In 2016, Ariel Wengroff was producing with American essayist Gloria Steinem Woman, a documentary series on violence against women that earned her the title of youngest Emmy-nominated producer. Six years later, here she is VP Communications at Ledgerin charge of writing the story of this French Web 3 champion. With the same leitmotif, putting empowerment at the center of the story.
You were one of America’s top female producers and you left media to join Ledger. What prompted you to take the plunge?
When I was working in the media, I saw the emergence of what is called the creator economy. And it seemed very clear to me that Web 2 did not offer the necessary infrastructure to allow these creators to take full advantage of their content. Web 3 is the future of this economy. Blockchain has the ability to reward communities for their participation. And participating in the construction of the ecosystem while it is still in its infancy was very stimulating for me.
Web 3 can help creators, influencers and arguably many other rather privileged communities… But can it succeed in including those that Web 1 and 2.0 have left out?
Crypto and Web 3 are for the underdog. The loudest voices today may be those of people with more resources, but the truth is that many cryptocurrency users never had a chance in the system before. current financial. Simply because it is designed against them. Hence the importance of telling everyone that we have, at a minimum, the choice to participate in Web 3, the possibility of being interested in cryptos. The goal is to feel that, whatever your age or level of ability, you belong in this universe.
What does a more accessible web mean?
By two important points. First we must continue to create products that are accessible and easy to use. And at Ledger, we’re working on that, including making sure that, depending on your physical abilities, you can still see our screens or use our buttons. The second point is education and particularly free education. This is why we have developed, for example, our Ledger Academy, which is an excellent educational resource. But we also entered into a partnership with The Sandbox, here in Paris, where we created a game (School of Block). Through it, we issued almost 100,000 certifications in less than two months, which means that 100,000 more people have understood how to participate in Web 3 and stay safe.
The crypto universe remains predominantly male. How can we rebalance the situation?
One of the reasons I think Web 3 is so important is that it can correct situations that have been problematic for generations, starting with the pay gap. Web 3, for example, is removing the barrier that most women have known, which kept them away from financial matters… Because finance is intrinsically integrated into Web 3, if you participate in this universe, you somehow cross straight out that barrier. It’s hard to see how things will evolve, but I think there’s more inclusion in Web 3. And, in a way, that’s normal because we’re not going to retrace the path that we has traveled over the past 10, 20, 30 years. We have established a new base, and it is on this that we are building the sequel…