The collectible artwork is a symbol of the strength of women and meant to be cherished and held until each recipient decides to pass it on to another woman who has inspired them. The NFTs in this collection have been gifted by the women of the Proxy community team to outstanding women in web3 who are paving the way for gender parity in a space that is typically dominated by men.

“My goal with this collection is to showcase the strength of women. The central figure here is an image of a strong woman, and she is surrounded by a spray of flowers and two orca whales. Using the bright and colorful psychedelic flowers of the 1960s as inspiration, the flowers in this piece are a nod to this time period as a huge turning point for the Women’s Rights Movement. The two orcas represent the incredible value that women bring to communities across the world. In their packs, female orcas are leaders, and the entirety of the pack depends heavily on its mothers and grandmothers for survival.” 

Leah spends time on crypto Twitter connecting with other NFT artists and joining in on Twitter spaces to learn more about what community members are doing. She recently attended an IRL web3 meetup in San Francisco put on by Web3 Crypto Startups to meet other web3 enthusiasts and hear more about their projects.

When Leah’s not behind a computer designing, you can find her somewhere with a paintbrush in hand. She paints everything from murals in public spaces to custom shoes for professional athletes. Leah has also had her t-shirt designs featured by Barstool Sports. Getting into the NFT space has opened up a world of possibility for Leah with the potential for her artwork to be seen by millions.

“I love the joy my designs can bring to a client or team member when I get it right. There's always something extraordinary in that moment when you realize you brought their idea to life in the perfect way.”

When asked about her level of enjoyment in the web3 world recently, Leah replied “I’m in it. I’m in deep, and I can’t get out.”

We’re so proud of you Leah, and can’t wait to see all that you’ll accomplish in the future!

Follow Leah on Twitter @PinneyLeah

Julius Caesar was betrayed by his fellow senators on the Ides of March, and Web 2.0 has left us high and dry just like the Roman dictator without any friends.

We love using the Internet as much as everyone else but don’t want to fork over our personal data to participate.

Unlike Caesar, we can see this devious plot coming. Thanks to web3, we’re well on our way to reclaiming our data and privacy and making the Internet work for us.

Many Web 2.0 betrayals involve spreading malware and stealing private information. While these threats still exist in web3, we are seeing a paradigm shift in the way private information is used and stored and a strong desire of the people to take back ownership over what is rightfully theirs.

Here are four ways that Web 2.0 betrayed us and how web3 solves the problem:

1. Account Ownership

   In the Web 2.0 world, accounts and services are tightly coupled together. If you lose access to your account, all of the data tied to it is inaccessible - even if you were to build the exact same service yourself. The rules behind how accounts are handled, what can/can’t be done with them, and what information is stored are often obfuscated behind terms of service agreements which are all too easy to skip through and quickly click “agree.”

   Here’s an example: Johnny is a YouTube influencer with 50,000 subscribers and hundreds of videos uploaded on his channel. He accidentally breaks the rules of the terms of service and is now banned from the platform. Johnny used to rely on his channel for his livelihood and has now lost it all.

   Thanks to web3 and the power of decentralization, accounts no longer need to be tightly coupled with services as you’re now granting the right to access the content rather than giving services content directly. In Web2, Johnny’s videos would be uploaded to YouTube to be stored in their servers, but in web3 they would access his videos from a distributed network where he grants them access. Since the content is not exclusive to a single service, Johnny is free to move to other services and can even use multiple services simultaneously.

2. Central Authority

   One of the best things about web3 is that decentralization eliminates the need for a central authority. This is an extremely important distinction from Web 2.0. In a decentralized application (dapp), you can’t be denied access to a service nor can you be censored. In addition, smart contracts even allow traditional agreements between two parties to eliminate a central mediating authority.

   Traditional agreements are enforced by the law, and mileage may vary depending on the jurisdiction or available resources. Web3 smart contracts can resolve themselves because they are automatically based on the predetermined terms. This application of technology brings utility to the real world in all sorts of ways. It can be applied to enforce exchanges of goods/services, build censorship-free social media, games, and more.

3. Halting Services

   When accounts and services are tied together, it poses a big problem when centralized services are halted. In these cases, whatever account you had is gone, and you lose all access. On the flip side, decentralized networks in web3 persist as long as there is something powering the network (such as validators).  In addition, regular people have the power to host the data because the servers that power web3 are decentralized.

   Modern Web 2.0 databases have plenty of contingency in the form of backup servers, but it is not a built-in part of Web 2.0. A Web 2.0 server can technically be hosted on a single machine where all data is at risk of getting lost if that machine were to break.

   If Google were to shut down Google Stadia (cloud gaming service), users would lose all of the things they paid for on the service, and nobody else is legally allowed to host it. This is a vulnerability in every Web 2.0 product, and, given enough time, there will be more and more examples of products that shut down their service for good.

4. Unlawful collection of data

   In February of this year, the Texas Attorney General sued Meta (Facebook’s parent company) for unlawfully collecting biometric data, via facial recognition software, for commercial purposes without informed consent.

   According to Time.com, the lawsuit claims Meta has been “storing millions of biometric identifiers” - identified as retina or iris scans, voice prints, or a record of hand and face geometry - contained in photos and videos people upload to its services, including Facebook and Instagram.

   Web3 gives us more control over what is and isn’t shared from your wallet, and reduces the ability to correlate data across services. This is a function of the bring-your-own-account approach with stricter cryptographic controls over which parts of it you chose to share.

While the Internet has opened up a whole new world for users, we need to be cautious about what is happening to our personal information. Thanks to web3, the power will soon be back in the hands of individuals and not in the grasp of Big Tech and bad actors.

“The Internet once held great promise as a means of empowering individuals, but it has become yet another path of control for bad actors. Today, authoritarian governments and companies around the world track and surveil individuals; data is not private and is sold for profit; some states algorithmically “score” their citizens; and propaganda and disinformation are rampant. Thankfully, we are on the cusp of “Web3,” a next-generation Internet that could shift the balance back toward individuals.”

Anthony Vinci & Dr. Nadia Schadlow for the Washington Post*

Regan came for the decentralization, but stayed for the community. She has found friendship, opportunity, and purpose through her research and work in web3. She’s made it her personal mission to be that friend who holds your hand through web3 onboarding and bring in as many people as she can.

Regan, known on crypto Twitter as @reegannotraygan, became an overnight sensation on December 15, 2021 after tweeting:

“why does a first post on twitter feel so awkward. maybe it’s because i have 4 followers. tho my 4 followers rock & are into web3 stuff so i’m not complaining. hello all 4 of you 👋”

She woke up to 300 new followers and had amassed 1,000 by the end of that same day. Regan created the Twitter account at the urging of friends from the IndexCoop DAO who said immersing herself in crypto Twitter would accelerate her onboarding process.

Loved for her authenticity and relatability, Regan has grown a community and a safe space for web3 newbies. In a world ruled by crypto bros, she has shown that web3 and crypto are for everyone, including women of all ages, and that people should be encouraged to come as they are and learn along the way.

When she’s not studying for school, Regan is studying web3. She spends much of her time on crypto Twitter both learning from others and onboarding newbies.

“I spend a lot of time in DMs helping people with onboarding. I watch and learn from people and try to make connections and come up with ideas of things that I want to do in the future. I’ve also been writing articles about what I learn. A day in the web3 life for me is very Twitter and Discord focused.”

Given her finance background, Regan has found herself at a crossroads between TradFi and DeFi. Regan doesn’t see traditional banks going away, but does believe they will have to soon begin acknowledging and integrating with the decentralized world. While the work she’s done with traditional banks has nothing to do with DeFi and blockchain, she sees an exciting opportunity for that to change in the near future. In the age of web3, all of the old questions that have been answered by traditional banking institutions have been made new again. With her background, Regan is uniquely poised to be a valuable asset when that time comes.

Regan’s best advice?

“Just get started. Join a DAO, introduce yourself and just say hi. There are so many people who are supportive, welcoming, and ready to help you. Get on Twitter and Discord. Join a couple of DAOs and find your people. There is so much opportunity even outside of being a hobby. People are making this their livelihood, and you can too. The cornerstone of web3 is onboarding and meeting people. Come as you are and be open to learning.”

Regan is a self-proclaimed crypto, defi, web3, all-of-it-newbie. She’s an active member of Index Coop DAO, a founding member of AstroGirls Society, and part time community viber with Opyn. Check out Regan’s latest articles at regan.mirror.xyz