"We should know our impacts, we should make sure that we are valued. If you think about the network like a spider web, and once you're in the web of someone's network, that is forever, that's a forever web."

Mikaela Smith is an experienced talent acquisition professional who has risen to the top of the industry. She has a passion for product innovation and has worked for many tech startups, including Twitter, Slack, and Vudu, during the Silicon Valley boom.

Mikaela Smith was working in the fashion industry when she was noticed by the CEO's boyfriend and encouraged to become a tech recruiter. Not knowing what that was, he eventually helped her build a resume, got her an interview and she became the top tech recruiter at the agency. She decided to go in-house and joined a startup called Voodoo, which was the beginning of streaming video. She found success in working at product-defining organizations, like Twitter, Slack and Vudu and this led her to her current role at Chainalysis. Mikaela's experience has taught her to trust her gut and that technology can be used to empower people, giving them the power to have a tangible effect on the world.

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