Once upon a time, I felt the sting of humiliation…
“What is this rubbish?”
This was the first thing I saw when I came online to the DAO server that particular afternoon. It turned out that the comment was made by a contributor in the guild who had reviewed my content. He said he was appalled by my lack of understanding of decentralization and how I didn’t appear technical enough for his liking.
Now, mind you, this was 2020, and I had heard about web3 writing since 2019. Subsequently, I had done research before deciding to contribute. Also, I’m a writer with experience in academic writing and content creation, who, at the time, had earned various praises. My writing wasn’t “rubbish,” as he called it.
I felt a bit sad, but mostly, I felt humiliated. However, I stood my ground and told him to review it again. I was new there, so that took some courage. To become a member of that community—not just a contributor—I had to own the community’s token. The price of that token was a bit out of my budget, so I decided to contribute to earn it.
This was a privilege I’m so grateful for because it helped me get my footing. Fast forward to 2024, and there aren’t many opportunities like that anymore. So yes, I wanted to prove myself and have proof of work. After I asked him to provide corrections (which, when I checked, were not significant at all) and told him to re-review, I decided to do some research while waiting for his response.
It turned out that when he put up the task on Dework, I applied first, and the person he actually wanted for the job applied second. It was some kind of nepotism—or putting his friend on, I guess—that I had unknowingly disrupted. That’s where the animosity toward my work came from.
But that wasn’t my fault. I had simply taken advantage of the opportunity that presented itself. I also decided to improve my skills further so that no one could find any grounds to dismiss my work.
When he came back to the server, he apologized for his brashness and approved my content for submission to the current guild lead for publication. And that’s how I made my first contribution to a DAO.
This experience opened my eyes to many things in the web3 space—especially the importance of confidence and being proud of your work.
So hi, my name is Boluwatife.
As I mentioned earlier, I’m a writer with extraordinary skills. Marketing is also my forte. I’m 5-foot-something, can taste sounds and hear colors, and I love learning new things. I’m neurodivergent, so you might sometimes find me listening to music or chasing butterflies when I should be working.
Capturing the different colors of the sky is my pleasure, and I absolutely love laughter. I sometimes misconstrue things and might be quick to jump to conclusions—you’ll see why I said so very soon. Most times, I think of myself as multifaceted, but other times I see myself as simple.
Anyway, I have so many lessons and stories from my web3 journey, but for now, I’ll share just three.
Lesson 1: Overcoming Humiliation
By now, you’ve read about the humiliation I felt during my first DAO contribution. But it gets better.
This second story came about due to sociocultural perspectives, and it all started with this emoji 🙂.
If you, dear reader, are in the web3 space, then you must know by now that DAOs and most crypto organisations consist of people from various backgrounds, races, with different mindsets, and from varied age brackets. Now, in this particular organisation that I was in, every contributor was equal, with equal voting power as long as you held a governance token. However, when it came to the operational activities for the different projects and departments, there was a hierarchical structure to guide the completion of deliverables. I had just been voted in as the marketing coordinator for that time period, and I needed to get social media asset passwords to gain access. For the purpose of this story, I shall be calling him Jaque, and this was how our text sequence went.
Boluwatife: “Hi Jaque, I am here following the instruction to acquire the passwords for the social media account and gain access to the Notion page so I can start working in earnest.”
Jaque: “Hey Bolu, congratulations on getting voted on. Here are the passwords you need, and I wish you all the best 🙂.”
Now, I was a little bit confused because the words and the emoji used were giving totally different vibes. The way I interpreted that emoji was that maybe he didn’t like me, he wasn’t happy for me, he was being sarcastic, or he wanted me with my creator. My brain went into sudden overload with extreme overthinking. Normally, where I am from, if anyone wanted to use emojis to signify happiness, it would be 😀, 🤭, 💃, or ☺️. I was used to this, so seeing something different really messed with me. Jaque advanced to another role in the organisation, so I still had to work with him, and because of my lack of understanding of that emoji, I started overcompensating, which led to me being jumpy, which led to me making mistakes. It wasn’t really a great period for me and my productivity.
Then, one day, a friend that I made in the DAO interacted with another member from that same demographic, and that individual also sent the emoji “🙂” to express excitement or happiness. This was very enlightening, and when I discussed it with my friend, she said that she never really noticed it. So, I decided to swallow my unwarranted fear and ask Jaque what the emoji “🙂” was really about, and once again, since we were all contributing remotely, I decided to use a text chain.
Boluwatife: “Hey Jaque, so I noticed you used this emoji ‘🙂’ during our text at one point. To me, it means a lot of things, and being happy for or on good terms with that person is not one of them. I am just curious to know how you interpret it 😹.”
Jaque: “Hey Boluwatife! It’s great to hear from you. Well, I am from the West and also a millennial. From the time I have started using emojis, this ‘🙂’ has always been a happy smile.”
I then explained how I felt jumpy because of that miscommunication in language, which I assured him was not his fault (because, let us be real, if not for my anxiety, it’s not something I should have thought about for a long period). He explained to me and then eased my fears and apologised for the gap in communication. After this, we had a good laugh at the extremities of my thoughts. I then taught him how to use emojis like a Gen Z, and he educated me on the way he uses emojis. He gave weird and funny interpretations to them, by the way, but who was I to judge?
I was really just glad that I was no longer anxious and that I knew he actually wished me well and didn’t want to go all Terminator on me because I got that role. The strain on our working relationship eased, and productivity skyrocketed. This experience led me to understand more about how we are all different and to ask more questions and not assume. It was very enlightening.
This third story took place at a web3 event in Accra.
I won a ticket and was really excited about the event—the culture, the people, and everything else involved in it. Traveling there was a breeze, and getting to my hotel was a smooth journey. I went a few days before the start of the event and decided to play tourist.
During this experience, I picked up on the Ghanaians' extraordinary politeness (they always seemed to add the word “please” as a suffix to their sentences), and I had started introducing the word “chale” into my vocabulary.
On the actual day of the event, I woke up early to get a head start. Dressed up in a black crop top and aso-oke palazzo pants with, of course, accessories and my signature scent, I proceeded to the event venue. I got there a bit early and decided to hang around and help myself to the finger foods they had left available for guests. Then someone bumped into me.
“Ouch! Hey, please walk gent—” I trailed off after seeing a beautiful set of eyes.
“Oh, I’m so, so sorry! Let me get that for you,” she said as she tried to clean my pants of the slight stain from the food. “I’m just so clumsy. I don’t know why I keep doing this. Are you good?” she said, finally relaxing and taking in my features.
“Yes, I am,” I replied. I had overcome my initial shock, and now I just wanted to alleviate her fears. What happened was an accident; there was no point in letting it weigh on her mind. “Are you good? You seem a bit frazzled. My name is Boluwatife. Do you want me to get you anything?”
“Uhm… uhm, oh, nothing. Your care is enough. My name is Sylvia. It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance. Is there any way I can make it up to you?”
“No,” I responded. “That won’t be necessary.”
“Well then,” Sylvia said, “I came to this event alone, and I would love to tag along with you if you don’t mind.”
I responded that I didn’t mind, and we were together for most of the event.
I noticed she kept staring at my eyes and my lips, but I didn’t think much of it. I just thought she wanted to ask about my lip gloss brand. I also stared at her eyes when we first met. I love women who appreciate beauty in each other.
So, we stuck together. She put her hand on my lap when we sat down and stared into my eyes when we talked. Sylvia held up conversations pretty well, and she was incredibly knowledgeable.
After the event, she invited me to a bar for drinks, which I didn’t mind. She was a new friend, and I loved hanging out with people who matched my vibe. It was at this bar that she flirted openly with me and told me she liked me.
It was interesting, but I couldn’t reciprocate that particular emotion because I actually had a partner I was in love with. I told her this, and she understood. Sylvia and I still had drinks late into the night and parted ways, promising to keep in touch as friends.
I really didn’t want this story to have a lesson, but I guess I can’t escape it.
This experience taught me that love can be found anywhere—on the street, in the classroom, in your best friend, or at a web3 event all the way in another country. All you have to do is open your heart.
There it is, guys—adventures with Boluwatife! I hope you enjoyed this glimpse into my life. ❤️
This article is a submission for the t2 Friends Who Write Season 3 Web3 Tree Hollow writing contest, vote for me on JokeRace [https://jokerace.io/contest/base/0x44f512725fb2d1d07016649e2c7ad9cc7a58ed13/submission/62498324909702200824266707385536305556975061613360682401580230055688961310572]
