Thanks to all who were able to join us at our Kick Off Party last week! We celebrated diversity, highlighted the importance of women in tech, and talked about Rooftop’s invitation to all to start taking action now to close the gender investment gap. If you made the party, check your wallet. We’ve airdropped a non-fungible party favor to you!*
We want to recap the event for you and continue building on the momentum we’re feeling, inspired by our amazing speakers as they shared insights and opportunities within emerging tech.
We joined the zoom to a powerful playlist of women artists curated by all who RSVP’d. As I kicked off the party, I loved seeing everyone joining from around the world: Australia, Canada, Costa Rica, Germany, New Zealand and the U.S. This is just the beginning for Rooftop, but the connections and a sense of community began right from the start in the chat.
For those new to Rooftop, we talked about our motivator and the critical importance of diversity in emerging tech industries. Sally emphasized the underrepresentation of women in tech, with a particular focus on AI and blockchain fields and highlighted the potential for these industries to drive economic growth and uplift individuals from all walks of life. In blockchain, there is also a lack of gender and age diversity, as the vast majority are under the age of 35.
Sally also talked through a use case for crypto. Although the industry is nascent, cross border digital payments is one area blockchain could have real life impact right now. Her own country Aotearoa, New Zealand, has seasonal agricultural workers who send money back to their families in Fiji, Tonga, Samoa, and other Pacific islands. The intermediaries, usually banks, take up to 20% of remittance payments from migrant workers who are sending money home to families. In fact, 30% of the Tongan GDP is made up of remittance fees. So imagine the difference if that number was significantly reduced, and more of that money is in the hands of Tongan people. Blockchain tech and digital payments reduce the intermediary fees to cents on the dollar.
We drew parallels between the current state of blockchain and the early days of cell phones and credit cards, underscoring the massive growth that will occur in the future for the nascent industries of AI and blockchain.
Next up, we announced that we will soon be launching the Rooftop '40 Over 40 International Women in Emerging Tech' award. This initiative will give recognition to and celebrate the achievements of women who are making significant contributions in emerging tech and are outside of the stereotypes of ‘age’ and ‘gender’ in emerging tech.
We were delighted to host Robyn Cohen as our first guest speaker, an advocate for women in venture capital and entrepreneurship. Robyn delivered a powerful speech, sharing her experiences cofounding Utah's '40 Women Over 40' and emphasizing the importance of reshaping the perception of success and equality in her state which ranks 50 out of 50 in the United States for gender equality. She also delved into the typical age of successful CEOs and founders, particularly women, highlighting recent attention to and data demonstrating the ‘youthful founder myth.’
Robyn also addressed the challenges women face in accessing funding and the decline in funding for women-led ventures. She brought attention to our Rooftop Pool initiative to promote inclusive capital and its potential in funding women-led sustainable businesses.
Our second speaker Laura Minquini shared the success story of Athena DAO, which just raised over $300,000 for women's health research through their on-chain token launch–a blockchain enabled way to globally raise funds. The token launch raise brought AthenaDAO’s total funding for women’s health research to more than $600,000. It was great to learn that out of 110 token bids, 85 were from people committing less than $1000. This is a shining example of how blockchain technologies can make fundraising around a shared cause accessible to the masses.
Our final special guest was Zhou Fang, an expert in the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion field and founder at Intersectional Group. Zhou introduced the concept of ‘intersectional leadership,’ how it relates to decentralization and how Rooftop and our work is leading the way with intersectional leadership. She drew a great analogy for us all for intersectionality, using the example of driving around a roundabout vs through an intersection and talked about the potential of Rooftop to bring intersectionality and blockchain technology together for economic upliftment on a global scale.
We wrapped the party with our membership giveaway (congrats, Val!) and by chatting through the options and opportunities for joining and partnering with Rooftop. These include wallet setup sessions for those new to web3, sponsorship opportunities, and continued support for the community's growth. We closed out the party with a video from The Greatest Showman which exemplifies not only the supportive and growth oriented spirit of the Rooftop community, but also what we want all women founders to feel as they navigate their journeys, raised up and valued.
Our Kick Off Party was filled with insights, inspiration, and opportunities to support diversity in emerging tech, personalize your emerging tech journey, and to take action to close the gender investment gap.
If you're interested in joining a community committed to making a positive impact together, we welcome you! Let’s shape a more inclusive and innovative future for all.
*Don’t have a digital wallet? Sign up for our Wallet Set Up Workshop. Don’t see your Kick Off Party NFT, but you were on the zoom? Let us know at info@rooftop.global