Sure, everyone has a phase where they're obsessed with something online, then suddenly they're not. I was that kid. My love affair with the internet began when I was 9; but it wasn’t with video games; it was with online encyclopedias. I got hooked on Baike.Baidu.com, China’s Wikipedia. I dove into rabbit holes, becoming verified contributors to niche topics. I found the process of research to be amusing and addictive. It became a daily ritual: after school, I’d sit at my computer, scouring the web to answer questions. It felt empowering that nobody knew I was just this 9-year-old kid and they are reading the shit I helped draft, regarding them as information authority.

That’s when I developed an unhealthy relationship with the internet and online attention. Being a perfectionist, I spent endless hours crafting the perfect answer, refining my writing. As I got older, my standards grew higher. When identity verification became a thing, requiring real names on profiles, I became even more paranoid about messing up my reputation. So, I tried even harder with my posts.

“Make Instagram casual again,” “just thread it”—these mottos are easier said than done. Until Web3 gave me another push. As a general audience to casual posts from unknown users, I found a more accepting version of myself: diversification of entertainment by boundless online personalities make me want to spend no time on judging anybody, but to focus on finding people whose content I enjoy. This mindset has also enabled me to write and post more casually myself.

Im back at square one with curating my feed and my online personality. I first downloaded Warpcast thinking that it is going to be a crypto natives playground with huge learning curve to each consumable content. It has proven me wrong in many ways:

1. For learning: Warpcast offers a great entry point than Twitter, where noises are more filtered out, less visible bots; following the right channels and the right people basically offers me a 1-stop-shop to learning what’s happening in the web3 innovation world.

2. For fun: The right mix of url and irl activities promoted on Warpcast create an easy-going atmosphere for people to engage with one another and to make friends. The smaller, more intimate social graph on there makes everybody more reachable, content more surfaceble.

Builders, creators, people who found home on Warpcast are trying their best to keep the algorithm new user-friendly; this sense of obligation that come with being a successful early-user of a platform is entrepreneurial, ownership-oriented, and I have so much hope for what it could become under the hands of the right participants. I don’t mind spending more time online if it means contributing to an experimental community that’s onto something big.

Reconciling my relationship with the internet is already rewarding me with something exciting. I only hope is that there won’t be a day when I become “too online.” Hope I will always be the girl with a paper journal in hand, too busy enjoying the real world to open another phone screen just to share my thoughts with more than one group chat.

Maybe there is a way to stay onchain but not too online…?

https://x.com/maysquarepants/status/1798022137024041375

…

is a web3 interview project in incubation.

My name is May and I had my fresh start in Web3 2 months ago.

Everybody’s journey starts and manifests differently; I've always felt like web3 chose me without me seeking it out. I created this blog to feature special humans in web3, answering the questions of how web3 first tapped them on the shoulder and where it is leading them.

The crypto landscape is drastically changing with a swamp of new players; it’s important that we tell our versions of the stories before anybody tries to tell it for us.

Months, or years down the road, I want everybody who reads this blog to be like, these are the personalities and stories that shaped web3, the best version that everybody wants to be a part of.

Here it begins…

May: The woman featured today is Jamie @Chicago. I met her at FarCon 5k, a woman who loves Italian pizza, biking, and has the most ‘random’ transition story to Web3 I’ve heard (so far). She is my intro to SheFi and BoysClub; she's somebody I know I’d go on a roadtrip with even only after knowing her for 1 month.

• Someone sat down next to you in a coffee shop. They said you look cool and radiant and wish to get to know you. Share 3 things that are not directly related to what you do in web3.

I watch the movie Little Miss Sunshine & the entirety of Sex and the City (TV show) about once a year.

If you keep an open mind or reasonable expectations, you’ll be really surprised. There are many concerts I’ve attended with lowered expectations and I was really blown away. There are also many concerts I’ve attended that were overhyped. I think it’s all about being present and open to the possibilities around us.

There are three ice cream shops that I think are the best in the world. #1 is Giro d’Italia in Zurich, Switzerland. The best texture and taste. Incredibly creamy & just an absolute treat. They’re double flavor ice creams are my favorite (e.g. white chocolate/pistachio) #2 is Gelato Bar on Spring Mtn Rd in Las Vegas. I absolutely love their flavor selection, everything is made in house, and it’s so refreshing on a hot day. I recommend the Rum Raisin and Taro ice cream. #3 is Gelateria Gentile in NYC. They have really luxurious flavors and use the best ingredients. Their Pistachio is my favorite.

• When did you make the pivot to join web3? When was that and what inspired you?

I was originally a music teacher in public education from 2013-22. I taught every iteration at every socio-economic level you could imagine across the nation. It wasn’t very fulfilling and I wasn’t being challenged. I return to community college in 2021 to earn a web development certificate. Afterwards, I freelanced small projects. In May 2022, I reconnected with a college friend who had already made the switch to Web3. She gave me all the resources to be successful: Buildspace, SheFi, Boys Club, and more. I joined SheFi & Boys Club in the Fall 2022 and that’s when my journey accelerated. I connected with a recruiter through SheFi, who's now a good friend in Chicago. She said to check out Developer Relations because it combines programming and education into one role. After that, I started to get interviews and transition fulltime to Reservoir (https://reservoir.tools) in November 2022. The rest is history!

• Name the biggest thing that’s changed for the better after you became part of web3.

The freedom and ability to be in charge of my schedule. The opportunity to challenge what I know and push myself intellectually in a fast paced environment. Working remotely full time so that I can choose to visit family or be close to friends. Just really taking advantage of life!

• In 2030, what do you envision for the web3 community in terms of world building? Be bold, be an idealist for this one.

I hope that web3 will be deeply embedded within our daily lives but without the consumer even knowing. That this will just be infrastructure that is a part of our lives.I hope content creators will be able to break the chains of these web2 platforms that control fees and their supporters. I hope they’re able to have more autonomy and cut the middle man along with those dreadful sponsorships.

• If you are not in your current position… what else would you like to do?

I really love Developer Relations. My goal is to remain in this specialty & improve my skills. If I wasn’t in this role & in this space, I might go back to focus on fine instrument restoration specifically in string instruments (violins, violas, cellos, basses). But, I’m really happy & satisfied in my current role.

--- Comment below for anybody you’d like to see featured in later issues. ---

I was so happy I felt this way; the fear of being perceived as an outsider crashing their world by everybody was real before FarCon.

This welcoming sentiment has made me more eager to learn about people’s choices to migrate their consumer experiences or build a professional career on-chain. Here are some of the genuine questions I wish I could ask every interesting builder/creator/user I meet:

1. What brought you to Web3 and how involved do you consider yourself?

2. What’s your vision?

   1. What does success look like for Web3? What do you want to see by 2035?

   2. With new products/services (scam or not) coming out everyday, Web3 builders seem to be crowding the space. How many more lifecycles do you give it before the dust settles a bit?

   3. What’s an ideal world where Web2 and Web3 coexist?

3. If the product you are building fails, how do you keep your faith alive, and/or do you know what you will build next?

4. How are you advocating? Are you telling all your friends to try out Web3, and if so, what has worked best in convincing them to take the first step?

I’ve been seeking resources that could answer these questions of mine. Ideally something that wouldn’t just throw me into the abyss of the unknown, but break it down to me piece by piece while keeping me engaged. While I have managed to find many wonderful media forms that break down Web3 concepts for me, I am also looking for stories that are simple, humane, and consumer-oriented. What if we could shorten the learning curve by making it feel less like a technical hurdle and more like a lifestyle? We need more common languages that help outsiders digest—how is this relevant to my everyday life? I'm lucky that my job introduced me to crypto, and my curiosity has kept me going. However, it's often unclear what makes ordinary people want to learn about crypto in the first place.

Imagine a media format that helps people make their first contact with crypto. Perhaps a video where a builder or Web3 creative gets casually interviewed while going about their daily life, sharing snippets of how they enjoy their hobbies or build their career on-chain. The elements of Web3 would be woven in subtly, without overhyping the superiority of an on-chain world. We are embracing and building a future for creators on-chain, so why not make storytelling part of the creative landscape and use it as a bridge between Web2 and Web3? You don’t have to understand what a protocol is or what minting means; but hopefully, after watching this media, you'll be drawn to the person’s energy and life story, see their passion, and understand the incentive that keeps them going.

If you're a builder or a Web3 believer, maybe it's time to think about how you want to tell your story. Consider sharing it without relying on jargon to convince me of the world you believe in. No story is too small; I’d love to hear yours one day.

I made more friends this time after meeting some of them for the first time at FarCon. If our intros hit it well it almost guarantees I’d ask you when you joined web3. Somebody told me he hopped on the train in 2020. He told me that back then, investing in crypto (art especially) was a real form of self-expression. It was a lot less accessible and way more expensive than it is now—minting an NFT could easily cost a couple of grand. But it helped him find people who truly valued self-expression. He said he was lucky to have filtered out the pretentious ones over the years, leaving him surrounded by “strong characters” who thoughtfully invest in online art that served as a personal statement of their identity.

Money-enabled self-expression is an extremely privileged thing; this applies to both making and collecting art. Like if you say you do oil painting, I probably assume you are more privileged than acrylic enthusiasts. Somebody like Isabella Stewart Gardner made their tastes and identities super clear through the expensive art they collected; in the meantime I just window shop.

We live in an unequal world, where people have learned to abandon their desires for unaffordable ownership. We’re used to appreciating art and content at little to no cost. This habit makes the idea of paying for something without full ownership seem unappealing and even absurd to many. But should ownership be limited to having something in its entirety? Co-ownership is a concept that deserves normalization. Minting NFTs is essentially a form of co-ownership, allowing people to collect at a lower cost.

While running the 5K, Marc asked me what an ideal state of web3 looks like for me. I responded that in this current creator economy, web3 should and could help us normalize paying to consume and appreciate art and content. Zora, Alfafren, Jam, sound.xyz, unlonely… builders in web3 are doing their part, and I am doing my part! It’s been less than 2 months since I joined web3, I cannot tell you how satisfying and burdenless it actually feels to spend a couple bucks (sometimes even cents) on something neat I resonate with. Keep the cost low for now, allow unlimited mints when needed - we can convince the masses to come onboard to claim their share of ownership.

I’m not ready for a world where all information is gated behind paywalls, but I’m excited about the idea of curating my identity (and making friends) through piece-meal ownerships.