A Resilient Family for a Regenerative Future - CStreet

Rarely in this life are we able to do professional work that has direct impact on our communities, on the core technical infrastructure of the internet and also on the direction of our future financial instruments. Even more rare…to do such powerful work with a group of humans who are essentially family.

After spending multiple careers doing various types of impact work involving visual communications and narrative production, I have inadvertently stumbled into an intersection of humanity, technology and the mystical that continues to befuddle my mind. The profound humans I work on a daily basis gather frequently at IRL activations around the globe where thousands of web3 builders, developers and creators gather to hack and create solutions to some of our most pressing societal challenges.

Hackers presenting their projects for judging by our DevRels at ETH Istanbul.

For nine months I’ve watched my colleagues grow and connect in ways that resemble that of a family. A family one might write a blockbuster Netflix comedy about one day (spoiler alert— we probably will), but a family none the less. From this nucleus of humanity, we are building a resilient ecosystem that will transcend the chaos we all collectively navigate as our planetary and social frameworks strain under the upheaval to today.

After a long day of judging, the crew heads off to find some real food!

Our technology helps address some of this growing chaos. Our activations empower builders who are creating solutions using blockchain to address the chaos in their communities throughout the globe, but particularly in frontier markets. Our communities enable coders to step beyond what they know and visualize a better reality on the ground— in their own IRL communities. Impact at scale is what we are striving towards and why our family gives everything they have when we gather.

Our family spends hours, days, weeks and months planning calculated programming to provide our ecosystem with access to the brightest technologists on the planet to discuss the challenges we are working to solve every day— issues like combating censorship, tracking aid for diaspora in refugee camps around the globe, documenting war crimes with permanence and immutability, creating an internet that does not extract from the user but rather gives them autonomy and the ability to attest to truth, creating peer to peer value exchange in frontier markets who, to date, have been forced to access monetary transfers through centralized colonial banking infrastructure— if they can even access it, and so much more.

Eric Annan, Founder of AyaHQ and Consensys Vanguard Ambassador gives a talk at our Hyperlink activation and shares his passion for supporting communities throughout Africa.

Our family creates the space for web3 events to flourish and for our community to collaborate in powerful ways that transcend virtual gatherings. We spend months creating these safe and flourishing community containers through a multitude of events designed to create a platform for connection and conversation.

Our family shows up. Fully and without question. For 7-10 days at a time in countries across the globe, we work 24/7 to support the ecosystem we serve. And we do so without question. DevRels and product engineers pull all-nighters to support hackers as they bring their visions to life.

DevRels get ready to begin judging hackathon projects.

Community Managers provide connection, answers and vibes for the members of their community. Event coordinators and producers wake at dawn to load in all the elements necessary for a successful day of programming and they stay late into the evening until the last microphone stand and speaker chord is removed.

And amongst all of this action, individuals in our family grab the mic and give talks or moderate panels that allow builders to learn specific technical or theoretical concepts from the brightest minds in the ecosystem. We literally run around these cities juggling talks, presentations, mentoring, judging and event production.

Dayan gives a fabulous talk about Snaps at a hacker house event focused on decentralized identity.

Francesco speaks on a panel about mass adoption, one of his many talks throughout the Istanbul events and activations.

Very few professions that I’ve been exposed to operate in such a wild, chaotic and absolutely beautiful fashion. And I’ve worked in some crazy settings including post conflict zones and commercial TV sets. As a photojournalist, one of the personal projects I focused on was the concept of “Beauty in Chaos”. In many of the locations where I was drawn to document or just study human interactions, there was always this element of stunning humanity buried in absolute societal chaos that was beautiful to behold. And this concept was universal.

JournoDAO family in the house too! These former journalists couldn't resist a stroll through this beautiful park complete with military propaganda videos!

To say I’m honored to work with my colleagues, my fam, in such a way is an understatement. Watching everything come together last week in Istanbul was one of the professional highlights of my multitude of careers. Knowing that our family has laid a foundation poised to transform so many technological and societal frameworks that will power our children’s future gives me so much gratitude and awe that I can barely contain myself. It also gives me hope— in a sometimes hopeless world.

Who can resist a photo booth NFT drop??

As we gather with our friends and family here in the US to share food and gratitude, I have to extend this same thanks to my Consensys family. It is an absolute honor and privilege to be on this mission with all of you who show up, leave it all on the table and do so again and again. I see you all and I am honored to be on this adventure with everyone of you.

Sammie made it to Turkey and held down the fort at the Westin all week.

——

During my first semester at Naropa, I had a Warrior Exam where I recited a song that resonates deeply to my core. Warrior Exams are an ancient Tibetan Buddhist tradition where you verbally share your learnings

with your teacher and fellow students. They are meant to be a powerful encapsulation of who you are in that moment and where you are headed as you learn.

My Naropa journey led me to this position as Director of Community. I would not be able to do this work, at this level and this pace, without the foundational framework laid during that Warrior Exam and my many classes studying Yoga and other wisdom traditions. I’m sharing the lyrics to this song now because during Istanbul I listened to this song often and saw the manifestation of that exam in our team’s work on the ground.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPSknoPYdXw

Resilient by Rising Appalachia

I am resilient. I trust the movement. I negate the chaos. Uplift the negative.

I'll show up at the table again and again and again. I'll close my mouth and learn to listen.

These times are poignant. The winds have shifted. It's all we can do. To stay uplifted. Pipelines through backyards, wolves howling out front. Yeah I got my crew, but truth is what I want.

Realigned and on point. Power to the peaceful, prayers to the waters. Women at the center. All vessels open-- to give and receive. Let's see this system brought down to its knees.

I'm made of thunder, I'm made of lightning. I'm made of dirt, yeah, made of the fine things. My father taught me that I'm a speck of dust and this world was made for me-- so let's go and try our luck.

I've got my roots down down down down down down deep. I've got my roots down down down down down down deep. I've got my roots down down down deep. I've got my roots down down down deep.

So what are we doing here? What has been done? What are you gonna do about it, when the world comes undone? My voice feels tiny, and I'm sure so does yours. Put us all together we'll make a mighty roar!

I am resilient. I trust the movement. I negate the chaos. Uplift the negative. I'll show up at the table-- again and again and again. I'll close my mouth and learn to listen.