Create Your Rainbow - A Look Back and a Step Forward - Issue #1

Happy weekend friends 💖 

Welcome to the first issue of "Create Your Rainbow," - a newsletter designed to help unleash your creativity and add color to your life. 🌈

The first half of this newsletter will always be dedicated to educational and informational content written by me. In contrast, the bottom half is dedicated to updates on what I’ve been working on to keep you, my most loyal fans, up-to-date!

My Letter To You

When I entered the NFT community a year ago this week, I was drowning with information at every corner.

There’s so much to learn everywhere you look, most of it noise and repeated info, but over time, I learned how to not only sift through the noise but to craft a voice for myself in the web3 space and become a respected community leader.

In this first issue, I want to talk about some of the lessons I’ve learned along the way, how I’ve personally changed and how the landscape has changed for community building with intention and diversity at the forefront.

Over the past year, the community I’ve built has been predominately crypto-curious folks who have only recently entered the space. This means I’ve positioned myself to learn from and mentor starry-eyed folks who have leaped into the unknown by buying or minting their first digital collectibles, PFPs, and written works.

My extensive knowledge gained over a decade in online community-building and previous IRL efforts prepared me to build crypto-native communities that thrive and are sustainable and diverse.

But why have I stayed in the space, and what has made me into the connector that exists today after such a rocky year, through a market collapse, scams, rugs, and discrimination?

Early in my journey, I learned the importance of patience with myself while learning, with the emerging tech itself, and with peers.

I could stay relatively calm in high-stress situations because of my career experience as an Incident Manager in tech, where I was responsible for large swaths of the global economy.

Here’s what I would do differently if I had the chance to start over:

I have historically been unable to invest in my future through savings, crypto or stocks, but the FOMO and learning opportunities that this space enables creates outlets for folks to dig into more of a speculator mindset and possibly get lucky.

Capitalism, right?

When I talk to new folks entering, one of the first things I tell them is to slow down and be mindful of how the space changes their thought patterns and behaviors. The cultures we’ve created here are… unique, to say the least, some can be quite unhealthy.

I encourage all newcomers to first visit welcoming, highly diverse communities more geared towards education and art instead of what is essentially speculative gambling communities.

One of the best and most important things you can do for yourself is to create a network of friends who have your back. There’s nothing noble about doing this by yourself. I did this early on, but what I would have done differently is simply take more notes each day at the beginning of my journey to better understand my goals for being in the space.

Inclusive spaces changed a lot. I witnessed the influence that thought leaders like Betty, Kristina Flynn, Lori Grace, Debbie Soon, and myself have had on the space and how we’ve been able to actively and intentionally bring greater belonging into web3.

However, it's still an ongoing battle in an industry dominated by white men with significant wealth, power, and authority.

Over the life of this newsletter, you’ll be introduced to many concepts, frameworks, and foundations that guide me in web3 community-building efforts. You’ll also have access to some fascinating digital collectible experiments I have planned in the coming months. 👀

Hint: there’s a game involved. Only Inner Colors members will be given exclusive clues leading up to the event. 😉 Click the link above to get a one-month 50% discount. 💛 💚 💙 

PS. I want to hear from you too! Hit reply and let me know what topics you're dying to dive deeper into. If your suggestion is chosen, I will also add a link to your social account!

Reflections

(and some from the past couple of weeks to get you caught up)

3Ps + Me

This week in the CPGCLUB Pre-Accelerator, fellow entrepreneurs and I learned about the 3Ps + Me. This keeps us accountable and offers opportunities to help one another out. If you’re unfamiliar, the 3Ps are Plans, Progress, and Problems.

Visualizing your goals

Visualizing your goals can help make them feel more real and tangible. This exercise is helpful for me to lay out the goals I want to accomplish in the next six months and helped me quantify those results.

I created goals using the SMART method, and the Pre-Accelerator recently had an OKR exercise that was super helpful. Now I have clear action steps to move forward. 🚀 

The benefits of journaling

Journaling can help you process your thoughts, emotions, and experiences and gain a deeper understanding of yourself.

At the start of this year, I began practicing journaling in the morning when I woke up before starting work.

I use Goodnotes on my iPad, spending 20 minutes journaling and an additional 15 minutes doodling before opening Twitter (though I often cheat and look at Twitter first…we’re getting there).

The value of self-reflection

As an extension to journaling, I’ve been reminded by several friends lately to become more mindful and refocus myself throughout the week.

Recommended Resources

This week has been especially wrought with security breaches and compromises. From the Azuki Twitter account compromise sending out fake minting links to a compromise of more than $2M in assets from Kevin Rose, the two recommendations I have for you this week are designed to help keep your digital assets safe, aside from setting up a Ledger device for yourself.

Foolproof App

Without shadow tokens, your digital assets are flying around the blockchain naked, exposed to all sorts of harm through social engineering and more. But with the Foolproof app, you can keep yourself safe.

Emily, founder of Foolproof, will host a Security 101 chat on February 1 on Twitter Spaces.

Pocket Universe

Pocket Universe is a Chrome extension that protects you by showing you exactly what happens in a web3 transaction before you sign it.

They’ve helped thousands during mints and have recently stepped up to provide support in large Twitter Spaces like this episode of Daily Dose.

PS. If you would like your project or art in this section, reply to this email with the subject “Recommendations,” and let’s chat!

Together 🤝

Together is a community I’ve founded to co-create and educate community professionals in web3. Enabling folks across the space to find quality work and to aid hiring managers in making the best decisions possible when looking to add team members.

The Genesis Badge collection began minting on 1/2, and so far, we’ve welcomed over 150 people into the community. Our first weekend meetup went on for nearly two hours - helping us to onboard and get to know new members.

We hosted a partner Twitter Spaces with xCollective, Siesta, and Payroll3, where we chatted about compensation for community professionals.

The Payroll3 team even did a live demo after the Space to show us how their product works and sent attendees a small amount of ETH as part of the demonstration. 🤯 

Learn more about Together and check out our Twitter Spaces here.

And below, you’ll find all the Twitter Spaces I’ve spoken in, along with transcripts and resources pinned to each one.

Who Are You? Each Tuesday, I host a safe and welcoming Twitter Space where folks can chat with me about their hobbies and interests outside of blockchain tech. This is great for those needing to practice speaking in public audio rooms.

A couple of quick shout-outs to folks who made this newsletter possible:

@brandherstyle for collaborating on the header and logo design

@cropcircle for encouraging me to start this newsletter and introducing me to Beehiiv

rileybeans Fan Art

I've been blown away by the talent of my supporters over the past year, here’s a selection of my favorites!

That’s all for this week, friends! I hope you’ve found this first issue valuable, and if so, I’d love for you to recommend a friend or two subscribing. It would really mean the world. 🌈