Inclusion is not just a buzz word it its an action that builds the largest organizations today. But does that only mean, ‘Women in the Workforce’? Elina Idrisova and Amala Bastian share their journies across geographies to the successes they have achiceved till date.
From the U.K. to the K.S.A (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia) , our guest speakers shed light on the changing landscape and breaking stereotypes of gender. PS: Its all about skill now.
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Transcript
Inclusivity in Web 3-Elina Idrisova and Amala Bastian
Participants:
JP (CMO of AdLunam)
Elina Idrisova (Regional Director at Ctrl2Go and Head of KSA Chapter at AllStarsWomen DAO)
Amala Bastian (Community Manager at Women in Blockchain Talks)
JP
All right, ladies and gentlemen, welcome, welcome to this episode of Diving into Crypto. This is JP from AdLunam Inc. bringing you everything about web3 on today's show. We have two very special guests who are being part of our panel. The panel is going to be discussing inclusivity in not just the workspace, but in web3 in general. They're going to share their thoughts, their insights, their experiences, and even aspects of their journey as they have moved into certain roles that allow them to have these larger perspectives. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is what this show is about. Before we bring them onto the stage, I'd like to have a few announcements. The first one is, views expressed on this program belong to that of the speaker, and any thoughts that have been shared is meant purely for educational purposes and is not meant to be thought of as financial advice.
JP
That being said, ladies and gentlemen, let's do one last test for these reaction buttons. I understand that Twitter now with their new management, which has taken over, has, of course, kept the wonderful aspect of you being able to choose or customize the emojis that you have. You can choose them across various colors. So let's give that a shot and see if we can go with let me see, what's the color of the heart for today? I think today, considering that we're going to be focused on inclusivity, let's look at the color blue or maybe orange. Orange is a good color. I’m going to choose an orange heart.
JP
Just for today's show. Right? Okay.
JP
Because as they say, orange is the new whatever you want it to be, right? Okay, ladies and gentlemen, so that being said, let me briefly introduce our speakers so you have a sense of who they are and what they do. However, I'm going to allow them to introduce themselves more in depth as we invite them to speak. Right? So our first panelist today is Elina Idrisova. She's the regional director of Business development and the head of Saudi Arabia's Chapter for AllStarsWomen DAO.
JP
Right.
JP
Our second panelist is Amala Bastian, who is the community manager at the, if you haven't heard of them before, you should log into LinkedIn and check them out. They do wonderful programs. And this is the Women in Blockchain Talks. So, ladies, welcome. Welcome to today's show. Thank you, Elina. Thank you. Thank you, the Blockchain girl, for being here on the show today. Could I ask you to briefly introduce yourself in no particular order? We can start with the first ID that I see. I can see that the Blockchain girl is just first on the list.
JP
So please go ahead, tell us a little about who you are and what you do.
Amala
London. So I was new here in:Amala
And I'm a blogger also. I do blogging in my spare time. I write about Blockchain Cryptocurrencies, NFTs and Web3. And, yeah, I enjoy being a public speaker. I've been invited as a Blockchain Technology or Web3 speaker for more than like, 15 plus events so far in just less than one year. So I'm happy about that. And last month I've been nominated for Wirex rising Woman in Crypto powerless awards. So these are about me. I hope you got an overview about me. Thank you. Thank you, JP.
JP
You're very welcome. Thank you for that introduction. And congratulations on the award that you won. Also, congratulations for your anniversary in the Web3 and Blockchain industry. So congrats all around. All right, thank you, second panelist. You're very welcome. You're very welcome. Elina, go ahead, tell us a little about who you are and what you do.
Elina
Thank you so much for having me today. The AdLunam space and JP. Thank you for the introduction. So, my name is Elina. I'm working for more than seven years in a digital transformation and how we call it now, Web3 domain. So my role is nowadays I'm a general manager for AI company that specialize in data analytics and solutions to create efficiency and safety of operations in high intensive industries like energy, oil and gas and mining. So I'm a general manager for GCC region and I'm based in Saudi Arabia. In Riyadh. So, in parallel to this, I am the head of their Saudi Arabian chapter in AllStarsWomen DAO. AllStarsWomen DAO is the fast growing DAO that has a goal to enable inclusion and diversity of founders and entrepreneurs and investors in Web3. So we are launched this year and I'm planning to launch our platform officially by the end of this year.
Elina
So we all welcome all females and male entrepreneurs to join our community. So, in parallel, I'm also a very huge female empowerment leader. Also as taking into the account that I'm based in Saudi Arabia and here now happening huge transformations, I'm glad that I can lead this and pioneer this type of activity and work closely with their role models here, with entrepreneurs, with the founders, and with just the woman community. So I'm really glad that I have such luck and opportunity to have this type of experience. So I'm also providing some kind of consultancy and market advocating in Saudi and GCC region. So I'm helping companies to target the market, to find the right approach and the right client base. Yeah, I think in short, it is like this. Thank you, JP.
JP
Thank you so much for that, for the introduction. Elina, you are in a space that is developing more inclusion in the workspace, and I want to drive deeper into that. But before we go there, and since I have you on the mic, the question that comes to my mind at this point is what got you into Web3? I mean, I'm certain you've just told us that you've had experiences in different places, but what was that moment for you when the flip switched and you said, Web3 is the space to be for me?
Elina
Okay, so I'm working more than seven years in technologies and emerging technologies. So I was working previously in a blockchain company that provided blockchain as a service for supply chain and transportation sector. I was working in virtual reality as a training and some kind of providing safety opportunity to industrial companies to facilitate in growth in this domain. Now I'm working in AI. So all of this is, as we know, as a central base for their Web3. And what is Web3 is the new type of environment where people can interact. And it's more than just having opportunity to interact with each other, but also to own and execute. So in this thing, I wish to have a pioneering vision because I'm at the age of these technologies and I see how it is possible to implement them in the concrete use cases. Because what I think we are lacking all is in the very clear use cases, how to implement this, how to really make it in reality.
Elina
So this is, I think, where I have some kind of advantage is that I'm already into this. I'm already in a situation where I feel the pain. I feel there are black holes where I can really add value to empower Web3 to create a real clear understanding how they can empower their service provision, customer experience accelerate maybe expansion of their products globally, and to have a new kind of experience between end user and the client. So that's why I put myself into this new path and I'm glad that I can lead it in the specific region with their big companies.
JP
Thank you for that. I believe that this is quite a powerful space to be in and every person that's in a space being able to drive the agenda forward of more inclusion. Hats off to you for that and thank you for sharing that with us. The blockchain girl, same question to you. What was that moment in which the flip switched and you said web3 is the space to be for me?
Amala
Yeah. I mentioned earlier when I came into the space last year, I was a baby. I don't even know what blockchain is because while I was doing my Masters, I came across a new title, blockchain the Technology of Future. A question mark. So I was thinking, what is blockchain? So I'm a person who always think that I should learn about new technologies. So I decided to research about blockchain. I started researching about blockchain and find out that there are a lot of opportunities in the space. So I need to explore these opportunities. But before that, I need education. I don't know about this space, so I need to get educated. So I taught myself. I started to learn myself. That what blockchain is, what NFTs are, what web3 is, what DAO is, what DeFi are. So when I started learning about blockchain and NFTs and Web3, so it was really brainstorming for me because the smart contracts, decentralized applications, these words are technically difficult to understand, but I managed to learn.
Amala
While I was learning. I started to write a blog, which means I was learning and writing. So I wrote what I have learned, which means that when I learned. So I need to simplify that what I have learned to understand, to make others understand, to make common people understand what blockchain is. Yes. I came across an internship role at Women in Blockchain Talks. I applied for that, they accepted me and I joined the team. It's a community, so I joined the community. So from there I started to learn more about this space. I found many opportunities in space, and from then onwards, that's that moment where my life or my career flipped into blockchain and Web3. So I found that this is my passion, this is my life, so I should go through this. And I will say that this is my moment of realizing that Web3 or Blockchain is my career.
JP
Very happy for you. I'm glad that you shared that aspect about the realization, because the same thought may be going through so many people's minds at this very moment as they're listening to the show as they will continue to listen to the show later on, is that I need an in to understand why I should continue to be here. I'm not very sure. And then when you share that insight, that, okay, this is why it worked for me. It could be a reflection for them as well to take a look into.
JP
Right.
Thank you for sharing that.
Amala
Thank you.
JP
You're welcome. So I want to draw in deeper into the same aspect of this journey for both of you, as well as the story where it comes out, right. What made you want to apply at this specific internship with this company? And how did you settle into the role in community manager in the community manager role that you are? Elina and after the blockchain girl tells us about this, I'll come to you with the same question, as well as to dive deeper into that specific role.
JP
That you were in. Yes, so the blockchain girl. Go ahead.
Amala
Yeah, I applied as an intern. Intern means it's not as a community manager. I was an assistant organizer in the company. So which means that I'm helping with organizing the events, organizing the courses. That's what I was doing while doing my internship. After my studies, after finishing my Masters, they promoted me as the community manager in this March. So that was my journey. Yes.
JP
Okay, so then just to add to that, right, I mean, through the series of activities of maybe organizing events, is that how it led to or is there something specific that led to saying, you know what, the Blockchain Girl, you are the right person to be a community manager for what we're doing. Could you tell us a little about that transition?
Amala
My transition is like yeah. My personality is like I always wanted to inspire other people. So while I was doing yeah, basically, I'm from India, so where there is a main culture difference and a gap is there. But when I came to, so I'm in UK now. I mean, you come up in UK as well. So when I came to UK, I realized that there are a lot of opportunities in Blockchain. So when I came into the role as an intern, I learned more about the space because Blockchain is always in the sailing stage, because it is always developing, it is always doing some seeds like NFTs or Web3. They are all coming like their products. So I learned more from these new items or new products in the blockchain. So when I started learning about blockchain, I didn't even know that I will become a community manager, but my potential and they promoted me as a community manager because they found there are enough skill sets in me.
Amala
So I would that everyone should need a skill set which match the position of the community manager or any other positions. Everyone should have the skill set where I got these skill sets from. These skill sets are for my education and the day when I decided to come out of my comfort zone. That matters. Everything.
JP
Excellent. Okay, so if I were to summarize this, there's three points that really stood out in this particular journey, right? So the first one is, of course, when you were inside that role, there was someone that was able to recognize that this is a space that you can shine at the same time, you saw that this was an avenue that you found a lot of interest in and took a lot of self interest in. That which eventually led to the position that you are because it is something that you believe in very strongly and you find some fulfillment in this role. Would that be about right?
Amala
Yes, definitely.
JP
Fantastic.
JP
Okay, so, Elina, please do tell us your journey, your story into this specific role in Web3, getting there and just to flesh out a little more, that transition from, of course, training in new technologies. You've been in that, but you've also been in spaces where there have been an industry of heavy engineering. When you spoke about oil and gas, when it comes to the AllStarsWomen DAO, how did you end up settling into that?
Elina
So, you know, I was invited this year to speak at the Davos World Economic Forum regarding female leadership in energy sector and how we should empower female leaders to join this type of sector. So I met during the forum a lot of founders that are working in Metaverse and Web3, and I saw extremely great use cases and real implementation of the technologies here and there. And I met people that are representing several communities. So I was glad to be invited to take over the head of Saudi Arabian chapter and to lead this community in Saudi to create the right, first of all, to share the knowledge. Because as the Blockchain girl mentioned, it's very important to educate. And without education in this specific topic, it will be very difficult to really have a real impact in our lives and in different economic dimensions. So that's why as AllStarsWomen DAO our main role beyond education, of course, we have a startup factory that helps women to pitch, to meet investors, to identify how they can grow their startup or business.
Elina
In Web3, we have a recruitment agency that helps you to find the right members in your team because nowadays it's also very difficult to find the right people that can join your journey and to work with you. Also, it's of course, network based because our chapters are from all over the world, from Hong Kong to Brazil. We have different heads of chapters. And last but not least, it's educational platform that we provide in order to grow the awareness and the right trusted information that can beneficial for all the members. So if you're asking why I'm into this, because I think that this type of activity will benefit not only our members, but the society in general. And we as the knowledge creators and the knowledge who handle the knowledge and provide this knowledge to people and to business, I think it's something that we lack, and I'm great that we can take over it and provide this type of opportunities to people.
Elina
And if you ask me why I joined the company in terms of AI, I got an opportunity to be a regional manager, and I'm excited to have my own team to really make Digital Transformation happen. And that's why I take over, because it opens ups a lot of opportunities in network, in creating the great success stories that are quite loud, because if you speak about heavy, intensive enterprises, it's very difficult to add value in transformation there because you need a lot of patience and time. So I'm really great that we can do this.
JP
Mashallah, as they say in Saudi Arabia. I mean, that certainly is so. I also want to dwell in a little more about not only the geography, but also in terms of the landscape. And that was the reason that we wanted to do the show, but also because we wanted to put a spotlight on some of these thoughts and these ideas. Of course, in spaces where inclusion adds so much of value, right? And coming down to it, people talk very much about a skewed ratio between men and women in the industry, right. For somebody like me at AdLunam, if we look at the ratio, we are easily about 80% women in the organization. So this is also something that I'd like to understand and get different perspectives on. So, to start with, when we talk about a skewed ratio of men versus women in the industry, in the experiences that you've had, and it doesn't mean just the space that you're in right now, but through the experiences that you've had, is that something that you still see?
JP
And maybe if you'd like to start with the workplace or another workplace that you’re a part of, could you share some of the examples where you see that inclusion should be focused on more? Inclusion is something that, of course, will add more value, and we'll get into that. But is that something that you see still prevalent? Is that something we need to do more of? What are your thoughts?
Elina
Know, my example is quite unique. I am in Saudi Arabia and I'm working in digital transformation. Right. So this example is quite, if we may say, you think it's pure male community. So that's why my journey is so exciting, because I break stereotypes every day. And I'm very excited, first of all, to be in this journey to empower women around me, because, yes, I'm mostly backed up back to back with male leaders because it's heavy, intensive enterprises. And when you go into them and to the IT landscape, you will see that it's prevailing male leaders. But what I see now as being almost three years in the kingdom, there are big transformations happening in terms of women leaders. And the government supports big time empowerment of women in different dimensions, from the government to private sector. So you see leaders are coming from just everywhere nowadays.
Elina
We have, for example, just recently, the women joined the board of Central Bank. Another woman is handling their UN in Saudi Arabia from Saudi Arabian part. So leaders are doing metaverse projects in companies, in corporate companies. So you see, this transformation is happening just wildly and it's great that I can support and empower young women to not be afraid to thrive and to open up to these opportunities. And if I can speak about my workplace in my company we are also trying because I'm women that is leading very like a team of 21 person and we are also trying to empower and to hire women in our company in order to help, because women and men always should be together. It should not be like identifying for specific skills, because we all have skills that we can complement each other. And it's great that we can do it in transformation in this new type of environment.
Elina
As web3. So, yes, I think it's quite an exciting road.
JP
It certainly is. There is so much that could develop into something more powerful, especially when you have multiple perspectives, where you have multiple ideas and each individual brings their strength in. I'm going to throw the question to the blockchain girl as well, before we try to garner out some more insights and some more examples.
So, yeah, go ahead.
Amala
Yeah, thank you. First of all, I would say I'm really proud of Elina because she is from Saudi Arabia and she's a woman. As a woman empowering leader, I would say that she's doing a good job from such a place, having male dominated society. So I'm so happy and so proud of you, Elina. And about me, as my company is female focused, our employer ratio is 100 percentage women. So I couldn't say anything from my workplace, but I would say from some statistics published last year from UK, there are only about 35 percentage of STEM students in UK higher education are women. So in order to tackle this change, it will take 73,831 days until the gender gap is closed and only three percentage females say career in tech is their first choice and only 14.5 percentage of blockchain startup team members were women. So which is only like less numbers, but something which is happy that 43 percentage of investors interested in bitcoin or crypto are women, which is up from 13 percentage last year.
Amala
So there are lot of gaps in gender in blockchain industries, but still they are improving or increasing every day. There is a lot of work to do to bridge this gender gap and we cannot and must not be compliant in this matter. And women or females are about 50 percentage of the population, so we count our issues, matters and regardless of our age or anything, we can change our career. So any woman of their age, they can come into the space and they can find a career or they can start a career. So that's what I need to say.
JP
I'm glad that you shared that because there is often this perception that, okay, and I'm not going to say just women, right? I'm going to say that there's certain gender roles that seem predefined for people right at the beginning. And what we're looking at and what we're talking about today is the fact that very often you will find in certain gender dominated spaces that there is a lack of inclusion. Because there is maybe one aspect. And this is for both of you. There may be a lack of inclusion because there may also be a lack of resource in that particular space. Now, is that something that's evident? Because if I come back to what you've shared and you said that it's going to take that much time, there's not enough women learning in the tech space, then that is obviously a problem that has to be seen to especially if they desire the opportunity, right.
JP
It's really about not depriving them of that opportunity. What do you think?
Amala
Definitely, yes. We have got a long way to achieve this equality in the space because regardless of gender, for example, we are only talking about women. There is non-binary in the society. So we should talk about them also because representation matters. If you are from woman, like a woman or a woman gender or society, you can say that you are from woman, you are representing a woman society. And if you are from non-binary, you can also say that, yeah, representation matters. If you are represented in any of the check levels or a high levels of the company, you will get followers. You will get followers because many women or your followers can say that, yeah, she or he is in that level. So I can also be like that. And the difference between this equality and parity is that you can have 75 percentage men and say, 25 percentage woman in the industry, but the equality ratio is the same.
Amala
Right. And when we about parity, let's imagine ideal numbers of like 50 percentage to 50 percentage or 54 percentage to 64 percentage. Do I get the sense that vendor balance is now leveling out? Yes, because we are moving in the right direction. But there is still a lot to do. For example, considering that last year's NFT sales, five percentage were made by women last year. So you will agree that these numbers are not very high but still growing up. So therefore 100 percentage will still have lot to do.
JP
Exactly. Elina, what are your thoughts?
Elina
Well, as you mentioned nowadays, previously, we had this very big dimension of the prevailing amount of men that has specific roles and specific education, right, that you could not hire women because she just doesn't have the experience. So today we have a big transition and a big transformation in terms of prevailing professions and education that have more under female. If you look at, for example, numbers in Saudi, we have here, last two years, the prevailing female graduates from such professions as engineers, as data scientists, as technicians, and the people who are working with scientific degrees. So it means that they will take over. They will take over sooner or later this year or next two years. The roles that before were taken just by men. And I want to clarify that there is no gender topic. It's a topic of the skills and access to this education, access to their profession.
Elina
And we’re lacking this. But nowadays, as societies are trying to differentiate the economy, they're trying to attract new talents. This type of gender case and problem that we experienced before is now less than you had previously. Also, what I want to mention that it's very important to build healthy relations based on mutual recognition and respect, regardless of gender. And as I can maybe state, three main pillars that I follow also is that it's very important to have emotional regulation, like emotional intelligence, how to deal with their changes, with this transformation that is happening, how to treat people the right way, and empowerment. I think that we also have a big point on this because nowadays, even on the government level, we see big empowerment programs to give access to different professions. And also, I believe it is evaluation and assessment. So how can we really take the advantage and their power and to give an access to specific type of work and just not because it's male or female, but because we can add value by both, but not separating, but just open up.
Elina
I think that's very important. And we are on this way. The transformation is happening now, and we see different examples of this.
JP
Fantastic.
JP
Okay, so I'm hearing that at some point, of course, there is the government programs that are really helping inclusion. There's also the education aspect that's there. I'd like to share two pieces of information. The other day, I met with a friend of mine from Norway, and he said that there's a lack of engineers in that space and the government ran a program to teach housewives how to code in Python.
JP
Right?
And by doing that, after a six months course, a lot of them were able to be employed with software companies or tech companies that were able to utilize that skill and they could then work from home.
JP
Now, this was one of the gems that they found out from the pandemic, the resource crunch that they're facing. But also the other side of the coin is that they were people that were willing to learn and may have never had the opportunity to do that before, but do have the chance to do that now.
JP
Right. The second piece of information sorry. Yeah, go ahead. That's exactly it.
JP
Right. That's from a government point of view. But the second myth that I'd like to bust is this. Most people think that when it comes to the gaming section, when it comes to GameFi, when it comes to online gaming, that the majority is only men in that space. But the data shows that there's about 47% of gamers are women, right, and most of them are. And there are more adult women in gaming as part of the industry who generally play the play to earn games. That for me was a spectacular number because 47% is a very high ratio. So the opportunities from what we're saying is it doesn't only depend on your educational qualifications, but there's also if there is a need to or if there's a desire to and the opportunity presents itself, women can be included within that space or any gender can be included within that space.
JP
Is that something that you see as well?
Elina
Yes, definitely. The examples that you mentioned are amazing. It's happening now in many communities where, as I mentioned, if you give access to education and you provide it on a level that people can understand the value using this education in their private in terms of community as a family, community as a company, or community as a country base. Of course, it really empowers the economy itself, because nowadays I think it's very important to have a local source of their people who can provide these type of services, not to be depending on their people who can do it from outside. So of course, education and learning is a basis for all transformation that is happening. So I absolutely agree with this statement.
JP
Thank you Elina.
JP
The blockchain girl, any thoughts you'd like to share?
Amala
Yeah, I would suggest that definitely skills matters. If you have skills, if you have good skills in a particular trade, you could be able to bring more ideas into the table. So skills matters, education matters. If you have opportunities, if you have skills, you will get more opportunities. If you don't have skills, you should learn. You should learn because you have lot of ideas or opportunities to learn every day from your comfort zone. Maybe when you come across this block, for example, as you mentioned about the coding, yeah, there are lack of engineers in blockchain development and coding sections. But the thing is that all can learn. If you are interested in blockchain, you can learn this coding segments because there are a lot of online courses available from University of Nicosia. It is one of a recognized university which provides blockchain coding and courses.
Amala
You can learn from there and you can get a job from anywhere in the world and you can work online. That's a big opportunity in the space. Right, that's all my viewpoints about that.
JP
Thank you.
JP
And I think that also hits upon a little more and we can dive into this a little more about the next question that I had through this conversation.
JP
Right.
JP
The first one is that the moment we stop looking at this from gender A, gender B, gender C point of view and look at the skills that each of these, each category of people. Because at the end of the day, whether you're male, female, non-binary, you're still a person.
JP
Right?
JP
What's most important inside a workplace is the skills that you bring to the table. None of the other factors are going to matter as much as what you can bring and contribute to a team. But at the same time, I really want to understand, is that something that you are seeing as in your roles to the both of you, is that something that you are seeing changing today? Or is that something that you see that we have to do a lot more work in and then maybe we can talk about what we can do to make that different.
Amala
Yes, see that because regardless of gender, like when we talk about gender, we should have enough skills. If you are a woman and if you don't have any skill, it doesn't matter anything. So you should have skills, then only you can bring more to a team. Why we keep saying about gender gap is that to encourage more women to come into space or to spotlight them or give them a voice. And the skills, when you showcase, when you begin to showcase your skills and when you decide to explore their skills, you will get more chances. You will find more opportunities. So it's more about skills, more than about gender.
JP
Fair enough. Okay.
JP
Elina, you wanted to add something to that?
Elina
I think I would add the point that it's very important for women leaders and young leaders to have a mentor. So mentorship in this case is quite important. For example, through my career, I have six mentors in different stage and level of my career. I always was in need to someone to mentor me, to advise, to how to see out of the box, how to possess myself as a leader. So I think for women who want to be a leader and who have something to offer to their market and to the community, they should have mentors because this will help them to create the right approach, to tackle the right community, to create yourself an image. And this is important for female as a woman. And also, as was mentioned previously, skill set means a lot. But also you need to understand your strong points.
Elina
How can you identify yourself? Because we are not talking about just give access to everyone. We are speaking about how to give access to people that have specific skills and how to match these skills to the market, right. How to bring this benefit to the market, to the economy. By identifying your skills, you can target the right community, the right company, the right mentor. So this is very important also to work on yourself as an expert or as a potential leader, right? So you need to find your strong points. This is very important. This is from my personal experience that I want to underline.
JP
Of course, if I've got you right, also as a leader, you should be able to identify one. If you're developing into a leader role, you identify the skills that are your strength. And that also is an extremely important part in the industry. At the same time, as a person, if you identify the skills that you might have. So it doesn't matter whether you have tech skills alone. Or maybe that's the avenue you want to pursue, because the aspiration may be that you want to be an engineer, or maybe it is that you want to be a community manager or you want to be the leader of AllStarsWomen DAO, right of a certain chapter and bring empowerment. But to the listeners out there, I think what the speakers are saying is very specifically that if you're looking for the opportunity and you have a skill, bring it to the industry.
JP
And the panelists, of course, who are here on the show today are people that can help you find this. They can act as your mentors to get into the industry and maybe help you find a career path that really works.
Elina
Definitely.
JP
Awesome. Okay, so shifting gears a little from that last question, and I also want at the end of this, ladies and gentlemen, also at the end of the show, we're going to give five minutes for question and answers to the speakers, and I'll invite you to unmute your mics and ask that question. In the meantime, if you would like to, please send in your questions to AdLunam Inc. Or to the speakers directly so that we can have them asked on the show in case we miss you.
JP
Right.
JP
So my question to the panelists at this point, we've spoken a lot about the journey that it took. Obviously, it was something of a lot of discovery. It was a journey that in many ways also was stumbled into. We were fortunate to find mentors. We spoke about the reason for inclusion, some of the points of inclusion, and also settled at the very end that bring your skills to the table. You'll be able to find an opportunity and a career in this industry. That being said, I really have to ask the panelists, do you think your geography plays a large role in being able to find inclusivity in the workplace? Or also, since we touched on that, finding more opportunities in this particular industry.
JP
What are your thoughts?
Elina
I think that okay. Speaking about my experience now, I think that geography, it plays a role, but you're more focusing on economy because the economies that are thriving now and growing, they all try to have inclusion and diversity of different leaders, right? So it helps to identify and to grow in terms of specific niches or open up new market opportunities to attract investment. And because there are several, for example, funds nowadays are targets, for example, even in Saudi, in GCC region. If you take the last quarter.
Elina
Not the last quarter, sorry, the first and second quarter, there was more female founders of startups in Saudi than in all other countries in the world, so yeah, it was a statistics published by one firm in London that Saudi founders like prevailing than in other countries. So it means that as soon as you give the right and opportunity to women to thrive in their career, to empower them, it will get a lot of result in the economy, not just from gender perspective, but from their wellbeing of the society and the community. So my perspective, I think we need to look into this point more than just geography, like what are their transformation countries are going through, what are their perspectives and opportunities this can provide? And to look at this topic from this perspective, I believe.
JP
Fantastic.
JP
Okay, that does shed some light on it.
JP
Blockchain girl, go for it.
Amala
I would say that women of the world want and deserve an equal future, free from stigma, stereotypes and violence. A future that is sustainable, peaceful, with equal rights and opportunities for all. To get us there, the world needs more women at every table where decisions are being made, especially in the technology field, which is impacting all industries across the board. So I would suggest that in every table there should be enough woman participation or representation.
JP
Fair enough.
JP
So if there should be enough representation granted very quickly, just to wrap this up as a particular solution, what would you think would be the right solution to something like that? I mean, how do we reach out to somebody, say, maybe in Bangladesh, a woman in Bangladesh who may have heard about it, but wants to have an opportunity, but doesn't know what to do. So in spaces where it's not so obvious, what would we do in that case?
JP
Just some thoughts.
Amala
The world is changed after the pandemic because everyone can do the work from online. So, for example, if you are from India or Bangladesh or any parts of the country, you can work for the American company or a UK company where the opportunities are made. Because I believe that as I'm from India, when I came to UK, I have witnessed so many changes in the industry, in the technical innovations, there are a lot of changes. Apart from India, UK has a lot of development and lot of opportunities. So I got this opportunity because I came to UK, but I want the Indian woman to get the same opportunities as mine. So in order to get the same opportunities, we have to create more opportunities in the technology. So in the technology should be developed every day it is developing. And when it is developed, representation matters.
Amala
Allow women to speak up for them or get talented, or get skilled or empowered or educated. So when they get educated, they get extra opportunities as like men or any other gender in the society. So I would say that when it is developed, when it is developing, all get.
JP
Understood. Okay, great, so that's one perspective. Elina, go for it.
Elina
So I believe that today is very important to have, first of all, role models. For me, we have mentors and we have role models. People that we follow, people who have something we want to follow, their way behavior, the way they do things, the way they touch topics, the way they execute things. So I think it's very important to people to have their role models. For example, as you mentioned, Bangladesh, I was invited to speak at the forum, called it's under Organization of Islamic Cooperation. And there was a woman, she is young leader from Bangladesh, and she's doing amazing job for her country. And she is a part of several global councils where they empower females, where they try to achieve more investment into the region. So she is like in her beginning, like late 20s or beginning of she is exceptional leader. What I want to say is that for such people, she also had a mentor and she always also finding new role models for herself to achieve more, to put higher goals, to learn from your own experience.
Elina
And I think it's quite important for the success of everyone. And also, maybe I need to mention that we all should have a focus because nowadays we are so distracted by many things. And if you really want to achieve something that you are believing in, you need to focus on your specific goals, focus on your wellbeing, focus on things that motivate you or make you happy. So, yes, I think that this is what I follow, and I'm glad to share this with everyone.
JP
Thank you for that, Elina. All right, so our last question before we open this up to the audience, because we've had a conversation, I can't imagine that the time is what it is, but very quickly. All right, to both our panelists. What is your personal philosophy? What is the one idea, thought or philosophy that wakes you up and keeps you going every day?
Amala
For me, what keeps me going is that I've been always kind to myself. If I say I can do that or I can do more, what I think of the affirmations matters, when you say good to yourself that will happen. So that's what I always think that. And what I am today, is that what my thoughts will be when I think in a way that I am getting more space here, or I'm getting admitted to everyone, or I am learning every day, or I am enough, I'm capable of everything. So these thoughts make me feel happy or excited about my future. And I think that the affirmations matter, like what we say about ourselves, matters that will keep me or that will keep our way more clear.
JP
Thank you. So personal affirmations check.
JP
All right, Elina, go for it.
Elina
So in my perspective, I agree with the blockchain girl, but for me, what I want to add maybe that you need to love what you're doing, which benefits you bring to the world. For me, it's important how I help the world to transform which benefit and knowledge and value I create for people that follow me. People. Because nowadays, sometimes in our virtual world, right, if you take our social media, it's very important to really to bring value to people who follow you, even Instagram or Twitter or whatever. Because this is quite important and I really take it very seriously in terms of which benefit and how we can really help empower support, advise our people who follow us. And as I mentioned previously, I think that also my philosophy is going around people that I want to be with, like a community that I want to surround myself with, people who share the same knowledge, like-minded people, share the same views, vision.
Elina
And it really empowers me to achieve, to wake up every day and to get to where I want to get.
JP
Thank you.
JP
And more power to you. Thank you for that, both of you. Okay, we're now going to throw the room open to questions from the audience. I know that we have one person who's sent in a question, a few have come into the inbox, but due to the paucity of time, we're going to allow the ID Kilin to ask your questions.
JP
Go ahead.
Speaker 6
Okay, so my question is I heard you guys talking about having skills and everything to survive and stuff in the industry, but I would like to know what other factor, like what is the main or the X factor to survive in the web3 industry or any industry in general? Like having skills, sometimes you would have the skills, but even after having skills, sometimes you are not able survive. So besides skill, what are the main factor or is the X factor to survive in the industry? Thank you.
Elina
Thank you for the question. If I may jump on it. Yes. So I believe that it's very important to have the right network. In my personal experience, network played a huge role in where I am and I think that everyone needs to understand which community you target and how to get to this network. Nowadays, a lot of opportunities to connect with the right people and it's starting from events, forums and some communities, clubs, social media like LinkedIn and I think that is something that I can advise as one of the points.
Amala
Thank you. Yeah, I totally agree with Elina network and community is important. When you are in a community with like-minded individuals who share common values and passion like you will learn lot of things from them. And when you learn from experienced individuals, you will grow and you can find a good future in web3 or any blockchain industry or any tech industry. And when you have skills and when you have right network, you will find the better options.
::JP
Perfect.
::JP
Okay, thank you. We've got one more question from the ID, Sean Mount.
::JP
Sean, go for it.
::Speaker 7
Hello. Good evening. It's been a lovely session. So can you hear me clearly?
::JP
Yes, we can. Okay.
::Speaker 7
So my question is, as a woman, right, considering the nature of a woman, say, no, we're not trying to play the bias and all that, but of a truth for a woman, some decisions are considered to be risk assessed and stuff. So how does a woman who thinks broadly in this dynamic web3 space, right, how does she find her footing, seeing that she could make a long term decision, and then in a couple of weeks, months, few things happen that makes that she has to backtrack? I don't know if you really get the question, but seeing the nature, how the woman survives, it's a bit complicated. I really want to know how you take advantage of that.
::JP
Thank you.
::JP
Okay, Sean, so let me see if I can phrase the question correctly. You want to know how not just women can survive, but how does she make that choice to stay committed in the industry? Is that what you're asking? You can give me a reaction.
::Speaker 7
Yes, that's actually exactly what I'm asking.
::JP
Okay.
::Speaker 7
For instance, say babies come, right? Marriages, stuff that are not really considered, especially in most cultures, are not really easy for the woman. Right. So those are the things I'm talking about. How does she navigate?
::JP
All right, fair enough.
::JP
Okay, so it's commitment, and then obviously, if there's a biological factor that gets into the way, how do we overcome that?
::JP
Good question. All right.
::Elina
So my perspective, I have several thoughts on this. Good question. First of all, I think it's very important to have a specific skill set. We are not talking about male or female, just not everyone have the skill set to work in specific sector or industry. It's just as a fact. So of course you can develop yourself, you can grow, but sometimes you can overestimate your expectations. So that's why it's very important to understand, as I mentioned before, where's your strong points. So if you can identify your strong skills and capabilities that identify you as an expert or a leader, you can connect it to specific industry or market or a job and how to be committed to in this job. Right. I think it goes also from success. So from how to still be motivated to do what you do based on how successful you are in it.
::Elina
Because, for example, as for me, if I am achieving small success, I mean, not like a huge, even small one, it makes me thinking that I'm on the right path and I'm doing the right job. And people are satisfied and there are results. So this is what makes me committed to what I'm doing. If people are experiencing difficulties in terms of seeing that as if they are not reaching to their expectations. First of all, as I mentioned, you need to have a mentor or advisor that will sometimes navigate you. Maybe you are in the right place but you are doing something wrong or you are not seeing something. Or you can, for example, look at this from another perspective. So that's why it's important to have the community or mentor who can follow and create the right vision. I hope that I answered the question from my side.
::JP
Seems like it. Go for it.
::Amala
Yes. He asked about the long term decisions by women. I think that it depends not only on women or any biological factors, it's about the mindset because women can become anyone in the world because they are prime ministers now, they are presidents, they can be in their role of a mother as well as a leader, which means that it depends upon the mindset. If she is capable of doing both in hand, she can do anything. So as for women who are already in this industry, I would say that we need to help beginners by giving them a hand in the industry. We should support them because we should say to them you can and there are a lot of woman examples in front of you. So you can learn from them and being patient with them and just like what you do want to be someone to be patient with you.
::Amala
So I would say that we need to help others by giving them or by empowering them or influencing them. So by setting an example as a woman, I would say that I'm setting an example before the world. Like you can also do as like me or you can do better than me. So there is nothing to be afraid about this any industries or any tech or about any long term decisions. Anyone can do that. It's all about the mindset.
::JP
Thank you for that to both our panelists.
::JP
Fantastic.
::JP
I think that summarizes a very important point that a lot of people will face and I'm glad that Sean was the one that asked that question because it comes from a perspective of more than just the gender, but it also comes from a perspective of a role within a family which becomes very real. That being said, ladies and gentlemen, we've come to the end of our show but I would be remiss if I did not invite our co-founder Nadja Bester, co-founder of AdLunam, to ask a question.
::JP
I think that she has a question and she has a comment.
::JP
Nadja, go for it.
::Nadja
industry since:::Nadja
I'm from South Africa, so I fall into this similar bracket of I'm from a developing know. Economic equality is still a major pain point. It's not the US, It's not Europe, it's not Australia. So as women from countries or representing countries where it's access to the same equal opportunities in the global economy is not so easy. What are your perspectives on the Web3 industry costing a wider net of opportunities for women who otherwise might have had difficulties getting into the kind of roles that we are in? Do you think that Web3 makes this easier in any sense?
::Amala
Yeah, I believe that this is an opportunity for women to lead from the front rather than from behind. Because in Web3 we can be creators. We are moving from a creator economy to an ownership economy. So with that ownership economy we get some power in regards to creation, ownership and wealth. So I think that Web3 can change a lot in regardless of any discrimination, in regardless of which nationality you are from or which age group you are from or which diversity are you from. So I think that the Web3 would help women to be leaders and to own something rather than just being in the behind the scenes. So I'm hoping better world with Web3.
::Elina
From my perspective. Thank you first Nadja, for your amazing comment and overview of our talk. From my perspective, I think that it is also quite reasonable to identify the fact that Web3 is a new space, right? And this new space provide new opportunities. So if we look at this from this perspective, I think this is like untouched area where you cannot compete with anyone. You just create your own view, ideas, business and just develop it. Right here we are open up. We have men and women together, we have different communities. That's why I think this is something that identify Web3 and metaverse topics from others because this is untapped opportunities and I am looking at this from this perspective.
::Nadja
Thank you so much ladies. Yeah, just wonderful again to be listening to you and I. So look forward to what the future brings, especially at what you are also going to be doing as individuals. We will certainly be following very closely and I look forward to connecting to you in future. JP, all yours. Thank you so much for the opportunity to let me ask my question.
::JP
You're very welcome, Nadja. Thank you. Thank you for the comments as well as the question that you had asked. Ladies and gentlemen, we've come to the end of our show, but thank you so much, the Blockchain Girl and Elina for taking time out to share your perspective. It's been, of course, inspiring. And I know that we'll continue to as we broadcast this show across many channels. And I hope that more people reach out to the two of you, reach out to AdLunam as well, to be able to get the help that they require, to be able to find a fulfilling career over the long term. That being said, ladies and gentlemen, thank you for being part of the show this evening. Have a great day. Cheers.
