Empowerment in web3: Equal Representation for Women
- An interview with Katreena Tucson
In the world of non-fungible tokens (NFTs), there are many exciting projects being released daily and making headlines. Truth is, web3 is still an emerging space, and there’s an opportunity for underrepresented women and other marginalized groups to use their voices and share their stories. They are now at the forefront of the NFT communities, with many more women-focused projects becoming popular, many inclusive communities emerging, attracting, and inspiring empowering females such as Reese Witherspoon, Serena Williams, or our favorite digital artist, Krista Kim, shaping the wider crypto community. web3 is a chance for women to be a part of the force against gender discrimination where the decentralized world can potentially improve the gender gap.
I interviewed Kat Tecson, girl boss, tech enthusiast, and Head of Partnerships at CocoNFT, about a rising trending topic.
Who is Katreena Tecson?
Originally from Vancouver, Kat has a professional background in architecture. She dabbled in crypto space by day trading crypto while she was studying. To her surprise, Kat was seeing limitations within the architecture industry, and Covid was truly the moment where NFTs and the crypto space started booming. Kat saw a golden opportunity and went full-time into NFTs and crypto — which she expresses that “this space is exciting and fun, and a way for me to express myself.
As she has been able to spend more time now in this fascinating world of NFTs, I wanted to get her viewpoint on how women are evolving or should be evolving in the Metaverse space, and what that means to her.
CocoNFT: A Web3 platform for all
Kat is currently working for CocoNFT, a platform that simplifies the journey of getting into the Metaverse contrary to many platforms which aren’t beginner friendly. Her hope through CocoNFT is to onboard more women into web3 space and has a goal to make it easy for them to get involved — focusing on connecting wallets to their Instagram feed to transform their posts into NFTs directly for free. The idea is that women creators are able to monetize themselves directly, bringing back the power and being able to supplement their passions through NFTs through a simple mechanism.
I asked Kat how she felt working there and so many positive words were said. What is important to her is that she “loves what they are building” and that it embodies the reason that she got into web3 in the first place: begin a journey into a fun community that presents many opportunities that seem to be with no existing boundaries.
To her, it represents the primordial value of web3, the need to be part of a great community, and the need for collaboration to succeed.
Being A Woman In Web3: A Source Of Empowerment
As a woman, I was curious to know what it felt like to be part of a space that usually is primarily dominated by men. Even though it seems to not be the case in web3, I wondered what made Kat feel empowered in this emerging space and what role she truly plays in it.
With her role being in partnerships and business development, Kat gets to bring education and awareness around the web3 space on CocoNFT’s platform on their social media. She realized that it gave her a way to educate and use her voice for something that she was passionate about. That is, when she realized that there was a need to bring more women into the conversation. Bringing more education and awareness around it is essential to make it more mainstream, allowing collaboration to create and build meaningful projects. What was interesting to hear from her is that she was shy herself starting out in this industry.
While making her videos at first on Tiktok, she didn’t always have confidence, but with people’s responses, she realized she had a clear mission to educate women and be able to inform them by responding to all their questions around the space that she was so passionate about.
What Does The Metaverse Mean To You?
Hearing the empowerment and voice that web3 women such as Kat, I wanted to know what the Metaverse meant to her, and what was her vision.
Bluntly, she immediately responded that it gave her a platform to “build dope projects that align with my values and mission.” As she has always shown interest in the way spaces are built with architecture, she kept on talking about her realization that traditional architecture was boring and restrictive and that the Metaverse was exciting to her as she felt that it was a limitless space, allowing her to focus on design and art to build beautiful spaces.
Web3 gives a place for all to express their art and creativity, but it is more than that for Kat. NFTs are the root of the excitement for Kat, she is able through them to:
“record my journey and connect more women into this space, where people appreciate each others art and community, a space that brings people together”
Representation and Diversity: A Growing Opportunity In Web3
With the emphasis and importance of having more women brought into web3 for Kat, the conversation around diversity and equal opportunity is crucial. As yes, we are heading in the right direction, we still have to explore what the next steps are and how can we keep on making concrete actions. Kat shared her opinion saying that while yes there are great beginnings in having more representation brought into web3, we can always do better!
From fashion moving continuously to becoming inclusive with skin color, and innovative projects working towards bringing more people together, truly educating others can help change the profound narrative, and having more involvement will only encourage the community to do more and to do better.
The world is so tech-driven that having an equal opportunity to access needs to be human-led. Web3 and NFTs can be this source of change to give back and give to others. Kat shared her sense of urgency as she would love to:
“make a difference through the Metaverse: from women empowerment, to being able to fund schools and bring technology access.”
The future of NFTs: Community Building And A Social Centered Medium
As NFTs become another way to fundraise for charity events or social causes, I thought it was important to discuss the future of NFTs in community building.
Even though it is hard to imagine what we could NOT do with NFTs, as they seem to have endless new utilities, Kat and I discussed how they could become the new pillar of community building. As technology keeps evolving, it’s becoming increasingly interactive and dynamic, attracting more communities, with women being the first to want to be a part of the conversation. NFTs can be the foundation to bringing communities together and have social good be a priority for all.
A perfect example of such a cause is what our colleague Jay Velasco’s upcoming NFT project, Cool Crypto Kids, is aiming to do. The end goal is giving back to Children’s Hospital Los Angeles.
It’s exciting to see how web3 for women empowerment is unfolding. It is empowering so many women and underrepresented communities from the physical world. Even though there is much more to do, seeing inspiring women making it a priority to educate others is the first step to such a transformational change in bringing new voices into the world of emerging technologies.
Web3 is a chance for Women’s voices to be heard, have an immense impact, and most importantly help shape the long-term inclusion for Women in web3 for future generations.
