NFTs and the Creator Economy

Today we’re speaking with Dayna Trocki DeStefano of UNBLCD. Dayna has spent her decade-plus career working at the intersection of Product, Brand Strategy & Digital Media. She is the CEO & founder of unblcd, unblcd is a content, commerce, and collaboration platform for women change-makers, builders, and creators shaping a brighter, more equitable digital future with blockchain technology. She is also the founder of The Day Consulting, a brand strategy + digital marketing consultancy. Prior to that she spent 6+ years at Gallery Media Group (PureWow, ONE37pm, Gallery Podcast Co.) as the VP of Product responsible for the design, product management & content production team(s).

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[00:00:00] Jessy: I am super excited to invite you onto the show this lovely morning we’re recording on a Thursday.

[00:00:10] Dayna: A bomb seven degrees here. 

[00:00:13] Jessy: Oh my God I woke up 

[00:00:14] Dayna: It’s clearly warmer there. Yeah, it’s so good 

[00:00:18] Jessy: We’re recording in the winter, y’all. It’s so cold. Yeah, it felt like 10 by me, so it felt like seven by you . We’re gonna heat things up today though. We’re gonna about, 

[00:00:30] Dayna: Oh, let’s do it

[00:00:31] Jessy: We’re gonna heat it up. We’re gonna talk about really intriguing concepts, about Web three NFTs, maybe a little crypto, just as a little preview to get, for your audience excited. But before we do, Dayna first and foremost, welcome. I 

[00:00:54] Dayna: Thank you. 

[00:00:56] Jessy: You’re welcome and thank you for coming.

[00:00:58] Jessy: Seriously, I am very excited to connect and just, nerd out a little today. 

[00:01:06] Jessy: Yes. Before we get into it, I would love for you to just tell us all a little bit about your background and just like how you ended up so involved with the Metaverse and by the three in the first place. 

[00:01:20] Dayna: I would love to, so, i spent, the first 10 plus years of my career in New York, always on the advertising and digital media side of the business.

[00:01:32] Dayna: And I, about se eight years ago now, was one of the first employees at Pure Wow. Which is, you’re not familiar, one of the larger women’s lifestyle, digital media companies on the sales side of the business. And again, it was very early stage. I think there was like eight employee. And stayed there for about seven years.

[00:01:54] Dayna: We went through a successful acquisition in 2018 by Gary Vaynerchuk and launched Gallery Media Group, and then a series of other digital media brands under that media company holding that media holding company. And by the end of my tenure, I was the VP of product and oversaw the design product management and cross-functional content production management.

[00:02:17] Dayna: So I, we were responsible for everything you visually saw across all GMG brands and, all of the systems and front end products that powered that content machine. And it was the most amazing experience for so many reasons. But I always had the entrepreneurial bug and I finally took the leap in 2019 to start my own business.

[00:02:41] Dayna: I started my own consulting business. We do brand strategy and development and digital media strategy for early stage startups for the most part. And the name of, that’s the day consulting. I have been doing that, I’m still doing that. It’s taken a little bit of the backseat since I lost my newest business, unblocked, which is, I’ll share the kind of why and how I, why I started it. But we are a home for women to learn, connect, and capitalize on the merging technologies like blockchain and NFTs, cryptocurrencies and cultural shifts that are rewiring our world today. So how I got into this is I have always been a little bit of a tech nerd.

[00:03:22] Dayna: My husband is an engineer by trade. He always dabbled a little bit in crypto. He was sitting in the rooms with a lot of the og Bitcoin and engineers are mining Bitcoin back in 2012, 13. But I like a lot of women was just like, Nick, I don’t fucking care. Don’t lose all our money. I don’t understand. So it started by a fake person.

[00:03:43] Dayna: Like is what the fuck? Just please be careful. And about a year ago, I’ll never forget where I was, we were driving up, to my parents’ Lakehouse, and I was reading a nerdy article on NFTs. It was before everything we’re seeing in the space today, the Bele selling for 60 million, et cetera. And I looked over to my husband and I said, yo, if I’m understanding this NFT technology correctly, it’s gonna change everything.

[00:04:13] Dayna: We’re gonna have the ability to append a unique identifier to any digital asset, that is gonna give it proof of ownership, and all these other superpowers. Have you heard about this? And by nature of my content background and working with a lot of, with my consulting businesses, I’ve worked with a lot of, I like to call them, influencers, but people, brands turned businesses.

[00:04:38] Dayna: My brain went to the place of, Hey, what’s the modern day internet powered by content? Who powers most of that content? Individual contributors or creators, and sure, there’s a handful of them that are making really good money and a lot of people that are making a living. But for the most part, from a monetization and ownership standpoint, they’ve been getting screwed since the beginning of this, just given how the current internet monetizes I E off of ads and data.

[00:05:08] Dayna: So, I said all this to him and he, looked at me like I had 37. And I was like, yeah, you’re right. I don’t even know if what I’m saying makes any sense at all. And I proceeded to spend the next few months really diving deep, learning about the underlying technology, blockchain technology, and got more and more excited about how this technology could really give the power ,back to creators and the power back to the people. Not to sound so cliche, but in so many ways, and I’m, we’ll get into that, in more detail I’m sure as we chat more.

[00:05:47] Dayna: But I also observed that history, for better or worse, was repeating itself yet again and, these new technologies and financial systems that, we’re started to transform our world and I believe will eventually be embedded from an infrastructure standpoint in every part of everyone’s lives, were being designed predominantly by men and at that point it was also like just disgusting. Like I’ve worked with engineers, I’ve worked in male dominated spaces, but this was to be real like, you were dealing with 23 year old boys that have probably have never gotten laid sitting in their mom’s basements that were being like, mean, we don’t let girls allow here. And I was like, wait a second. I’m in my fucking early to mid thirties. I’m in my mid thirties, but I still, I’m right on the brink.

[00:06:36] Dayna: So I still say both, and I just was not down with that. I have a business, I’ve always worked for female focus companies. I am a female entrepreneur. I live for supporting other women. And at the end of the day, we need, as many voices as possible involved in building the future. Yes. And there’s also a whole lot of money to be made right?

[00:07:02] Dayna: And, so I’m blocked was born and again our mission is really just to, collectively bring as many women and non-binary people together, to collaboratively, learn together, and no one knows what the future is going to look like with all this tech. We have the opportunity right now to be involved with the early stages, and build these things from the ground up and applications and platforms and systems that will, drive change for the future and ultimately if we can do it right Make us more money and really make things a bit more diverse from a digital ecosystem standpoint. So, that’s I think everything in a nutshell I more per a little bit of personal stuff about me I have a three year old at home. We’re in the Boston area now .We grew up my husband and I both grew up here. I miss New York dearly every day .Thankfully, I get to go down a few times every few months. We are, between here and the Hudson Valley area and we have our a second baby on the way, who’s coming in May. 

[00:08:09] Jessy: Aww congratulations. 

[00:08:11] Dayna: Just trying to survive most days ,pregnancy had been joking and saying if it could only be six months, I’d be golden the last three are not for me. 

[00:08:20] Jessy: But even got a fast track pregnancy, to keep up with. What an interesting background. I am like fascinated. I think that it’s. Look all this stuff, it’s none of it is particularly new. You’re talking about 20, what, we’re talking about years ago that, some of these conversations were being had. However, there is this renewed buzz. There is this new Intrigue on a much larger scale, and I think that in particular, is well incredibly like important to talk about because, you can have a great idea great concept but if it doesn’t get traction if it doesn’t get in front of people, there’s only so far that it can go especially when it takes, like literally a village. It takes all of the community for it to be successful in a variety of different ways. So I love the buzz I’m so into it I think it’s incredible what you’re building though with unblock. 

[00:09:33] Dayna: Thank you. 

[00:09:33] Jessy: And I love as a women’s owned organization which is, WIIM, and I love that it’s specifically tailored to attract ,an audience of female and non-binary creators. I would love to hear from you what made you decide to focus on that community in particular. 

[00:09:56] Dayna: So, a few things. One when I say creator I use it very in a very wide sense. Artists of course, influencers. I see myself as a creator, I think you’re a creator like maybe you don’t, again paint, but you are creating businesses, you’re creating relationships and connections, and so that’s just to qualify how we’re talking about the term creator or at least I am through the lens of my business. But, one of the things my personal values and the things that I love most in this world is collaboration. 

[00:10:35] Dayna: It’s one of the reasons that, I I’m so grateful and loved my pure wow experience so much It’s why I love working with the right clients. I love building things with people simply, because I think, the best ideas and the best things are built again, when you have an idea, you share with me ,we riff off it, we go back and forth, et cetera. So that’s one reason that I’m trying to I focused on creators because I think innately, there’s so many partnerships that are already happening, in this creator economy space whether we look at brand partnerships or, how a brand partners with an influencer, et cetera. The other reason is, this technology is, the creator’s right. 

[00:11:25] Dayna: They’re the ones that are, let’s not get it twisted, in a lot of ways, you take away the creator; Byebye Facebook, Byebye Instagram, Byebye Twitter, Bye-bye YouTube. That’s not okay. Their work not only is, are they not getting fully compensated, for, their proprietary piece of work whether it’s a photo or if we look at a Cleo Wade, a poem that she wrote writes to and post on Instagram. Someone like a quote wait sh her proprietary writing might be getting posted or reposted 500,000 times She doesn’t see a dollar for that. Of course, she uses it to build a community and an audience and then when her book comes out she can use that audience to leverage to drive more sales but, I am really interested in, shifting those that power structure cause I I don’t think it’s okay, I think there’s a way to, better, treat frankly the people that are really driving the most value and providing the experience, on these platforms that we all spend so much time and give so much attention to. 

[00:12:37] Jessy: And so I think that is, a major point of distinction and worth mentioning, about like the ownership, piece of this and like the exciting potential, 

[00:12:51] Dayna: Yeah, 

[00:12:51] Jessy: To like to monetize all of this in a very unique way, and I appreciate so we just recently had someone, on the show. We talked about like the basics of web three, and how it relates to the creator economy. I wanna use this conversation with you to talk about it in like slightly more advanced terms. I wanna know, I want, I wanna hear from you about the economics of it a little bit and like why, creators or managers or, they of creators like why they should be intrigued by this from an economic standpoint? I wanna hear from you about that. 

[00:13:33] Dayna: Absolutely. So, the creators, the tech underlying technology of all of this, is essentially powered, by a token economy. And that token you can think about it as a coin a har, it’s not a, it’s a obviously digital, but that token is trackable and it’s ownable, and most importantly in my opinion, it has this, layer connected to it which is called the smart contract. And that smart contract, allows you it’s code, to, program whatever, metadata or programming, parameters you as an individual think is best, to make money to use your create whatever you’re creating, et cetera. And, so let’s use an example, that allows you to potentially tokenize your community.

[00:14:36] Dayna: So, I am an influencer and I have 50,000 followers. My followers, are my community. If you have, if you’re playing in this game, and you are, monetizing off of your Ip, a digital class, your knowledge, a physical product. You in my opinion have only done it well, cuz you have been authentic. You have spent the time to thoughtfully build a community and you’re actually providing value to them and connecting with them. And, then when you try to sell them something they’re actually converting because you’ve done, those things prior. 

[00:15:15] Dayna: So, what the token allows you to do is say, Hey community, I’m thinking about, I wanna start, I’m gonna start, I’m going to N F T, I’m gonna make my digital course that I sell already on a Shopify storefront. I’m going to make it an N F T. That basically, puts it on the blockchain gives it proof of ownership, and allows you to say, I this course is 1999, and every time, you watch this course or you put it on a secondary market a resale market to sell that course, I am going to program it so I get, 25% of royalties So think about that that one piece of content. Not only are you getting now paid for the 1 19 99, fee, you’re also getting paid in perpetuity for that thing. So, I use the example of an online course, but this could be a cooking class. It could be, the PDF version of the book that you, are publishing. And so that I think is one of the really big economic upsides is this idea that you can program in your own royalties and collect sales in perpetuity, forever. 

[00:16:34] Jessy: And so, and so question for you on that, cause, I don’t know that you there there are e-learning platforms, right? There, are already companies that like, have, a lot of stuff built in to be able to support the facilitation of that sort of a thing. So like you are saying that the value prop is because, they own it, and they can dictate the future of it, and a question for you is, this is something that I’ve wondered. So influencers have their built in community that they’ve worked really hard to cultivate on a variety of different social platforms. Is there additional discoverability of these people? Because they put it out there.

[00:17:24] Dayna: So, I think right now just learn immerse yourself in the conversations. Don’t let yourself get overwhelmed. There is, this is literally the new internet, and there’s so many components and, parts of it even if we just look at, NFTs isolated. So, just start learning. And then I always say to people, the parts of it that jazz that light you, so for me I get lit up not by NFT art, I get lit up by NFTs that provide utility I E and N F T that unlocks, exclusive access, or how an N F T could be leveraged to improve, a digital experience with a relevant physical good but that’s just me, so please, 

[00:18:11] Jessy: So let’s, 

[00:18:12] Dayna: Yeah. 

[00:18:12] Jessy: So Let’s dive into that because I agree 

[00:18:15] Dayna: Yeah. Please keep focusing on that. 

[00:18:16] Jessy: I that excites me too. 

[00:18:17] Dayna: Yes. 

[00:18:18] Jessy: And I feel like that’s like a very strong use case in the creator economy in part particular. 

[00:18:23] Dayna: Yes. 

[00:18:24] Jessy: So let’s talk about that. So utility so,

[00:18:27] Dayna: Yeah.

[00:18:27] Jessy: The ability to actually, unlock something, there’s function to it, It’s not just like, the NFTs that a lot of us know which is art, right? It’s not just like something, visual It’s not something that necessarily you’re just collecting for collection sake, It has a functionality to it. Access, I, that is huge for anyone listening in terms of what, capabilities and the strengths that this can allow creators to explore. 

[00:18:56] Dayna: Yeah. 

[00:18:56] Jessy: So access and talk a little bit more about all that I think that’s really key here. 

[00:19:01] Dayna: Okay, Perfect. So let’s use an example. I’m blacking out Patreon and this is not a knock at Patreon they’re phenomenal platform and I’m sure they’re building a lot of the stuff thinking this way. But, I’m gonna keep going with influencer relevant experience, use cases. So, I am, a huge influencer, I have a million followers, currently, I am using Patreon, to, create exclusive content, and, then, my users I’m sending them there. They pay an additional fee to get that content, so I can get paid a higher fee, for this proprietary content. 

[00:19:42] Dayna: That is well and good patrons built a phenomenal platform. But again let’s talk about control and maximizing how much money you make. Patreon, is setting the parameters. They’re telling you, exactly how the flow’s gonna go exactly what the user experience is gonna go, how you’re bundling different types of, offerings whether it be pairing content with a product with, a meet and greet session or coffee session with you, look, there’s restrictions right? And, they’re a business, they need to make money. 

[00:20:17] Dayna: So they’re taking a cut, of the money that you are bringing them, as they need to, to make money. But, what an N F T, would do is give you full control over, what this proprietary content looks like and I’ll walk through that in a second, In a way that is best for you and your business, and why I love this is in my opinion the most successful creators influencers whatever, their business models all look slightly different, right? So, you might be a Melissa Wood Health ,and you have, classes you do and, you have your app you have merch, and you sometimes do live in-person classes. 

[00:21:01] Dayna: She started as an influencer. She simply is monetizing her brand based on who she is and what provides the most value, to her audience. Whereas, if you look at, a cooking influencer I can’t think of anyone or a chef .They have recipes free content. They have launched a cookbook, a physical good and they do live cooking classes once a month. Those are all revenue streams. Same but different. But, Shouldn’t they continue to have the flexibility, to create, monetizable products that are, reverse engineered, for their audience and slightly different, with the most ease not using a hundred different storefronts and a hundred different fragmented platforms which is what’s happening, to create the best experience and make the most money. 

[00:21:52] Dayna: So one that’s what the N F T and the smart contract would allow them to do. Theoretically, those two examples, they say, you I’m gonna use an N F T, you can buy product one, and it I like to sometimes when I’m using NFTs in this example call them refer to ’em as an a digital good, the actual JPEG version of it. So, bundle one ,is, you get, Melissa Woods an ex exclusive, one and a half hour class with her for X price. You get the MP4 delivered to you, plus some art that’s the JPEG that you own. Bundle two, is that’s that plus, per merch you might pay a higher cost. It’s just like product of bundles, plus the digital, receipt I E that jpeg It could be the same art it could be different. Do you see where I’m going with this? 

[00:22:47] Jessy: Yeah, no entirely. I think that like, here’s I always want to foresee, additional questions or anything 

[00:22:55] Dayna: No. Please. And I know this stuff is confusing ,so that’s why please keep stopping me.

[00:22:59] Jessy: I, I feel like you’ve done a really good job explaining it but most importantly explaining the value prop. I think that, what I, am curious about and I know that there’s going to, this is the sentiment. But how do I do all of this,

[00:23:16] Dayna: Totally.

[00:23:17] Jessy: Because, going to you mentioned Kajabi like going to a Kajabi, like that’s part of their value prop is like they make it easy and they justify, they, that’s what they would say at least they justify, the money that you pay them, because they’re setting it up they’re distributing it like they’re making it possible to do it. This is one thing that I am intrigued by though with web three. There is so much opportunity, 

[00:23:43] Dayna: yeah,

[00:23:43] Jessy: to get people into it, to help facilitate that. However, what would you say to anyone listening or watching on YouTube who, they’re intimidated by the way, they’re like this sounds amazing, but like, how do I start how do I do this? 

[00:24:02] Dayna: So, I would ,encourage you, to keep just learning and observing, and know that you shouldn’t, I wouldn’t recommend 99% of people, go to Web three in this way rights now. But this is what the future is gonna look like. So what I’m passionate about is, and to your point, we’re building it right now baby. Like, you don’t have to be an engineer .You don’t. By getting there’s so many ways to get involved. 

[00:24:35] Dayna: So like with Unblocked for example. This is where I’m just looking to connect with anyone and everyone and, there’s so many organizations back, to this idea of collaboration where like, you can add value to, building the future just by sharing your experience. If you are an influencer, whatever you have time for, but, just learn right now. The technology is not there, that I love talking about Web one, versus web two, versus web three. And you’ve probably heard this most people say, Web One, was is basically we, were able to consume. We consumed text images Web two was, we were able to consume, and create ,and Web three is we’re able to consume create and own. 

[00:25:23] Dayna: So, the example they used that I was obsessed with is, back in web one days, for anyone who might be a little older. If you went to Marthastewart.com, it was literally the print magazine. It was text and images. There wasn’t links there like, eventually was some links, but it was, PDFs early on of that content. That’s where we are right now. This techno, this is so fresh. So, don’t feel overwhelmed feel excited. I’ll keep going with the example and then I’ll go back to that. Web two, we started to be able to again engage with that content and then publish that content I E post an image on Instagram ,et cetera. Web three, is that, but then there’s this level of ownership. 

[00:26:13] Dayna: So let’s think about this. You again, you as an individual whether you’re an influencer or not, are providing immense value to all the technology that you engage with. You provide them data points to inform their Ui Ux. You provide them a content, to help them, get more eyeballs to sell more ads. You provide them, your user. So, ownership means, that let’s say you were one of, the first users, of Twitter, or if, Instagram, we can track you cuz, we will get into the identity management part of this later if we want but, by knowing that, cuz you’re on the blockchain you are, user number 10 to Instagram. You could have a piece of Instagram, in a sentence because, they would be able to say, in the last five years, by being a super user and being user 10 you’ve bought, you brought 500 people to the platform, and so we are gonna compensate you, for the value you have provided to building this thing. 

[00:27:19] Jessy: And I think that, that is part of the financial piece of this all. 

[00:27:25] Dayna: Yeah,

[00:27:26] Jessy: that is only, one of dozens, of, financial opportunities. And also just thinking, big, picture right? I’m not an influencer. I’m involved in the creator economy and I’ve worked with influencers. So yes there are opportunities, for creator in, terms of NFTs is a perfect example. The utility part of it like you were mentioning before, I think is not discussed enough because that I think is the real operative, like value which is again, provide like with a purchase of an N F T, you, can, get access to this, access to me, access to a release, a new this, exclusive that like that all reads, 

[00:28:14] Dayna: yeah, 

[00:28:14] Jessy: Very, Incredibly valuable and almost, an obvious, oh, amazing, that would incredibly benefit, a creator, hands down no-brainer. Here’s what I wanna dive into and I, this is more for just, anyone listening to this, who is a woman, who wants to, have more like financial freedom, and generational wealth. Well, this is what we’re talking about for now. There are financial opportunities within Web three that go way beyond, anything in terms of like specifically the creator economy. 

[00:28:53] Dayna: Yeah.

[00:28:53] Jessy: You talk about like, well, if you get in early on something, it can, essentially be the equivalent of owning a piece of, Instagram, basically like a company or organization. The size of Instagram, or, even, so much larger than that,

[00:29:12] Dayna: yeah.

[00:29:12] Jessy: And I, and I wanna talk about that because, just as women in business. I, wanna I’ll speak personally. I wanna learn more about crypto so I can invest in it, and invest in MFT, NFTs and invest in things and have my money grow so that I can have freedom, 

[00:29:32] Dayna: yeah, 

[00:29:32] Jessy: to do, all of the projects that I wanna work on in life, and not have to always be concerned and bogged down on like, Is this one like profitable yet Is this profitable yet cause, that for me I dunno about you but for me like that is the, the fastest way to stress me the fuck out.

[00:29:50] Dayna: Yeah.

[00:29:50] Jessy: And to lose all of my creative juices. I wanna have revenue streams all over the place to support the projects that I wanna do. So look it’s a big topic and I, but this is what I’m, I personally, am excited about. So, can we talk a little bit about just like, financial opportunities, and what maybe even you are specifically excited about that capacity? 

[00:30:15] Dayna: Absolutely. So, a few buckets here. One is crypto cryptocurrencies. This is not financial advice. As I believe I legally need to say but, please do your research on anything and everything. Crypto, the most important thing to note. When we say cryptocurrency, when we say, tokens not, all cryptocurrencies are the same. Bitcoin and Ethereum and a Dogecoin, have, different value in different utility. High level, there’s two sides of it. There’s ones that are digital currency, that’s more of a Bitcoin, and then there’s things like, Ethereum, which are, if you invest, you get a Coinbase account just like you’d invest in the stock market. Ethereum is, a blockchain with applications allowed to build on top of it So the example I heard yesterday that I loved was, if Bitcoin is, an old school Nokia flip phone, Ethereum is a smartphone.

[00:31:17] Dayna: So I like to think about it as kind of currency, side and technology side. So that’s just helpful I think as you start to research certain tokens. Right now, the crypto market in general is volatile, so you need to remember that right now, we are, the market’s been volatile but right now, prices are a little. They call it the crypto winter. It might things might be a little rough the next year, but, that could be the time to invest, because if you believe after you do your research, in the things, that you are investing in. And it’s again just like the market like, anyone that could ask my advice on investing in the stock market, my investment strategy and I think this is key as women because we are fucking intuitive witches, is I invest in companies that I think are doing smart things.

[00:32:01] Dayna: One of my best investments was Yeti, why? because they have a phenomenal product. It was rational thinking. So think does that apply that thinking I think to crypto if you wanna do this and, I think the best way to dip your toe, is one, get Coinbase. That is an exchange. It is safe, It is the most user friendly and, they have great educational resources. Look at the ones you’ve heard of read about them, and either invest whatever you’re comfortable with $10 $50. 

[00:32:31] Dayna: That just allows you to have buy-in. If you put $50 in there, you’re gonna open the app and check on it. And by, checking on it, you are going to learn and you’re gonna monitor it and you’re gonna get more and more, comfortable, and educated et cetera which hopefully, if, you find success and you’re interested will, allow you to do more. The other very smart thing to do is what we call dollar cost averaging, and that basically is, set it up. So, biweekly or weekly. You are auto investing, and you can set this up with your BOA account or your checking account, and Coinbase, $10, $15, et cetera. 

[00:33:08] Dayna: That, one allows it to be a little set and forget it and two, it makes it a little bit riskier, given that Crypto 10 can be volatile, because it basically averages, out your investment, Versus saying I’m gonna spend a hundred dollars at the peak of the market, or, the height of the market. 

[00:33:27] Dayna: The other thing and this might be a little too deep but you can set this up again in Coinbase is, what we call staking. And that allows you basically to, stake your money, in a certain crypto, and they then leverage that money, you can’t touch it. But you stake a hundred dollars, and then Ethereum, basically uses that a hundred dollars to power their network, and, you gain interest money, by letting them borrow your money. So, that again is a little bit deeper but it’s a great way to, earn a little bit of passive income and the interest rates It’s kinda how we used to think about a savings account. Back in the day, our savings account, used to earn interest. Now it’s 0.001 but, could be another interesting way to, earn some passive income on the side. The other is, N F T projects.

[00:34:22] Dayna: I need to preface this as well. Most of the NFT projects are in three to five years are gonna be, worth zilch ,but, and I am deep in this space I didn’t buy my first N F T until probably a month, probably three months ago, because, if you’re going to buy an N F T you are investing in one of few things. One, you’re investing in the art and the artist. You need to remember art is subjective, so that doesn’t mean if you buy, a piece of. If you buy something and you believe in it, it could be the next Van Gogh, and there doesn’t need to be any additional utility, behind it. But, that’s obviously from an investment standpoint more risky but only you know if you believe that artist and love that art that much. 

[00:35:06] Dayna: The other thing is, you’re investing in the community that is connected, to that token, and, the value that community, and that, that is they’re providing back to you. So, let’s look at a women of the world. Women of the World is the biggest most blue chip, female founded and female artist N F T project. You buy, an Nf, you buy into the community, right? And you get that art. When you get that art then you become part of their Discord community, and they’re doing a whole lot of amazing things, to, increase the value of that token for their community. Like, Reese Withers Spoon BA.

[00:35:47] Dayna: One, dollar signs increases the value of the project which increases the value of the token you own .That token also unlocks exclusive events. You go to Art Basel, you just like a ticket. You show your token. I’m a wow holder. You can get in I can’t without it. Remember too now there’s we have the right side of this, so with Wow and this is a one of the more robust N F T projects but, Shonda Rhimes is now a holder. Back to the royalties part of this, the art of Wow is women. They will most definitely that is Ip ,If we think about Disney.

[00:36:30] Dayna: If you owned, Mickey Mouse art, back in the day and then that art was used for all the merch, the amusement parks, et cetera. You would be a B you’d be a millionaire now, right? Because you held an original Mickey Mouse token art, and the community that, that art, and the Ip that art was tied to, continued to increase in value. So, I invested in and I’ll be completely honest. My best N F T, project that I’ve invested in It’s I’ve only invested in female founded, projects not because I’m like wow, burn your brow, but because again, subjectively I like the art, and, I gravitate, to what their mission is and what they’re building. Crypto coven I couldn’t remember the name.

[00:37:18] Dayna: I minted it meaning, I put it on the blockchain so that’s usually the cheapest that you can buy it at. So I bought it for, probably $300 which is not nothing but, it’s I’m now getting offers for a little shy of, three Ethereum which is, almost $10,000, and I’m not gonna sell it. But I’ve had access to this community, and, it’s because I, did my research on the team. I like the art. I did the research on their roadmap and every N F T project has a roadmap on their website that will say, when this happens, we will do this. When we hit 10% sales we’ll do this .When we hit 24% we’ll do this, et cetera. And, we’re just seeing the fund get started as far as the value, that ,being part of the right NFT communities and being and owning the right NFTs, are providing. And I think, as a creator too I think that’s another, or someone that has their own business.

[00:38:17] Dayna: I would encourage you to, dive in a little bit and learn about these N F T projects, because they’re all powered by that N F T and, they have helped me, get really creative and better understand, all the ways we, potential things we could do. We’re living in a creative garden right now, honestly, it’s the beginning and I think that have fun with it. But so that’s another investment opportunity NFTs. Crypto, and then, this is early days but I think, there is a way to, back to ownership and getting paid for your contribution. There are certain ways to get paid, for your time. So one company for creators is called Brain Trust, and, it more or less is, if you think about any type of, freelance network of fiver. But, you get rewarded, based on your contribution so, not only your work but let’s say, you brought in your, other artist’s friend, into their network of freelancers you would also get paid for that. So, there’s additional ways to get compensated, for different types of value outside of just a fiver you, someone asks you to put, do a, paid campaign on YouTube and you get paid for that. The last thing is DAOs, and, It stands for decentralized autonomous organization.

[00:39:43] Dayna: It is very early days. Don’t even worry about knowing the name, I think no one’s even gonna think about them as that It’s very mis marketed. But more or less it is being part of an organization or a community, again where you get compensated, for the work you do and you determine, this is the key point ,how much, you want to work as part of that group, or, how much time you wanna contribute. So an example is, there’s media DAOs. Bankless is one, Forefront is another. Where, if as a creator you join Bankless Dao and you say I wanna write your newsletter, one time a month. You get paid, for that content that you created and contributed.

[00:40:29] Dayna: But I like that because again everyone’s busy especially women, and we have a million things going on and I like the idea of DAOs for a lot of reasons, but I really like that, the control is fully on you to say these are the, companies or DAOs, whatever that I like. This is how much time I have. This is what my skills are and I love doing, so I’m gonna tell you what I wanna do. How many hours I wanna give you, and I get compensated accordingly. I’m trying to think if there’s anything else. I think those are the three buckets, of how you can currently, make money and be capitalizing. 

[00:41:07] Jessy: And those are fantastic. One of those concepts are, incredibly valuable and, I’ve been able to learn a little bit about all of those things.

[00:41:21] Dayna: Yeah. 

[00:41:22] Jessy: And, it’s just, it’s really exciting It’s the best way that the way that I think about it at least is like, people are setting up the foundation for, The Infinite Possibilities Of Opportunity, that is so exciting so like, if i can implore, our audience, anything, it’s to just continue to educate yourself and immerse yourself in it because it’s like with anything. You, are only successful as like the people around you.

[00:41:57] Dayna: Yeah.

[00:41:57] Jessy: They will absolutely. It’s all about energy, you feed into that energy, you educate each other, you share information. That’s a big piece of, this whole thing that I love too is the community element of the people who are learning about it and involved in it. Everyone’s on discord. Everyone’s on discord and they’re sharing information and they’re like you should invest in this and you should invest in this and, if we all do this together, it’s gonna we’re all gonna benefit It’s, like those fundamental principles, are what, really excites me. 

[00:42:29] Dayna: Yes.

[00:42:29] Jessy: So ,I am excited for everyone to hopefully, be inspired and by at the very least intrigued. 

[00:42:39] Dayna: Yeah. And have fun. Have fun It’s like we’re at the beginning of a revolution. Literally and that’s, what, one of the reasons I’ve loved it the most is my creative brain is just, don’t assume, and then don’t make assumptions. Don’t think, oh, I’m dumb I don’t get it. No one knows what they are talking about and that is, lean into that I have been at least and, Yeah I mean we’re all figuring it out together. 

[00:43:06] Jessy: We’re all figuring it out together. I would ask you as, the final piece of our conversations.

[00:43:13] Dayna: I don’t want it to end.

[00:43:16] Jessy: Exactly. I was gonna say there’s so much more to talk about and, we’ll continue to for sure, this is, the first of many conversations.

[00:43:24] Dayna: Can’t wait.

[00:43:25] Jessy: What do you hope to achieve with Unblocked this year ?

[00:43:30] Dayna: So, I hope to, more high level. I really just hope to, get, more, people that think they’re uninterested, interested and excited, in ways that are relevant to them. More teched tactically. We are, in the early I mentioned this earlier but I hope to launch, our commerce ex NFT powered commerce experience by the end of the year. And I hope to really just continue, to serve as a container, to bring women together to collaborate and collectively build a more equitable future. I too am still learning how to articulate a lot of this I too because this is the other thing you have to remember, right? This whole world is, creating new business models.

[00:44:22] Dayna: So, it’s been interesting trying to be patient with, learning myself learning and figuring out the best ways to put this all together and build things over by the most value and impact and, I’m hoping to continue to figure that out, but really again back to community and collaboration. Continue to connect with like-minded women like yourself like outside his podcast I can’t wait to chat more because, I know there’s so many. The more again we put our heads together like let’s fucking go. So I’m excited to lean into that some more, and yeah just continue to see how things evolve and I’m jazzed more women are getting, to, or joining the conversation. It’s so important. 

[00:44:59] Jessy: Same I

[00:45:00] Dayna: It be more fun to talk to girls and boys. Just kidding to all the boys. We like the boys too 

[00:45:06] Jessy: It’s, I want there to be more, girl clubs. Like I want there to be more women, just as excited about, the ,the opportunity, the potential like that alone, and seeing it all come together.

[00:45:21] Dayna: Yeah

[00:45:21] Jessy: And seeing who’s getting involved and, I don’t know that just that lights me up and it’s so cool to think about, that it, it really is at its core, something that will, succeed and do even better, when there is collaboration, that is like the fundamental piece of this all. So, 

[00:45:44] Dayna: We need in your voice. We need everyone’s voices. 

[00:45:47] Jessy: Yes, absolutely. So look I’m so excited to just continue these conversations. I hope we inspired some people, who are listening or watching today. For anyone who wants to check out your organization, your company, what’s the best way for them to learn more and even to get in touch with you? 

[00:46:09] Dayna: So, two things. One, you can we have so much content that I hope will help you continue on your journey, on Instagram and YouTube. We also are on Twitter which is that’s another great place to learn about all of this, that’s where the whole kind of crypto web three community, resides. I’m not a huge Twitter girl but, you can find us there as well. I also next week I’m gonna start hosting five off what I’m calling office hours a week, just for any woman anyone to sign up for 30 minutes and ask me any questions on this whole world just so it can be more personal and relevant to your business and your life. So, if you go to Unblock’s Instagram you’ll be able to find a link there over the next few. 

[00:46:52] Dayna: And, I am not joking, I am always down to connect with anyone and everyone and help however I can So you can feel free to email me directly Dayna dayna@unblocked.com, and, if it makes sense for us to connect and do some cool stuff together, I’d love to hear from you. 

[00:47:11] Jessy: I’m so excited about that. We will link all of that in the show notes for sure It’s, 

[00:47:16] Dayna: Yeah, I’ll send you a link to the sessions too. My the calendar so it’s will be there. 

[00:47:20] Jessy: Perfect. It’s been such a pleasure connection.

[00:47:23] Dayna: Such a pleasure sister.

[00:47:24] Jessy: I’m excited to continue these conversations even way beyond this podcast. So for anyone, 

[00:47:30] Dayna: Your community is perfect, for tokenizing your community.

[00:47:34] Jessy: I love.

[00:47:34] Dayna: So we gotta talk. 

[00:47:36] Jessy: Definitely. 

[00:47:36] Dayna: I wanted to say that so many times, but I knew this wasn’t the time, so, but yeah. I look forward to chatting you with Samora. Thank you so much. Thank you for all that you do and what you’re building and how you’re showing up for all of us. We love women like you more than anything.

[00:47:50] Dayna: And thanks for having me.

Dayna Trocki DeStefano

Founder, UNBLCD

Dayna has spent her decade-plus career working at the intersection of Product, Brand Strategy & Digital Media. She is the CEO & founder of unblcd, unblcd is a content, commerce, and collaboration platform for women change-makers, builders, and creators shaping a brighter, more equitable digital future with blockchain technology. She is also the founder of The Day Consulting, a brand strategy + digital marketing consultancy. Prior to that she spent 6+ years at Gallery Media Group (PureWow, ONE37pm, Gallery Podcast Co.) as the VP of Product responsible for the design, product management & content production team(s).

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