Women Powering Web3: Public Goods, Governance & Building the Table with Sejal Rekhan | Episode 08

Transcript

Build the table and create opportunities. Don't wait for it. >> One word that [music] defines women in Web3. >> Unstoppable. You don't have to wait for the opportunity. You need to create it. >> One skill [music] that every woman in Web3 should have. >> Relationship building. This is exactly the space [music] Ethereum is the place for you to really, you know, be able to create that. Like, this is where you can create it. I don't think there's anywhere else in the world that you can actually do what is possible here. >> [music] >> Welcome back [music] to ECH Institute's podcast, and this is a special women powering Web3 series. We are speaking with various women in the space. We are

trying to learn about their journey, get some inspiration, and learn to know them more. Today, we are joined by Sejal Rekhan. Sejal has been involved with public goods funding for quite some time, and at present, she works for Protocol Labs. We are looking forward to learning more about her, her journey in the space, and about the recent project that she has joined. Welcome, Sejal. >> Hi, Pooja. Thank you so much for having me. Always fun to be part of the anything ECH is doing. >> And it's our pleasure to host you. I know we had multiple conversations on different topics, which are related to public good, and here we are talking about women in space because we are

women, and we would want more women to join our ecosystem. So, Sejal, I understand you are working at the intersection of public good funding and research, and these two areas generally shapes the future of Web3. How did you start your journey? What led you here? >> Yeah, I mean, I was always passionate about how what are the kind of projects and communities that need support, and how we can really help them amplify the impact. And I think capital is such an important lever, which shapes the behavior and determines the health of a healthy ecosystem, right? But obviously didn't have that much clarity when I started. But what actually led me in this space was just the fact that the space was so much like open to experiments and for anyone to really

come and do. So this is a space for doers. Like I always say that to people. Doesn't matter who you are, where are you from and what you have done or studied. Like if you are somebody who can do stuff then you know, you will create a space for yourself. So I think that was the energy that I had and I definitely always like to like credit a Kevin Owocki who was my inspiration because he's the one who really like you know, brought this public goods funding narrative in this space and you know, made this like a big thing. Of course it was happening but it he helped create a space and niche for people where they can feel belong to this. Yeah, this whole community and sort of like yeah.

And then that's how I started. I read his book Green Pill book and it talks a lot about how we can sustainably fund communities and how we can you know, like what is regeneration? Like there is like one thing I always remember when he said that you know, the first experience for anyone who are in crypto should be how they can make money by doing something good, right? So I think those are the things that really drew me and I was like yes, that you know, that sounds perfect. Like this is where I want to contribute. So that's how I started. He started with the Green Pill community and then I kept working with him and then of course Owocki is the he's a founder of Gitcoin and then he was returning back to Gitcoin at that time.

He had stepped down as CEO because Gitcoin was becoming a DAO but then they were he was like going back and then he took me back with him. And yeah, and of course being in Gitcoin like that's the home of like their OG public goods funding organization. So you know, I just learned more about the space and yeah, that's how I sort of kept going deeper and now I'm here. Yeah, we can talk more about what I'm doing right now but that's how you know, I entered the space and what drew me. >> That's pretty interesting backstory. Yes, I remember when we first connected you were at Gitcoin and you were trying to explore how public goods initiative could become more decentralized and trying to experiment with new ideas, new models. And seeing you now, your journey from like, you know, Gitcoin to Protocol Labs and even Sansome, I'm really

inspired and curious as well. When you entered this space first, did you see yourself working with public goods and evaluation? Like, was it like natural transition? How did it all happen? >> Yeah, I still remember the first time when I heard Greenpill Podcast and you know, I I was listening to Griffin Walkie talk about the different experiments in the work they're doing in the public goods funding space. I think I always knew like this is the like public goods funding is the area where I want to work in and there is a lot of it just connected so much. And yes, there can be different ways in how you can contribute to the important problems that public goods funding is facing or needs to solve, right? There are

different ways you can do that. I think I have been in this since the beginning. There's just the how I'm contributing and you know, what I'm contributing through has changed, right? It can be it was through Gitcoin and then Allo and then of course the different mechanisms we were doing and now at Protocol Labs, but it's I think PGF is like one thing that has been constant throughout, yeah. So, I think it was always you kind of know from I think you always have the hunch that okay, you know, this is where you want to be and this is where you feel most belong. So, you just do it and just figure out different ways of you know, contributing to that.

>> I loved your statement saying this is the place where you most belong. You know, sometimes we find women who are having some kind of self-doubt, but hearing this kind of give empowerment to women that this is a place which is open for all and we can make our own place by just doing it. So, as a woman contributing to research and funding strategy which is generally considered to be male-dominated center like where people are trying to make some decisions, what has your experience been like specially in the room where policy, capital, and technology intersects together?

>> Such a good question, and you know, just makes me reflect actually and the most of the rooms I've been is so male-dominated. Um again, hate to say it, but yeah, that's that's been the case. However, I think I do want to acknowledge the fact that people that I've worked with, of course, there are some women leaders as well, but even if like it's just male-dominated, like people have always I've always found like, you know, hard. I've not, you know, I don't I don't know it's um if you're if people have different experiences, but I think I would definitely love to credit or just give a shout-out to like amazing men and even my bosses and my colleagues, like, you know, who have been really, really supportive. And again, like not just through like Fanuel

Okyay, but like he is he just like made me sit in the rooms where obviously they were all like leadership or senior people and maybe just male-dominated rooms, but I think I was always really like asked about my opinion and asked to even like you know, given a lot of like room and leeway to run things, to lead things. So, I think it we definitely need more women in this space. It can sometimes feel that, but I think usually it also depends on who are you working with and what is the kind of mindset that those people bring. And that's what I found in the public goods funding space, like very open, very like supportive, and, you know, just like never really felt, okay, and I'm being like stepped on or I'm not being really asked for an opinion. I don't think that's been the case. I've always felt

like, yeah, I'm very much in part of building this, right? So, like I always think like it's not about asking for a seat on the table, like you are building the table. I think that's the feeling that I've always had and I've always operated with. So, I think that has really helped. So, yeah, even like some people I do have friends I talk to. There are things I feel like, okay, yes, people like we need to want more visibility and all of that. So, I think it's really about your own mindset and of course you get just lucky when you have people around you who are like really supportive. Yeah.

>> I mean personally I have also find this Ethereum space in particular very open-minded. Like where we stand in a room, there are people who are there to help and support. You just need to like ask right questions and reach out to right people perhaps you will get the support that you are looking for. Well, curious, has there been any moment of doubt or hesitation in your journey? So, how you have navigated that? What helped you move forward? >> I didn't realize it's going to be a lot of reflective conversation which is great. Yeah, I'm just thinking I think yeah, definitely. I think doubting yourself and moving through so many things is very natural. Like that happens. It still happens. It always

happened. But I think what helps me navigate is of course I think wherever you are like you can always There's something called peer mentors which I strongly believe in, right? It's a very important thing to have, right? So, you can call it peer mentors. You can call it your personal board of advisors, right? So, I always have that, right? And I think that's a pretty strong group, right? Wherever I am, so it usually consists of people that I've worked with in the past, people who I really trust, and people in my present you know sort of organization or in my present circle, right? So, I think when some of these things happen then I always reach out for advice. I always reach out. I seek help, right? And I think that is what has helped me always,

right? So, again, I advise this to anyone and everyone because you know you don't have to do everything by yourself, right? So, I even if like any situation I am in, I know who I can reach out to, right? So, I think it's a lot of like of course relationship building. It's a a of like putting trust in, adding value. It's not just about, you know, just having like people and then, you know, just like taking, extracting, and you know, just taking help. No, you add value and then of course, you know, people are also like there for you. Right? So, you stand up for people and then people will stand up for you. So, I think that is the biggest thing that has helped me navigate difficult situations, overcoming doubt, especially when it comes to like at a workplace or you know, things that I'm doing, a big

project which is like, you know, I'm not sure of, but like jumping into it. Right? So, just having folks or peer mentors who can really like help me, guide me, and be like, "Okay, you know, you're doing good." Or this is how you can navigate. This is helpful. It's like that's the biggest thing. And of course, the second thing is like it really depends on what are your own sort of things and how you overcome things in life in general. Right? Like usually like I practice meditation and I give a lot of credit to it because I think there is something It can be anything. You can practice mindfulness. You can Whatever it is, but having something in life it really like helps. So, I think these are the two things I would say irrespective of where you are really help you sort of navigate

difficulties or hard moments or anxiety. >> And I agree we are building an ecosystem. We are building a closed community which are there to help and support each other when when need arises. So, having a good environment is fantastic. >> Super helpful. Yes, having a community is everything. I think in fact like not just And when I say advisors or peer mentors, they always come from the community. Right? When we had Green the community, I had awesome human beings in part of the community. Like that is where I found people who were always there and you know, I knew, "Okay, these are my people." So, I think community is such a Yeah, it's the most important thing.

Like you have to be part of It can be any community that you're part of. You can even start your own or create one, but I think that is the most important thing from where you actually get your, you know, your people. Yeah. >> Very interesting. Well, I'm taking a detour here now to try to understand the EFG projects. Those are coming up like when when you're making a decision for how the public good funding should be distributed. Mostly, it's it's the governance team behind the scene who is trying to help and support. What strength do you think of women uniquely bring to the space when it comes to public good funding and research in in in a decentralized ecosystem?

>> Great question. Yeah, I think I would say balance and thoughtfulness, right? Like So, of course, when you design the mechanisms or you think about, for example, at PL, right? Like we have a Filecoin we have an impact fund. So, I am working at PLFIF, which is the the team that deploys that fund in the Filecoin network, right? Which is from PL. So, you know, when putting together like a committee of reviewers, right? So, how do you make sure like there's a good balance in that committee? And of course, when you design and there are a lot of like rejections that happen.

Like how do you handle those rejections, right? So, I think not sure like I'm pretty sure like there are other like men also that approach this, but I think just as being the virtual being a woman like you tend to be more like thoughtful of how to really communicate critical decisions to the teams, how to really, you know, like maybe hand-holding people, right? Like I love to do that. Like that just comes naturally where, you know, you just want to make sure like if you see they're confused, they're struggling, you know, how do you just, you know, make sure like, you know, they are taken care of and they're being like, you know, shown direction. And not abandoned. It can be like a huge number of projects that can apply and then, you know, you when you do the distribution, it's just very small amount of projects that actually receive

it. What about So, I think just bringing the right balance when you are selecting committees or when you really, you know, putting things together and then, of course, handling some of the difficult decisions and rejections thoughtfully as opposed to just being like, okay, this is what it is, right? So, you have to do that as part of the job, but you do it in a more mindful and thoughtful way. I think that just comes naturally. Yeah. >> Rightly said, balance comes naturally to women. Women know how to balance home work and kids. So many things together.

>> Yeah, I don't have any like kids or you know, I'm not married, but I know I work with women who have that and oh my god, wow. It's just crazy how they do it. >> Yeah, I mean, these are the stories which inspires other women to get into the space. Generally, we look for someone who kind of inspire our thought and we try to become one of those or maybe similar. I wonder if there are anyone from the ecosystem that you would like to give a shout out or mention or many as well, like more than one are also fine. Who may have inspired you and why?

>> Actually, great question again. And also like sadly, there's not not a lot of I mean, there are women, but I've you know, not had a chance to work with them a lot yet. I hope that changes, but there are definitely a few that I want to give a shout out to. The first one would be oh, definitely. Let me just start with the present because that's just easier. That is going to be you know, Molly Mackinlay. She is the one of the leads of my team. Like she's one of the leads of the Filecoin. And I think I yeah, I just really get inspired by her.

Like she juggles so many things. I don't know how she does that. And the way she you know, yeah, she's a very strong leader in my opinion. So, I really look up to her. I think definitely super inspiring. And then the other would be Eva Schorn. Again, one of the people that I work closely with. Tremendous respect for her. The way she handles things and the way and you know, she has a kid and she has a lot of other responsibilities as well. But one of the things that I've figured myself and probably a lot a lot of women I've spoken to face as a challenge is just being very straightforward and blunt.

Like it's just not easy for us to do that and Eva is one of the people that I have learned that from. Like how to really be that. So, I think that's going to be another one. And of course, there you know, there are so many other women I know like Sharfi and Nidhi and you know, people who are like just you know, they're passionate about something and just knowing how to go after it without really caring about the obstacles or just like you know, overcoming anything that comes their way. And of course, you I would say like you know, I've like also it's so amazing to see you the work that you're doing with ECS and then you know, how you really you know, it's like your contribution to Ethereum ecosystem is like so impactful and highly valuable. So, yeah, I think these are

all the people and I'm so sorry if I'm missing anyone, but these are the people that are coming to mind. And there are of course, there other people uh that I'm meeting in Falcon and PL which are amazing. It's a lot of like Jennifer, I want to say like I just you know, she's also one of the founders of Filecoin last team. I think yeah, just owning the room is what I have seen I've learned from her or I'm just like in awe of whenever I see that. Yeah, I think I'm would definitely want to give a shout out to PL and Falcon. Like they have really strong like group of women who are in really good positions and you know, yeah. So, definitely very inspiring all of them.

>> You mentioned that you didn't get an opportunity to to work with many women in this space. Like obviously we know women, but there is like one or two in one group that we can find to talk to and something like that. What in your mind, let's say after 5 years would be the ideal mix of decentralization that we could see and there you would find it okay, fine. We are at a place where we do not need to advocate to get more women on board because it's something naturally getting in. >> I think the most important thing is women lifting other women up because one of the things I've seen which is really bad and I mean it did not really happen to me but I have heard stories and I know it's like women can be insecure of

other women's progress and success, right? Which absolutely need to I think again this is not to like pull down anyone or just to say this is a thing for which looks bad at women in general but this is something that I know people close to me have experienced and usually happens. So I think if we really want this to be something where we are not really a place where we are working with more women in every niche, in every space we have more women is because we need to be very secure of each other's success and actually uplift each other up and celebrate each other and of course then you know that opens way for more women. And another thing that I also want to do is like for example my institute is all women institute like I've been talking to them about you know

organizing a course or maybe like guest lectures. So how we can also like bring more people in in general and specially like you know if you are associated with any institutes, all women specially then how can you make sure like you know those are the sort of areas or sort of institutes that you are tapping into and bringing more sort of women. And of course communities like ECH and SheFi and I'm sure like there are others which you know need to really I think the places, great places for people to women to get on boarded, right? So just like connecting with them and having like sharing the opportunities, I think all of those things can really lead to like a lot of women coming in the space and at the same time how do we make sure they stay

and that is by really like celebrating each other and making sure like you know we uplift each other as opposed to just trying to as opposed to like you know bring anyone down or that kind of a thing which I don't think is really happening but yeah it can happen. >> Yes and this is exactly what we are trying to do with these series. We are trying to celebrate all women in space. We are trying to share their story so other can get inspired. It doesn't matter what background you bring in. You are bringing something to the ecosystem and that's what it matters. Well, that kind of concludes all the short answer questions and um we are moving towards next round which is called rapid fire [music] round.

>> Yeah, excited. In this one we would love to hear what comes [music] first to your mind. You can respond with one word, one phrase, or a sentence, or if there is a or there is anything specific that you want to add on. Yep, let's do it. >> One word that defines women in Web3. >> Unstoppable. >> Blockchain in one word. >> Coordination. >> Builder, researcher, or community. What describes you the best? >> Somewhere between researcher and community.

>> Biggest opportunity for women in blockchain. >> Yeah, just like build the table, I guess, right? Instead of like I think this is a space where you don't have to ask for a seat on the table. You you build the table, so I guess yeah. >> Build the table. >> Yeah. >> One skill that every woman in Web3 should have. >> Yeah, I think just relationship building. Like you definitely need the right people by your side or like people cheering for you. Um I think this is a very underrated skill. Relationship building is something that I feel like everyone should have, especially yeah.

>> Yeah, right. We should make our connections with right people, right like-minded people. That helps a lot. >> Exactly. >> One myth about women in tech that you would want to break today. >> Yeah, I think just like I don't know if it's like a myth or something, but I feel like it's um you know, like it requires I mean maybe two things. One is that um you know, you need to have certain background or like a bit education, bit experience to really break into tech, which I don't think is true at all. Especially of course in the age of AI and in general also, I think that's that's not true.

And second is I don't know if it's a myth, but I've heard like, you know, if you have other responsibilities, it's hard for you to really survive in the industry or in tech, but I don't think that's really true. Like we discussed, you know, powerhouse, they can don't they know balance so well. So, I don't think that should be something that should stop them in being in the tech. >> Yeah, they'll find their way to navigate. DeFi, governance, or infra, what's your favorite space? >> Governance, for sure. >> [laughter] >> Online or in-person events?

>> In-person. 200%. >> Layer one or layer two? >> L1. >> A message to women entering into Web3 community. >> Yeah, again, the same like I said, build a table and create opportunities. Don't wait for it. All right, like I always again, it's not like I just just try to give my example. Like that's just my experience. Of course, yours can be different, but I read a book and I listened to the podcast and I knew this is a space I wanted to work in. And then the question was only like how do I make my way in it? And then, you know, that's all you need. You just need to know what it is that you want. And you should be that unstoppable. So, I think well while

you enter Web3 and figure out, just know that you don't have to wait for the opportunity. You need to create it. And this is exactly the space Ethereum is the place for you to really, you know, be able to create that. Like this is where you can create it. I don't think there's anywhere else in the world that you can actually do what is possible here. It's just a matter of recognizing that and being able to, you know, go through the journey. So, yeah, that's what I would say if you are entering Web3. >> I would agree to this part. Like, I feel like Ethereum is one of the unique places where things are naturally coming in. The people are supportive and yes, they are very helpful.

Well, my last question for you is what does future of Ethereum looks like to you? >> Yeah. I think where I stop saying the real world, like we have to you know, we I have found myself and like a lot of people say that okay, yeah, yeah, this is my friend but it's from real world and you know, we are Web3. I think that would be one thing like where I'm not looking like it's not separate, it's the same, right? I have my people who I right now call like it is in the real world or they're doing real world like it's it's the same. I think the way it gets integrated in the world and the way, you know, yeah, everything is like it's used as a core infrastructure. Uh that

becomes so seamless and that just stops us from seeing it as Web3 or real world. It's just one. I think that would be the world that I would look at in a few years for Ethereum. Yeah. >> Amazing. That's a wonderful dream come true kind of situation. We would see that in future. Thank you so much, you responded to all of the questions very bravely, very well. >> Thank you for having me, Pooja. Yeah, it was wonderful. >> Yes, I mean, it's lovely to hear individuals perspective and your story seems very inspiring. I'm sure that you are already making an impact on a lot of individuals life and I hope that when this story comes out, many more women

get inspired and think of joining this space. >> Yes, I hope so, too. And thank you for again having me for the ECH community. Really love the work that you guys are doing. >> Dear listeners, thank you for tuning in to the special series of women powering web 3 by ECC Institute. If [music] this conversation resonates with you, do share it within your community. And if you are a woman and trying to get into the space, we hope these are stories [music] encourage you and you take that first step. Looking forward to talk to more women in the space and bring [music] them to you. Till then, cheers.

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