I’m busy as a bee, but wild and free.  

From dawn 'til dusk, my day’s a dance,  

With tasks and laughs in every chance.

I juggle work and play, a joyful chase,  

Like a monarch butterfly in a dazzling race.  

My to-do list sings a merry song,  

As I skip and twirl all day long.

Meetings and errands, they come and go,  

But I’m twirling through them with a glow.  

From spreadsheets to chats, I weave with Eeth,  

Finishing each chore with a smile and ease.

The clock might tick, but time’s my friend,  

It bends and bends, and curves around the bend.  

In every task, a splash of fun,  

A dash of laughter, a little pun.

So here’s to busy, not a moment’s rue,  

Just a playful dance in a lively hue.  

When life gets full, embrace the spin,  

With a smile so wide, and a joyful grin.

For the past two years, after the pandemic affected the way live music was performed and recorded, The Park started meeting every Friday to create together. This was the inception of Fridays At The Park. Given the nature of its crypto-curious and Web3 native members, The Park started to mint onchain what was created at the studio every Friday. For the last two years, this has been the tradition, an artifact is minted every Friday. 

As the word started spreading, and people became more interested in finding a way to contribute to Fridays at The Park, member DerekGTaylor (a.k.a @thepark) took the lead in officially putting the project onchain using the Nouns Builder protocol. With the guidance of Chris Carella, who was the first to create a Nouns Builder DAO (Purple DAO), Derek brought The Park onchain, and The Park DAO was formed. Since its inception on November 10, 2022, The Park has garnered token holders from around the world. The most fun story comes via token holder Davin from Uganda. Shortly after becoming a Park DAO member, Davin put together a proposal for 1 ETH to fund a musical collaboration with The Park founding members and Shwento, a musical group from Uganda. From this proposal, the song “Becky v2” was born which has 17,581 mints and earned 7.8 ETH to date. All earnings have been split among all the contributors, changing the lives of Shwento collaborators. This proved that The Park can be a global collective, and since, has collaborated with musicians in Honduras, and plans to do the same in Tokyo later this month. 

The experience of attending Fridays at The Park IRL is truly magical. Not many people fully understand what it takes to create a song, from nothing, at a music studio, with a group of people. So much goes into the process. This inspired The Park to start filming their sessions. To be in a professional music studio, to play and create without the pressure of making a “hit,” or having to finish a song for a specific album, creates a space where artists can relax, create without expectation, and have fun. The Happy Friday! mantra is created here. The mantra that we should create and live every day like it’s Friday. The filming of the Friday sessions has also garnered success. Season 2 episode 1 of Fridays at The Park has almost 43,000 mints and has earned 19 ETH. All earnings get split among the contributors. It has enabled this group of talented artists to continue to create from their hearts in a professional setting, while sharing their fruits with the world. 

From the many DAOs in Web3, The Park has resonated the most with The Nouns DAO. The Park and Nouns share similar core values– funding great ideas, having fun, and celebrating creativity. Most recently, The Park agreed to make the investment to acquire a Noun (Noun 1124) to be able to actively participate in community governance. Since its inception, two years ago, The Park has been repping nouns, using noggles in their content, and most importantly, educating the Web3 curious about Nouns, and successfully onboarding people. Most recently, The Park put a proposal onchain that I sponsored. The proposal, Prop 573, seeked funding to bring Nouns to FWB Fest 2024 to represent Nouns in the way The Park knows how to do it best, by bringing creatives together to make something great. It succeeded, the process was a learning experience that left me feeling more inspired to continue to create within the Nouns ecosystem. I learned that overall, people are kind, mean well, and want the DAO to succeed. It is truly special to be part of a community where a contributor that votes against your proposal, feels comfortable to have a 1:1 conversation to share their reason for their no vote and genuinely still high five each other after the conversation. Overall, I feel very thankful to all that participated.

Making music is a special process. One of my favorite parts is seeing the sparkle in peoples' eyes when they enter a music studio for the fist time and witness a song being created. I know that at FWB Fest there will be many of these moments when people walk into Nouns Studios by The Park. I hope from the experience at Fest, every time people think about how music is made, it reminds them of that sparkle. Let's all sing Happy Friday on a Tuesday!

If you have any questions about Nouns, The Park, or anything I've shared above, lets continue the conversation @valgtaylor on warpcast.

Thank you for reading!

With love,

~From Val

MoRuf, a seasoned storyteller and proud rapper, delved into the genesis of his latest work. The song, inspired by a childhood encounter with a bully who stole his prized Pokémon cards, unraveled into a broader narrative on identity and self-acceptance. His recounting of hurtful anecdotes, including the traumatic memory of being called "blacky" by a young crush, shed light on his revelation–his skin tone is his regal emblem of pride and heritage. I was so touched by this. It highlighted a universal truth that the journey to self-acceptance often emerges from adversity. 

The director for “Kerry James Marshal,” Joshua Kissi, was also in attendance. He explained that his intentional choice of casting blue tones across the visual narrative, not only accentuated MoRuf's beautiful complexion, but also lent an ethereal quality to the nocturnal backdrop. The symbiotic dance between melancholy and majesty, sadness and jazz, as embodied by the color blue— evoked for me both sorrow and sovereignty, it was hypnotic.

Def Sound, steering the conversation as moderator, sprinkled in poetic insights that made the evening about more than just watching a music video—it was about diving deep into introspection and celebrating creativity.

Big congratulations to MoRuf, Joshua Kissi, and everyone involved in the making of “Kerry James Marshall.” It is original, moving, and a timeless piece of art that is and will continue to be celebrated. If interested in watching the visual of "Kerry James Marshal," you can view it HERE.  

Concluding with my favorite quote from the night– “give flowers to the people that are still here.” ~MoRuf

I'm here sharing these thoughts to give MoRuf his flowers.

Thank you for reading!

With love,

~From Val

For the past five weeks I have been intentional about creating. Creating through writing, minting my daughter's school art she brings home, taking photos. Just spending time being creative without any pressure. It has been fun to mint these projects, share them on Warpcast, and connect with people in such an open and inviting way. I have also been getting more involved in the Nouns DAO. Connecting with others via the /nouns channel has brought joy and inspiration. I'm constantly inspired by all the amazing things people are building, as well as seeing people getting rewarded by just participating. I have been able to connect with some really smart and kind people who have been generous with their knowledge and support.

Getting to attend Farcon was also very special. Seeing Farcasters IRL was a validating experience. This community is filled with brilliant minds who are collaborating on building a brighter future together. I'm thankful to be here.

The company is called Southwestern Advantage. I ended up selling books for 5 summers, it was a life changing experience. Aside from parenting, it has been the most rewarding yet challenging thing I've done. So where did I spend my summers selling books you may ask? First summer Huntersville North Carolina, second South Charleston South Carolina, third Newark Ohio, fourth Chattanooga Tennessee, and fifth summer Charleston West Virginia.

Before heading out to where we would be selling for the summer, all students go to Southwestern's headquarters in Nashville, TN to train. It's called Sales School. It is intense. We train for 14+ hrs a day during the course of 7 days. There, they taught us everything needed to be successful. How to do the sales pitch, how to answer objections, how to map out the area to be worked, how to prospect and be efficient with time, how to keep inventory, accounting, do deliveries of the books, essentially how to run a mini business. During the 12 weeks, every summer I spoke with about 2,000 families. I really got to be very intimate with these communities. It was a trip! The goal was to show the books (do a demo) to 30 families a day, sit down and do the "full pitch" to 20 families a day, and when those numbers were met, on average I got about 7 customers a day. So if you do the math, I dealt with a lot of rejection. Every, single, day, for 12 weeks a summer. 

Every summer I worked about 80 hrs a week. My biggest check was $37,062.95 (that was my last summer and the most fun I had). I was able to self fund a lot of fun traveling because of this crazy internship. Beyond the cash, there were many valuable lessons and skills learned in those 5 summers. I was able to land great jobs out of college, manage, and share sales trainings with top level execs at big companies. I’m really thankful for the sales training and invaluable IRL communications skills I learned in those five summers. I also got to see and experience the whole spectrum of humanity. I met some of the nicest people I’ve ever encountered who cooked me dinners, cheered me up with pep talks, and gave me hugs when I really needed them. I also met some of the meanest people. What left a big mark is that the majority of people are good at heart, and want to do good. Looking back, I'm glad I got to see it all. 

I left this experience with a sense that I could really speak to anyone, with confidence. Getting a no, is no big deal. I'm thankful for that perspective. I also learned that you can really have fun doing anything. How much fun I have, is really up to me. I can't control people and situations, but I can control how I react to them. I also learned the power of commitment and showing up. Putting one foot in front of the other, doing the thing I promised I would do (even when I wanted to quit so many times) was really rewarding. When the day or week couldn't get worse, but I just kept going, things magically would work out.

I made some amazing friendships too. The coolest part is that whenever I meet a person that also sold books, there is an instant bond. Selling books is an experience that is hard to put into words, writing about it has been challenging. I also have the craziest stories from the book field, the type that sound like "I walked to school in the snow uphill both ways" lol, but mainly funny ones too. If you're ever interested to hear them, ask me! I'm happy to share. 

I would love to know if you’ve ever heard of this crazy summer internship before. If you ever sold books or had someone stop by your house. Please share your stories with me. I love hearing about book stories. What’s a crazy thing you’ve done that has had a big impact on how you approach and live life? I want to know! If you want to continue the conversation, send me a note @valgtaylor.

Thank you for reading! 

With love,

~From Val

In late 2013, shortly after meeting my husband @derekgtaylor (a.k.a @thepark), I started to explore the crypto space. Got involved with Bitcoin, used it in 11 different countries, bought a fringe jacket with it, paid for haircuts, airfare, even chapstick. Derek and I would go to bitcoin ATMs where we could find them, talk to people who would want to chat about it. It was an electric moment in time. Ethereum came along and the use case made so much sense to me. Smart contracts, genius! Got involved, got some CryptoKitties (they were cuter than CryptoPunks... doh!). I have learned so much along the way. Crypto has changed my life.

I have a daughter named Eeth, yes after Ethereum. We added an extra "e" so people wouldn't read it as Beth without the "B." Eeth has changed my life. She's my biggest teacher.

My husband, Derek, is my biggest inspiration. I've seen his kindness, laughter, ideas, and courage move mountains. Music, Coffee and Crypto are his passions and are big parts of our lives. It is such an inspiration to see him turn his passions into his profession, all while uplifting his friends and community along the way. I'm so thankful for him.

For all of my adult life I've worked. I've worked in fast paced environments, excelled, traveled, had fun, and burned out. When Derek and I learned we were pregnant with Eeth, I resigned my very awesome job at a big agency to be full time with our family. It's been 3 years since that decision was made, and I'm so glad I made it. Aside from spending most of my days experiencing the world through the eyes of Eeth, I've been helping Derek with our coffee shop Menotti's, and onchain project Fridays at The Park secure partnerships with awesome brands and experiences. Most recently, I've been really interested and actively participating in the Nouns DAO. Derek, and I, alongside our friend Drew Coffman, published Prop 450 to get a Nounish coffee shop funded by the Nouns DAO. Inspired by this proposal, I bid for Noun 933 and won. What a rush! Watching the proposal unfold across four days was a rollercoaster of emotions. In the end, the Proposal succeeded and we are in the process of making Noun a reality. I'm beyond honored to be the CEO for this awesome project, and feel so thankful to get to visualize and realize alongside such great humans like Drew, his wife Kristine, and my husband Derek. I'm thankful for the Nouns community who have all been so kind, helpful, and really fun people to spend time with URL and IRL. A big theme of mine is to have fun, I work on it constantly. It’s something I have to remind myself to do. When I do, magic happens. 

Thank you for being interested in learning more about me. I look forward to sharing more about experiences that have shaped me, lessons I've learned along the way, and the ones to come. I want to learn more about you! Please reach out to me @valgtaylor on Warpcaster.

With Love!

~From Val