Community Is the Real Power in Web3

In the premiere episode of Women Leading the Way, host Maria Tunikova speaks with Danielle Marie, founder of All Things Blockchain and creator of EvolveH3r, about why community — not hype — has become the real infrastructure of crypto.

Danielle shares how building Web3 communities across regions has revealed a stark divide: in some countries, blockchain is still a curiosity; in others, it’s a practical response to broken financial systems. She explains why education around fundamentals — ownership, private keys, and core blockchain concepts — matters more than chasing trends, and how events and mentorship create long-term trust in an industry shaped by volatility and misinformation.

The conversation also looks at what it means to grow as a woman in a male-dominated ecosystem and why support systems often matter more than titles. From global meetups to education hubs and mentorship programs, this episode sets the tone for the series — focusing on people, not narratives.

Women Leading the Way is a proud community partner of EthCC Cannes 2026. EthCC runs March 30 – April 2, 2026 at the Palais des Festivals, Cannes. 

🎟️ Get your EthCC pass: https://ethcc.io/tickets 

Transcript

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unknown 0:00

Women Leading the Way.

SPEAKER_01 0:04

Hey everyone, welcome to Women Leading the Way by Drop for Com, a podcast about women shaping the future of finance, fintech, blockchain and technology. Here we don't talk about titles or success stories, we talk about the real moments that shape a career and how leadership changes when we might eye in the room. I'm Maria and in each episode we explore one big idea through one personal journey. Today we are talking about community as a new kind of power and why it matters now more than ever. Our guest is someone whose journey into web three didn't start with the code of finance, but with intuition, courage, and community. Danielle Marie is the founder of All Things Blockchain, she's Blockchain Savvy and a Wolfer. Initiative that have helped thousands of women step into Web3 and the digital economy. But what I like the most is that behind all of that is a very human story.

unknown 0:56

Women leading the way.

SPEAKER_00 0:58

So, Danielle, welcome to the show. Thank you so much for having me. And I'm excited to uh share my story and see how we can help other uh women, you know, want to dive in and learn more about this ecosystem.

SPEAKER_01 1:15

Thank you so much for being with us, Daniel. Honestly, I feel like I should go back a little bit for our listeners and share the story of how we met. It was last year, I talked in 2029 at Singapore, but even before Singapore was working really hot in UDMs, trying to arrange some collaborations between our projects, and we really did it happen. Uh, we joined the She Connects Networking Meetup hosted by UDaniel, and we brought our Women Leading the Way print edition there, where UDaniel was featured as well. So I already know that you've been doing so many cool things, and it's really nice that we finally get the chance to record the full conversation here. But let's start simple. Uh, where are you right now? Tell us more about what are you focused on and what are you building this year?

SPEAKER_00 2:11

Oh well, so that's uh a lot to to unpack. I feel like there was just like 20 questions in one. Um the the you know, the exciting part is building globally and seeing the different style communities, uh, the different level of um involvement, adoption, where there's still kind of lots of different opportunity. You know, I'm based here in Australia and I've been here uh for 14 years. I'm originally from Canada. Um I'm I I love living here in Australia, and my whole Web3 crypto blockchain journey started here. Um, but I feel that that when we live in Western countries, we don't feel the pains that other countries feel when it comes to banking or like different types of kind of like infrastructure. So because we don't notice it as much, like we don't really we I don't think that they really appreciate uh the true value and purpose and behind having true ownership and inflation. And so when you live in countries uh that you you you have higher exposure to experiencing that, then you can appreciate uh, you know, why Bitcoin, you know, why blockchain, why crypto. Uh and so I found it quite interesting that um, you know, people are quite hungry to learn about this technology in other regions uh compared to say somewhere like Australia, where they're still interested to learn, but it's kind of just more out of curiosity or learning how that they can trade crypto. It's not to solve uh their banking problems.

SPEAKER_01 4:16

That's such a good point, actually. You know that in places where people don't feel like the pay, crypto can look like a trading, not a road solution. So my question is how do you shift that? How do you help people see that web free can be something bigger? And how does community play a role in it?

SPEAKER_00 4:38

Yeah, well, it is when uh, you know, before I answered that question, it's 100% a community. And when I was in Vietnam with a friend of mine, it was after Token 49, and we I went to Vietnam, and she's not in crypto, and we went for my birthday, but we weren't there for crypto. Uh but, anyways, I whipped up this dinner and it turned into like 15 people that I didn't know, but they were all in the crypto space. But I just messaged a few people that I did know. I knew like two or three people, and then they both those people messaged some people, and then we just ended up there with this like table of like 15 people crypto people, uh, all in Ho Chi Minh. And my friend said to me, and she goes, How did you like curate? Because I I host and run events, so like everyone knows me. But she goes, But we're in a country where you don't know anyone, and like you just like like made this dinner with like 15 different people, and like it felt like everyone knew each other. And I was like, Well, that's just kind of like the crypto community, you know, you're just gonna go, you you reach out with them. So I definitely think that crypto in itself is just one big, huge, giant community. Uh, and I love being uh being a part of it. But then obviously there's so many different layers to it. Uh, I like to focus on how do we support people when they're entering. So uh, and there's a lot of things that people need to understand in the beginning, and you don't know what you don't know, you don't know what you need to know first. So we really, really just focus on what are the critical foundations, like blockchain foundations aren't gonna change. Uh, uh, not your keys, not your crypto, that's not gonna change. Like the uh, what is a layer one versus a layer two? You know, what is like consensus? These core foundations, so the the the technology will keep uh, you know, evolving and new things will pop up, like deepen and stuff like that. But the core infrastructure and the core technology and the core why and all that won't change. So I think that the most important thing for people to learn is the is the basics. And I always use the analogy of when you're learning how to speak, you know, first you learn the alphabet, you know, and then you learn to put letters together, and then you put sentences together, and then you put a paragraph, and then you can, you know, then you can write a chapter, and then you could write a book. Uh, well, it it's the same thing when you're when you when you're kind of learning about like this new kind of like emerging technology, you know, uh it takes time and you've got to invest time, uh, but people need to learn. So that's what we specialize in and we and we focus on. And then um then there's the other side of the community. So that's like the bringing in the new people, supporting them, onboarding the web 2 people, holding their hands, helping them get started. Um, but then then there's the other side, which is more of maybe more of the immersive web 3 community that are active, they go to conferences, they're looking to uh connect with maybe particularly women that are working in the web 3 space, how they can connect with other women that are working in the web 3 space, because most of the time we're all working on male-dominated teams. So it's nice just to even have uh friends, you know, even if they're not in our team, they're still in the ecosystem. Do you know what I mean? There's still like a support system. So then you have that side of the community that we support as well, with like our mentorship program and our mentorship group that we're that we're launching. And it's like, how do we support some of these women that have maybe recently entered or looking to enter uh from a career path? And how do we like how do we support them? So those are kind of the main things. So we're very much more about the beginning stages, so we don't teach, you know, DeFi and all that sort of stuff, although we do partner with other education providers that provide that type of education. Women leading the way podcast.

SPEAKER_01 8:57

Okay, I love that story because it shows actually what you really mean when you say that crypto is one big community, and I also love how you think like in layers, you bring new people in that you teach the foundations and you support women who are already in the space, and then when it comes to the advanced stuff like DeFi, you just partner with other educators. Yeah, I think that's pretty cool. So if you look at the practical side, what do you actually do to build that community? What's your main format and how do you bring people together?

SPEAKER_00 9:38

Um, yeah, I guess good question. What we do is we just host events. So I think events are uh the backbone of building uh any any community. Um uh and they're so important for so many different reasons. Um but one of them, yeah, obviously bringing uh community and bringing people together. Um we all of our events have a pretty like kind of standard template of networking, educational component networking, right? And so it's like giving the the community uh that space and we do them through events, and generally people will find us. You know, we I don't uh we're uh all things blockchain's a nonprofit. We we run meetup, we put that, we put it on meetup, we promote it. Um we're we've never been like out there like actively like trying to how are we gonna promote and market this and get people, it's like, no, we're gonna host the events, we'll promote it on meetup, we'll promote it, but it's just gonna kind of grow organically, right? And then when somebody comes to one of our meetups and they have a good time and they learn something and they meet some cool people, well, then what do they do? They go home, they hopefully tell some of their friends, they try to get some of their friends to come with them. Uh, and then you just kind of grow like uh organically that way. Um, but I would say that's that's that's generally it. And then with Evolve Her, because that's obviously all things blockchain, and then Evolver, which I launched um last year, it will be like one year in March when I launched Evolve Her. Um that is specifically focused on Vmails rather than all things blockchain is, you know, everything in kind of all inclusive. And uh hosting events at all of the major crypto conventions. So we'll be at consensus Hong Kong uh in, you know, like two weeks' time, uh, not even like almost like 10 days' time, I think it is, maybe. Um two weeks. Uh at Token 49, you know, in Dubai and in Singapore. Um, so I think events are the backbone of building community to then support them in whatever way it may be. And is that in education? Is that that they just want to connect with other women? Uh they're looking for partnerships, you know. Obviously, they'd rather partner with another woman that's working in another company, um, that type of stuff.

SPEAKER_01 12:22

Well, I do love how simple and human that is. You guys just create the space and people have a good experience and then engross organically through word of mouth. And exactly with Woocher, you are doing that in a very intentional way for women, especially at the big conferences, and we really had a great experience together in Singapore. So I'm curious right now, what do you feel compared to a few years ago? Has interest in Web3 actually grown? Is it easier now to bring new people in than it was just when you started?

SPEAKER_00 13:03

Uh of course I think it's it's grown. And compared to say five years ago when uh she's bought chain savvy was kind of like my first little side, if you want to call it like a uh passion business or a little side hobby business, I let's say, right? And it was like, how am I gonna support more women? Um, back then I think it was, you know, a lot harder. It was like I was really having to sell or promote and try to convince people why they should learn. And I didn't want that, you know. I'm not here to convince you that you should invest in any type of digital asset. I'm here to teach you what you need to know, and that's if you are gonna invest in a digital asset, then you need to know what private keys are and you need to know how to store them properly, and you need to know the difference between a hardware wallet and a and a coldware wallet. And uh, I'm not here to try to uh convince you. So now I think uh so I had a harder time in that it was like I had to try to convince people why they should take like invest time in the education compared to now. I think because it is more uh institutionalized, let's say it's more mainstream, it's been um, you know, people it's been around for a while now, so it's kind of like a bit more trusted. So now people are more like um, you know, uh actually looking for it compared to before. It was like you had to try to convince them that they should learn about it, rather than now I just host the events and then the like the people just like they come, they find, they're looking, you know, I mean they're looking for solutions. Uh and then um, but yeah, so I I would definitely say that obviously we have a very um uh you know, the the government that's in charge and everything in America is so uh crypto friendly and pro-crypto. And so with all the institutions and all the ETFs and all this regulation coming in and stable coins, and you've got stable coin regulation, you know, in in Europe, you know, you've got it coming in uh in America. So I think all of these things just um create um what's the word I'm looking for? Um, you know, it validates the the use case and it validates that it's not a crypto scam, right? So uh Bitcoin, Ethereum, blockchain, they're not scams, but there's just so many uh crypto scams and so many pump and dumps and so many meme coins and so many altcoins that everyone just thinks that everything is a scam. Um, but that's what we need to teach people. We need to teach people no, it's not, right? It's kind of just like, yeah. Um so yeah, I'd say in a whole, definitely more and more people are becoming more and more interested.

SPEAKER_01 16:26

Yeah, I really like how you separate the two things. Like you are not here to convince anyone to invest, you're here to make sure people understand the basics, can protect themselves. And you're absolutely right because the space becomes more mainstream, people trust it more, absolutely. But the noise in these camps makes education even more important. So, with that in mind, what are you focused on right now? What are you building next to meet this growing demand for the education?

SPEAKER_00 16:59

Um, so at the moment, we're we're focused on a few different things. So the education hub that we want to build, which is kind of like a let's say an education aggregator, and we want it to be full of free education for everyone. And we're working with our education sponsors, and we're launching uh uh webinar Wednesdays. And what that will be is every single week we'll have a live webinar that is going to be about an educational content. And the four, for example, different sponsors that I have for this first round of the education hub sponsors, they're all different. One's a layer one, one's an exchange, one is like uh stand with crypto, which is about like policy and regulation and movement and community building. Um and so the content, and one's actually uh an RWA project. So the content for all of them, you know, teaching about RWA, teaching about different things and exchanges, thinking about layer ones, um, it is so so so different. And so we'll have different webinars every single week, and then that content then gets put into the education hub uh and becomes this kind of like free uh community education hub, right? And and everything is open and kind of gated. And but then what we do is we collaborate with other different education providers because uh I can't be one thing for everyone. So if you come to me and you say, Hey, I want to learn more of the technical side of things, or how do I build a career as a developer, uh, even though maybe you wouldn't really be thinking about that at the moment because of AI, but let's just say that for an example, right? Um so looking at kind of how would I kind of transition, where do I get started? Uh I would be encouraging people rather than more of looking uh how to upskill yourself into Web3 in terms of working in Web3, I would be thinking, how do I upskill myself to understand how I use all of the different products that are becoming available in like DeFi, staking, lending, this sort of things because financial literacy, you know, the traditional financial ecosystem, how do those people become uh wealthier? Well, it's because they somebody taught them from a young age, okay, save some money, put it in account, then you're gonna get some interest on that. Then when you get that interest, then you take that and then you reinvest that, right? And then they taught them about like compound interest and all that sort of stuff. And like there are ways that you can earn tokens uh by participating in different networks, and then you could take those tokens, right? You could convert them to stable coins, and then you could go and like stake them, you know, in a really low risk, but still be like earning a yield on that. And so I think that people need to be start thinking about the ways that we can make money in these digital economies over upskilling themselves because AI is gonna take half of the jobs that people are looking at. Like, I wouldn't, I would hate to be 18 right now with parents that want me to go to university.

SPEAKER_01 20:38

Women leading the way. Yeah, that really hits. And I love that you're connecting web free education to something bigger, like basic financial literacy and the reality that AI is changing the whole job market. So I want to go back for a second because your perspective didn't come out of nowhere, you know. Before Web3, what were you doing? Tell us more what was the moment that pulled you into Bitcoin and the whole that space, you know, that stuff.

SPEAKER_00 21:13

So before I even got into uh Web3, I had an online kind of health network marketing business. It was my first online business, so I learned a lot from that. And actually, the person that I was working with on that business is the person that introduced me to Bitcoin. Um, but before that, I was in hospitality for like uh 20 years and uh so and did everything from uh high end to low end bars and restaurants, owned them corporate, you know, fine dining. So uh lots and lots of experience in the hospitality sector. Um and then I was just looking and looking and looking. And trying to, I knew, uh, you know, we when when you I was a high school dropout that was like been working in hospitality for many years. I went back, you know, got my graduate, then I was came to Australia. And um, you know, trying to transition from being from hospitality and not having like an academic background, which is funny because now it would be a very much different situation. But back then, you know, not having a university or a college degree and like only coming from hospitality, it like made it harder to transition. So I was just looking, okay, what do I want to do next? And I didn't want to waste all this money on like going to school for something that I wouldn't end up using. I hear about all these stories where people like spend all this money on being a lawyer or uh whatever, and then they graduate and they can't even get a job, you know? Um, so I was afraid of doing that. And so I was looking, looking, looking, and then I found Bitcoin. And then I went down this rabbit hole of understanding what Bitcoin was. I quickly learned about a bull market, and because I got on right at the end of 2017, and and obviously my $5,000 I think turned into like $25,000, and I thought I was gonna be a crypto millionaire. And then the next thing, you know, my $25,000 is like worth $2,000. And I'm like, what just happened there? Right? Like had no idea what a bull run or bull market or bull run or any of that. Like I was just, you know, just caught in. And so then I went down a rabbit hole for about a year and a half, going to meetups here in in Brisbane, which has always had a very active community here in Australia, particularly in Brisbane. And um every all those meetups would always be me and 40 dudes, pretty much. And then fast forward a little bit, I decided um, okay, I want to build a career in this, but I don't know how or what. And I was also on a student visa. I'm from Canada and I was on a student visa and I was studying a diploma of uh business to stay in the country, pretty much. And uh I met these guys and they uh curated the diploma and the advanced diploma of applied blockchain. It was the first accredited courses here in Australia that it was delivered um what they call registered training organizations. So it's like college, right? So it wasn't a university course, but it was like this kind of college course. And uh they said to me, I'm like, oh, I'd love to study that. Um, but I can only study courses because I was like, oh, I want to get a job. I don't know how, what I want to do, I'd love to study that because it's about blockchain for business. Uh but I'm like, I can only study courses that um are on the international list. Uh, because if you want to study here in Australia, and I'm sure it's like in any country, it has to be certain courses. And they go, oh, well, actually, it's gonna be added to the list in March. And this was November 2020. Um, no, November 9th, no, it was the year of COVID, so 2019, uh, going into 2020. And um, and they said you could be the first uh, you know, student to enroll. So I was the first international student to enroll in these courses to complete the diploma and the advanced diploma of applied blockchain. Uh, and then while I was studying those, I got my qualification to teach it. So by the time I finished the diploma and the advanced diploma, I also had my qualification to teach. And then I was, I just taught it. So that was my transition was um what they were like, we'll do the course. And then when I was doing the course, they're like, well, and I've always been good at um, like even in hospitality, I was always the trainer. I was always the assessor, like, you know, I was always in leadership, I was always in management. So I was a Zoom instructor, I was a personal trainer. So like coaching and training has always been, you know, kind of like second nature to me. So it doesn't matter what you're teaching, uh, as long as you know it or you're passionate or interested in about it. So then I went down that rabbit hole. And then um I did that for very many years. And I got my bachelor's and I taught the diploma of applied blockchain uh for about three years at one of the largest kind of government training organizations here in Australia. And then last year I um quit my job and went all in on uh building evolver and all things blockchain because I wanted to educate the way that I think that we need to be educating. Um, I don't believe in like I believe in education wholeheartedly. I just don't believe in the traditional education system, and I think the traditional education system is gonna go extinct very quickly with AI. That's a whole nother podcast.

SPEAKER_01 26:57

Yeah, totally. Things are changing so fast, and like education has to change with that. Even like in PR, AI changed so many things with our work with journalists, and so yeah, but really it's a different story for another whole podcast. So, just getting back to the educational side, when you were teaching that accredited diploma in Australia, what did you notice about the people who showed up? Was it different from meetups, especially for women?

SPEAKER_00 27:31

So the accredited course is a little bit different because it was a government-funded program where the diploma was on a um, so they have like programs there where it was on the study free list. So they take skills that are missing or lacking uh within the country that need to be filled, and then they make those courses free and available for for students. Um so the ratio to women was actually a little bit higher. And one of the things that impressed me the higher than the meetups, I mean, like in terms of like women that are just going to like a meetup on a Tuesday night that's to to learn about crypto or blockchain. Like I hosted a meetup tonight and I delivered a workshop and I taught people like, you know, what are private keys and how to create a Web3 wallet, right? Like, so that going to those types of meetups, it's always more males, right? Like it's oh it's much, much better now. Um for me, obviously, I've built a community around me, so I have a higher ratio, but I still think in most uh in most communities or in the average community, you know, it's probably still a 20% to 80. It's probably 80% men, 20% women. I think um obviously because uh of the core of what I'm building, I'd say we probably sit around like the 30, maybe 30, 40% um mark. Uh, so I don't notice as much. But with the accredited courses, I was surprised how many uh stay-at-home moms were taking the course well, because it was for free, and they were stuck at home with the kids, anyways. But they wanted to learn an emerging technology so that like, you know, that they could learn something new or do something that they could potentially do from home. Um, so that was a bit surprising. Um, but it was a free program, so they were willing to do it. Um expecting people to pay to learn about a technology that they don't understand, and then they don't understand what they would do for work or how would they make money, even if they like did invest the time. So it was like they would invest the time because there's still a risk that I'm gonna invest the time and I'm not sure what I'm gonna how how is me investing this time actually gonna get me anywhere. Uh to also uh if you were to spend money on it, you know, it's like, oh hey, study this course, it's gonna cost you 15, 20 grand, and you're gonna have like a student loan and all this, uh, but you have no idea what like you're gonna do for a job afterwards. You don't even know what type of a job you apply for because you know, you don't understand it. So uh it was quite difficult, um, I think, for them to get people to pay for for the course, but because it was uh on the this this uh study free list, we had lots of students doing the course.

SPEAKER_01 30:53

Women leading the way podcast. Yeah, that makes so much sense. If people don't understand that space yet and they can't see a clear job path, paying 15 or 20 grand feels like a huge risk. So now I'd love to make this real. Can you share a story of a student you supported, someone who took the education and actually turned it into a new direction or a real life opportunity? Any real story you can share with us?

SPEAKER_00 31:23

Um, you know, I I have definitely supported uh quite a few of my students. Uh, you know, a handful of them from one of them who studied with me. I actually trained her and I said to her, if you want to, she came up to me in Malbourne and she's like, Oh, I want to learn how do I teach this. I've been a teacher, I love crypto, da-da-da. And I was like, Well, work with me. And I actually trained her up, and she's now the trainer at the college that I left. Um, you know, I've had many other stories where I really helped with uh some of the students uh through their whole career, and and then get a position. Um, and you know, and so that's quite rewarding. And the one probably the most recent one, even like tonight was the launch of our uh program that we're doing in the Philippines. And Dee, who is the project lead, who's one of my students from the diploma, and then she joined Old Things Blockchain um as like one of our volunteers to start with. And um now she's an intern for Evolver, and she's an educator in her field. Uh, and I said to her, you know, what do you want to do? And she's like, Well, I'd love to teach other people like the basics, um, but from she's from the Philippines. She lives in Australia, but she's from the Philippines. Uh, and so then we, you know, have a um a program that we've launched there because some of our team are there, she's from there, and so we're doing this kind of like bilingual uh course. So it's kind of delivered in English, but also explained into Gallo to really kind of help people be able to understand, still learn the terminology and everything in English, but just kind of get a better understanding because somebody's explaining these new weird kind of complex terms of where there's no direct translation and trying to kind of explain to people what it means. Uh, and she delivered her first lesson today. And one of the cool things was because it was a webinar, and there was a whole classroom. So there was like 30 different people on the call, but one of the people was like you could see the whole classroom, and there was like 30 students in this classroom all tuning in to listen to this lesson. So I thought that was pretty cool, you know.

SPEAKER_01 33:57

Wow, that's honestly such a powerful moment. Like, you're not just teaching one person, you're creating someone who can teach the whole room, and that classroom picture is insane. And it also makes me think when you go deep into blockchain, you end up going deep into everything, like you know, money, the internet, education, how governments work. So I'm curious, has Web3 changed the way you see systems and power? Like when you understand blockchain, do you start looking at our financial system and governments uh differently?

SPEAKER_00 34:36

It's so complex, you know, our government systems, our financial systems, um, our governance systems. And when you really obviously start to dive deep and learn, you know, financial literacy, understand the history of the internet, understand, you know, history of money, you know, understand all of these things. They're all systems, you know, how we drive on the road, put on your seatbelt, stop at the stop line. Like this is just a system, and this is just a governance model, and this is, you know, just the terms and the conditions of the smart contracts, right? So like it's no different. Um, but uh, you know, I think definitely um when you understand how the systems are broken, and the only thing that is stopping the change is the people, right? Because we've been programmed for so long to think a certain way or do a certain thing, you know, go to school, get a good job, you know, nine to five, you know, like it we've been taught for so, so, so many years. Uh, and forget about even like the the crypto and web three side of things. Just think about like, you know, the education side of things. And how many times have you heard, oh, I wish they taught me about financial literacy in school, like I wish they taught me about compound interest in school. I wish, you know, like somebody, I wish somebody told me what leverage was, you know, back in, you know, and and all these things, right? And um, and uh, you know, there's all the theories is because they don't want us to, you know, they want us that they want us to be these nine to five kind of like cash, uh, you know, cash cows, I guess, if if you want to say. Um, so from that one side, and then when you think of the others, because it's just about people that have power and and control. And a lot of the reasons why, not that we have time to go down this rant, but I'll leave it at here. The a lot of the reasons why there's so much pushback from governments and uh organizations that um don't want to lose their power or their control, or they don't want uh there to be transparency, they don't want to use blockchain technology because they they they want to keep their power, you know, and and uh and that is the polar opposite of what what blockchain is, but we still have a very, very, very long way to go.

SPEAKER_01 37:25

Yeah, that makes a lot of sense actually. If the system you know is built on control, then transparency feels threatening. So, what do we do with that actually? Like on a human level, how do you actually move change forward? What's your approach? How do you empower people so they stop feeling like I don't know, stuck inside the system?

SPEAKER_00 37:50

Well, you just need to empower others, right? So if we use uh D as the example, who's my intern, I said to her, okay, I want to launch this program in the Philippines. I don't speak to Gallo. I'm not from the Philippines. I don't know. Uh I was like, okay, great. And and I empowered her and I said, I want you to treat this like it's your program. This is, I'll give you the tools and the resources and the guidance and and all of that. But hey, let's see, let's see if we can make it successful. If we can make it successful, let's do a pilot program. And so you empower one person, and then they go and then they feel empowered, and then they're trying to help other people. And so then it just becomes this network effect, you know. So I think that uh it's just and the empowerment of blockchain is when you fully truly understand uh what self-sovereignty is, and well, we're not gonna go into that, but when you fully understand what that is and what that means for us as a as a whole, as a as an ecosystem, um, I think that it's it's it's you know, it's quite an important message. But for many, many years, I think the message has been lost of the core essence of the purpose of uh blockchain technology and and crypto and Bitcoin and self-sovereignty, uh, and and the empowerment that it that it can give us through the uh the scams and the hype and the pumps and the dumps and and and and and all of this, uh it's kind of like tarnished, you know, the the true power in behind it. However, in saying that, I think that that other stuff is starting to fall to the waysides and people are you know starting to see the power of it. Uh, and especially now that they see that they can never, I actually said to people today in my in my class, I'm like, there's only one way to stop Bitcoin if a country wants to stop it. There is literally only one way. And someone was like, Oh, cut the power. Well, technically, yeah, they could cut the power, but you could have backup generators, like, how long are they gonna leave the power off? But it's like it's the internet, you know? It's the internet is about the only thing that could stop Bitcoin. And what's the world gonna do? Shut what are they gonna do? Shut down the internet. Pretty much the whole world operates on the internet.

SPEAKER_01 40:33

Yeah, I love that idea. Empowerment isn't just about the tag, it's also about people feeling confident enough to show up. So, yeah. And now let's talk about women specifically. When a woman walks into a web tour space for the first time, a meetup, a conference, a room full of strangers, like anything else, uh, what actually helps her feel safe and comfortable? What do you do like in a practical way to make that space feel more welcoming?

SPEAKER_00 41:11

Yeah, you know, I think for humans in general, but particularly women, uh when we go into an environment that is uh uncomfortable or new or unfamiliar, right? Even if it's say, like it's at a room or a venue and you're going by yourself, uh always a little bit more, you know, scarier or you don't know what's gonna happen. Whether if you go with friends, you feel more relaxed or you feel more comfortable, you know. Well, it's kind of like the the that you know, that same thing um that when you uh go to an event and you're the only female there, uh, you know, it definitely feels very, very different than if there's, you know, some other females there. And that's why we always uh make such an effort at all of our events to always introduce ourselves to the new women, take them over, introduce them to the other ladies. And then um, so they start to feel more comfortable because a lot of the times uh this is a huge narrative that I uh I hear a lot. Um, and I don't know if it's global or if it's just in Australia. Um, but a lot of the women that are are advocates for more women in the space, like me, but they they really are are are fighting for uh female representation on stages and on panels, particularly, right? And um I always just kind of say it's kind of like, yes, we need to be saying to the male organizers they need to make an effort to have diversity on there. But more importantly, we we need to help empower and educate the women because sometimes there are it, uh it's that the women aren't putting their hands up. And I've had lots of conversations with a lot of event organizers saying we try to get women sometimes to speak, but they don't want to, they're too shy, they da-da-da-da, da-da-da-da. So sometimes, and the amount of times that I've uh coached or mentored or whatever word you want to use, a woman to do her like first public speaking gig and how nervous, and then afterwards they love it, and then they want to do it again. But like it, you know, so uh I think it, yeah, it is a new way of helping women become leaders because you're providing a space for them to feel safe and empowered. And when they feel safe and empowered, then they can then help others feel safe and empowered, which then is, you know, kind of like this. Thought, um, you know, thought leader kind of, I guess, network effect.

unknown 44:05

Women leading the way.

SPEAKER_01 44:07

Yeah, I really love that. It's so real. When women feel safe in the room, they don't just stay, they start showing up as leaders, and then you know, they bring other women and it dance. So that's like the real network effect on real life. Okay, before we wrap, let's do a quick fun segment called Traffic Light. Just a little life check-in. The idea is quite simple. It's like driving. So green means start something new, yellow means keep going, and red means pause, or do less. I'll ask you three quick questions and you have to answer them without thinking. Let's do it. So, Brin Light, tell us what's the one thing you want to start doing this year.

SPEAKER_00 44:56

What do I want to start doing for this new year? Oh gosh. I guess the newest root newest habit that I'm trying to do is every morning when I wake up doing 20 minutes of dieted meditation and breath work. That's the new thing that I'm trying to do this year.

SPEAKER_01 45:14

Love that I actually meditate too. And I've been thinking about doing it with you know, this kind of things when you sit in silence, meditate, clear mind. I feel like it's very cool. 20 minutes in the morning is such a good reset and start in the practice. I absolutely adore this. So let's move to yellow line. What's something you want to keep doing?

SPEAKER_00 45:38

Uh, educating people and helping people learn about crypto and blockchain.

SPEAKER_01 45:43

That's so you and that's really working. So moving to the red light, what's one thing you want to do last of this year? Something you're ready to simplify.

SPEAKER_00 45:55

Um, gosh, I don't I don't know to be honest. Something I want to leave behind. I don't know. I think that that question is too deep to answer on the spot.

SPEAKER_01 46:04

Yeah, I feel you. So no need to invent anything.

SPEAKER_00 46:08

Maybe we'll just say the the bear market. We can leave the bear market behind. I'm ready for a green market.

SPEAKER_01 46:15

I love that actually. So let's claim like the smoke green market energy this year. Danielle, thank you so much. This conversation was such a good reminder that leadership doesn't always start with a perfect plan. A lot of the time it starts with just curiosity, courage, and community. So before we go, where is the best place for people to find you and follow your work? Let us know.

SPEAKER_00 46:42

Uh, well, the best thing, uh, if you want to reach out to me, Danielle Marie on LinkedIn is probably the best platform to get to me uh on socials um or go to our evolve her website. Uh, it is a bit of a bit of a unique spelling, but we will also be launching um our uh Learn and Earn um well, it's Project Laptop, Web3 Business in a Box. That will be all happening towards the end of the year. So anybody that's interested in learning more about how you can get involved and start learning about the Web3 ecosystem and different ways that you can participate and earn tokens and learn how you can potentially generate revenue uh from you know having a Web3 business. Uh, just follow along, join us. We we do lots of online webinars, reach out to us, we're here to help you. Join the education hub, it's all free.

SPEAKER_01 47:38

Perfect. We'll put all your links in the show notes so everyone can find you easily. Thank you so much. And to everyone listening, if this episode resonates with you, share it with the woman who needs to hear it. For more stories and updates, visit womenlead.co.uk and follow us on our LinkedIn page. So this was Women Leading the Way by Dorfa Combs. Thanks for listening and see you in the next episode. And don't forget, women don't just follow the way, they lead it.

SPEAKER_00 48:07

Women leading the way. Available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube.