F“For the first time in my working career, both my age and gender are an advantage: I’m a woman, and I’m in my fifties.”
Jillian Godsil is an award-winning journalist, broadcaster, and author with a 30-plus years long career that spans a global stage, including Sydney, Singapore, Kiev, Austin, Muscat, Columbo, Dubai, Cape Town, Liberland, Malta, Amsterdam, Vienna, Dublin and London. She’s a tireless advocate for women in blockchain, eradicating homelessness and income equality.
She has held senior positions with global PR companies in Sydney, Singapore, London, and Dublin. She was PRO of Iona Technologies (Ireland’s first company to float on NASDAQ). In 2014, she singlehandedly changed the law in Ireland and subsequently ran for election to the European Parliament. She is Co-Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Blockleaders.io, a platform that celebrates and educates blockchain, the technology, people, and companies shaping the space.
Blockchain transformed her life. It saved her. Her journey to the blockchain, web3 and the Metaverse is one of a personal recession and recovery. Jillian Godsil is a phoenix rising today.
In 2008, Jillian braved divorce and the global economic downturn with her two teenage daughters. Her ex-husband relocated to the United Kingdom, was declared bankrupt and passed Jillian the entire mortgage debt of their home in the Irish countryside. She tried to sell the house at €500,000, but the bank denied the move as the sale price was below the value of the outstanding mortgage. Instead, the bank repossessed the house and summarily sold it for €165,000.
At the same time, her successful PR business collapsed during the height of the recession. Jillian and her two daughters left without a home, and her business shuttered. All the while, Wall Street boys and girls were gaming the system. She became angry, and the situation politicized her.
Homeless and couchsurfing with friends, Jillian used her pen to fight against the shaming of financial failure, homelessness and income inequality and instability. In 2014, Jillian’s struggle resulted in a landmark victory for women in Ireland. She was declared the first female bankrupt under Ireland’s then-new insolvency laws. She turned to politics with a burning passion to right the inequality in financial laws in Ireland. Unable to run for public office under archaic Victorian law, she took the Irish government to the High Court, then the Supreme Court – and won.
What she did next was entirely true to her character: she ran as a candidate in the European Parliamentary elections. While she didn’t win a seat, she did earn 11,500 votes for her campaign.
Fast-forward a few years to 2016, Jillian and her two daughters faced eviction and homelessness again. What on earth was happening – and how does this relate to blockchain?
With an extensive background in finance and fintech, she didn’t recognize the profound potential of blockchain until a friend carefully explained the technology and concepts to her. She describes the moment blockchain changed her life: “I was like ‘Oh my God, the whole thing just makes sense.’ It’s just phenomenal, it’s so exciting and I just jumped on it.”
Blockchain has achieved what traditional finance systems simply haven’t achieved to date: it has democratized access in a way that’s important to women because banks, the finance system and politics are primarily about men – and it needs more women.
“Blockchain technology excites me for many reasons. It is transformational and has the ability to really change things — for the better. It democratizes access to finance; it democratizes access to education; it democratizes access to payments; it democratizes access to opportunity; it democratizes access to income equality.”
“Women with young children or aged parents, or who’ve faced redundancy, who find it hard to get into the workforce can get involved in the industry. It’s an opportunity for women who can’t get access to the regular world.”
Jillian is emphatic about the potential of blockchain technology to disrupt industries and do good for the world. She believes it can help in many ways, such as feeding refugees and allowing migrant workers to transfer funds back home to their families without paying huge transaction fees. It could also be used to fight hyperinflation in countries like Venezuela, Nigeria, and Zimbabwe.
Blockchain brings people dignity through empowerment. As a journalist and champion for blockchain, Jillian advocates for more women in blockchain. She has insights for attracting more women to the space: “What you can see, you can be. So if you work in blockchain, ensure you actively attract women to work and collaborate with you. Web3 is open to all – especially those that create. Technology is neutral; we need to shape it to do good.”
Website: blockleaders.io
