Doing Good as a Woman in Crypto and Web3 with Melanie Mason (Ep. 12)

When Melanie Mason found herself without work at the beginning of 2020 she wasn’t sure what she wanted to do, but she knew that she wanted to find meaningful work. With a little time on her hands, she found herself reading books about crypto that belonged to her partner. It wasn’t long before she saw that crypto was a path to doing good in the world as well as a way of building wealth, and sought out work within the web3 space.

I sat down with Melanie to talk about her path to crypto, her role in supporting Unraveling Crypto behind the scenes, the value of women contributing to the evolution of crypto (and her views on traditional female roles), and her top advice as a recruiter in the web3 space for anyone curious about getting started.

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Meet Our Guest

Melanie is a recruiter at Skolem Technologies, a DeFi startup. She found a love for crypto after reading about the history of money and rethinking our financial systems, and the relationship between women & money. She’s passionate about helping people make the leap to crypto.

Skolem is hiring! If you’re interested in making a career shift to crypto/DeFi, check out open roles on their careers page.

Connect with Melanie on Twitter

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What We Unraveled

* Melanie’s path from being unemployed at the start of the pandemic to joining the crypto space and securing a job as a recruiter in the space, after a long search for meaningful work

* How Melanie has helped behind the scenes of Unraveling Crypto from the very start of this podcast

* Why Melanie’s first purchase was a big deal in terms of helping her reshape her relationship with money, and eventually connect the narratives of ‘doing good’ and ‘being wealthy’

* What made Melanie realize that when it came to money, she couldn’t ‘leave it to the guys’ and learn about investing

* The practical things Melanie does when investing in crypto including dollar cost averaging, monthly budget, and why starting with $5 a month is more than enough to start with

* Why Melanie feels the best parts of her web3 experience has been the people she’s connected with, and learning that she can do good and make make money at the same time

* The growth areas that Melanie sees in the web3 space, including diversity and user experience

* Melanie’s advice as a recruiter to anyone interested in finding a job in the web3 and crypto space, and why imposter syndrome stops people from applying for roles they’d be great for

* The dynamic between partners when one is interested in crypto, and one isn’t (yet)

* Why Melanie feels it’s everyone’s responsibility to be welcoming and inclusive in the web3 space, and encourages both men and women to mentor and support others to get started

* The current issues in the way web3 and crypto are marketed to people outside the space

* What Melanie is most proud of

* Melanie’s thoughts on traditional gender roles, working full time, and the challenges of trying to suppress femininity working in tech

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Unravel Further

Melanie on LinkedIn

Melanie on Instagram

Bitcoin Billionaires by Ben Mezrich

The Bitcoin Standard by Saifedean Ammous

The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel

Gemini

Skolem