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WOMEN IN BLOCKCHAIN | EDUCATION BREEDS CONFIDENCE

by Morne OlivierJune 2nd, 2019

Too Long; Didn't Read

Evelina Lavrova is founder and CEO of DeCrypto PR, CMO at the US-based Waves World mining pool and crypto marketplace, and Expert at CV Labs — a blockchain incubator in Zug, Switzerland. The series is about uncovering ways to help our children see opportunities in one of the fastest-growing Job Categories in the world, Cryptocurrency. It is not Financial advice by myself or any of the participants in the Series. We need to make some mistakes to improve our confidence and learn from the experience.

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featured image - WOMEN IN BLOCKCHAIN | EDUCATION BREEDS CONFIDENCE

May 2019

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“Women in Blockchain” is a collective Series of well-respected Women in the Blockchain World. All the women taking part in this series have one common ground; to further Blockchain Technology through Education.

Disclaimer: This is not Financial advice by myself or
any of the participants in the Series.

Full Disclaimer Here

Why Education?

One of my questions in this article is “If you had to be critical about yourself what would you change?”
I think for me it would be to stand in front of a group of people with
the self-confidence to share my passion, my train of thought, why, how, where and at the end come out unscathed. But with no mistakes, how would I learn. We need to make some mistakes to improve our confidence and learn from the experience.
Having the confidence to say something, make a statement, put your
reputation on the line is not easy unless you know what you are saying or
doing. Let’s, however, be clear to differentiate between a loudmouth approach and or arrogance to hide one's inabilities.
I certainly wouldn’t be writing this article if I thought I didn’t know
enough about the subject.

I embarked on my Blockchain Cryptocurrency research 2 years ago
and my writing skills followed suite only because I am confident enough to
share what I had learned, tried and tested.
That to me with my children is the missing link, how do our children find
the connection between what is handed out at school, what they see their
parents are doing and of course what the YouTube world is telling them is
possible?

This series is about just that, uncovering ways to help our children see opportunities in one of the fastest-growing Job Categories in the world, Blockchain. You can Google “what is the fastest-growing Technology
in the world” or go to Deloitte to see.

Without further ado then First up is

Evelina Lavrova | CMO Waves World

Evelina works for Waves World, Expert CV Labs, Top 10 Females in Crypto 2017

Q & A

Q #1 Give us a summary of your background and how you got into Blockchain & Digital Currency / Cryptocurrency?

A #1 I started work when I was 17 years old and spent around 15 years in Business Development and Marketing in Tech, Media, FMCG, and Real Estate companies. In 2016 I worked at Pay-Me — an mPOS service that is
the equivalent of Square in Russia and the CIS. Sometimes we had fraudulent transactions so we decided to use KYC, making a video interview with clients and recording it on the blockchain. That was my introduction to blockchain.
Later that year I joined Waves Platform — a blockchain and web3 ecosystem.

Q #2 Tell us about your current position, responsibilities and some day to day activities that you look forward to?

A #2 I’m Founder and CEO of DeCrypto PR, CMO at the US-based Waves World mining pool and crypto marketplace, and Expert at CV Labs — a blockchain incubator in Zug, Switzerland. I’m also a part of the Global Women in Blockchain community.

Every month or second month I attend or participate as a speaker at conferences. I’m always interested to meet new partners, clients, journalists, etc. I also work on my own or my clients’ interviews. Usually, I have some calls or meetings during the day.

Q #3 If you had to be critical about yourself, which part of your career would you like to improve on?

A #3 First, I would have started to learn English earlier! I moved to new cities and changed schools a few times, and after my graduation, I realized I didn’t know English well. I was rejected by a few international companies because of that. So I started to learn it again at the age of 25.

Secondly, I wish I hadn’t had a 5-year gap in working in technology. I gained great experience in FMCG and real estate companies, but it wasn’t so dynamic and interesting as working in tech startups.

Q #4 What advice do you have for children/youth (10–18 years) today especially young women about the Blockchain world? How do we nurture interest in this new Technology?

A #4 I’m a little bit envious of modern teenagers because they have much more opportunity than my generation (I’m a millennial). I would advise they start discovering and learning about different technologies as early as they can, though I’m against kids using smartphones or tablets the whole time. Technologies are not the future, they’re our present.

I also recommend learning languages, including English and Chinese, if they’re not your native languages.

Q #5 What kind of skill set would you be looking at in job applicants?

A #5 As important as specific disciplines like IT, programming, etc, is your character: curiosity, ambition, and responsibility.

Q #6 Blockchain to me is a forward-thinking force of snowballing Technology, but where I’m from a lot of people still see Bitcoin as a scam. How do we bridge the gap between Technology and people that
are skeptical about it?

A #6 The period of ICO hype in 2017 casts a long shadow since a lot of people joined the blockchain industry just to get rich quickly or fundraise investment. Something like 90–95% of startups were scams. Very often we read stories about founders who fundraised large amounts of money and
then disappeared with it.

I recommend the skeptics try using it, to buy, sell and to pay people in crypto. For example, I pay for my air tickets using BTC (one of the airlines fly with very often accepts payments in bitcoin).

Q #7 Can you please provide the details of an educational facility that is in your area or country if anyone reading this article decides to find out more about Blockchain?

A #7 I like studying, but the practice is more important than education now. Here is an example. I participated in a competition for a scholarship for gaining a Masters degree at UK universities but failed twice. Six years later I got an invitation to speak to students from the blockchain community at Manchester University.

Or here’s another example. In the last two years, top universities such as MIT, Berkeley, and Stanford have launched their own blockchain courses. I discussed and prepared a new course for blockchain developers for Coursera because such knowledge was in high demand from companies and developers.

Q #8 What is your current opinion on the Digital Assets (cryptocurrency) market and share with us your opinion on where
you think this Technology will take us?

A #8 It’s not too late to join it, it’s still just beginning. We are in the process of early and possibly early majority adoption. We need more time for mass adoption, when huge financial organizations, corporations, and small and medium businesses will use it for data storage or will accept payments in cryptocurrencies. We also need more use cases, so financial institutions and banks should not fight with blockchain startups, they should work together because blockchain is a technology that brings much-needed transparency.

Q #9 What new exciting projects are you
currently working on or planning?

A #9 At the beginning of the year, I was honored to join CV Labs — a blockchain incubator in Zug, Switzerland. I’m currently preparing my workshop: ‘How to promote a blockchain startup on the international market.’ I’m also in the process of negotiating with AI, energy and cryptocurrency payments solution startups. Recently I joined a team working on blockchain for social impact research at the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Q #10 What is your favorite Blockchain project and why?

A #10 I like companies that want not simply to make money, but try to build products that change the existing paradigm. This is why the story of Vitalik Buterin and Ethereum is so inspiring.

Morne Olivier
Inspiring Evelina, I remember the first time I read your Biography about a year ago when I was researching WAVES Platform (one of the largest and true Decentralized Blockchains) I decided then that I had to be a part of
this Ecosystem. Today I am proud to own WAVES and Waves World (WW) Tokens.

I liked when you differentiated between Technology and the future:

“Technologies are not the future, they’re our present.” and I think this is part of many peoples/parents frustrations, a topic I will leave for the book to come.

Thank you, Evelina, good luck with your upcoming workshop: ‘“How to promote a blockchain startup on the international market.” It is these initiatives that will set the standard for Blockchain integration, real Pioneers work.

***************************************************************

For our next participant, I have asked Anu Bhardwaj | 2019
Blockchain For Impact Summit Co-Chair to join us.

Anu Bhardwaj | Serial entrepreneur & investor doing what I love and LOVING what I do. Deep Tech Adviser & EIR @ Marc Bell Capital | "Women Investing in Women Digital"

Q&A

Q #1 Give us a summary of your background and how you got into Blockchain & Digital Currency / Cryptocurrency?

A #1 I’ve had a super diverse and international academic career where I
won over $500,000 to live, work, and travel to over 60 countries (primarily
across Asia and Europe and North America). In 2008, I was selected as a
Fulbright Scholar to attend the Indian Institute of Technology in Mumbai where I did a deep-dive into the private equity industry, which began a decade exploration into what is now labeled as “gender lens investing.”

I spent the next 7 years working very closely with close to 40 US private equity funds with various fundraising initiatives accessing institutional capital across the Nordics, the Middle East and other strategic markets in partnership with the US Department of Commerce and the US State Department, which of course, is now “classified.” My final Private Equity Trade Mission ended in Fall 2014 after which I started Women INVESTING in Women Digital, a leading global media platform which now has a news feed with over 1,000,000 FB followers. We have a highly active and curated sub-community within Women INVESTING in Women DIGITAL called Crypto Queens, a podcast series on iTunes, ACAST, and Voice America Kids called
Women INVESTING in Women and Girls, which can also be found on our website: http://www.thestateofwomen.

We just released our first global documentary on The State of Women earlier this year which had showing during Sundance Film Fest, London Blockchain Week, India Conclave, the MindChain Conference in Romania, and private showings in Stockholm and Austin during SXSW. I dove into blockchain & digital currency back in 2017 after some trial and error investing into an experimental crypto-fund and several Blockchain related tech companies. I was invited to moderate 6 panels during the World Economic Forum in Davos in 2018 which led to a 24-month roadshow Keynoting, Moderating, and MCing across Asia, Africa, Europe, North America, and Australia.

Q #2 Tell us about your current position, responsibilities and some day to day activities that you look forward to?

A #2 I am the Founder of Women INVESTING in Women DIGITAL,
Crypto Queens, Krypto 4 Kids, and developing SHEQ, a multi-asset,
multifunctional crypto wallet by women for women. Blockchain “world” is a super fast-moving space. I love having my own media platform since I’m in the heart of everything at all times. We have a bi-weekly newsletter for Crypto Queens, curated by millennial women geared towards getting more women & millennials introduced to crypto in a simple and easy to understand content strategy.

I’m looking forward to starting various TV programs and shows in the near future, which we are currently discussing now with various producers. We launched Blockchain on The Beach, last November, at the Montage Laguna Beach Resort in Laguna Beach, California which we will be expanding to Miami Beach this Fall and globally in 2020. SHEQ will hopefully be LIVE by the end of this year — we’re almost finished with our back-end. This is my second technology product in the past year and I’m learning constantly as we design and develop our “dream project” for banking the unbanked at unprecedented levels.

Q #3 If you had to be critical about yourself, which part of your career would you like to improve on?

A #3 I’d love to be less ambitious but I don’t think that will ever be possible. I would like to be less detail-oriented, I don’t think that will happen either, unfortunately. Going forward, I’m going to work on getting more sleep, finding ways to be in 10 places at once without getting on a plane, and spending more time with my darling daughter and Co-Founder of Krypto 4 Kids, Arya Sitara Bhardwaj.

I would love to see her speaking at more conferences and helping her build her various business ideas targeting young women and girls.

Q #4 What advice do you have for children/youth (10–18 years ) today especially young woman about the Blockchain world? How do we nurture interest in this new Technology?

A #4 The simpler you make this industry, the easier it will become for women and girls to participate. This is exactly what we are focusing on at Women INVESTING in Women DIGITAL, Crypto Queens, Krypto 4 Kids,
and our new SHEQ Wallet, by women for women and our K4K apps which are already available on Google Play and iOS. My advice is to learn as much as you can and if it's not clear, make your own content to simplify what you learn for others. We are ALL on this journey together. No one knows everything!

Q #5 What kind of skill set would you be looking at in job applicants?

A #5 Hunger, Integrity, Passion, and Creativity.

A #6 There is a tremendous amount of misinformation and noise in the cryptocurrency space which is why there will be skepticism about Bitcoin. We as an industry need to start a serious conversation around “digital
assets” as the global financial industry, collectively. This will reduce fear
and increase confidence which will solve many adoption issues that were a
result of numerous scams in 2018.

Q #7 Can you please provide the details of an educational facility that is in your area or country if anyone reading this article decides to find out more about Blockchain?

A #7 Crypto Queens has partnered with DLT Education recently during Consensus 2019 and we highly endorse Robert and his team! You will need to check out when his course is offered next.

Q #8 What is your current opinion on the Digital Assets (Cryptocurrency) market and share with us your opinion on where
you think this Technology will take us?

A #8 I am a huge fan of digital assets. I’ve invested in real estate, heavy metals like Gold & Silver, stocks & bonds, and early-stage technology deals, as an accredited investor. I had the highest gains in the shortest amount of time with digital assets not only because I entered the market at the right time but also because I was excited at the right time.

Q #9 What new exciting projects are you currently working on or planning?

A #9 I’m focused on launching my SHEQ Wallet and hosting Blockchain on the Beach in MIAMI, this Fall. I would love to start my own TV show sometime this year or possibly in 2020. We have a number of new
partners helping us with Krypto 4 Kids — it’s awesome to have so many synergies with all of our various activities. Almost like we have our own unique crypto ecosystem designed for women & kids, made with love and powered by committed male counterparts who not only support but endorse our VISION!

Q #10 What is your favorite Blockchain project and why?

A #10 SHEQ WALLET and Krypto 4 KIDS. These two initiatives have the power and potential to bring so many new users into our global blockchain ecosystem, which is critical for our collective success!

GLOBAL DIALOGUE | PODCASTS | VIDEOS | TWEETS | BIO

Whoooh, I’ve just Interviewed my first Serial Entrepreneur. Thank you Anu, I think any woman out there that will read this will take away so much inspiration from your energy and drive. Your purpose in educating is a goal I share too and the common ground our children and how we can help them. Its been an honor getting to know you through your busy schedule
and I am sure this is not the last time!

I am really privileged to have come to know Woman in Blockchain like this, it has started to give me a whole new purpose of being involved in the Blockchain world.

We will do this again next week and remember after the fifth article I will be launching my first book on Women in Blockchain with some surprises.

Regards
Morne

#morneolivier #womeninblockchain #blockchainpci #pci

Woman in Blockchain #Block1