How To Build An Offline Community with Web3: Monica Rojas - Community in Web3 -

SPEAKER_00 0:04

This is the Beyond the Story Podcast, a show that goes way beyond the story. And now, Sebastian Frost. Monica, welcome to the show.

SPEAKER_01 0:25

Thanks. I'm happy to be here. Nice to finally get on the show.

SPEAKER_00 0:29

I know it's great to have you here. You and I met uh a few weeks back. You reached out and said, uh, you want to be one of the MCs for Miami NFT week? And I was like, this would require coming out of MC retirement. But you know what? For my Miami NFT week peeps, the answer is yes. And I'm so glad that I did because you and I got a chance to meet in person. And then you invited me to the monthly dinners that you guys host for um the community you guys are building. So um it all ended up working out by being in the right room with the right people, right?

SPEAKER_01 1:00

Yeah, yeah. Thanks for being a part of it. I mean, it's I feel like our friendship, you know, it kind of like traveled so quickly from my main of tea week, and then we kept that energy going. So thank you so much for being a part of it.

SPEAKER_00 1:13

No, it's my pleasure. I'm so stoked to for what's next and to watch the community uh continue to grow and to bring my gifts to the community. So I'm excited for that. So thanks, thanks again for uh for the invite. So on this show, I like to tell people's stories, like to back up a little bit and help our listeners uh understand how how the story kind of began and what really brought you to present day uh with what you're doing. So, how did this whole thing start? And to, you know, as far as where did you get started and a little bit of your backstory?

SPEAKER_01 1:40

Yeah, yeah. And sometimes I don't even know where to start because I feel like web three, the space that I'm in today is just like its own new thing. So um I guess I can just talk about how I got into web three and what I was doing to get into it and what I'm doing now for the space. Um, so yeah, basically, you know, I um I graduated college. I had a company at a college, a startup, and it was in South Florida, and I ended up becoming um really involved with the South Florida startup scene. You know, you're looking to meet other founders, you're always looking to connect. But the best way to do that back in 2019 was through in-person events. So I was actually working part-time for a tech nonprofit that was building South Florida's Tech Hub. And when I was in that role, I realized that community is really the driving force for all things tech, right? Because you want to meet like-minded people, you want to work with people that you trust, you want your name to be known in a space where there's always innovation happening and all of that. So I ended up building community for South Florida's tech ecosystem. And that's where I met a lot of people in Web3 and people just in tech. And eventually I got recruited to work for a tech startup that was based in Miami, but originally the founders are from New York. And the company is called Upstream. And at the time when I joined Upstream, I was a community manager and I actually was um, we were a community networking platform. So what we did is we provided the platform for people to build their own communities and um connect and meet any people from around the world, especially during a time of COVID, right? And for example, like Sebastian, if you started a community on upstream, you'd be able to host any type of virtual event on there on our platform. You would have office hours. So if someone wanted to pick your brain about podcasts, they'd be able to chat with you on that. And then you'd also we also had an ask board. So let's say if you're looking for an intro to a venture capitalist, you can write on that ask board. If you're looking for feedback on your podcast recording, if you're looking for a suggestion on um a platform to host your podcast, that was kind of like what we did. And we're basically building the future of community through community tooling. And what was interesting was like my first week on the job, um, my boss sent me a 12-page PDF. And it had the word decentralized autonomous organizations, which in short stands for DAOs. And he's like, start reading this. We're probably gonna end up pivoting our company to this. And if you're in the web 3 space, if you're familiar at all with crypto, DAOs are considered the feature of community. And, you know, four or five months later, we completely pivoted our our strategy, our product, everything into Web3. And I ended up leading, having to lead the community into the Web3 space. So not only did we pivot our whole company from a web 2 company, a regular tech company, to a crypto startup crypto company, uh, I had to educate my community members. And I actually learned a lot about Web3 because I had to do that. So I was like learning with them. We used to host these crypto genius bars at different conferences. We'd host like virtual events with AMAs with like different people who have been in the space. Um, and yeah, that's that's how I got into the space. So uh one of the biggest things that we focus on at upstream was hosting in-person events because we really believe that events is a driving force for tech companies and even startups. So, you know, eventually, you know, we host a lot of events in Miami. I'm based in Miami, our our CEO is based in Miami, and as you know, Miami's Web3 scene is really booming right now. And I put out a tweet one day, and the tweet was um, I'm hosting um or react to this tweet if you're in Miami and you're looking for web three events this summer. And um, by the time you know it, my tweet went viral. I had a lot of engagement, and really I put out that tweet just so I could invite some people to our upcoming happy hour. But since it got a lot of engagement, I'm like, okay, wait a minute. Like, there's something here in Miami, there's untapped market, there's no go-to resource. I can't just let this tweet go away, right? So then I started launching a texting community on community.com. So since last June, I've been texting all the people or anyone who subscribes to my texting community, all the web three events happening in Miami that week. So we're actually about to do our one-year anniversary um next month. So it's gonna be a year since we launched this texting community. And not only do we text everybody, once a month we host a web 3 dinner club. It's the first Tuesday of every month. It's a really organic, easy way to connect people in the ecosystem. Um, and it's like, it's like super chill. I believe in intimate gatherings. I don't think that, you know, huge, huge happy hours is the best way to connect with people and actually get to know people. And um, yeah, so right now we're we're building the go-to resource for Miami. And it was just so crazy to watch it pivot from a tweet to a texting community to an in-person dinner club to all the above. And now we're like, we're you know, we're we have a lot of partners right now trying to work with us and support Miami Tech ecosystem.

SPEAKER_00 7:20

Love it. Yeah, I got the text yesterday. I was like, this is fantastic. I don't even have to think.

SPEAKER_01 7:24

Yeah, yeah, yeah. We try we try to make it easy and like we try not to spam people because you know, no one likes to be spammed.

SPEAKER_00 7:30

Of course, of course. Well, I mean, build that's then that happens when that doesn't happen when you're building an organic community with the right people, like-minded individuals. It's not, you know, this isn't for everybody. Um, it is if you feel like it's you're you're part of the community, it's exactly what you do. But especially in a town like South, like Miami, I mean, my the landscape's changed drastically uh in a literal sense and and hypothetical. Um, but you know, the world of networking kind of had a bad rap a little bit with in South Florida because, you know, people are showing up at networking events um for all the wrong reasons, you know, no business cards or contact information here for the free booze and appetizers, you know, maybe I'll meet somebody cool, maybe I won't. But when it really starts to get hyper focused on, hey, here's why we're doing this, which is the core of it, is is community. But you know, above and beyond that, you know, we're we're looking to, you know, what's the byproduct? What comes out of us really building this, you know, organic, organic community. And what that is, is just like I said, hey, I just got the text. I know everything that's going on in the tech community for this week with one text message on here. And I know for sure, what if I'm in Miami on the first Tuesday of every single month, I get to get together with some existing friends and some new friends and break bread and and be part of that community, which I think everybody, you know, as as human beings, as as far as we can, you know, back to the stone ages, you know, community has been something that we thrive and crave, you know, as human beings. So uh just exciting to to to be part of it. So you know, Web3 is like a it's like a foreign language to most people. They're like, what? Uh I mean, what? I mean, uh, I just I I know for you, I met somebody at um uh at at uh Miami NFT week. Oh, uh Julie Chan, she was at the dinner time uh uh dinner party as well. And she said she just got done with med school and she decided not to be a doctor. And I was like, what? She's like, yeah, like ready to be a doctor, ready for residency. I'm like, I don't want to do this. Um, I want to I want to make a difference and change the way things are done. And I've been looking at getting in the electronic medical records uh blockchain world. And I was like, Well, I've heard of both of those, but I've never heard of those two together. So I have a bunch of healthcare clients. So I asked one of them yesterday, and he was like, looked at me like I had 10 heads, and he was like, We don't really, but it led me to believe that simple conversation, and while I don't know a lot about that, is really, you know, where we're headed. So, you know, whether we like it or not, it's just the next phase of of the world and of of of you know how we uh how we live in it. But what when when having a conversation with someone and trying to break it down in layman's terms where we are at with web three and where we're headed, you know, what's what what is your usual response?

SPEAKER_01 10:07

Yeah, yeah. So, and I totally can relate because I feel like a lot of my friends outside of like my work friends aren't in web three and they kind of like are like, Why do you always post on Instagram? Like, what are you tweeting about? So I always try to, I always try to meet them where they're at, right? So for example, let's say if you're you're really into let's say sports, right? You're a huge Miami Heat fan. Um, you want to meet other like-minded people, and you want to like consume benefits from being around that same type of person. So basically, I would refer to you, I would I would talk to you first about NFTs, right? Because like you have to figure out why Web3 is solving the solution that you're or the pro or why they're solving the solution for the problem that you're experiencing, right? So say if you are a big sports fan and I told you, hey, if you bought this uh digital picture, digital asset, you'd be able to one, meet other people that had the same interests as you, loved basketball. Two, you'd be able to add this picture to your Instagram or your Facebook or your Twitter and showcase it that way. If anyone else sees that you have this and they have it, they could immediately connect with you and have one thing in common already. Or not just that, you get a flex, right? We all want to flex what we have. And you know, even in your bio, it's like you're an alumni for like Florida State, right? So you're gonna do Florida State alum. So you're able to flex what you really enjoy. But also, what if you got benefits? And instead of just joining a Miami Heat membership club and getting a confirmation email that says, hey, welcome to the Miami Heat membership club. These are your perks. What if you got a shiny picture with a cool image and you had an access or access your community with this button here in order to meet the like-minded people and get your rewards? I feel like it just creates like a better experience for the users and and it's an easier way to bring people together, right? So when you're describing Web3, it's really figuring out how the technology is solving a problem or is creating more of an attractive solution for you.

SPEAKER_00 12:19

Yeah, I love that. That's a that's a very easy way to understand it because most people's mind is melting when you start talking about blockchains, let alone bring up what a DAO is. I actually had to ask that question last year. I think I was out of well, I was at South by. I was like, what is a DAO? And then someone told me, I was like, one second, let me write that down. What was that again? Yeah. So it's there was a point in time that people were like, What's social media? I mean, what is the next that I that's how I always break it down is you know, web one, you know, the internet as we know it, and email, web two, social media, web three, NFTs, blockchain, crypto, the next phase of exactly, you know, where where we're at. But then people always ask for like, so so give me an example of why someone would want to own an NFT. And when we look at, you know, what it's doing for the music industry, which we touched a lot on at Miami NFT week this year, and how it's really revolutionizing how things um operate in the in the music industry and really helping favor artists for the first time ever. Um, and then speaking of any artists, really, music artists, you know, traditional art artists um and photographers, um, and there's just a plethora of other things that that are helping to really uh elevate uh those industries that have been around for for a very, very long time, but not being served the best way they possibly could for the people actually creating them. So um yeah, I'm excited to say to say the least.

SPEAKER_01 13:44

Yeah, yeah, me too. And I really like how you said elevate because I feel like that's what web three is about, and that's what each shift in web is, right? So web one to web two, like social media elevated the read-only kind of platform that we're creating. So I do feel like web three is elevating besides all like the buzz terms like crypto blockchain. It's really about like figuring out how this disruption is gonna help you and I guess elevate you, you know.

SPEAKER_00 14:14

Sure, sure. Well, I mean, a lot of people also are are are, you know, their their negative experience with web three, even not being in the space, may have been crypto, whether you lost some Bitcoin or whatever, or exchange closed, or what NFTs are worth, you know, negative six bucks or whatever the experience is. And people are like basing it on, well, I knew, see, I knew it. We're all looking for evidence, right? It's like I knew it. See, I told you it wasn't. But as with anything new, something's going to come on the scene. It's the tide will go out, and and you know, who's still standing will be the ones that are really pioneering what's going to take place. And I firmly believe that's really what's happening in this space of web three, of you know, getting all of the people that maybe shouldn't be in the space that were in it for the you know quick hit, if you will, um, to the ones that are really, really building solutions. And that's really was my main summary of Miami NFT week this year. Like if you're in, if you were in that room, you you are still active within the world of web three and you're probably building something meaningful um that's really setting the tone and the pace for you know where we're headed with all this.

SPEAKER_01 15:18

Yeah. Yeah, totally. And I feel like, you know, there's there's the people that came in. Well, you know, actually, to be completely transparent, crypto web three NFTs, the one thing that made them so popular was the money that people were making. Yeah. That's the first thing to make something unpopular too, like how much money you're losing. So I feel like if we kind of take away that part, both like pro and cons of the money making, money losing, and we focus on the disruption that's happening, then you are able to really like dig deep and unpeel the onion and like figure out like, oh, wait, there's cool people like innovating with sick technology, creating like real world use cases. And those are the people that we really need to amplify.

SPEAKER_00 16:04

Yeah, absolutely. Well, Monica, it's been so great to have another conversation with you, specifically here on the on the podcast and look forward to continuing to be part of the Miami community that you guys are building. And it's just great to be associated with great humans like yourself. So I appreciate you taking some time out of your day to hang out with me here on the show. Any final thoughts for our listeners on this whole wild, wild world of web three?

SPEAKER_01 16:27

Um, yeah, I mean, I would say it's like figure out what gets you excited, right? You don't have to love the whole world, the web three space, but you have to figure out what's in it for me. How can this solve a problem that I'm experiencing? Or what can I learn? Who can I meet from it? And if you really need support, always try to find an in-person community. That way you can have conversations like this and hear other people talk about solutions they're working on, um, or get in the Twitter world. I mean, there's always people helping each other and collaborating. So if there's anything I can do, please let me know, Sebastian. And you're doing a great job. This was fun.

SPEAKER_00 17:05

I appreciate that, Monica. I'll be sure to include Monica's links for Twitter and Instagram so you can connect with her and follow her. 10 years ago, if you said you were following me, I'd call the police. But these days it's absolutely, it is absolutely uh the norm. Thanks again for your time, Monica.

SPEAKER_01 17:18

Thank you, Sebastian. Have a good one.

SPEAKER_00 17:20

You do the same thing. Until next time, friends. Thanks so much for tuning into this episode of the Beyond the Story Podcast. Be sure to appreciate it. If you haven't done so already, make sure you're subscribed to the show. This way you'll get updates as new episodes become available. If you feel so inclined, please leave us a review. Be sure to appreciate it. Signing off from the podcast, launchlab.com studios. We'll talk to you next time.