Episode 68: Women, Jobs, and the Next Iteration of the Internet w/ Lauren Ingram
GUEST:
Lauren Ingram is the Founder of Women of Web3, a community helping women make the leap into the world of Web 3.0 through job opportunities, learning resources and connections. She is a marketing leader with experience in agencies and tech companies including Meta, where she was responsible for Meta’s multimillion dollar program for female entrepreneurs, #SheMeansBusiness. As a consultant, Lauren helps businesses to win in Web3 by demystifying the opportunities in this burgeoning space. Lauren also hosts the Women of Web3 Podcast where each week she interviews a different incredible woman making moves in Web3.
“We want to get women into Web3 but we also want to make sure it’s good when they get there.”
THE EPISODE:
Join Lauren Ingram and host Ashley Smith as they delve into the world of web3 innovation and emerging technologies, opening the doors for a diverse audience, with a special focus on empowering women in this dynamic space. Lauren passionately shares the importance of this mission and offers unique insights. Discover how women in the UK are uniting through "Women of Web3" initiatives, networking, learning, and forging new career paths in digital transformation and blockchain startups. With a staggering gender gap in web3 job applications, Lauren emphasizes that most professional skills are transferable, and breaking down the jargon and demystifying the tech is key for many women to feel comfortable entering the space. Listen in as Lauren and Ashley explore topics like the metaverse, the game-changing potential of Apple Vision Pro, the current web3 job market, and their journeys as new moms navigating the web3 landscape. Don't miss this high-level conversation on why embracing tech matters, regardless of your background or experience.
LINKS + RESOURCES
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LINKS + RESOURCES |
GUEST: Lauren Ingram
LinkedIn
Instagram
Twitter
GUEST COMPANY: Women of Web3
Website
Instagram
Twitter
Podcast - Apple
Podcast - Spotify
EPISODE LINKS & RESOURCES:
PEOPLE + PLACES + TERMS
Who is a16z? - LEARN MORE
a16z opens London location - ARTICLE
Zebu Live - LEARN MORE (London Web3 conference)
What is a POAP? - LEARN MORE | ARTICLE
Apple Vision Pro - LEARN MORE
FURTHER LISTENING
Women of Web3 - APPLE | SPOTIFY (ft: Cathy Hackl)
Women of Web3 - APPLE | SPOTIFY (ft: Nicola Mendelsohn)
Women of Web3 - APPLE | SPOTIFY (ft: Cortnie Abercrombie)
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*NOTE: The transcript below does not include opening teaser and intro in time stamps. Begins at beginning of the interview… powered by AI (so may not be 100% accurate).
Ashley Smith (00:01.228)
Hello everybody and welcome back to From the Blockchain. I am so excited for today's episode and our very special guest. Today I'm gonna be speaking with Lauren Ingram. She is the founder of Women of Web3, a community helping women make the leap into the world of Web3 through job opportunities, learning resources and connections. If you don't already know Lauren, she's a marketing leader with experience in agencies and tech companies including Meta, where she was responsible for Meta's multi-million dollar program for female entrepreneurs, She Means Business. As a consultant, Lauren helps businesses to win in Web3 by demystifying the opportunities in this burgeoning space. Lauren also hosts the Women of Web3 podcast, where each week she interviews a different incredible woman making moves in Web3, which is a podcast that I love and I listen to regularly and I find it very, very informative. So Lauren, thank you for everything that you do and welcome to the show.
Lauren (00:58.786)
Thank you so much for the kind words. That's really kind.
Ashley Smith (00:59.124)
How are you? How are you doing today? I appreciate by the way you connecting with me. I know we're on different time zones. Why don't you tell the audience a little bit about who you are and where you come from beyond your bio.
Lauren (01:12.478)
Of course, yeah. So, so yeah, I'm based in London. Um, so it's, uh, it's, it's late where I am and I think early where you are. And, uh, so I've, I've got about, um, uh, 10, 12 years experience across anything digital, so whether it's like digital agencies or little tiny tech startups all the way up to somewhere massive like Metta. Um, I think I've always been fascinated with the internet. Um, and I think I'm just starting to realize that more.
Ashley Smith (01:20.5)
Early-ish, not that early anymore.
Lauren (01:41.714)
as an adult and also the longer I spend in web3 I'm like, oh, it's because I'm obsessed with internet culture that I've ended up here. It was in a way no surprise. And alongside that have been kind of obsessed with all things. I guess, yeah, women's networks and communities and community more generally, but also, you know, women helping women has been a big driver for me. So, you know, I worked on that as my day job at Metta, which I loved and now I get to do it as my own job.
Ashley Smith (01:48.438)
Yeah.
Lauren (02:10.762)
because I made a job myself. So yeah, very pleased to be where I am.
Ashley Smith (02:16.624)
Why don't you tell me a little bit about how you discovered blockchain technology in Web3?
Lauren (02:24.298)
Of course. Yeah. I mean, initially I didn't know it was even called web three. I was like, I was like, there's this thing called NFTs and there's this thing called the metaverse. And I did actually also know about blockchain from years ago, when I did PR for some tech startups, one of them was a blockchain startup. And I was reading like these like lengthy white papers about what blockchain is, why it's quite so revolutionary and having to sort of communicate that to tech journalists and sort of explain why it's so exciting. And I just couldn't really get on board with it at the time. I was just like,
Ashley Smith (02:28.298)
Mm-hmm.
Lauren (02:55.23)
it was too kind of sort of security or financially driven. I just I couldn't get my head around it. And being from a slightly more creative background, I was like, I don't really get the consumer use case. I was so excited about it. So slightly regret the whole ignoring Bitcoin when I knew all about it. And like this was like 2014, 2015. And I was like, not for me. So, you know, hashtag. Yeah, yeah, I mean.
Ashley Smith (03:15.424)
Yeah. Common story, though, unfortunately. Yeah.
Lauren (03:22.854)
Maybe I'd be living quite a different life by now. But, so yeah, back then, I think I was more interested in the sort of consumer tech of what's a cool app I can use that's more fun, like great UX, that kind of thing. I think that was pretty more my interest at the time. And actually, I still feel like we need some better UX in Web3. But, so coming around to it, second time around.
Ashley Smith (03:25.561)
I'm sorry.
Ashley Smith (03:45.431)
Yes.
Lauren (03:49.482)
was kind of late 2020, early 2021? No, so I'm gonna get my ears confused because I feel like Web3 is dog ears. It definitely passes, it passes differently. Also apologies if you can hear some cat yowling in the background, I think I'm under siege. So, so finally at the second time around, I think in 2021, it was NFTs that kind of made blockchain make sense to me.
Ashley Smith (04:01.068)
Absolutely.
Ashley Smith (04:06.084)
Oh, can't at all. It's all good. It's all good, though. Yeah.
Lauren (04:18.966)
that was like, okay, like a sort of ownable piece of the internet, so like our digital belongings, okay, that I can sort of get on board with of like, why would people care? And the idea of a kind of, so like a sort of collectible piece of art, something like that, that really spoke to me. Maybe it spoke to my kind of inner beanie baby collecting self, I don't know, but I did also own Pogs, I don't know, those are big in North America as well.
Ashley Smith (04:41.008)
They were definitely part of my generation and it's something I've brought up to some of the younger folks in the Web3 space and they don't know what it is. I've had to introduce it so I feel you.
Lauren (04:47.574)
Ha ha!
Lauren (04:51.102)
Okay, okay, good, okay, I'm not alone. So, and yeah, I guess it sort of brought back all those feelings. It's like, yeah, it's community, it's collecting stuff together, it's the shared success feeling. And then when you sort of add women into the mix, it was like, oh, there's not too many of us. So let's do what we can to kind of create an environment where women do feel like super welcome and part of that. And actually, I think once you do speak the lingo, you're much more welcomed in Web3, but if you are a brand new...
Ashley Smith (05:09.43)
Yeah.
Lauren (05:20.79)
you know, the total newbie in web three, just the, yeah, just the amount of jargon, which is still the case now. I think it just gives people the overwhelm. I do sometimes get messages from people saying like, yeah, I'm completely overwhelmed. Like, where do I even start? So, yeah, it's a common story.
Ashley Smith (05:35.358)
So, what answer do you give people when they ask you that? Where should they start?
Lauren (05:40.07)
where should they start? I mean it sounds self-interested but I do want to direct people towards the podcast, the Women of Web3 podcast, because... Are you serious? Cat's going mad. I think I'm going to have to lock her out. Is that all right?
Ashley Smith (05:57.028)
Oh for sure, I'm gonna mark the clip, don't worry I'll cut it out. It's all good. Yeah, no worries.
Lauren (05:59.694)
Sorry. I don't know if you have pets, but she's like.
Ashley Smith (06:09.828)
I have a dog, I've done the same thing on the show as the host, and I've done it even... I had my baby unexpectedly one time who was just wailing in half the episode, so all good. We do what we can. LAUGHS
Lauren (06:19.818)
Oh my god. Also apologies in advance. I don't know at what point Remy is going to be like returning to the household and will want mama. So there might also be a brief interlude there, I'm sorry. But yeah, sorry. I'm good to go now. Having said that, I can't remember what I was talking about.
Ashley Smith (06:30.903)
Yeah, no problem.
Ashley Smith (06:35.744)
That's okay. So I asked, you mentioned that when people ask where to start, you guide them to the podcast.
Lauren (06:44.21)
Yes, so it might sound a bit self-interested to direct people to the Women of Web3 podcast, but I think especially newbies, it's really helpful just to sort of binge listen to stuff so you can kind of like get used to hearing people talk about Web3. And we've been very, very clear about wanting to kind of break down jargons. So even start with like a jargon buster at the start of every episode of just like, you know, even what do we mean by something like floor price or bear
Um, you don't actually hear people talk about those things that you had to do. So just like keep Googling until you hit upon your answers. So, um, but yeah, not even, not even my own podcast, just, uh, I do think podcasts are a really helpful way of demystifying this whole area, because when you read about it written down, whether it's like in a tweet or elsewhere, it, it doesn't always quite click. Um, and as soon as you start talking to people about web three or, you know, listening to other people talk about it.
it starts to make more and more sense gradually. There's a sort of like, you know, little 2% increase each time you start ingesting this information.
Ashley Smith (07:48.394)
And so why do you think it's important for women in general to learn about this technology and what's happening in the space?
Lauren (07:56.342)
Well, I feel like everybody should access this information and learn about it because it does feel like, you know, everything is going this direction, despite any kind of fud about the space that is in this wider media. And I genuinely think that women risk being left behind in what comes next. So it's actually really important to educate women and sort of say, hey, there's this thing coming like the sort of the train is leaving the station. And
We want everybody to be part of that because everybody needs to play a role in building what comes next in the internet, otherwise it's not going to be for them if they're not involved in making those quite key decisions. So I think that's kind of what drives me is that, you know, I find Web3 as exciting as an individual and I love that shared excitement with the community, but it does run deeper than that for me of like, I don't want women to be left behind in this.
Ashley Smith (08:53.676)
I think we have a shared mission and purpose in that and I really appreciate it. And I think, you know, the narrative around Web3 has been so intertwined with cryptocurrency and market speculation over the last couple of years. And I actually put out a little silly TikTok video today or yesterday about onboarding because onboarding is a theme and something we've talked about a lot, especially when we talk about women.
Ashley Smith (09:22.78)
Onboarding, yes, is important, but I'm thinking, especially with women, it's not just about onboarding people to become consumers of this type of technology, it's about bringing them in and understanding because it's very likely gonna impact their career pathways and how they can add value to their organizations, that sort of a thing. Is there anything that you can add to that from your perspective, any sort of anecdotes, people you've spoken with who've maybe...
taken to learn some of this information and it's benefited them professionally.
Lauren (09:58.382)
Well, I just think it's quite a helpful distinction what you're saying about onboarding people from a consumer point of view versus like, really fully onboarding them of like, hey, actually come and join this, come and build this stuff with us. Because, you know, that is quite a quite a big leap. And with Women of Web3, we are trying to do both of those things is that as a sort of base level, we would love people to understand it as a consumer and we start to feel confident with sort of doing quite, you know, basic blockchain transactions and
Ashley Smith (10:10.014)
Mm-hmm.
Lauren (10:26.242)
whether it's buying NFTs or buying some crypto and owning their own digital assets. Great. And then we also have a jobs board and a talent collective to actually get people working in this space because we are still actually quite severely underrepresented when you look at who works in the space. I do think there is still a little bit of a sort of, yeah, cultural issue of like women feeling very, it feels very obvious that they're in the minority when they're actually working in say like a DeFi startup or...
crypto exchanges, anything like that. It is very male and I think it's quite a macho culture, even sometimes that men sometimes have to also kind of be hyper masculine. There's a sort of element of bravado in all things like Web3 and crypto. But we are seeing, we're starting to see more and more success stories of people coming to us and saying like, hey, thanks to
know, listen to your podcast and come into your events, I now actually work in this space. So somebody came up to me at the co-working space that I work at in London and she was like, she's like, oh, are you Lauren Ingram? I came to one of your events last year and now I work for someone that you interviewed on the podcast. So, you know, that's a success story. And yeah, they just made me really happy hearing that there was something that really resonated with her and, you know, with, you know, broader people. And it's actually...
Ashley Smith (11:40.161)
Mm-hmm.
Lauren (11:52.142)
she's actually changed career path off the back of that, that's pretty significant.
Ashley Smith (11:55.904)
Mm-hmm. So I wonder, clearly people have taken interest, especially if they're diving into, say, something new, right? So there's a learning curve to understand what all of this means. What sorts of professional or job opportunities are you finding are becoming available and maybe of interest that people, you know, who haven't taken the time to understand this tech might be interested in and realize they...
probably can bring value to. Are there any specific areas that are top of mind?
Lauren (12:28.902)
Ooh, that's a good question. Something that I tend to mention to people if they are new to this space is that web3 startups need the same functions, the same roles as other, you know, typical startups and other companies. So all the kind of, you know, whether it's a back office or marketing or, you know, the financial side of things, obviously you do need to kind of start getting on board with the jargon and the product, but actually
It doesn't necessarily need to be a totally new role as well as entering a new industry. So you might be able to just basically do what you already do in this new field, but you'd probably need to kind of learn the language in order to operate in it successfully or kind of get off the ground quickly.
Ashley Smith (13:12.324)
I do think people need to, the women in particular, I think are cautious about making mistakes and taking the leap and taking the risk and kind of learning. I don't want to say learning as you go. I think women do that naturally, actually. But they want to present themselves as best they can and they want to do a good job. And I do find that as a gap. And I'd love to see more.
I've looked for support previously to help me with some of my social content even related to the podcast and people do need to lean in to be able to help. It's a fine line if you start talking about crypto type stuff for example, in the wrong way you want to be very thoughtful about how you do that so you're not putting your audience at risk for example. So that's that there's a need there 100%.
Lauren (14:07.762)
Yeah, well, I mean, just building on that, I think what we're hearing from women in our community is they want to know enough in inverted commas, like, you know, I want to feel that I know enough before I do anything, whether it's applying for a job or just, you know, sort of buying something using crypto, anything like that. They just kind of, they had this sort of minimum amount in their head of like, oh, I just need to like fully understand it before I even touch that.
Ashley Smith (14:18.432)
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
Ashley Smith (14:34.52)
Mm-hmm.
Lauren (14:34.934)
I think that's why we'll gravitate to things like podcast is the kind of ability to just kind of get under the skin of the things without actually having to, you know, transact or spend or, um, I mean, just as a side note, we sometimes talk about women of web three as being a bit of a sort of web two community that learns about web three that, um, you know, we are, we are not kind of natively, we're not, we're not based on the blockchain. You don't need an NFT, but you also don't need a crypto wallet to sit with us. It's something that we talk about. So I think.
beginners find that really reassuring of like, you know, no stupid questions, that kind of thing. But, but yeah, we definitely keep hearing from women that like, they're not going to apply for these jobs, because they're like, Oh, but I don't know enough yet. But actually, we're hearing from recruiters that actually they're getting anywhere from sort of one to 5% female applicants for jobs, which is pretty wild. So something that still needs definitely addressing.
Ashley Smith (15:17.781)
Mm-hmm.
Ashley Smith (15:31.742)
That's astonishingly low. So when you're referring to women of Web3, your company and your community, what types of things are you doing to connect your community? How is your community coming together? Can you give us an idea?
Lauren (15:48.446)
Yeah, of course. So we're not on Discord and that was because we kept hearing from our community that they find it also overwhelming, just like the notification overwhelmed. So it wasn't for them. And so I was also a little bit relieved. Because it's a lot, right?
Ashley Smith (16:01.352)
Yes, it's a lot. I fully support, so I'd love to know more. What did you find is an appropriate alternative?
Lauren (16:11.086)
Um, well, I don't know if we've got, I don't know if we're there yet in terms of a sort of a sensible communication alternative. Um, it's, it's all quite so disparate. There are sort of, you know, various like WhatsApp groups, the in-person events are, um, are a big one for us. So those so far have been in London, the in-person events, but, um, with a view to expanding that, like we're talking about doing one in Dublin, potentially stuff in the U S. Um, and, uh, and, but people seem to get a lot of value out of meeting in person. I think.
Ashley Smith (16:16.632)
Mm-hmm.
Ashley Smith (16:24.856)
Mm-hmm.
Lauren (16:41.006)
That's true of Web3 more broadly anyway. I think there is a sort of certain excitement in coming together of like, because Web3 is still a little bit niche, as much as we live and breathe it every day, when you start speaking to anyone else about it, they're like, what are you talking about? Is this even a thing? And so it's exciting getting people in a room together that do care about this stuff. And then as soon as women are in the majority rather than minority, that's also quite an exciting moment. And they're...
Ashley Smith (16:56.264)
Yeah, yeah, yes.
Lauren (17:08.726)
does end up with sort of a buzz in the room. Like our International Women's Day event, I thought that we wouldn't get enough people, not enough, but like I thought there'd be a big drop off in terms of who turns up on the day, because for a free event, you might typically get like 50% dropout rate, is quite like having organized events for like corporate side of things for a number of years. And on the day of International Women's Day, it was also snowing only a tiny bit, but like London cannot handle snow. Just like complete.
Ashley Smith (17:25.613)
Mm-hmm.
Ashley Smith (17:37.44)
Same as Vancouver. Oh yeah. Not on the West Coast. Everything shuts down. Yeah.
Lauren (17:39.47)
No way! Like, I thought Canadians know how to handle this stuff.
Lauren (17:46.066)
Okay, okay, so yeah, we're useless on this. And so as well as like an inch of snow, there was also a fire on one of the like tube lines, which is also unusual. And so when we were setting up, I said to like the event production guys, I was like, maybe just like put some chairs away because like we are not gonna fill this room. And actually, as it turns out, we had to put all the chairs back and there was kind of, I think 120 people, which yeah, in London in the snow is a big feat.
Ashley Smith (18:14.444)
That's wonderful. Where do you think the enthusiasm comes from for the people in your community? Like what's really driving them to make sure they show up?
Lauren (18:20.62)
Oh.
Ooh, I think it's a combination of things. It is that sort of in-person connection with others and that ability to learn together. I think they find it sort of reassuring and exciting. And then there's, there is of course, the kind of the Web3 excitement more generally. I don't know about you, but I feel like I'm in the last, I don't know, couple of years, I feel like I'm like addicted to learning, like not even exclusively about Web3, but like I've taken the same approach, whether it's sort of learning about blockchain or.
about podcasting. I had been a podcaster on and off for like, actually about five years now, but just never taken it as seriously in terms of like doing like massive like deep dives as to like how to make it better. I listened to podcasts about how to make podcasts and yeah, and like, and I think I like that Inward 3 every day is a school day and that I think that's the same for the community. There's this kind of, it's a thirst of like, give me more of that.
Ashley Smith (19:06.676)
Yes, same.
Lauren (19:22.086)
And it's, yeah, that's part of the thrill, right? Of like being amongst other people that have kind of caught that bug, that they also have that hunger for more.
Ashley Smith (19:25.642)
Mm-hmm.
Ashley Smith (19:28.951)
Yeah.
I love that. And I do have to ask since you're based in London, and you're looking expanding throughout Europe and perhaps in the United States, I'd love to know just a little bit about the environment there. I mean, I do feel generally that at least for the first year that I was spending time learning about this technology, everything felt very
Lauren (19:36.43)
Mm.
Ashley Smith (19:57.428)
concentric and there were little hubs kind of starting to develop and you could see people coming together but I'd love to know a bit more about what you're seeing in your neck of the woods.
Lauren (20:09.866)
Yeah, I totally recognize that about everything being very US centric. That was also a good part of my motivation for starting something is that, um, when I started women of Red Free, I noticed there were other kind of women's groups, often NFT focused, but women's groups in whatever sense popping up. And they did seem to be based in the US. And I was like, well, then yeah, we're not as of direct competitor really, because A, you don't need a crypto wallet to access any of this stuff, but also, um, it doesn't seem to be a European equivalent.
And you're right that now things are developing, building out a bit more. It definitely feels like we are a couple of steps behind the U S as sort of UK and Europe. Um, and, um, yeah, I suppose, I suppose I would love to see the environment, the sort of work through ecosystem build out a bit more and like, you know, I think we've, all of it's got a bit of, bit of growing up to do, but I know I'd love to see more funding, et cetera. I think.
we are going to see a bit of a boost with things like A16Z are opening a, an office in the next couple of months in London. So there's like a few good signals like that, that actually, yeah, this space is growing up here. Yeah, there are quite a few other sort of communities and groups that I'm part of here in London. I'm trying to think what else is sort of significant. I suppose sometimes the kind of events and conferences, it's also kind of a good marker of how well or not the
ecosystem is doing. And so there's this massive conference called Zebu Live taking place in early October in London. And that's part of something they've created called London Web 3 Week. And I feel like, yes, that's a kind of marker of like, hey, we're here, there's stuff going on. And I don't know if this is the same in Vancouver or elsewhere, but I do find that in some Web 3 events, that probably includes something like this, you get a mix of like, there's the kind of, you know, I guess sort of
Bitcoin Maxis that did meet a couple of crypto bros at last year's conference, but proper crypto bros. But you also were starting to see more serious marketers or people that have a real business interest in helping this space grow up rather than just a passing interest. And yeah, that's quite, I suppose, yeah, but it's pretty encouraging and it feels good.
Lauren (22:34.058)
even just being able to talk to more people about it and what you're talking about makes sense to them or resonates with them, that kind of thing. So, I mean, also just briefly, I think you're probably also asking, is there the same level of, I suppose, negativity around some of this stuff?
Ashley Smith (22:50.472)
You know, I think I'm just loving to know how the interest in the tech in and of itself is maturing. You know what I mean? And again, especially beyond the negativity, like beyond the crypto speculation and the marketplace. Because that's really where, you know, companies and brands and organizations are going to start incorporating the technology into.
Lauren (23:00.296)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Lauren (23:18.37)
Mm.
Ashley Smith (23:19.072)
their operations and different things that they're doing. And it probably takes some company leaders, corporate leaders, entrepreneurs to be at least active enough in this kind of niche ecosystem to then bring the ideas and innovation back to whatever it is that they're doing. So it's good to know where things are and especially after the last couple of years where there was so much excitement.
everyone wanted to know, everyone wanted to participate. And yes, because of the learning, yes, because of the money, but people were just partying. Like, you know, there was just a lot of fun being had. I want to make sure we get back to some of your networking stuff. But since we're talking about the hype of the last couple years and the slide, I'd love to know your thoughts on that this 2023 looking forward towards 2024.
Lauren (23:56.843)
Yep.
Ashley Smith (24:17.532)
after the hype, like what's important to you when you're thinking about web3?
Lauren (24:22.826)
Ooh, that's a great question. What's important to me? Um, uh, I think I'm going to have to sort of work out my answer as we chat about it, because I suppose when we, when we talk about that hype and sort of, um, looking beyond that of if we're in that sort of trough of disillusionment on Gartner's hype cycle of like, you know, there's a sort of massive peak of interest in this technology, then sort of come crashing back down, um, for, for quite a lot of these blockchain based technologies. Um, but
Ashley Smith (24:30.637)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Lauren (24:50.014)
inevitably we will also see a sort of wider uptake and I do genuinely still believe things like NFTs or PO apps, anything like that, are going to become much more normal. And that's not to say everyone's going to use NFTs all the time and always call them NFTs, anything like that. It's just going to become sort of part of our digital architecture of our day to day. And in the same way as it's like not a big deal now to just like use social media, we don't sort of like announce like
hey, I'm using like web 2.0 technology today. I'm like sending a tweet or, you know, posting on X and stuff like that. It's just, it's normal. It's things that we use every day. In the same way as we still use web one technology is like websites that haven't sort of dropped off completely. And web three is gonna be in addition to that. It's not gonna replace everything that came before it in the same way as our understanding of the metaverse doesn't sort of just replace anything else, you know, two dimensional, anything like that. So,
I suppose also the one of the things I'm excited about from a guest from a business point of view, because that's one of the ways we monetize Women of Web3 is like whether it's brand partnerships or going and doing things like workshops for companies to sort of better understand this space, is that yes, while there is a sort of a drop off while the hype has died down, there are still
Ashley Smith (26:06.389)
Mm-hmm.
Lauren (26:18.978)
And also, you know, it's partly the maybe that they've started investing already. So they're not just going to be fickle and say, Oh, well, the hype's not around today. So we can drop that project completely. Um, because yeah, that we, that we managed to do that, um, to just be quite so, um, to chop and change so quite so dramatically that is how you lose, right? That's, um, uh, yeah, that that's how you lose. So, um, I'm excited for the kind of things are starting to be like,
announced or released or worked on at the moment and you start to see more brands bring out quite cool activations and you're right, it's less speculative and I think it needs to be in order for more people to be interested. And yeah, I feel quite excited for what comes next. So I don't think, I definitely lose people over something like this, but I'm not a kind of weird three at all costs. I don't think that it's...
Ashley Smith (26:58.124)
Mm-hmm.
Lauren (27:14.698)
the be all and end all and everything else is shit, which is sometimes what it can feel like in some of the, like the narrative around this stuff.
Ashley Smith (27:17.344)
Mm hmm. 100% I think that that's the key thing I think about this is removing that romanticism and idealism around all of it. I can appreciate why some folks have that enthusiasm. But I think if we're looking at real life, like, I don't mean adoption in terms of like
what you buy and whatever, but if we really want people to see the value and what this technology can do, we can't be talking like, romantic about the rules. There's no rules. It's new technology. It is.
Lauren (27:53.81)
Yeah, it's like a cult, right? We're gonna like, we'll either induct people into the cult or it's a massive turn off and they kind of go, what is this weird cult? I'm not in. I'm not interested.
Ashley Smith (28:03.287)
Yeah.
Ashley Smith (28:06.564)
Yes. Are you able to share the types of conversations you have when you're speaking to companies who are wanting to learn more? Like what are their big biggest questions or hang ups or challenges or goals? Any any highlights of those types of talks that you're having?
Lauren (28:24.926)
Also a great question. No wonder you are a podcaster. You're great at this. I'm trying to think what sort of the common refrain is. There's probably a bit less of the broader demystification piece. If maybe much of last year and some of this year I was being sort of rolled out, sort of being wheeled out as the kind of like, Lauren's going to explain what we're three years now of like...
welcome, like what does metaverse mean? What do all these different technologies mean and how do they fit together in like a broader ecosystem? I'm still doing some of that or we're still doing some of that. But now it's also about the kind of, okay, what are our competitors doing? Yeah, should we sort of pull away from this stuff? Should AI, generative AI, so replace all of these efforts or even sometimes it even comes down to the sort of naming of stuff of like, oh, should we even stop calling it Web3 and start just calling it emerging tech?
Ashley Smith (29:18.304)
Mm-hmm.
Lauren (29:18.494)
There definitely is a sort of nervousness around the word Web3 or the name Web3 because of it being associated with that sort of quite speculative nature. So yeah, I think I've struggled with that of like, I sometimes feel like, should I be embarrassed to talk about Web3? And I'm like, no, this is literally what I work in. I'm not going to try and obfuscate that. But yeah, definitely attitudes have changed. We also do occasionally get the like...
slightly gleeful question of like, well, you know, hasn't AI basically got rid of the whole web three conversation? I'm like, no. Yeah, exactly.
Ashley Smith (29:57.848)
They're not mutually exclusive. Yes, it's a funny thing. It's a paradigm thing and it also shows where like the hype cycle is and where maybe quote unquote influencers, how they're spending their time talking about things just to get people to follow them and be excited about something, if that makes sense. I don't know. It's, to me, I don't know about you. You've had some really interesting conversations. I know you had a recent episode around AI.
Lauren (30:18.23)
Mmm.
Ashley Smith (30:27.008)
But I just feel like artificial intelligence is going to help enable advancements with blockchain technology. And I also think blockchain technology is going to help solve some of the problems that artificial intelligence might bring, such as like deepfakes or people misrepresenting things or like, how can you ensure validity or proof of like, like verifying
Lauren (30:34.082)
Mm.
Ashley Smith (30:53.74)
people or their content, et cetera. I think there's an interesting solution there on chain. I'm not a technologist, though I'm waiting for other people to invent those things. Ha ha ha.
Lauren (31:01.294)
I mean, same, same. But I think they are symbiotic. Like they have an impact on each other. And I'm also quite excited for that. Even AI tools, generative AI tools are really helping small startups scale much faster than otherwise. In the same way as 10 years ago, being able to have your own social media channels was like having your own billboards and that kind of thing. And you could grow a following in quite a unique way compared to some big competitor brands. And yeah, Web3 is...
Ashley Smith (31:07.245)
Mm-hmm.
Lauren (31:30.706)
is presenting, Web3 and AI is presenting a similar possibility. So, yeah, I feel excited for it. I'm like, I would actually sometimes lump in AI with Web3. I know it's not like, it's not decentralized and it's not like, yeah, for the purists, it's not, but it is part of the next major iteration of the internet is like, we are experiencing such a big change in terms of how we interact online and what we can do with like the internet that...
Yeah, but you're right, they're not mutually exclusive. And I suppose that's part of what I'm excited about all of it. I do also, I suppose one of the reasons I lump it in is because people look to me or to us for demystifying and making sense of this space. They would sort of, if you are new to this space, all of it is just kind of jargon. So you kind of like chat GPT, metaverse, da da, and you're just kind of like, what's all the stuff? Tell me the stuff. And so I do find it helpful to kind of...
Ashley Smith (32:26.114)
Mm-hmm.
Lauren (32:29.573)
make sense of it that way.
Ashley Smith (32:30.952)
I agree. I think, again, this romanticism of how things need to be and what they need to be called, it's just, we're moving past that. And to me, it is about digital transformation generally, at least from a corporate standpoint, like what are they wanting to do? I mean, that might look different from the consumer end or different types of entities, but I think folks ought to be thinking about how are they using this tech to enable their objectives and reach their goals.
Lauren (32:38.469)
Hehehe
Lauren (32:45.176)
Mm-hmm.
Ashley Smith (32:59.688)
I love that. I feel metaverse is something that I don't really spend much time thinking about on the spectrum of a lot of these things and for no reason other than I'm just kind of a squirrel, I'm kind of everywhere and metaverse, my limited experience has been not awesome with it. I know it's going to get there and I know people, again, speaking about definitions, have very different definitions about metaverse.
Just generally to me, I think, especially from say a business standpoint, or even a consumer and entertainment standpoint, it's, it's about just that immersive experience that is coming. Right now we have early adopters who are playing around and some of it's great and some of it's clunky. But I'd love to know any sort of thoughts you have on the metaverse, especially looking, say, I know,
Lauren (33:39.158)
Mm-hmm.
Ashley Smith (33:55.36)
You can't talk about five years out anymore. It's just too far. But maybe over the next several years, do you have any big hopes and dreams that you're looking to see in the metaverse and maybe anything based on discussions you've had with your guests?
Lauren (34:08.866)
Hmm. Yeah. It does feel like the, again, that the hype around Metaverse has dropped off a bit, but I still feel excited for it. And I'm super intrigued actually for the Apple Vision Pro. I think for me, that's going to be the game changer. It's not going to lead to kind of sudden mass adoption, but what I think it will lead to is just a different understanding of what we can do in an immersive way. I think a big...
Ashley Smith (34:24.204)
Me too.
Lauren (34:38.306)
driver for that is that it's is the UX the fact that it's users sort of you know iOS is going to feel normal to people who will know how to use an iPhone so it's not like you know currently if you have say a VR headset or other like hardware that everything has like a very different operating system to each other like I'm trying to examples I'm not like webcam but you know I mean like everything behaves differently depending what piece of hardware you've got and so
pair of goggles that feels as natural as using your iPhone. And actually is also a really beautiful experience, which I think is sometimes missing with some of the tech that's on offer today. I do think that's gonna be a game changer and people will want to sort of build more experiences in that space, you know, whether you call it metaverse or not. I think I probably would. I know Apple hasn't called it that, but that's because Facebook is trying to, well, you know, Metta is trying to own that name or that word. Like, actually to be honest, people that I am, you know,
If I speak to my family, they think that Meta owns the Metaverse. Um, but like, you know, there's, yeah, it's, and I'm like, Oh, hang on. Like, yeah, they'd basically like, Oh yeah, Mark Zuckerberg owns the Metaverse. And you're like, Oh, no, it's, no, it's, it's not that. So, um, so yeah, I think. Genuinely, I'm just looking at Apple as like, I want to see how this plays out. But I think, yeah, I think it'll probably be the next couple of years. It will start to be more normal to.
Ashley Smith (35:41.941)
That's interesting.
Lauren (36:04.106)
whether it's kind of VR or mixed reality, all this stuff is gonna start sort of converging and just being, just that the experiences will improve. So like, you know, think about, we've had Snapchat bunny ears for years now, that kind of level. And so it's like, what else are we doing with it? What else are we doing with this technology? Whether it's something like augmented reality where you're layering information on top of the real world. And...
Ashley Smith (36:14.59)
Mm-hmm.
Ashley Smith (36:21.18)
Yes. Yeah.
Lauren (36:32.422)
Yeah, I think even from a brand or consumer point of view, you are seeing more of like people layering imagery, etc. over the world in front of them rather than over themselves on the sort of selfie mode. And that's where that's starting to feel quite exciting of like, you know, you can sort of interact with playing a bowling or balls and things kind of coming over buildings in front of you using your phone or like, you know, opening a portal.
which you can see on your phone and that stuff does start feeling quite real. And yeah, again, I think all this technology will start feeling very normal very quickly and we won't remember what it was like when it didn't feel normal.
Ashley Smith (37:16.492)
It's funny, I'm surprised but I suppose not surprised by how much, I don't know if pushback is the right word, but criticism. There was a lot of criticism around these goggles when the announcement came out and I think that's an easy thing to do is to criticize something from afar not having A used it because clearly so many people wouldn't have used it. But recognizing, I believe that...
that this is just going to be like the first big, big next step. And so many people and companies, I think, are watching to see if it takes off and watching to see what might this mean, how can we use this tech to enhance what we're doing, et cetera. And I also think people are very judgmental on the
Lauren (37:47.586)
Mm.
Lauren (38:02.432)
Yeah.
Ashley Smith (38:08.248)
how do I say this? Because I hear it in my household a lot. My partner is not a big fan of like even web two, let alone web three, but this, you know, people not being outside enough, people not, you know, being immersed in real life enough. And what does that mean for the human psyche and for relationships and all of that? And I can appreciate some of those, you know, being thoughtful about that, but just kind of bringing it back to women in web three and diversity generally.
I just think women and people from multiple backgrounds need to be involved, like, in the, as these iterations continue to come out, because otherwise they won't be built the way we hope they will be for us. And I know, I always think about the metaverse only built by men, and I'm very scared of what that would look like.
Lauren (38:57.63)
Yeah, well exactly. I mean, you do, actually to be honest, I don't know the latest on this, but I do remember a couple of friends saying that they'd had to get like a special like extra bit of head strap or like some kind of customization of their VR headset because it's basically designed for men's heads and like wobbles too much on their head, like isn't designed for like, you know, a sort of petite woman, which I'm not a petite woman, I'm six foot one, but I'm with a massive head.
Ashley Smith (39:12.845)
Mm-hmm.
Ashley Smith (39:17.304)
Mm-hmm.
Lauren (39:29.427)
But, but yeah, this stuff is so important. They're like, yeah, all of this stuff should be for everyone. It should be designed by everyone, you know, with everybody in mind. And so yeah, I feel the same. I want to get everybody involved. And just briefly on that real life point, I think, I do think it's a sort of valid reservation about some of these things, but I also think there are some people that asked me about it. I guess people that are like less close to this stuff will.
might say something like, oh, but then, you know, aren't we just gonna be stuck in these screens all the time, like stuck in the metaverse kind of thing, and not interacting with real people. I'm like, look around you, like any given public place. If anyone's on their own, they're basically guaranteed to be looking at a phone screen. Like, in fact, I get suspicious of people that aren't. If like someone's standing in line for something and they're not looking at their phone, you're like, what's wrong with you? But like, but you know, we are very, very addicted to.
Ashley Smith (40:21.408)
Yeah. What are you about to do?
Lauren (40:26.154)
our screens into technology and the metaverse and any of this stuff is a sort of a natural additional step and but I don't think it's something to be afraid of.
Ashley Smith (40:39.008)
I would love to kind of come back to what you're working on a little bit with Women on Web 3 and this idea of networking and job opportunities. And I would just love to know a little bit more about how you facilitate, you know, job opportunities for women and what's important there? Like is it that they don't know where to find the jobs? They don't know who...
to connect to, like, what are you finding is most important in that process?
Lauren (41:14.106)
The really honest answer is actually that the job side of things is a bit quieter at the moment. It feels like there's kind of fewer vacancies around generally, and probably a little bit less interest in terms of women or people wanting to like pivot their career to go and work in Web3. But I do also think that's maybe reflective of what's going on in the wider jobs market. There's just like so much change and churn of like people are really falling out of love with their
Ashley Smith (41:25.248)
Mm-hmm.
Lauren (41:43.97)
jobs or everyone seems to want change. So I know that's been kind of off the back of the pandemic and then the kind of wider recession, I suppose we're feeling at the moment is that people are thinking about what's important to them, having a rethink about what their working life looks like, how their week is structured, that kind of thing. So when it comes to this of women of Web3 side of things, we have a talent collective. So we have a normal jobs board where companies can post jobs.
But we also have a talent collective where women can apply to part of that. Um, it's me that kind of vets people coming through. Um, I think there's probably a couple of hundred people on there and you can choose to be anonymous if you don't want your say employer to know that you're, or you could, or you can also actually mask yourself to, um, people logged in as that company, um, which is a useful little trick. Um, but, um, I think it's just kind of, yeah, wanting to get themselves in front of potential web three employers. I think that's.
And that's what we're three employers are finding helpful is, um, uh, seeing more women in one place. Um, yeah, I think there was definitely less appetite from both sides at the moment, but, um, but, you know, I suppose that feels okay. It's not all kind of main revenue driver. It's more like a, a natural. All these things fit together nicely of like, if you want to sort of come and learn this stuff of like, you know, come to our events, listen to the podcast.
come and absorb, come and connect with other people in this space, other women, but other people in this space. And then ultimately, yeah, start moving towards getting a job in this area or switch jobs with people that are already in the space and then looking for their next thing. We're hearing more and more of that actually, of like, whether they're either feeling a bit burned out or they might spend a year in like, you know, something quite crypto-focused and that's a year somewhere like that is a long time actually.
Ashley Smith (43:34.738)
Mm-hmm.
Lauren (43:35.21)
So might be looking for their kind of next opportunity. So I don't think that really entirely answers the question, but I think that the short answer is a little bit sporadic. It's a little bit all over the place. I think that's reflective of the wider jobs market.
Ashley Smith (43:42.356)
Yeah.
Ashley Smith (43:51.28)
Maybe we can speak for a minute or so about LinkedIn, just generally speaking, because I'm wondering if folks who are listening, if they're thinking about a career shift or getting more involved professionally. I just have to say, like, I should have been on LinkedIn, more present is a better word. I should have been more present on LinkedIn for the last few years and instead I was running around as a monkey on Twitter.
Lauren (44:17.442)
Ha ha ha!
Ashley Smith (44:17.604)
And it's, I have to just say, there's so many wonderful people and thought leaders and people posting really informative things. And it's an interesting tool to connect and just see what's going on out there on the professional landscape. And you're very active there. That's where I've kind of gotten to know a little bit more about you. Do you have anything to add, maybe just about that platform generally for folks who are wanting to expand professionally in this space?
Lauren (44:33.098)
Mm-hmm.
Lauren (44:47.182)
Sure, and I would agree with you, it's a great place to be kind of building, whether it's kind of your own presence or like just watching everything else going on. It's been an amazing place for opportunities. I feel like LinkedIn, I think it's partly the algorithm and partly how obviously people are using it. It has transformed in the last sort of two or three years, like it's, there was even like an article, I don't know if you saw it the other day, that was like, LinkedIn is officially cool now and you're like, hmm, that didn't go quite that far, but...
Ashley Smith (45:14.236)
Well, Snoop Dogg's on LinkedIn now. I think that's why.
Lauren (45:19.524)
Exactly. So it genuinely is a good place for like, properly building your network of like, I think there are quite a few people now that I have got to know on LinkedIn and then met them in person. I'm like, oh yeah, you're a real human. And like now we actually like properly connected now that I've met you in person. And I think it's a really, really valuable networking tool. I think that's also where people are getting interesting paid opportunities, whether it's
like an actual job offer or something freelance or kind of partnership opportunities, all this stuff's playing out on there. I'm starting to see more and more people actually just being quite, just stating what it is that they're looking for. Like somebody saying, actually this wasn't even like a blockchain related thing, it was somebody in a sort of parallel industry saying, I'm looking for my first board role. And you could see people sort of starting to reply or like, you know, her saying,
commenting on there being like, oh, you know, thanks for all the great messages I've been getting about this, that kind of thing of, it's a good place for like, you know, manifesting interesting opportunities. And it seems to work. And so actually, sorry, just briefly as well, last year I was selected by LinkedIn to be on their creator accelerator program. And that was super helpful. That was kind of, yeah, a whole bunch of us creators. So in ways I find it a tiny bit cringe that I'm basically like a sort of LinkedIn
Ashley Smith (46:18.584)
Mm-hmm.
Ashley Smith (46:22.359)
Yeah.
Ashley Smith (46:25.601)
Yeah.
Ashley Smith (46:43.329)
Mm-hmm.
Lauren (46:45.819)
When I'm at dinner parties, I'm like, oh, this is not cool. Maybe I need a little pin badge that says that, LinkedIn influencer. It was really helpful in terms of thinking about what do people want to hear from you? If I'd grown a bit of a following or whatever, or connections on there through posting, I suppose...
Ashley Smith (46:46.956)
Just own it, it's wonderful.
Lauren (47:10.43)
successes of like, oh, hey, I spoke at this thing, or like, I got this award or whatever. That's not necessarily what people want to read about. It's sort of nice, briefly, I think it is nice to share successes because you also want to celebrate other peoples, but not all the time. So it's sort of trying to make sure that your content is actually more useful. I think that's what people are starting to look to LinkedIn for. I try not to be too didactic.
Lauren (47:40.09)
sometimes it can be a little bit tiresome whether it's on LinkedIn or X. The kind of like blow-by-blow here's how to do some stuff. Just sometimes the tone, there'll be quite a lot of you know, tech bro tone of like here's like the only way to do this thing. I don't know, I feel like sometimes when I just, anything I, any of my social media feeds are open, it's like here's 20 ways that chat TPT has done, how you can action it right now and here's the right way to do it.
And it's also all written by chat GPT. So, yeah, I'd try and steer clear about being too informational, educational, but like some kind of happy medium. But I would definitely suggest to other people getting networking on there. And actually a random other fact, just thinking about the tech bros thing. I might see if I can find the message while we're still having a chat that I got a great message.
Ashley Smith (48:13.272)
Yeah.
Ashley Smith (48:23.337)
Mm-hmm.
Lauren (48:37.958)
from a friend saying that she'd just landed a new job offer in tech, sorry, in web three and said, thank you for your advice about what would a tech bro do? Because there've been so many things that she kind of either hadn't pursued or been sort of, she hadn't sort of taken up enough space when she was responding to this stuff. She was like, you know, asking permission things. And I was like, no, these other guys are not like asking permission, they're just sort of putting themselves out there and saying, hey, I'm great, come and get it.
And that even if it doesn't feel natural, you need to do a little bit of the same, because if, you know, these other people are doing it and getting opportunities that you're not, then you do need to some, to some extent, play their game.
Ashley Smith (49:18.644)
Yeah, for sure, for sure. I do want to add while I'm thinking about it for our audience, I do encourage you to check out LinkedIn and to follow people like Lauren. And I think once you start following a few people that are spending time talking about, you know, digital innovation, you start seeing the recommendations and the recommended posts and the things that you're following and that you're liking, for example. And that has really opened a huge...
window for me in terms of seeing what companies are actually building in this space, ones that I had no idea because they're not talking about it on Twitter or they're not in that vacuum. And so it has actually affirmed my belief in the tech because I'm actually seeing people who are working on it in real ways. And I don't feel like such a I don't know, I think there was a moment there I'm like, Oh, my God, did I spend all this time learning about this and it's all going away.
Lauren (49:51.661)
Mm-hmm.
Lauren (50:06.062)
Mmm.
Ashley Smith (50:16.892)
It's still happening. Again, a little anecdote. I saw that Lowe's hardware is using blockchain technology. I did a little post about that and that was something I would never have known if it weren't for LinkedIn because someone else had commented on it. So anyway, I'm going to move on from that topic, but I do encourage folks, if you're already there, just start finding some of the people that are discussing this in the space and they're probably going to see a lot of really neat things. And I think we'll also open up ideas if you are looking at.
Lauren (50:28.523)
Mm-hmm.
Lauren (50:41.188)
Mm.
Ashley Smith (50:45.868)
job opportunities, what companies you might be interested in working with. So moving on, I do want to ask you before we go, because we're both newish moms, and we are talking about women in Web3. I'd love to know, and this is mostly totally selfish, like, how are you figuring out how to balance all of this? I actually think that there's some neat opportunities here because it's so different. You can make what you want of this.
industry, but I'm thinking I'm needing some tips. How are you finding being a mom and a woman and with all the responsibilities and working and doing all the things you do?
Lauren (51:17.332)
Mm-hmm.
Lauren (51:25.99)
Yeah, I mean, it can be quite intense and also working with myself, my partner works for himself, it's just quite a lot of choreography of just like, oh god, like, you know, shared calendars and some of the stuff can be a bit boring, especially my partner hates all that kind of thing and I'm like, well, we have to do it otherwise who's going to pick up the child? Like, it just takes a lot of
Ashley Smith (51:34.656)
Yes, same.
Ashley Smith (51:46.94)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Lauren (51:55.526)
automating a lot of this stuff. In fact, someone I know in the Web3 space is thinking about creating an app that kind of just organises all the food side of things, of like just does all the kind of, here's all the ingredients you need based on, you know, like creating a sort of healthy set of meals for the week based on what each of the family member likes and dislikes, etc, and sort of helps you do the work. I do think working for myself, you're right, it's a big benefit and Web3 has some of that benefit in terms of...
It is an alternative to the kind of the norm. But I do also think it can lead to burnout if you're working full time in a Web3 job. It can be really quite intense. Like, you know, that's what we're hearing from some women in the community. In fact, sometimes I do feel worried that, you know, I've got a responsibility if we're suggesting people go and work in this stuff. Like, is it, you know, we want to get women into Web3 but we also want to make sure it's good when they get there.
because you don't want people burning out and sort of saying like, you know, that it's not a nice working environment. Um, so it's, I'd say it's, it's mixed. I think there's still work to do for sure. Um, I do think it's great that there's, there is definitely more flexibility, um, in this space and also working for yourself, both are true. Um, but there is probably also a little bit of a sort of competitive. Busyness maybe, um, in.
Ashley Smith (53:15.24)
Mm-hmm.
Lauren (53:17.338)
You could say that about any business, but maybe even more so because crypto never sleeps, like the markets don't sleep. So there is this kind of always on culture. So I would say, yeah, it's tricky. So I think actually one of the plus sides of being a parent is that it does, A, make you much better prioritizing of like, what actually needs doing or not, is that there's just lots of stuff that you're like, well, there's literally...
Ashley Smith (53:26.754)
Yes.
Lauren (53:43.938)
physically not enough hours in the day to do that. So it's not important enough to get done. So it's off the list, fine. But you also do care a bit less, I think, when you're a parent of like, if something that would, some of the things that got me really anxious in previous jobs about, you know, whether I got it done in time, anything like that. Again, you just kind of care less as a parent because you're like, no, there's bigger stuff in my life than whether or not that email is replied to. There's something I care about more. So that actually creates a really nice perspective. I mean, yeah.
Ashley Smith (54:06.968)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Lauren (54:13.582)
Small downside is that you often feel like you're failing a little bit at everything.
Ashley Smith (54:17.888)
But I think that's what women and moms do generally. They feel that way and they're always doing their best. So, you know, and I appreciate that. I think that for me, it's just nice to even be able to BS with other women who are going through it because it's sometimes hard to articulate and explain and people are wondering, why are you doing what you're doing in your real life? So, I appreciate the conversation and even just us being able to.
Lauren (54:21.439)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Lauren (54:33.908)
Yep.
Ashley Smith (54:46.7)
banter a little bit, it helps me feel less alone.
Lauren (54:48.043)
Yeah, for sure. I'm always happy to talk about the weird realities of being a mom in Web3 and I hope there wasn't too much toddler chaos that you can hear in the audio because I know there's chaos going on in the next room but I just don't know how much is coming through.
Ashley Smith (55:04.636)
No, it's good. It's life. And that's, you know, I think there's definitely more transparency in the culture, I think now, and authenticity in the culture. And so I think just recognizing like we're all just doing what we can. So I really appreciate that. I think given this, I could probably just talk to you forever. And it's Babylon. I've already sort of done that. But I want to we're going to have to close up the show. I really want.
Lauren (55:14.998)
Hmm.
Ashley Smith (55:33.34)
to hear from you a couple of things before we go. I want to know what are some of your favorite podcast episodes that you've recorded? Do you have one or two that you really love and love to refer to people?
Lauren (55:48.142)
Ooh, that's another great question. It kind of depends if people are brand new beginner, I quite often direct them to either Kathy Hackle or Nicola Mendelsohn, who's very senior at Meta. She's kind of one below the sort of Sheryl Sandberg level because I think both of them are really good at, well, not talking in jargon, they're not purely web three. And so actually they don't talk in the same quite so cult like way.
Ashley Smith (56:12.937)
Mm-hmm.
Lauren (56:17.014)
they talk in a way that absolutely anybody can understand because they need to, like that's what gets people excited and to wake up to this stuff. So I think either of those episodes are really good for that. And similarly, actually the recent episode we did on AI, again, is about what does it mean for like real people and your real life without getting too jargony of like just kind of making sense of this stuff. So.
Ashley Smith (56:17.035)
Mm-hmm.
Lauren (56:43.838)
Yeah, so sorry, the AI episode is with somebody called Courtney Abercrombie. She used to be chief data officer of IBM and now runs her own non-profit called AI Truth. And I just think she's, yeah, she's just very impressive.
Ashley Smith (56:57.208)
Great episode, I did listen to it. What I'll do is I will make sure to link those three episodes in the show notes so people can check it out if it's of interest. Besides that, how can folks find you and follow you and what you're working on in Women of Web3? Where should they be looking?
Lauren (57:05.422)
Thank you.
Lauren (57:15.362)
So for anything Women of Web3, so like on Twitter slash X and Instagram we are at Women of Web3 Co and because our website is womenofweb3.co and for me come and find me on LinkedIn. I feel like I'm always getting a kickback for the amount that I'm like saying how great they are but come and find me on LinkedIn and that's why you'll see me basically every day.
Ashley Smith (57:37.93)
Any closing thoughts for our audience?
Lauren (57:40.846)
I really love this conversation. I love how honest it is. And I really liked the fact that your mission at the moment is to kind of, yeah, get rid of that hype and start looking at real use cases. I don't know if I've actually given enough use cases today, but I think that's a really admirable slash important thing to be revealing.
Ashley Smith (57:58.4)
Well, thank you so much. And I hope especially for the women, but everyone in the audience, check out Lauren's website, check out her podcast, because there's a lot of really valuable information there. I think all of this is really about getting as much information out there so people can figure out what it means for them. So Lauren, thank you so much for coming on the show today. I really appreciate you making the time. And I hope we can talk again soon. All right.
Lauren (58:25.555)
I'd love to. Thanks for having me.
Ashley Smith (58:27.328)
Yeah, everyone have a great day.
