Building In Community
Originally published on my Mirror in August 2023.
For the past five months, I've been building an ambassador program for web3 developers with one of the most brilliant and kind minds I've ever met in the space. The process has been anything but easy and on a daily basis, our team navigates a plethora of uncertainties that are simply the norm in our ecosystem, along with a few random anomalies that are not. With the support of our team and colleagues, we are kicking off the first cohort of this program next week and our mission for empowering communities across the globe to use decentralized technologies to create a brighter future is coming to life.
A few weeks ago, our team traveled to Paris for ETHCC and ETHGlobal Paris and saw months of event and program planning come to life. Seeing the brilliance of my colleagues and our work together manifest in beautiful containers where the brightest minds of web3 could come together, connect and build was beyond gratifying. Seeing a packed room of builders at Beyond 4337 talking about account abstraction and literally debating the elements of blockchain technology that will make mass adoption possible was powerful. Beyond powerful (pun intended).
Francesco Andreoli kicks off Beyond 4337 with a quick dialogue with a packed, sold out (free of course) room.
In that room, witnessing the conversation and the energy around this technology, was literally being in the room when the future of a equitable and just economic system was being solidified. We did that. And two amazing humans (Francesco and Mirko) that I work with made that event possible and created the container for these minds to connect so that 15 years from now, my niece will be using technology that doesn't extract from her or use her as a product. The conversations in that room lay the foundation for my niece to have financial and technical autonomy when she enters the world as an adult. Her future is already perilous enough given the state of our planet, but I sleep better at night knowing that maybe her technology and the internet itself will have compassion baked into the code because of the work of my colleagues.
Our web3 ecosystem contains multitudes-- and that's the beauty of being in this space. Over the past decade, I've floated through the many niches within this ecosystem and landed in the Impact DAO/Public Goods sector. In Paris, I was able to connect with so many engineers and builders, both at Consensys and beyond, who were some of the kindest devs I've ever encountered. Unlike some of the other technical sectors I've traveled through in the past, web developers and infosec, web3 builders are kind and are in this space because they want the future to be better than what we are currently navigating in a centralized technical hellscape.
DevRels Mirko Garozzo & Ziad Saab talk with hackers at the judging for ETHGlobal Paris.
I often joke that I want to be the Ted Lasso of community. But I actually mean it. The beauty of Ted Lasso is that, through kindness and compassion, a team of spicy humans becomes a force to be reckoned with as they evolve into their own humanity and move a mission forward. The show is literally a Buddhist or Yoga parable for our modern time. This team of spicy males learns to embrace their emotions and divine feminine qualities to become vulnerable, powerful humans who are more then football players-- they become one unit who are poised to alter their future paths and the paths of all of those who surround them. The same can be said about leading a team or community of web3 devs. The parallels are stunning and hilarious.
Leading a meditation at the beginning of our Hyperlink was a personal highlight, having just graduated from Naropa University with a degree in Yoga. Compassion in the Code begins with making wisdom traditions accessible to everyone. (Image by Ziad Saab & that's me on 3 hours of sleep)
This is the essence of conscious leadership. This lies at the core of what's possible when we gather in community and lead with kindness and by actions. This is what's possible when our actions are in direct alignment with our kindness. And this is what happens when we empower the people around us and recognize their brilliance. As a leader, we must also protect their ability to do what they do best and we must give them the professional and contemplative, EQ skills to step into their own. Our role is to see 5 steps ahead, identify the obstacles and remove them so our team can step into the space and make magic happen. That's the whole thing. Luckily, I grew up playing soccer at a very high level and am used to seeing leadership and team building from the "Ted Lasso" way.
In Paris, I saw exactly that. As a community builder who works mostly in virtual spaces, I was able to witness what is possible when the team is empowered to step into their own and simply given the space to be who they already are and given guidance to manifest their vision. That's it. That's the whole thing.
My gratitude for the humans I work with on a daily basis is abundant and I don't take my duty to them lightly or for granted. I will move heaven and earth to protect them and their ability to move our ecosystem forward in a means that is equitable, just, innovative-- and dare I say-- joyful.
We are baking Compassion into the Code and I am here for it. As a "show don't tell" kinda person and an award winning documentary photographer, here's the visual threads of our time in Paris and the amazing humans I build community with on a daily basis.
When your colleagues sit in the front row, 5 feet from the panel you're moderating. At the SheFi Summit talking about spicy wallet takes with Lauren Dutton, an amazing Dev Advocate from Consensys and Nitya Subramanian, founder of Capsule.
The Builders Breakfast during ETHCC was a smashing success and spilled into the streets of Paris-- woops.
Hanging at the Vanguard dinner at the Roof with my amazing colleagues, Jenni and Lauren. The Vanguard dinner was a chance for some of the best minds in web3 to gather and connect in a gorgeous setting overlooking Paris at night.
Dev Rels and the Community Team at the Vanguard Dinner!
Hyperlink was one of the hottest side events at ETHCC! The DevX Events team rocked this venue out and created a gorgeous container to highlight Francesco's brilliant programming of lightening talks from some of the brightest minds in web3, including some of our Vanguards.
Leading a meditation on the rooftop at Hyperlink. Beyond thrilled that I got to blast Krishna Dass from a Parisian rooftop at a tech conference through a professional PA system for 2 hours. Blissful. And Sammie the Sloth held down the fort. I'm normalizing adult stuffies and so far this summer, he's attended the ReFi Summit in Seattle and ETHCC in Paris. Not too shabby for a sloth.
A handful of our Vanguards spoke at the Hyperlink event, including Julien from Unlock Protocol, Anett Rolikova from Hyperlane, Austin Griffith from BuidlGuidl & Speedrun Ethereum and Kevin Owocki from Greenpill and Supermodual.
Behind the scenes at Beyond 4337. Ten minutes before the doors opened to a sold out (free tickets) crowd, Francesco and Alaa hopped on Limes to make a water run for 300+ people. #UnwaveringDedication.
Mirko and Francesco work with the team at Blocto preparing for the Beyond 4337 side event at ETHCC. Francesco gets the audience warmed up for the panel discussion to start and Eric Bishard films the event to share with the web3 community who couldn't attend in person. Team work makes the dream work!
Beyond 4337 was packed with web3 builders eager to learn more about account abstraction from the amazing minds who authored ERC-4337. Events like this are how we create technology that EVERYONE can use.
Beyond 4337 panel, MetaMask engineers and staff along with an engaged post- talk crowd keeping the conversations flowing.
No rest for the weary! ETHCC ended and ETHGlobal Paris kicked off with a 3 day hackathon! Our MetaMask team was in the house and the DevX devrels were on hand all weekend as mentors and judges to support the multitude of hackers building on our stack. Inspiring to see such dedication to moving the ecosystem forward.
The action never stops and much of it happens behind the scenes. Interviews, code reviews, preparing for the next events...it never stops.
Ziad shows off the amazing Paris MetaMask artwork and apparently I'm finding a conversation with MetaMask engineer Dayan hilarious-- and we're talking about attestations for journalists! After seeing this picture, I realized how much I have missed being around IRL technology spaces and the builders who make them so fascinating. This image actually reminded me of the joy behind my work, because when you work this hard, joy is sometimes hard to grasp. (Images from ETHGlobal).
And the judging begins! This was my first IRL ETH hacking event (I've only participated in virtual ones in the past) and seeing the judging process was INTENSE!!! So many amazing hackers with fascinating projects trying to get their work seen by judges from the partners offering bounties in a short period of time made for an intense few hours for our DevRels. Dayan takes a minute to tell a little technical story once the judging ends.
DevRels Eric and Ziad (left) review the code of a project while Mirko listens in on the team's presentation (right).
As the judging winds down, Mils and Lauren lighten the energy with some bubbles. Balancing the intensity of this work with the levity of being human is a key element to success, and Mils and Lauren possess that skillset in spades. Emily, Dayan and Francesco review the last few projects before the judging is complete.
After ETHCC and ETHGlobal, the DevX team had a week-long team retreat. To say that we were tired would be a massive understatement. So, once most of the team left, a few of us stragglers decided to hit the climbing gym to release some energy. And of course, I went for the yoga.
There are actually a whole series of additional photos from our team, but they were part of a private team building retreat, so I’ve chosen not to share them here. At the end of the day, the opportunity to connect with such amazing humans in our elements-- working under extreme pressure but loving the actual process of it all-- was a complete joy. It makes parting ways a little bittersweet. Spending that much time with any group of humans can be a challenge, but when it’s done, returning to working virtually is a bit of a lonely endeavor. Catch you on the flip side, amazing humans!
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