**Exclusive Listener Reward! As a thank you for tuning into our latest episode featuring the remarkable Laya Mathikshara, we're offering a special NFT to our listeners — absolutely free for the first 7 days! This digital collectible is not just a token of appreciation, but also a unique way to showcase your support for our show. To claim your proof-of-listening NFT, simply visit the link below after the episode. Click, Sign in & Claim! But hurry, it's a limited-time offer that becomes a priced collectible after the initial week. Enjoy the insights, stories, and wisdom from Laya, and thank you for being an amazing part of our community. Now, let's dive into the episode!**
Link: JPWL NFT
Laya Mathikshara is a 16-year old digital artist working in the interdisciplinary field of art and technology. Previously, when she was 13, during the pandemic, she started working on digital art and minted them as Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) for sale in cryptocurrencies. This led her to collaborate with SpaceX’s Inspiration 4 launch. The work was auctioned and she contributed the proceeds from it, over $3000, to St. Jude’s Children's Research Hospital for cancer research. She has been delivering speeches at conferences such as NFT NYC, MET AMS, Adobe Design Mix, and the “TN Web3 - Build Ahead” conducted by the Tamil Nadu government of India. She has also presented a guest lecture at the University of the Arts London and in Nas.io’s Web3 Community. Today, she has been in the Web3 space for the past 3 years and has grossed over 1 million dollars from it.
In this episode, we discuss parts of her entire professional and personal journey until now, mindsets, teaching herself skills to become exceptional in her fields of passion, her experience collaborating with notable projects and speaking at conferences, and her thoughts for the youth generation.
Having successfully made digital artworks and achieving success in a short span of time, today's guest Laya shares lessons learned and insights from her journey. Our hope is that this impromptu discussion could even inspire you to take action to get into the world of Web3 or start and monetise something of your own!
Topics:
(00:00) - Intro
(01:12) - Our guest's introduction
(01:34) - Your background story
(08:32) - Teaching yourself these topics
(11:30) - What Web3 and NFTs mean to you
(13:39) - Experience collaborating with SpaceX and other notable projects, and starting your own philanthropic initiatives
(18:56) - Experience speaking at various conferences and institutions, and highlight lessons you learned along the way
(24:37) - Coolest moment in your journey
(26:36) - Challenges you have faced in this field
(29:11) - Balancing time with school and your own projects for ambitious people (doing what you have to do vs. want to do)
(24:32) - Advice for youth peers who want to start and also who have started and continue growing
(27:05) - Balancing work (internships, businesses and competitions) alongside studies as a young ambitious person building stuff
(31:40) - Mindsets you have found useful
(33:37) - Coolest moment
(35:49) - Advice to our generation
(37:30) - Who inspires you?
(38:30) - Vision for the future of art & technology, and the role you see yourself playing in it
(43:06) - What you are going to be working on next
(45:15) - How anyone can get started with digital art today
(50:24) - A question I haven't asked you which might be important?
(54:16) - Find online
(55:07) - Our guest's last question
Here are her action items:
1. Don't hesitate and just try things
2. Put your work and thoughts on social media platforms for people to understand what you do and who you are
3. Do the one thing you love the most and be the best at it!
We hope you find value in our discussion and learn useful information!
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Laya:
Instagram
Twitter/X
LinkedIn
Website
🎙 Edited by Josh
🗓️ Recorded on April 18th, 2024