Breana Teubner has over 20 years of experience helping brands adapt to technological innovation. She is an expert at identifying white space opportunities for consumer technology companies, including immersive and blockchain technology.
Metaverse technologies allow her an opportunity to help define what the future looks like and feels. “For me, the question I ask myself every day is how do we harness this technology to improve humans’ relationship with the planet’s resources – and each other?” remarks Breana.
Breana helped to build technological innovation into companies such as Walmart, Gap and Old Navy, and most recently served as head of strategy and operations at a gaming marketplace. She now serves as Venture Partner at Alante Capital, where she invests at the intersection of gaming, blockchain, and fashion – and, most importantly, defines what impact means at this intersection. Alante Capital is a fund that invests in technology that makes the fashion industry more sustainable.
Breana has had a front row seat through the evolution of sustainability in the consumer economy. From the early 2000s when it was labelled Corporate Social Responsibility, which felt more like an afterthought than the brand’s main purpose, to where we’re at today with many brands having impact as their primary brand mission.
Helping lead the development of Walmart’s first ever ambitious sustainability goals in the mid-2000s, she supported vendors in systematically reducing packaging and carbon emissions. This sparked her passion for embracing technology for good: “I saw the power of working with a big brand to embed doing good into its core business model. For the first time, doing the right thing and what is good for business weren’t at odds.“
San Francisco, USA Power comes with responsibility While building Gap’s innovation center, Breana elevated her mission’s goals. She focused on technology to make the apparel industry more circular – by including resale and recycling measures into her action plan – and learned how good product design could also be good for the planet.
Given these experiences, Breana recognized the potential of Metaverse and blockchain technologies to be a force for good. “With blockchain technology enabling digital ownership, we’re entering the next phase of impact for the fashion supply chain, customers, and creators. The fun part is we don’t know what that is – or looks like – yet.”
Breana is an advocate for the Metaverse’s potential as a tool to drive change – not just for brands and companies but for humanity. “The beauty of the Metaverse is that it will be many things to many people. Overall, it will make social play and interaction more accessible (through immersive technology like gaming and XR), and democratize ownership (using blockchain technology), meaning more people will be able to work – and be compensated – for their passions. The applications are endless.”
Does this mean digital fashion will scratch the consumer itch, and people will buy less? That remains to be seen as the technology matures and more people experience Metaverses. Breana is helping to shape this technology to benefit the planet. “Metaverses provide a way for people to use digital fashion to express themselves without using as many finite resources, while also bringing more transparency to the supply chain,” she says. “It also benefits women in that the majority who play mobile games and buy the most clothes will be able to own and build in this space (and create wealth).”
The social change opportunities presented by these technologies are certainly already apparent to Breana. Metaverses can impact accessibility and representation for creators and owners, and she believes it creates new voices and perspectives whereby people can also create wealth by owning their outputs. Compassion, says Breana, will be a significant aspect: “Immersive experience will create awareness and empathy in seeing the world more clearly, inspiring people to take action to help the planet and each other. Gaming-inspired digital therapeutics will be FDA-approved to alleviate anxiety and depression in addressing mental health concerns.”
Despite blockchain and immersive technology still in their early development and how these technologies are applied in the market, their vast potential for applications in the future is boundless.
It is the development and adoption of these technologies that most excites Breana about the future. “I like to root in the fundamental technology – blockchains or programmable technology on a ledger – and immersive technology, which is virtual or augmented reality. On the blockchain side, the Ethereum merge from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake was monumental in terms of endorsing a faster and more scalable blockchain that is less energy intensive.”
Regarding immersive tech, she believes: “Oculus and the upcoming Apple glasses headsets are the beginning of leveraging increased processing speeds enabled by 5G to build a lighter (and more comfortable) headset. Each of these spaces has its own time horizons from a development and adoption standpoint, but together they create an exciting future.”
“Most people don’t care – or need to care – about the technology powering their day-to-day lives,” shares Breana. “However, they do care if it improves their lives.”
That is the starting point for mass adoption, believes Breana. “Mass adoption will happen once the majority of people experience the technology’s applications and feel like their lives are better because of it, whether that’s consciously or unconsciously. One big lesson we can learn from social media over the last ten years is making sure that these new immersive social platforms are considering mental health. Significant advances are happening at the intersection of gaming and mental health that consumer companies can adopt.”
People mistakenly think that only well-known leaders can enact change. When she joined the World of Women and MyBFF communities, Breana saw just how powerful grassroots communities of women could be in the web3 space.
Her parting words to women looking to enter the web3 and the Metaverse is to “focus on becoming the change you want to see in the world; working through your individual challenges as you become this will blaze a trail for many.”
BREANA TEUBNER’S METAVERSE & WEB3 TIPS
