Meet the Writer: Hacker Noon's Contributor Elena Obukhova, Entrepreneur, Mentor, & Crypto Enthusiast

This story is a part of Hacker Noon's Meet the Writer series of interviews. The series is intended for tech professionals contributing the most insightful Hacker Noon stories to share more about their writing habits, ideas, and professional background (and maybe a hobby or two).

If you too would like to start contributing to Hacker Noon, you can do so here.

So let’s start! Tell us a bit about yourself. For example, name, profession, and personal interests.

My name is Elena Obukhova. I am a cryptocurrency enthusiast, entrepreneur, business strategist, and mentor. Having lived in 9 countries [China, South Korea, Thailand, Russia, France, Argentina, Mexico, Indonesia, and the USA] and visited 23, I gained diverse experience and knowledge in the fintech and crypto markets with an in-depth understanding of local consumer trends.

In late 2018 I founded FAS | Fintech Advisory Services, a global consulting ecosystem that grows successful ventures in blockchain & fintech and currently is in 15 countries working with startups and SMEs.

Being deeply involved in the tech space, I started exploring the NFT market and it led me to my other venture - FlashBack that I co-founded with Olga Filatova in May 2021. FlashBack.one allows buying and collecting art-like tickets as well as sharing this collection with your friends.

Apart from my core activities, I also do mentorship sessions with startups founders, participating in conferences as a keynote speaker, and publishing my works on venture building.

Interesting! What was your latest Hackernoon Top story about?

My last article was covering Bitcoin and its first week as an official currency in El Salvador and an official foreign currency in the rest of the world. I was focusing on the key challenges that government is and will be facing after the law went into effect.

Do you usually write on similar topics? If not, what do you usually write about?

Lately, I had been covering this topic from different angles a few times. I also had some publications on the Argentinian market and cryptocurrency adoption that I wrote while living there. Apart from political content, I'm also fond of writing startup-related content that can help founders with their journey.

Great! What is your usual writing routine like (if you have one?)

It's quite spontaneous I would say. Some idea comes to my mind and then I'm in "no disturb" mode until the article is finished. Inspiration is very important to have great content.

Being a writer in tech can be a challenge. It’s not often our main role, but an addition to another one. What is the biggest challenge you have when it comes to writing?

As you said, tech writing isn't usually our main role and, thus, the main challenge is to actually have time to write. Being a startup founder and leading a consulting business at the same time combining with public activities and initiatives is already quite time-demanding. However, I always try to find some time to share industry insights and overviews whenever something interesting is happening.

What is the next thing you hope to achieve in your career?

My next career milestones would be leading FlashBack to a unicorn level and finishing my paper on the Decentralized Economy that I'm working on at the moment.

Wow, that’s admirable. Now, something more casual: What is your guilty pleasure of choice?

Apart from tech, I'm also very into fashion and can't help buying new shoes and clothes. It always turns me from a light-packed traveller into "what's the maximum weight they say I can fly with" kind of person.

Do you have a non-tech-related hobby? If yes, what is it?

I really like travelling and trying new things. I believe that's the way a person can broaden the mind and get new ideas and experiences. Another passion of mine is motocross, however, it has been quite challenging to combine it with my travelling lifestyle and I can only enjoy watching other people driving for the time being.

What can the Hacker Noon community expect to read from you next?

There will be more works on venture building for startups and practical tips on how to scale based on my experience. At the same time, I would like to continue sharing more insights on cryptocurrency adoption around the world.

Thanks for taking time to join our “Meet the writer” series. It was a pleasure. Do you have any closing words?

Kudos to the Hackernoon team for this edition and special thanks to everyone reading my articles and always happy to answer questions, feel free to reach out to me through LinkedIn.