If we were to mirror Non-Fungible Tokens’ (NFTs) progression to the product life cycle, we are currently in the growth stage. The growth stage is when the product establishes its position and brings the most profit. This is evident by the dramatic 100x value increases of NFT collections like Bored Ape Yacht Club, launching several lucky holders to millionaire status. The rapid rise of Web3 technologies like cryptocurrencies and NFTs have captured my interest and I am excited to be a part of this movement, facilitated by EY Americas Innovation.
To demonstrate my curiosity and passion for emerging technologies like blockchain, I created this page on ETH blockchain. I also crafted a modest collection of hand-painted, unique NFT Affirmation Cards called Mindful NFTs (please click the embedded link). After identifying an unmet market need for NFT collections inspired by mindfulness, I decided to create these affirmation cards to showcase values that best illustrate who I am. Non-Fungible Tokens are an increasingly popular use case of Web3. They can be stored in crypto wallets and bought on platforms like OpenSea and SupeRare. NFTs are unique because they are forever encoded on the blockchain, making it impossible to replicate (non-fungible). This would tackle the risk of fraud associated with non-fungible assets that rely on an “expert” to decipher its authenticity with the human eye. NFTs are often built on blockchains using Ethereum and Solana, and Mindful NFTs was minted on Ethereum. Despite the fact that NFTs minted on Polygon have lower gas fees, minting on ETH was a tactical decision as the network is larger and is accepted on most applications. The value from Mindful NFTs is derived from its rarity (as of now there are only 2 - both of which are not for sale yet), utility (the NFT grants holders access to a Mindfulness Book Club that meets quarterly via Zoom), and community size (Discord and Twitter).
“I Am Growing.” symbolizes my unquenchable desire to learn and grow. One of my biggest fears in life is living a life of mediocrity, where I fail to maximize my full potential and make a positive impact. To inspire others to grow, I created a blog called The Rish Life as a creative outlet. I built my community from scratch to over 175,000 views through engaging multi-platform content, which developed my skills in writing, public speaking, social media marketing, brand deals, and negotiation. Through my blog, I share my journey with intentional living while segmenting wellness into four categories - physical, emotional, social, and financial/career. I love to spend my free time fueling these categories, whether it is by reading, trying a new workout class, cooking, spending time in nature, investing, or taking a new course.
“I Am Innovative.” depicts my core value of innovation. My optimism for the future and desire to do the undone drives me. This is best demonstrated when I challenged myself to graduate 2 years early while taking 29 credits per semester in college, or when I helped rethink the EdTech status quo as an intern at Upkey (seed stage startup). To me, innovation means being curious, courageous, updating what already exists to make it more efficient, solving a problem, and disrupting what is considered normal.
I am excited to leverage my GTM experience through ESG and Crypto initiatives at EY to help Americas Innovation strengthen roll-out strategy, articulate alternatives for future state approaches, and act as the voice of the customer. Bringing my passion for emerging technologies like blockchain to the Americas Innovation team will allow us to better identify high potential assets and define a minimum viable product. Being part of the Americas Innovation Program Specialize Track as a Product Analyst would allow me to focus on further grow the skills required to support the development of existing products within Enterprise Risk, as well as identify new high potential assets at the intersection of payments and compliance. Learning how to conduct market research and analysis to define long-term vision, customer needs, and expected outcomes, will equip me with the transferrable skills needed to improve and build innovative product offerings for EY’s financial services clients. I am especially passionate about blockchain technologies and the rapid growth in this realm. Our financial services clients need to adapt to the rising demand of decentralized finance and I am eager to foster the adeptness needed to develop products in this space. Furthermore, I am passionate about entrepreneurship and hope to build a product of my own one day. The skills I will develop through America's Innovation as a Product Analyst will allow me to cultivate intrapreneurship within EY, and ultimately entrepreneurship one day when preparation meets opportunity.