If the web3 future is the new home, women must make it so. The way the world connects and interacts is at the precipice of a new age. This new frontier is a battleground shaping the ownership and economics of a new future. Women of this and future generations will be left behind.
Leila Hurstel is not sitting idly by. Coming from a family of tech entrepreneurs and investors, Leila understands the need – and extreme urgency – of getting into web3 on the ground floor. Her burning mission is to foster innovation with purpose and impact, and she’s driving that as co-founder of OnAndCo.io and AllStarsWomen NFT Club and DAO.
Of all the web3 developers, creators, investors and crypto-curious, women account for only 5-percent of people in this space. Web3 offers an opportunity for women of this generation to create a fresh legacy. The Metaverse provides women with a platform to build a future of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). For purpose and impact, Leila believes women must build the Metaverse needs at its inception – not as an afterthought. Building an inclusive Metaverse for social entertainment and networking drastically changes how people live, work and interact with others. The Metaverse has the potential to become a parallel extension of our reality.
“We are witnessing something that will affect society and economies in real life, blurring the lines between both worlds,” said Leila. “What happens in one will affect the other. Web3 and virtual worlds are still largely a blank canvas, and that is precisely why women need to seize the opportunity to harness the power of virtual worlds to make a positive impact in the real world.”
The redistribution of power and wealth is critical for women’s mission in web3. Through OnAndCo.io and AllStarsWomen NFT Club and DAO, Leila is building a secure space for women. OnAndCo.io is the f irst digital decentralized alternative investment platform. This fintech company leverages blockchain technology to digitize the alternative investments. It also optimizes the flow of data and information to make it tamper-proof and more secure. Ownership is critical in web3, and this is where AllStarsWomen NFT Club and DAO is an initiative to help close the funding gap for women by shaping a more diverse and inclusive entrepreneurial ecosystem. AllStarsWomen NFT Club and DAO is helping steer the creator world, one of the most empowering and exciting areas within the Metaverse. Web3 is a mashup of 3D worlds, social gaming, NFTs and virtual goods ownership – and so much more to come as technology advances.
What’s stopping women from asserting themselves in this domain? Leila believes women need to build strong communities and brands and claim ownership in these spaces if they are to make a dent in this already male dominated space. AllStarsWomen NFT Club and DAO foster deeper and longer-lasting relationships across platforms. It offers more significant potential for monetization, and community ownership through platforms and protocols.
Less than 10-percent of women feel they understand crypto. Getting started with web3 can seem daunting if you’re unsure where to begin.
How can women generate more diversity and inclusivity in the entrepreneurial ecosystem? And how can women achieve true gender equality in the crypto and web3 space? Education is one way to get more women involved, participating, and contributing to web3.
The AllStarsWomen Crypto Academy is a platform offering a mix of professional guidance and the help of a strong community where newcomers can accelerate their learning and become productive participants.
Leila says: “My focus goes to the opportunity at the intersection of consumer and crypto. Unlocking the market for the mainstream user and bringing the masses to web3 is one of the most exciting investment opportunities of our time. We are building real products with intrinsic value that people use.”
For mainstream adoption – and enabling greater accessibility for women – access and user experience must be made simple and intuitive.
“Onboarding and user experiences should be seamless and require no understanding of the underlying technology or even knowledge of its existence,” said Leila. “Users need an uncomplicated and secure means of storing their assets and accessing dapps that don’t require advanced operating skills, long-winded recovery seed phrases to memorize, or private keys to secure. Then, gas fees have become so prohibitively high that many users can’t afford to transact on the blockchain, giving rise to elaborate scaling solutions that literally add another layer of complexity to the user experience. This puts up a barrier to entry for a vast majority of the population, combined with the growing concern that cryptocurrency has a negative environmental impact.”
Funding is a critical phase of Leila’s plans to foster innovation with purpose and impact. Her businesses offer mentoring programs to help entrepreneurs acquire the necessary skills and a recruitment platform to create a network of professionals to build their ideas into successful web3 ventures.
This AllStarsWomen NFT Club and DAO branch provide early-stage startup teams with the knowledge, insights, tools and support to refine their ideas, develop a business model, set up their business, take it to market, and create the foundations and conditions to scale for sustainable growth.
She created the AllStarsWomen Diversity recruitment agency to avoid replicating the same mistakes in the crypto space we face in traditional institutions. Leila wants to help as many talented women to find job opportunities across the tech, crypto and blockchain sectors.
Perseverance, patience and community are the three most critical aspects women need to carry to succeed in the Metaverse and web3. It is imperative. Women must choose the right community and the right people to surround themselves, to create strategic partnerships and networks. As with any business, exploring and exploiting synergies and ways of collaboration will map out this space for sustainability and success for this and future generations of women.
