Web3 Equity’s Tuttle Tribe turns 1: Breaking barriers for women in tech education and building a more inclusive future

By Michelle Abbs – Guest Contributor

It’s hard to believe that it’s already been a year since Web3 Equity launched our Tuttle Tribe collection in honor of the Mother of Miami – Julia Tuttle. For those who don’t know, the Tuttle Tribe is a membership pass to our web3 educational community focused on gender equity in web3. We host in-person education events in Miami to welcome more women to emerging technology. It has been an incredible journey, and I’d love to share what we have learned along the way.

The first undeniable lesson was that women want to be part of web3! In both bear and bull markets, we saw upwards of 100 guests at our monthly events. Over the year we held 17 in person events where we covered 91 topics to a total of over 5,700 attendees. We helped 800 women open their first digital wallet – the vital first step to enter into the blockchain enabled world. On March 30th, we will celebrate in person at our largest event yet, be sure to join us.

In the fall, I remember feeling worried that our community may be taking our foot off the gas pedal. But we held an event on November 21st, just one week after the FTX collapse, and it was one of our most well-attended events. Web3 Equity values education, and we know there is much to be learned in these turbulent times. 

Our events allow attendees to choose from breakout sessions to find the topic that fits their interest and skill level. The most popular sessions were: Blockchain basics, Legal considerations in web3, How to pick a quality NFT project, and Taxes with crypto

Even though we offered some sessions on “soft skills” like goal setting and community building, our attendees gravitate toward the “harder” technical skills. Their choices align with research on trends in gender and investing. For example, women like to have all the information in front of them, they embrace research to mitigate risk. They use that research to take a longer term view with investment decisions, as shown in a recent Forbes article

We learned that earning trust is at the core of helping people learn new things, especially women, as it helps us to be receptive to new ideas. The nature of crypto and NFTs comes with a healthy skepticism. Yet the consistency of our educational events showcased the real value of having a membership token and the project could be trusted. In fact, the NFT collection has held its value on a secondary market trading at the price we sold it for during our launch 1 year ago.  

As we reflect on our first year, we realize that there is still much work to be done. One area that we need to focus on is training male allies to be true advocates for women in web3. We embraced the engagement in our events from our male peers. While there are certainly men who know where to start, as demonstrated by HBR there are many who do not know what true allyship means. It’s crucial to educate our male allies on how to become effective advocates for women in web3, both in their personal and professional lives.

With a successful year 1 on the books, we are focused on the future. On March 30th we will launch year 2. So what’s next?

We are focused on job creation, and on skill building courses. 

  • As more web3 companies move to Miami, we want to place our community members in key roles. Partners like Venture Miami and Mayor Francis Suarez are focused on hiring locally, and we want to be sure women are hired equitably. We will launch Tech-quity, focused on ensuring gender equity in tech roles. 
  • In the coming months, we will launch multi-week courses with cohorts of women who are ready to take the next steps in their web3 education journey. We want to provide opportunities for women to develop their skills, deepen their knowledge, and build a supportive community of peers.

We are so proud of what we have accomplished in our first year, but we know that the journey ahead will be challenging. There will be ups and downs, but we’re ready for whatever comes our way. We are committed to continuing to provide valuable web3 education resources to our community and building a more inclusive and diverse ecosystem for all.

In closing, I personally want to thank every single person who purchased a Tuttle Tribe NFT (if you haven’t yet, you still can here), every single brand who sponsored our work, every single person who made a donation to our mission. A special thanks goes to our Web3 Equity Ambassadors: LC Cole, Carla Curiel, Sharonda Davis, D Marie, Megan Fitzpatrick, Claudia Galean, Julieanna “Julz” Goddard, Melissa Henderson, Sharon Holm, Amaranta Martinez, Katrina Morris, Tanya Sam and Luli Sulichin. Thank you all for your trust, your support, your hunger for learning but most of all your passion for equity. We couldn’t have done it without you, and we’re excited to continue learning and growing together in the years ahead.

Here’s to the Tuttle Tribe’s first anniversary, and many more to come.

Michelle Abbs, a #MiamiTech community builder, is the founder and CEO of Web3 Equity. She was featured in Forbes as a Top Woman in NFT and named one of the Top 16 Most Influential Women in NFTs for her accomplishments.

READ MORE ON REFRESH MIAMI: Web3 Equity lights the spark, and Miami’s female creators and builders are taking it from there. A Q&A with Michelle Abbs