Meet 7 women shaping the future of crypto and Web3
Women have been a part of the crypto space since its inception, developing projects, communities and brands, as well as tackling many trenches that this emerging industry requires.
Yet they have been less involved in starting Web3 businesses. According to the Web3 Career Market report from crypto exchange KuCoin, 27% of female professionals in the field have been involved in starting a crypto startup, compared to 41% of men surveyed. For many, the “bridge culture” in Web3 poses career challenges and barriers to getting more women into the space, the same report shows.
Diversity has also been an obstacle in other industries, such as technology and finance – two sectors that intersect with crypto. As such, it is not surprising that women remain poorly represented among Web3 developers and crypto traders. However, several firms in the area are working to improve diversity, seeking innovative collaboration and wider adoption.
Cointelegraph’s team spoke to women in the crypto community about their careers, their journey into crypto, and the diversity of the industry. They are women from different backgrounds, projects, countries and generations. All are working towards a similar goal: to encourage others, regardless of gender, to join this rapidly evolving industry.
Meet Seema Khinda Johnson, Co-Founder and COO of Nuggets:
Seema had a 17-year career leading product development strategies for startups and large technology companies before a security incident led her to the crypto space: Her husband’s credit card and personal data were stolen. The experience opened her eyes to issues of privacy control and led the pair to establish Nuggets in 2016, a decentralized identity wallet.
To build the project, she decided to email Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of Ethereum, to get recommendations from developers. “Everyone thought it was ridiculous that he would never respond, but sure enough, 20 minutes later I got a response with a recommendation about who I needed to talk to. It was a great lesson that you can make pretty much anything happen if you just go for it,” she recalls.
While Seema feels lucky to have some brilliant male allies in the Web3 space, she believes funding and support for more female entrepreneurs is needed to increase crypto adoption:
“If people are serious about bringing 1 billion users to crypto, we need to attract and retain diverse teams that build powerful products with utility that make sense for all of us.”
Meet Sandra Leow, research analyst at Nansen:
Introduced to crypto by her sister, Sandra quickly delved into the “crypto rabbit hole” by investing in altcoins and NFTs. Sandra was an intern at Amber Group before joining Nansen, where she is engaged in using on-chain data to promote more transparency in the blockchain space.
Sandra still observes Web2 stigma embedded in Web3, but sees a shift away from older gender biases:
“The power dynamic is slowly changing, and I’m very happy about that. You don’t really see inequalities, at least not in my experience where I do research, and I think research in general is a very neutral position for all genders.”
Meet Devon Martens, Lead Blockchain Engineer at Sweet:
Devon used to work for an education company, where she started supporting their Solidity courses. She went from supporting to teaching the program at the University of Minnesota, before joining NFT marketplace Sweet, where she writes smart contracts for some of the biggest names in the industry.
She believes that good role models can motivate more women to invest in Web3 as a career option. Devon also sees the nascent industry as an opportunity for women who want to change the world:
“There is so much potential, especially for women leaders who want to change the world, in this relatively new decentralized blockchain environment. People are literally teaching themselves, so the barrier of certain credentials doesn’t exist yet like it does in some other areas of technology or engineer.”
Meet Daniela Barbosa, CEO of the Hyperledger Foundation:
Daniela has been in Bitcoin since the early days. In 2010, she worked on a project involving data portability in San Francisco, and many of her team members were also involved in Bitcoin projects.
“I remember the days when I would go on Craigslist to find someone selling bitcoin out of their garage in Glen Park SF […] I went to a bitcoin meetup in SF at probably 12-13 and felt completely out of place as an older woman among a bunch of bros. Honestly, I was a little turned off by the local scene, but not enough to not keep an eye on what was going on.”
In 2017, she found the newly launched Hyperledger project while searching for a career in enterprise blockchain technology. As an early adopter of crypto, Daniela advocates for more women to be involved in the crypto space across a variety of roles, not just as developers.
Meeting Sandy CarterCOO and Head of Business Development of Unstoppable Domains:
Sandy has worked in the technology field since Web2 was born. Her first exposure to crypto and blockchain occurred while serving as a vice president at AWS. “As I researched potential blockchain use cases, I became more fascinated by the idea of decentralization, the notion of user ownership of data and digital property, and the community-driven decision-making process of Web3,” she recalled.
She learned from her experience in the technology industry that the absence of diversity limits innovation and creativity, resulting in a lack of understanding of minority perspectives and needs.
After joining Unstoppable Domains in 2021, she started an initiative called Unstoppable Women of Web3, which focuses on educating and training the next generation of female crypto leaders.
“Without knowledge or exposure to the industry, women can lose confidence and interest in pursuing careers in the sector.”
Meet Briana Marbury, CEO of the Interledger Foundation:
Briana has led the Interledger Foundation since 2020, interacting with projects from around the world, from natural disaster solutions to peering system development. Creating tools that benefit others is what motivates her in the Web3 area.
Briana believes that crypto firms need to consider multiple viewpoints when developing their strategies, and that organizations that lack a gender-balanced workforce are missing out on synergies and innovative collaborations.
“People, especially women, can often self-select themselves out of pursuing potentially lucrative, rewarding and purposeful career paths in crypto – or technology more broadly – because they think ‘it’s not for people like them.’ Intentionality is key here.”
Meet Alicia Kao, CEO and Head of Strategic Partner Development at KuCoin:
With a background in sociology, Alicia’s first interaction with the crypto world came in 2018 after attending a crypto conference. When she joined KuCoin in 2019, she found male leaders who capitalized on her strengths and allowed her passion to flourish.
Although she sees the crypto industry as “undoubtedly male-dominated”, Alicia also believes that this reality is slowly changing:
“When builders feel valued and included as part of a team working towards a common goal, they are more likely to take risks and come up with innovative ideas. This not only benefits the builders themselves, but also contributes to to build public trust in the future we build with crypto and web3.”
