We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Gianina Skarlett a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Gianina, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?

As a Latina in the technology industry (previously a software engineer), I am extremely passionate about creating inclusive spaces in which all minorities can participate. The first step toward a more inclusive future is to provide people with the tools they need to participate in the conversation, which often means developing ways to onboard them.

When I first began working in the Web3 industry, I noticed that there were only a few NFT brands where minorities felt included, and even fewer were committed to onboarding and providing them with the tools they needed to participate in Web3.

That is where CTW came from, a community-centric brand with a mission to educate and onboard minority groups that are frequently left behind to participate in web3 by creating ways to onboard them and everyone through education with our educational platform W3 Learn Academy and by tailoring fun experiences that you are granted if you hold our NFTs.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers?

First and foremost, let me introduce myself: my name is Gianina Skarlett. I’m originally from Venezuela and worked as a software engineer at Forethought, a company that develops AI solutions, before becoming a founder. I spent my childhood in Venezuela, and later moved to Puerto Rico. I’ve always been interested in technology and began coding when I was 16 years old, but it wasn’t until I moved to Los Angeles, California, that I discovered the possibility of becoming a software engineer and that anyone (including myself) could do it! Prior to entering the world of technology, I worked in management, customer service, and entertainment.

My first introduction to the Web3 industry was in 2017 when I purchased Crypto, and later in 2021 when I became a participant, learning how to build Smart contracts, Decentralized Apps (Dapps), and becoming a collector of other NFTs.

CTW is dedicated to onboarding the next million+ Web3 users through innovation, education, empowerment, fun experiences, and exciting partnerships. Our NFTs serve as membership into our community and provide access to exclusive member events such as educational workshops, advisory 1:1s, ownership of your NFT IP Rights, a curated Web3 job board for those looking to transition to Web3, and access to our educational platform W3 Learn Academy.

One of the most exciting aspects of the CTW launch has been the ability to onboard so many people to Web3 by assisting them in creating wallets and educating them on how to participate in Web3 while remaining safe. We participated in a panel with Eva Longoria focused on onboarding women and minorities into Web3 and were able to provide some members of our community with access to this event; we provided all of our members with free unstoppable domains (4k+) as we continue to craft more educational workshops to help our audience bridge their web2 skills to web3 skills.

Every step of the journey has been incredible, and the best part has been sharing it with my team and community, who are the true stars.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

As I had been building our CTW community since August 2021, it was finally time for our initial sale of our digital assets (NFTs), which I had scheduled for February 24th and public sale February 26th. As the days approached, my level of excitement skyrocketed, especially given the amount of support and excitement our community had shown.

Russia launched the first missile against Ukraine the night before the initial sale; this was a disastrous event for many reasons. The excitement that had built up over the previous months quickly turned into fear, uncertainty, and doubt for the future, with many observers urging us to postpone the mint, and others urging us to stick with our plans… with many decisions to make, none of which were easy, I decided to stick with our plans for the initial sale, and we were able to sell out within the first 24 hours of our public sale.

Although I knew the world was in mourning and that whatever decision I made would be scrutinized, I felt obligated to those who were in different timezones and went to bed believing the next day they would be able to mint their first NFT, I thought about those who had been saving money to participate in it, and I thought about the mission behind each and every CTW NFT.

How did you build your audience on social media?

This is a fantastic question! I’ve started building my audience from scratch four times now. I find the process to be very exciting, and I think with a lot of intent when creating my social media profile, and I’d love to share my experience with you all.

First and foremost, even thought I’m sure you’ve heard it a million times, but it bears repeating: BE AUTHENTIC! Know who you are, what you want to achieve with your account, and who your audience is and what type of content they prefer.

I always keep my readers or followers in mind when developing my social media presence so that I can create content that they will enjoy. The key to any successful relationship, in my opinion, is to first care about the other person. Another MAJOR piece of advice is to build relationships; building authentic relationships has always bolstered my personal and social growth; stop viewing others as competitors and begin viewing them as collaborators and partners.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://linktr.ee/cryptotechwomennft
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cryptotechwomen/
• Linkedin: https://linkedin.com/company/cryptotechwomen
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/CryptoTechWomen
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-fQhFj9u4-0MkjuPYOegwg
• Other: https://www.gianinaskarlett.com/