Special Edition: Women Rule Web3 — NFT Artist Miss AL Simpson

down for you through interviews with incredible leaders, experts, and artists. Today, I'm speaking with miss Al Simpson. Drawing inspiration from vintage movies and fashion magazines, she uses faded glamorous imagery in her art. She spans multiple mediums and bridges a punk American inspired irl world with a crypto powered URL metaverse. I sat down with miss Al Simpson. Here's what she had to say. Well, miss Al Simpson, thanks so much for joining us. Yeah, thanks thanks for having me. Well,

first of all, I'm so psyched about your piece. Yeah, oh my gosh, it's incredible. Thank you, thank you. Yeah, I mean it's it's it's quite it's quite something. It's our first self portrait that I've done, and I think it's it's quite a difficult piece for an artist to do. I think the you know, as artists, we like to kind of project everything out into our art, so actually the introspection of looking back inside it's made it quite difficult. We are so excited that you are part of the

Seneca Woman of Quality collection. But your work is really unbelievable and your background is extremely interesting. Tell us where you're from and in a little bit about your background. Yeah, so I've been an artist collage artist before I kind of started tokenizing in twenty nineteen. I was a colas

artist for ten years. But before that, way before that, I actually went to law school and I was a lawyer, and then I had my babies, and then I did ran out internet business from home, so trying to bring up two young children whiles trying to be a female entrepreneur, so all very web two experiences, you know, e commerce and all of that. And then as soon as I found out about the blockchain, the entrepreneurial part of me

so this technology is going to be huge. So as soon as I could, I applied to superher known origin. It was early days. It was July twenty nineteen, and to be honest, I've never looked back since. So I started just making work and minting like crazy. And you know, in early days, so work for really low amounts to to kind of build up collector base. But you know, in those early days, you know, surviving off those small kind of profits, and it just grew really organically, really,

And how did you find making the transition? I know a lot of people are intimidated by Web three, but you know you obviously, I think you're based in Scotland, right and as you said, you were an attorney, you were an entrepreneur, You're obviously a mom, and it feels like you might be fearless in general. But how did you find making the transition to Web three? Well, I suppose the thing that I kind of missed out in

that storyline was that I've always been a gamer. You know, I had one of the first, said X eight to ones, one of the first kind of gaming computers. I had a Commodore six before I taught myself a little bit colding when I was very young. So the constant through all of that has been my love of computers and love of technology. And I guess I like to think of it as I was just waiting for the technology like this to happen, So I guess you know all

those kind of decades of waiting. As soon as it happened, I knew that this was the such huge potension show for me as a woman. You know, I've I've got you know, the children are older now, but like a lot of women were balancing bringing up children but wanting our own careers and wanting financial independence. So the opportunities for with Web three compared to Web two, where I just couldn't believe it. I thought, this is going to

be huge. So I guess, yeah, the gaming part of me, that the kind of love of computers has always been there. And even as an entrepreneur, you know, I was making all my own artwork. I taught myself photoshop, I don't be photoshop, all the tools and that to actually do all my own marketing and it actually won awards for that back in the Web two days. So so that

was a kind of preempt before actually became a digital artist. Well, you you mentioned a couple of things there, and I know we share this deep belief and you're living it that Web three has the power for women's financial freedom. Tell us about your own snow story and how that's manifested. Yeah, well,

I think him. You know, I think, like a lot of women, I think you know, I went off to university desperate to you know, go out into the world, as you say, like strong, fearless, and you know, like every woman, I wanted to be financially independent, and you know, I wanted to make a lot of money. I went into corporate law, was very successful at that, but you know something was missing with that. You know, I'm very creative,

so it didn't really take end with those boxes. So I did when I got married, I I decided, well, I'm going to run a business and do my art together. So and I guess, like a lot of women, I thought, you know, I'll kind of walk away from that career and you know, bring up the children whilst whilst running a business. But you know, running a web to business as an odd female entrepreneur, as a startup, it was

very difficult. And I think the culture. I mean, obviously in the US, the culture for female entrepreneurship is very strong, and it is here in the UK as well. But you know, I again and again is that business crew and you know, I want awards for that business, and I took it to quite a fat you know, quite smar.

I was in a lot of supermarkets, I was in hotel chains, but there was always um as I felt, you know, you got to a certain point and it always felt like there was always the shadowy middleman, somebody We're always making a decision somewhere, and I hate to say, but it always did feel like it was always a man. Whether it was a supply chain, someone making a decision over global supply contracts, whether it was you know, hotel contracts, there was always a middleman song And again it's always

men's suits, isn't it. So you know, I'm very progressive and I don't like to think, well, you know, there's ingrained sexes in there, but I was feeling it, you know. And then you know, I got divorced and you know, the laws in Scotland are quite harsh on mothers on divorce. And my my business because it required a lot, so you know, I kind of floundered and that business kind of went to the wayside. But my art kind of pelled me up. Although it wasn't you know, big sales.

You know, I turned to my art, and I'm glad I did because that was like, you know, a kind of a bit of a savior. But you know, that was selling online, so you can imagine the sales were. It weren't great, but you know, just about surviving. And then as soon as the blockchain happened and I came across sites like Non Origin Superer, I just knew that

it huge potential for me as an artist. And as that started to happen and the sales started to come in, just that feeling of gradual more and more financial independence really rags to riches, to be honest, just it's so empowering.

And I'm not saying I wasn't empowered before. When I was kind of financially struggling after a divorce, I was empowered, but it was so restrictive, and I was so frustrated because I knew I had all this potential and all these skills, but you know, the financial duties that you have to your family are the first concern. And I just think it's huge potential with ways to be for women, for mothers, and to really burst through because there's no middleman.

Let's be honest, two months gone, we'll be back after this break. We've been working for a long time in the entrepreneurship space and we had sent it go. Women have like you know, built a bunch of different women's economic empowerment programs and obviously put out a lot of thought leadership around it, tried to empower creators wherever we can.

But I think what you're describing is why we're so excited about the potential of what the blockchain can do, because, as you said, with no middleman, you know, you don't have to ask for permission. And we've spent a lot of our lives trying to convince people to understand the business case for kind of the first chapter of our book is why Women, Why Now? And we're always making the case, always making the case for why the economic

power of women is so important and it is. But now to your point with the black chain, like women times, the black chain is like pretty unbelievable, and I think it kind of brings me to your piece. So this whole collection is about envision ego quality and you did

something really really interesting. Can you tell us about your piece? Yeah, So with my piece, I wanted to make it a self portrait because I feel that my story and you know, and there's lots of different parts from my story, but from from going from basically having very little money to the financial success that I now have, I think, you know, telling that story through the self portrait is really important for other women to hear that because I think there's

a lot of talk in this arena of tech pros, and it's all guys and kind of thumping their chests about you know, different PfP projects and so on. But it's very important the voices like mine, and there's lots of us, it's lots of other females that are are very successful in this arena. It's very important that our voices are not drowned out and we shout even louder

because you know, other women need to hear it. And it's not just with our I mean, I'm sure there's huge opportunities with web free for so many different ways. It's only just to start to be honest, and women are very, very hard working, they're very entrepreneurial, so you know, get out there and get involved and let's see what's going to happen. And the thing is, you know, as you say, trying to convince others that you know, natural equality for women. It's not a female issue. Well that's

gone now because actually we're out there doing it. You know, if you're there making the money and paying your taxis you're contributing to the bottom line of your country full stop. Yeah, So what more do you need to convince? You know, it's so interesting because the research shows over many years that when women earn, they reinvest back into their communities, and they reinvest back into there obviously, as you just said,

into their economies. And so actually, you know, we call it the double dividend where women have both they kind of accelerate economic growth and they accelerate social impact and so actually it's the multiplier effect, and it's it's even more powerful when you have a dollar in the hand of a woman. So I think what you're saying is so important, and I'm really excited about what you just said to other women entrepreneurs, which is, you know, I think we all are on this steep learning curve, but

the whole world is on a learning curve. So I don't think you know, it used to be that like you'd have to go to school for twenty years and then you know, I don't know, work in one area for twenty years. But the world is changing so fast. What advice can you give to women about how to get comfortable being uncomfortable? And I think you there's so much information about a web fee and a bit block team.

I think you know, you can do your research, but you know, like anything, do your research, but like anything, you've got to start to execute, you've got to jump in. You've got to take action and have confidence, you know, get you know, use Twitter. It's a great tool for building your brand and have confidence to do that because I think as women, you know, it was so used to kind of or you know, asking for permission, but we now have a permission list network. That's that's literally

what the blockchain built on. You know, the Bitcoin paper is all about that and there is no permission needed. So I think it's a it's a green flag for women to just go for it, because as you say, you know, I think what we're seeing just now with cryptour is there's female There's going to be more and more female collectors. So as women like me, you know, first and foremost we have to financial look after our family.

But once we get to a certain point, obviously we're going to be reinvesting that back in two more building collections ourselves and if not, I think we're starting to see that. But once that wave starts to hit as well, it's it's amazing what's going to happen. So I would say just get involved. Well, as you know, that is exactly why we're staring the Seneca Women a quality collection, and we want to bring the Seneca Women community as

fast as we can into Web three. And I think your piece is so inspiring and I think it's going to motivate a lot of people. I think I have probably not been as bullish on anything as what the potential of a blockchain can do for women. And I've been working at this for a solid twenty years. Well, so I think this is a unique moment and I'm just so glad our paths are crossed, and I'm so excited for the Seneca Women community to hear this episode,

see your piece. And then of course you just wrote a great article and you know, I just thank you for everything you're doing. Yeah, yeah, thanks. I mean I just see from the piece I put in some of the main points from an artical but the main point is equality is decentralized. You know, the thing that we've been searching for and fighting for for all these years, me and lots of other women. You know, it's here. You know, you don't get anything more equal than decentralization.

So that's why I really kind of BLOSSI that in this piece, you know, and I use a lot of fund inwards anyway, in my in my work book. You know, as you say, it's feed if other women see that and go, well, what does that mean? You know, how is that going to impact me? I want to find

it more to bouts it exactly. Well, you know, I think it is interesting because we've been pushing so hard for so many years, and to your point earlier, there's been a lot of obstacles even you know, you know, sometimes you what is that expression you're you know, you hit your head against the wall sometimes so hard at a certain point you've become unconscious. But I think as a collective group, women are just I think we're not really giving up on this idea of economic equality. And

to your point, that equality is decentralized. It's just such a beautiful way to encapsulate what's happening. And so if we can get more women educated, more women jumping in, I mean I think for myself at least, what I feel is that you know, everybody's learning right now and so there's no reason why you can't too, And so there's nobody's an expert. You know, it's changing so much, and by the time we have this conversation next year,

it'll be a whole other thing. I think that's what we've learned to the pen amic, which is life is not going to remain static. It's going to change, and the acceleration of change is increasing. And one of the things that we had talked about and fast Forward again, which is a book we wrote seven years ago, is how technology would be the great accelerator that you know, women in the economy have the potential to transform the world, women's economic power has a potential to transform the world,

but technology could be the great accelerator. And as you just so well said, it's here so like I think, I hope this conversation encourages everybody to get smarter and get involved than be part of this community and support women artists like yourself because the work is so incredible, and it's also you know, this is the first time that we can transfer value in this way with web three, So yeah, I just I'm just so excited that you're

part of the collection and we're really grateful. Yeah. Yeah, I mean I think the technology is definitely a women's based frame and this idea of all it's just take those as a pile of nonsense. You know, I've achieved all of this while working from home looking after my children, and there's no reason why any other women can't do that in the world. You know. We just get a computer and teach yourself. Go on YouTube, teach yourself as much as possible and watch what happens. Yeah, anybody listening

who needs help become to Seneate women dot com. We're going to definitely try to bring more experts to the table and make this as painless as possible for everybody. Well, thank you so much for joining us. We can't wait for the world to see your peace and yeah, and you know we'll be following and supporting and thank you for doing everything you're doing. That's great. Thank you. Give state to you. Equality is decentralization. I love talking to

miss al Simpson and her work is so incredible. Go to Seneca Women dot com to see her work and the other artists in the Seneca Women Equality Collection and join us tomorrow for another Women Rule Web three conversation. Have a great day. You're listening to Seneca Women Conversation on power and Purpose, brought to you by the Seneca Women Podcast Network and iHeartRadio with support from founding partner of P and G. If you'd like to join the

Seneca Women Network, go to Seneca Women dot com. There you'll get access to exclusive events and workshops, plus updates on new podcasts and other opportunities to get involved.