to step out of your comfort zone. And so that's what I did with this trip. But it wasn't a holiday. And yes, those pictures of me enjoying myself because I am a human being first.
And if life gives you lemon, you make lemonade. You can't say, want more, if you can't appreciate and leverage what you already have. If you can't show appreciation and gratitude for what you already have, how can you then appreciate or handle more? That's what I believe. That's what I think. Some people argue that, but yeah.
And so after Palm Springs, like I said, I went to LA and then I didn't get to go to San Francisco. I wanted to go to Atlanta, but unfortunately that fell through. And so I just went straight to Tampa and it worked out really well to be quite honest because the traveling around is very exhausting. And I had thought, I don't know why, I thought I'd seen my good friend, my best friend in Tampa two years previously. Two years ago was pivotal year for me because I lost my mom. So a lot of things happened. And so it's like that two year mark two years ago has just been, quite, it's like a marker that I keep going back to. But in reality, the last time I had seen her was in November 2019. That was basically four years ago. Four years ago last year in November. So this year would have been, let's call it four and a half years, right? And so it was really great to just have a place that was safe and secure. I always talk about Women in Blockchain Talks being a safe, secure and supportive place for individuals to grow, to explore, to connect, to converse and to create in the blockchain space. And we all need a sense and a place, physical, virtually, where we can do those things. And she provided that space for me.
And then after that, I went to Miami, I'm from Miami. Things didn't go the way I thought they were going to go, so I didn't go to Albany and I didn't go back to NYC. And I flew, took a 20 hour flight to Abu Dhabi where I spoke at an event called AIM. It's a big annual event and it was such a privilege speaking there. And it was like night and day in regards to my experience in London versus, sorry, not in London, in the USA versus the UAE. And I'll explain what I mean by that in a moment, but I spent a week in Abu Dhabi speaking and then I went to Dubai and I was able to connect with a number of people who I followed online, because I've been wanting to get to Dubai for a long time. And so that was amazing to do that trip. And I'm still processing the whole six weeks of traveling, to be quite honest with you. It was a whirlwind. There was a lot of challenges. It was very adventurous, as I touched upon. For example, when I left New York, the day I was leaving New York, there was an earthquake. And then that earthquake.delayed the captain of, I believe this is what happened, delayed the captain of the flight. I was flying out on to Austin, because I had to fly to Austin to get to the Texas Eclipse Festival. And so by the time I got to the airport where I needed to, where I needed to change, catch my connecting flight, the flight had already gone. And it was late at night. And because it was late at night,
I had nowhere. When you're travelling by yourself, especially as a woman by yourself, it's just very scary. America is so big. It is so overwhelming. But I trusted and I felt and I knew God was on my side. And it did work out fine. But in that moment, in the first instance, it was, yeah, very, just very overwhelming.
And then after that, when I got to the festival or when I eventually got to Austin, I couldn't, my luggage, because it was on the original flight, they couldn't find it. So it was like, Lord, what is going on here? And then I get to the festival where I was supposed to be staying. I was no longer staying. I was staying at a motel in the middle of nowhere. And that was quite overwhelming for me. I felt a little bit scared or nervous.
I've never stayed at a motel before and someone who's been accustomed to watching American cultured films, motels, generally signify like horror movies, thriller movies, that sort of thing. Someone's being attacked. So I can't even share with you everything that was going through my head. But I got through that and then there was a thunderstorm and on the last day of the Texas Eclipse Festival, everyone had to be evacuated and that created some travel logistics issues and accommodation issues. But again, I got through that and I'm not gonna lie, when I got to Austin, it was just like, wow, a sign of relief. It's like there was Uber, like where I was staying before, there was no Ubers, because it was in the middle of nowhere. And then I get to Austin and it was just like, okay, I'm accustomed, I can deal with this. And one of the things I have to just point out, I grew going to libraries. That was the place I used to hang out. Some people used to hang out at the roller discos or hang out at the ice rink or hang out at the parks. I hung out at the libraries and Austin has one of the best libraries I've ever seen. Now when I was in Austin back in 2008 for the first time, I think the library was brand new and it was still in good, in a good standard structure. There was a lovely cafe that they had on the ground floor which unfortunately was now closed and still empty so I'm assuming that's off the back of Covid. But libraries are a place that gives me a sense of safety and security. So that's where I spent the day before I eventually went to speak at the ATX DAO.
So A stands for Austin, TX stands for Texas. So ATX Dow, Women in Web 3. And that was amazing. I got to meet someone who had been on a webinar, a workshop webinar with me two years, no, during COVID. So we're going back to 2020, 2021. And on that workshop, we had shown the attendees how to set up and create a wallet and Mint and NFT, so I think it was 2021. And then she went and showed her daughter how to do it, and now her daughter is an NFT artist. So I got to meet her in real life and that was just amazing. And she gave a wonderful testimonial and she said, I had stuff to do this evening, but when I knew you was coming, I was like, I said to my husband, he needs to drop whatever he's doing because I need to be at this event. And obviously when someone says that and they're showing you the impact that you've had on their life, and also the next generation, her child. It's a beautiful thing and I was very grateful for that experience. And then after that, there was lots of great people that I met there and we talked about setting up Women in Blockchain talks, Austin chapter, so watch this space. And from there, I then went to Palm Springs and had the experience with music artists who are very in the NFT space and that was a very different experience because I would say that I'm more business focused rather than music, entertainment focused. NFTs can be used for business case studies but many times when people think of NFTs they do think of music and pictures and artwork and brands.
But that was a great experience being in Palm Springs. And then afterwards I went to Los Angeles. And like I said, we did our first Women in Blockchain talks on American Soul. It was a free event as most of our global chapter events are, all our global chapter events to this point have been. And it was just great to have that experience. And one of the ladies who attended, she loved it. And she said that, Lavinia, I've been looking for a community that is women -orientated because there's a lot of women that I know who want to get in this space but they are looking for a female -led space and one of things I was surprised about because I'm very proactive and active in the Web3 space and I know there's lots of communities, women -led communities, there's SheFi, Unstoppable, HerDao, and MIA but they've now pivoted and they're more focused on AI and so I thought there was a lot of activity on the ground and what I found is that there's not.
And if there is, they're usually part of maybe they're doing a side event at one of the big events. There's nothing kind of consistent and that is quite purposeful. I also know there's a women, the Association of Women in Cryptocurrency, which is very professional orientated. We're professional orientated, but we're across the board. And so that's one of the things that I took away from the trip. And I was really quite surprised at that. I thought there'd be more meetups and communities on the ground.
And I found the same thing in Tampa because after LA I went to Tampa and we did a number of events there and we now have a strong Women in Blockchain Talks Tampa Global Chapter headed by our Global Chapter leader, Connie Davis. And we now have co -leads.
And we did a workshop event there, we did a meetup and then we also did a collaborative event with one of the meetups that has been on the ground for a number of years. It's actually a Bitcoin meetup and it's the longest running Bitcoin meetup in the world. So that was really amazing to do that and to connect. So a very proactive event, or should I say trip and very focused. After that, like I said, things that were supposed to happen didn't happen and you've just got to have a level of flexibility. And I had been asked to speak at the Aim conference before, and I didn't want to let them down, but I'd already committed to doing the USA tour, so I didn't want to say no, but I also didn't want to let them down, lastminute .com. But as I said, things didn't, and I'm glad that I was flexible, because as it turned out, what I thought was going to happen didn't happen, and I was able to take that 20 -hour flight to to the US and it was a very, like I said, a very stark difference. There's a lot of activity on the ground in particular Dubai rather than Abu Dhabi, but there's a lot more happening and even in other areas of the Emirates, KAC I think it's called, they are very active. They've got like a Web3 co -working space that they're building out, which I believe Solana is joining and some other cryptocurrency, not cryptocurrency, blockchain platforms are joining. So there's a lot of activity on the ground and it was great to see, very vibrant, a very fast pace, very forward thinking. Got to meet with a number of people I've been talking to over the years and most, and very recently as well in regards to collaborations. Had a great talk with the Dubai business women. It's not chapter, it's council which is part of the Dubai Council, which is a government body or government orientated department, so to speak. And then I also got to meet the world famous NFT artist, Amrita Sethi. And that was great. And so there was lots of conversations about collaborations and everything starts off with a conversation, ultimately. Everything starts with a conversation.
And if you can conceive it and you believe it, you can achieve it. And I definitely did this with this tool. And now the follow -up is real. And what's wonderful is good stuff is already coming from this. We are expanding the Women in Blockchain Talks brand. I got to connect, empower, inspire, motivate a number of women and just individuals full stop on the journey. And it's a very powerful and beautiful thing to be able to do that. Of course, conversations are being had around sponsorship, collaborations, partnerships, but everything takes time. And I always say I'm here for the long run. And so very grateful for the opportunity that I had. And now it's just a question of watching this space.
So if you'd like to know more about my journey, about my trip, how you can get involved with Women in Blockchain Talks global chapters or Women in Blockchain Talks full stop, be it as a sponsor, a partner, collaborative partner, and even a global chapter leader, then reach out. Details will be in the written part or in the post part of this episode. So episode notes, ultimately.
Thank you for listening and yeah, until next time.
