Saved by the Metaverse

A can-do attitude mixed with a cocktail of opportunities and a pinch of hope has secured a new home in the metaverse for journalist and activist Jillian Godsil.

After interviewing the founders of Metropolis, siblings Rania and Rashid Ajami, Godsil discovered that individuals were creating their own homes in this innovative virtual world. This led her to become one of the founding citizens of the city of Celeste. Her inclusion as one of the founder members hails not so much from her position as a leading Web3 journalist but more from her backstory, which befits a virtual metaverse so well.

Since her painful home repossession in 2014, Godsil had been unable to find the means to buy a new home – a much more modest cottage for her, her children and their rescue horses. So, to become a homeowner in Celeste is really inspiring – it’s the first time she has achieved the first step to getting back on the property ladder again. Although she is not sure the horses will like the view – they may stay in more lowly surroundings, closer to the ground and with plenty of grass.

Not only does it fulfil her professional interests, but it also provides hope for her personal condition. And to explain why this virtual home, high in the clouds, is so important, we need to go back to 2008 to a financially crushed Ireland with its property market in pieces and a nation suffering from a terrible recession.

There is no shame in failing

Jillian Godsil became broke and famous through a series of random and connected actions. Once a successful businesswoman and aspiring writer, she was hit by the double whammy of divorce and recession. Accordingly, she was left in possession of a rather large mortgage (in excess of €1,000,000) on a Georgian manor house reduced to less than half that value in the 2008 financial crash. Her ex-husband returned to the UK and became bankrupt, effectively giving her and their two children the entire debt.

She fought every way she could but could not hold back the tide. She made a video to sell the house, which went viral. She received an offer of €500,000, but the banks refused the sale. In Irish law, even if the bank accepted the offer, she and her two children would still be liable for the balance. The banks went on to repossess the home and sold it five months later for a miserly €165,000. Following the tide of woes, Godsil’s company failed, and bailiffs were sent in, but her story continued to travel around the world.

Asked why she kept talking, even as she was backed into a financial corner, she cited one reason; suicide. She believed she had been given a voice to keep talking about debt, what it feels like, how to live with it and how one day to conquer it. Ireland in 2012 witnessed two suicides every day. While not all were down to financial reasons, a significant proportion could be attributed to such a cause.

Godsil’s mantra is that she was not ashamed she failed financially. She worked bloody hard, but life threw her a curve ball. In Ireland, financial failure is viewed as a stigma, unlike other cultures that view it as a necessary path for any businessperson. It is ironic that the quote ‘Fail once, fail better the second time is from none other than the Irishman of letters, Samuel Beckett.

In the end, after the home repossession, she was the first female bankrupt under the new insolvency laws in 2014. She was not allowed to run for public office under archaic Victorian law. She then took the Irish government to the High Court and all the way to the Supreme Court, claiming that her constitutional rights were being infringed. She won.

Then she had to run - after all, she had won the right.

So, Godsil ran in the European Parliamentary elections in 2014, and while she did not win a seat, she earned 11,500 votes – topping the tally for independents in the country.

Discovering a new path to democratic freedom

After discovering Bitcoin in 2017, Godsil could see the beautiful symmetry in blockchain that democratized the world across every sector. She turned her fintech journalist skills firmly into blockchain writing and was soon in demand writing for tier 1 blockchain and crypto publications. At the same time, she was invited to chair and moderate blockchain conferences around the world. It was the beginning of a thrilling time; she could see a path back to financial solvency again.

This September, she has to move from her rented accommodation yet again – a fourth time since the banks took her home – but now she has hope and a house in the metaverse.

And so it came to pass. Her new digital home is in Celeste, a city in the sky, the first city of Metropolis, and it is modelled on her own Georgian manor house, Raheengraney House. The banks may have taken her physical bricks and mortar but not her spirit and now not her memory of the house she lovingly saved from possible destruction.

Godsil is now one of the founder citizens of the city of Celeste, the first city of Metropolis World, the brainchild of siblings Rania and Rashid Ajami (insert cityam link), who are well-established filmmakers and music producers, respectively. Metropolis World is a 360° curated universe that blends unique properties, e-commerce, gaming, art & experiences that span both the digital & real world.

It is possible to rise again – into the lovely clouds of Celeste.

The Virtual City of Celeste

The city of Celeste, also known as the city of the air, is the first of six unique cities to be developed in the Metropolis world. It is constructed on the Flare Network.

Each building is a bespoke, 1/1 NFT designed and handmade by the Metropolis team of artists. Ownership gives voting and participation rights within the community. Godsil joins a stellar cast of founding members, including Steve Aoki, 3LAU and Dillon Francis.

Her virtual home is perched in the High Flyer district of the first tower, and the image is iconic – it features Godsil sitting in front of her lovely house, Raheengraney House, the name of which means a small sunny fort in Irish. This is the house she first restored from ruin, but which was repossessed by the banks some 15 years later.

What next - a brick-and-mortar house in Ireland!