As part of NFT NYC, MoonPay—alongside Glow Labs and Digital Twin—hosted a cocktail reception and panel discussion on the opportunities for women in Web3. It was an evening for education and discovery, as attendees were encouraged to bring a crypto curious guest along with them to “onboard” into Web3.
Panelists included Nadya Tolokonnikova (Unicorn DAO), Jillian Rothman (Warner Music Group), Lisa Mayer (Boss Beauties), Jasmine Maietta (round21), and Rebecca Minkoff (Rebecca Minkoff handbags), and was moderated by Moj Mahdara (Kinship Ventures).
Here are a few takeaways from the discussion:
A passion for Web3
Boss Beauties CEO Lisa Mayer is on a mission to remind women that they can be everything that they want to be. She started the NFT project after a decade of serving young women in college and high school, providing them with scholarships and mentorship opportunities. “I saw everything that was happening in Web3, so we started to embrace it by bringing Boss Beauties and our mission into the space,” Mayer said.
Jasmine Maietta, founder of round21, spoke to the power of Web3 to transform identity in the real world and beyond. “We unlock self-expression digitally and physically for sports fans everywhere,” she said. Maietta observed how today’s generation of sports fans seems to care more about the name on the back of the jersey than the one on the front. Web3, on the other hand, “can empower identity and self expression digitally and physically for our fluid identities.”
Jillian Rothman, the lead for gaming, interactive, and Web3-metaverse development at Warner Music, spoke of her responsibility to her clients. “Our job is to find the ‘what’s next?’ for artists, where they can find new revenue streams and connect better with their fans, to help them discover great music,” she said.
Rebecca Minkoff reflected on her eponymous designer handbag company’s third successful NFT drop in just nine months, after its recent collaboration with global fashion and NFT marketplace Mavion. “We want to dress you here and in the metaverse,” she said. “We think there's a lot of ways to partner and unlock great value for people and our community.”
Web3 for all
Nadya Tolokonnikova, of feminist movement Pussy Riot, has had her own unique journey into the NFT space after starting Unicorn DAO just six months ago.
“I was warmly welcomed here. But I also noticed that there is a lack of women and non-binary people and LGBTQ+ people in the space,” she said. “That's why we decided to create a safe space for them and also provide them with the tools they need to empower themselves. And that's what the Unicorn DAO and Unicorn X are all about.”
The panel’s moderator, Moj Mahdara, commended MoonPay for calling attention to the importance of having women, non-binary, and people of color get involved in the commercial inception of Web3.
“When I look at this group, everyone here is coming from a very different background or space,” Mahdara said. “It’s so important that women and non-binary people are here because Web2 was not so inclusive, and Web1 was definitely not inclusive.”
Tolokonnikova also thanked MoonPay for being an early supporter of Unicorn DAO, a decentralized autonomous organization dedicated to giving women and LGBTQ+ artists opportunities and funds that they wouldn’t ordinarily have access to.
She then reflected on the psychological and physical barriers that women face when trying to break into the tech industry.
“When a lot of women were growing up, they were told that it’s not a job for a girl to be in tech. It’s not something we’re encouraged to learn,” she said. And in a technologically advanced civilization such as ours, mastering digital tools is vital. “I'm here to learn for myself and my daughter, and I want to share this knowledge with everyone else, especially those people who’ve been historically excluded from the conversation,” she said.
The future of business
Mahdara has been investing in founders and learning all she can about the space. “Nothing has made me feel more alive than how I’ve felt about Web3 over the past two years,” she said. “It gives me such huge faith in commerce and business and communities.”
Rebecca Minkoff added that women are 51% of the population yet control 75% of annual household spending. "So if people are going to be designing a world where the avatars look like blow up dolls, that's not a world that we want to live in,” she said.
Minkoff lamented the fact that women aren’t given the agency to weigh in and educate each other about opportunities in Web3. “I think that if we can have a hand in guiding the future, it's just going to be more equitable, more enjoyable and more reflective of half the planet,” she said.
Maietta spoke to Web3’s power to capture a moment in history. “It empowers us all to collectively represent appreciation, monetarily and sentimentally for the artists that are capturing history as it's happening,” she said. “That's why we believe art and sport should forever exist together. And we think that Web3 should be the backbone forever.”
Tolokonnikova believes there is hope for change. For her, Web3 will be able to ease the burden on women and close the gender gap in the workforce. “It’s going to be a given that this cultural movement doesn’t have gender inequality anymore,” she said.
A build market
Rothman is unfazed by short term market conditions. “We keep saying internally that it's not a bear market. It’s a build market,” she said of Warner Music. This subtle mentality switch has given the company a critical advantage, affording them the opportunity to take a step back and integrate products like MoonPay into their core architecture.
Whether you call the market bear or build, the panelists agreed that current conditions are weeding out second-rate players from the Web3 space. “We’re working with artists who aren't looking for quick cash, a quick payday,” Rothman said. “We want to work with artists who really want to embrace this technology.”
Warner Music is still investing in Web3, using this time to strategize with their artists, labels, and affiliates. “From our perspective, it's actually a really good time to invest,” said Rothman. “Especially in the people who are sticking around and who are in it for a real purpose.”
After a successful raise from notable investors like Serena Williams, Boss Beauties isn’t slowing down either. “I told Rebecca [Minkoff] that I wasn’t raising for the capital at the time, but rather for the right partners and strategic investors to be on our team,” said Mayer. “We’re building for our purpose, just like every single person on this panel.”
Mass monetization
Mahdara is excited about the potential for Web3 to do what Web2 couldn’t. Reflecting on the broken promises of streaming platforms to deliver equity, she said the monetization for the vast majority of artists never happened at the scale it did for the top 4-5%.
Tolokonnikova echoed this sentiment that record labels and traditional streaming platforms only work for some. “They take away a part of your agency,” she said. “So you sell a part of your soul and sometimes it's worth it, sometimes it isn't.”
Web3 represents a vital opportunity for her and others that have traditionally been excluded from the sector. “NFTs are a really significant cultural movement,” she said. “They’re here to empower people like me and my comrades who’ve never been signed to a record label.”
Women supporting women is one of the most exciting prospects for Rothman and Warner Music. But in her industry, creators have been extremely limited in the way that they can connect with their fans. Web2 platforms like Facebook force artists to pay in order to reach the fans that subscribe to their pages.
“There has to be another way to speak directly to your fans,” Rothman said. But that doesn’t mean she thinks streaming should go away completely. “All we want to do is provide a new way for our artists to find and reach and speak to their fans more directly,” she said.
One way to do this is through NFT offerings that build on Web2, such as products that allow users early access to concerts and events, or membership into fan clubs. That’s where the magic of Web3 comes in. “It’s new tech. An add on,” Rothman said. “That’s where I see creatives really being able to lean into it and find a lot of value.”
Join us!
At MoonPay, we're helping to build the foundation of a more inclusive financial system. That's why we keep diversity, equity, and inclusion at the forefront of our minds throughout our hiring process and beyond.
If you’re interested in joining our growing team, feel free to browse our Careers page for open roles.
.png)
