Nicole Yap, co-founder of the 8SIAN NFT Collection, began her cryptocurrency journey back in 2013 when she stumbled across an article on digital currency and its future implications while she was in high school. Despite its challenges & the dodgy sites available then, she figured out a way to purchase Bitcoin (it was being sold for $60!!) and soon after, managed to buy a Chanel bag from her crypto investments!

She joined the world of NFTs in early 2021 after noticing the serious lack of representation of Asians and Women in the space. 

Together with 2 other co-founders, she launched 8SIAN: 8,888 NFTs of beautiful, Asian women painstakingly-crafted where even the most intricate details are steeped in historical significance. 8SIAN became the number 1 project ranked on OpenSea in 24hours based on percentage increase of traded volume with over 3k+ Eth!

If you’ve ever been curious about what it’s like to launch an NFT collection, from hustling in the lead up to the launch to building a team (reputable, experienced web3 developers aren’t exactly easy to find!), building a community on Discord with 15k members, and continuing to bring value by purchasing virtual land, building collaborations, setting up a legal entity and more… then this is the episode for you!

Highlights:

• 3:29 Getting into crypto/Bitcoin in 2013 & buying her first Chanel bag
• 6:48 Discovering NFTs
• 8:17 What is an NFT?
• 9:10 Not a scam?
• 10:30 Being told she didn’t belong in the NFT/crypto space because she was a female
• 12:49 How Nicole figured out the way to create and launch an NFT collection
• 14:43 Finding a Web3 developer (that doesn’t rug pull!)
• 16:42 Why NFTs?
• 17:57 The roadmap for 8SIAN
• 19:31 The launch of Genesis and Goddess collection before the main 8SIAN collection was dropped
• 22:24 Marketing 8SIAN & the hustle you don’t see
• 24:14 Launching the main collection & getting Steve Aoki as an 8SIAN NFT holder 
• 25:09 What’s next for 8SIAN?
• 26:33 Why companies in Asia haven’t jumped into the NFT space yet
• 27:36 The plans for building Chinatown in the metaverse
• 29:37 Managing a 15k strong Discord community
• 30:59 Creating value while still generating revenue from royalties 
• 32:56 How the 8SIAN 8% royalties are split
• 35:02 Why 8SIAN is setting up a legal entity
• 35:49 Are we in an NFT bubble?
• 36:29 Advice to females looking to get into tech

📍Show notes: www.sothisismywhy.com/76                   

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