Two months ago, Dembe Laura Vanessa could not have imagined being the public face of an NFT creator fund for African artists called @AFR_ToTheWorld, which aims to enable African creators to share their art with the NFT community.
She is soft-spoken, with a calm and steady voice. She admits, “I am one of the quietest people in the world. Guinness World Book of Records just hasn’t discovered me yet but after the podcast, I feel a little less nervous about speaking to people.”
She is referencing her guest appearance on @jwilliamsnft, Dr. Jeremy of NFTeach’s podcast, and the first instance of public speaking Laura has done in the NFT space.
“After that, I feel a bit more confident about talking in public.” As quickly as her fund and artistic community is growing, it seems safe to say she will be engaging much more than she expects with the public in the near future.
“I think putting a voice to your name in this community does a lot especially with all the catfish incidents I have witnessed. There is a lot more trust when someone has heard you speak.”
The amount of work she has completed for the fund is immense.
Her journey toward the fund began when she formed a partnership with two other artists to collectively save in gas fees to mint while learning how to navigate NFT platforms. Together they were able to support each other through the growing pains of blockchain transactions.
She points out that African creatives are entering the NFT space with the help of @africannftclub as well as learning how to set up to buy crypto.
Among the learning topics: how to set up wallets, how to buy, how to mint their work as artists, and what platforms are available to them. The more nuanced topics include collaborating with other artists on booster pods, clubhouse rooms to launch drops, sales, and general support. “It is lovely to see this happening and it is just getting started!”
Then in May 2021, @ChrisWallace donated 50 TEZ to the fund to specifically help African creators with gas fees to mint their NFTs on Hicetnunc2000 to bring more African artists into the community and build Laura’s personal collection. Laura distributed the TEZ to ten artists, four of whom minted genesis pieces — all of which she has collected.
In addition to working on the fund, she released her own NFT called the “RetroCassettes.”
The RetroCassettes is a collection of 195 digital cassette tape NFTs that come with a physical copy, themed by the colors of the flags of the world.
At 100 RetroCassettes collected, the original owners receive a cassette tape(s) for each RetroCassette collected filled with music from the country it represented. I ask her what she has learned having gone through one entire NFT cycle.
“I have supportive friends and collectors who gas me up to beat my self-doubt. I also got lots of RetroCassettes sales and we passed the second stage of the roadmap.”
As far as NFTs are concerned, arriving at the second stage of your roadmap is a great success but by her own definition, “success is 100% making connections and building relationships in the community versus being completely focused on just getting sales.”
She also learned more about smart contracts and implemented them in her new project that drops today called “Pineapple’s Day Out.” It is a collection of 5,000 Pineapples at 0.02 ETH mint price that launches today, Friday, July 30 at 6 pm EST/10 pm GMT/12 am EAT.
“I worked on this with a couple of friends from my country and it is paying homage to Vee’s BoringBananas as we used lots of their open-source documents to get the work done.”
It is her first ERC-721 smart contract and the developer tried to teach them more about coding to further involve her and the team.
“I wanted to experience what it is like to launch a collection this way. The collection is focusing on community but in a way, no one else has done. There is literally a new project launching every single day and they usually sell out so lots of money is pumped into these collectibles but that just means artists not involved are left in the shadows. There is a feature from this collection that helps in that area that hopefully, future projects pick it up.”
Most intriguing about her project is how the collection will share a community wallet, which the team has named “The Museum.” The roadmap outlines a process in which artwork from the community will be bought through placing bids, direct purchases, and making offers. They will use platforms such as Foundation, Rarible, and Opensea. The team was inspired by structures they’ve seen in various other collectibles.
“For example, Person A picks up artwork they love and re-sells it at a higher price and sends a percentage back to the creator who once spent 7 ETH collecting 32 NFTs from 30 different artists on Foundation in one week.”
They hope to replicate this process because it has become clear to Laura that the high supply of projects overshadow artists — and she is more interested in the artist-led community supporting and boosting artists whose sales struggle from the sheer volume of collections on the market.
Laura’s entrepreneurial spirit emanates from her being. Even when we are chatting via DM, there is something so grounded, yet dreamy about her conversation. She has big ideas but also knows how to execute them. She’s focused and smart, and quick to adjust and adapt where it serves her team best.
Immediately I start to think of all the small ways creators have slightly tweaked their method or approach to stretch the artist’s rights or reach just a little bit further. Laura is this person. She has an observation or an idea and she runs with it.
This thought thread of mine leads me to ask about an off-hand comment she made about the youth in Uganda finding success online or outside of the country, and returning to build something at home. I ask if she had the opportunity, what would she change in her hometown?
“Well, I would definitely love to promote the creative industry in my country focusing on art and gaming because those are the two things I am heavily involved in right now. I would definitely want to own a gallery where NFTs are displayed and hopefully, one day it will host events as popular and successful similar to those of Christie's.”
This seems wildly within reach sooner than Laura perhaps anticipates.
“I recently made a donation to a women-led organization that supports survivors of sexual assault at the beginning of June with earnings from the sales of 15 editions of a pride month themed RetroCassette. I hope to continue to make more of such donations in the future; at least thrice a year to great causes around my country. I hope to provide mentorship classes to those who are looking for some sort of inspiration to just trust your instincts and get involved in whatever you believe you can do successfully. I am planning to transfer 1 ETH from my cut of the Pineapple’s Day Out sales to a wallet that will be funding the gas fees for more African creatives to enter the community.”
Laura is able to pursue NFTs full-time because of how the pandemic has affected Uganda as well as how available the internet is for young people like herself. NFT life is also a better fit for her sleep cycle than a 9 to 5 job. She says she is most creative at 3 am and is loving learning all about NFT and how to do it better.
“I studied Commerce and majored in Accounting, so you must wonder how I got involved with art, right? Well, my original plan was to study Architecture. I loved drawing houses and I was really good at it but my father wanted me to do Commerce because there are a lot more jobs for it; not like there are any jobs in Uganda though. Plus, I have always been an admirer of 3D art or cartoons or comics and gaming. All these are currently in NFTs.”
Laura also alludes to how NFT has helped her with depression by allowing her to channel and express her feelings in other forms. She has not yet told her parents about her NFT journey. Her plan is to explain to her parents when her sister returns from her Master's degree program in the United Kingdom.
“She will be back later this year and she is one of the people that raised me because we lost our mother in 2000. It would mean a lot to hear what she thinks about all this. I am hoping to make her proud,” says Laura.
“However, if Pineapple’s Day Out is successful, then I might have to fast-track telling the family because I really need to get a new laptop and if I do get it, I will have to explain how I was able to afford it.”
Laura believes that podcast interviews and articles will make it easier to explain and be “softer to their African hearts.” She is incredibly happy creating and innovating in NFT.
“I am happy doing this. I know they will be supportive plus I am very stubborn, I will go ahead with it anyway.”
We can’t wait to hear what her sister and parent have to say after they’ve heard all about Laura’s incredible achievements and success.
Learn more about her NFT project, Pineapple’s Day Out, dropping today, Friday, July 30 at 6 pm EST/10 pm GMT/12 am EAT.
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