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Dec 14 2020

A Day in the Life of Michelle Fno, Founder of Aromeo Diffuser

Running your own business is no easy feat. It takes a healthy dose of passion, discipline, and commitment. Ever wonder what a day in the life of a small business owner and founder is like? We’re here to give you a glimpse!

This week, we’re talking with Michelle Fno, the founder and CEO of Aroma Diffuser, the only sleep aid and stress reliever in the world that uses the combined power aroma, light, and sound therapy. Michelle is running an Indiegogo campaign to bring the Aromeo to an international audience.

But enough with exposition — here are the details of a typical day for Michelle, and as well as a brief Q&A to get to know her better and get inspired!

6 A.M. I wake up just before the sun rises so that I can catch sunrise. I love the tranquility that sunrise gives me, and it really sets the tone for the day.

7 A.M. ‘Me time’, which includes meditation and mindful drinking of warm green tea with some writing.

8 A.M. Mindful walking. Workout at the gym near the office. Mindful eating.

9 A.M. Plan my thoughts about key issues at work. I do this either by writing on the whiteboard or in my journal.

10 A.M. Daily scrum meeting with the team. Each of us talks about the status of what we have been doing, and what we plan to do for the day.

11 A.M. Check product development status and sales status.

12 P.M. Team lunch. It’s part of our company culture to share a meal together and have some warm conversations about what’s been going on in our lives, what new hobbies we’re picking up, or cool ideas we want to try.

1 P.M. Answer emails, engage with backers and followers on social media.

2 P.M – 6 P.M. Focus sessions: each session is centered on one topic at a time with different team members. For example, industrial design focus session, or customer experience focus session.

Aromeo aims to boost productivity through the power of aromatherapy.

7 P.M. Wrap up work, update status and jot down to-dos for the next day.

8 P.M. Travel back home, mindful cooking. Mindful eating the nutritious meal I prepared for myself.

9 P.M. Call home and self-care (read: skincare) time 😉

10 P.M. Get ready for bed, ending the day with a total body relaxation and light reading.

Michelle shows off the Aromeo Diffuser at a trade show earlier this year.

Now that you’ve gotten a glimpse of what her day is like, get more inspiration in our exclusive Q&A with Michelle Fno below!

INDIEGOGO: How and why did you become an entrepreneur? Was it something you always intended for yourself?

MICHELLE FNO: I grew up in a plastics factory that my grandmother built from scratch; she was an immigrant child who grew up trading scrap plastics, and she created a plastics factory to provide a livelihood for her community. As a kid I looked at how the factory created many products that end up creating value to the customers, and how the workers would come every Saturday, collecting their week’s pay and sharing stories about what’s happening in their lives. This is why I want to become an entrepreneur, because I believe an entrepreneur can really make an impact in this world – by creating better products that create value in the society, and by providing livelihood and a sense of community for its stakeholders.

INDIEGOGO: What makes your Indiegogo project unique?

MICHELLE: Aromeo Sense is unique because it’s the only sleep aid and stress buster in the world that uses aroma, light, and sound therapy. In 2015, I struggled with anxiety and chronic stress. Through natural therapy, I discovered my peace and became a stronger person. Now, I want others to be happier and healthier too, especially in this challenging time. From this, the concept of Aromeo Sense was born. Our team designed this device to have aroma, light, and sound therapy because our sense of smell, vision, and hearing are the main instruments that we use to gather information about the world around us. By affecting these faculties, we can shift our mood into a more desirable state, and promote better sleep.

INDIEGOGO: What’s your biggest piece of advice for women who want to start their own business?

MICHELLE: If you have decided to start a business, then do it as early as possible. Because your business and skills need time to grow. Doing it early will give more time for you to grow a fan base, develop your intuition, and learn from the parts that you may be lacking.

INDIEGOGO: What tools (gadgets, apps, books, podcasts) would you recommend to anyone starting their own business, crowdfunding campaign, or project?

MICHELLE: Gadgets – Aromeo Sense to manage my time and make sure I do one thing at a time and dedicate 100% of my focus onto it.

Apps – For work I use Slack (team communication), Notion (task management), Figma (design), and of course Zoom. For meditation I use the Calm app, and I think it would be cool to integrate it with Aromeo Sense. For writing I use the Bear app.

Books – For work: The Lean Startup by Eric Ries, Sprint by Jake Knapp. For life: You Are Here by Thich Nhat Hanh, What I Know For Sure by Oprah Winfrey.

INDIEGOGO: What’s your favorite Indiegogo campaign, or a campaign you’ve recently supported?

MICHELLE: NeoRhythm – I think it’s a great idea to control your mood using a headband. I think it could be used together with Aromeo Sense for a synergy effect – Aromeo Sense can provide the multi-sensory stimuli using aroma, light and sound, while NeoRhythm can provide stimulation through vibrations.

Form and function blend seamlessly in the Aromeo Diffuser.

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Dec 04 2020

A Day in the Life of Entrepreneur Sian Murray, Co-Founder of Pleasant State

This week, we’re featuring Sian Murray, the co-founder of Pleasant State. Pleasant State is a female-owned Australian business that wants to create a sparkling clean world free of single-use plastics. One garbage truck of plastic waste enters our oceans every minute, totaling eight million tons each year. Sian and her co-founder have created a line of all natural, concentrated, just-add-water cleaning products that let users clean their homes without plastic waste and harmful ingredients.

Read on to learn about a typical day for Sian as she runs Pleasant State’s popular crowdfunding campaign. Then scroll down for a brief Q&A to get to know her better and get inspired!

Sian Murray (right) and her co-founder Ami Bateman.

5 A.M. – The sun rises at around 4.30 in summer here in Australia so it’s pretty hard to sleep in. My alarm normally goes off at 5.15 and after a few hits of the snooze button I’ll eventually climb out of bed. The first thing I do every morning is check the Pleasant State Instagram and Facebook for any new messages. I then check in on how our ads are performing and, of course, take a look at the surf cams. Then it’s straight into my swimmers, I throw my board in the back of the ute and go for a surf. There is honestly no better way to start your day.

6 A.M. – Still surfing.

7 A.M. – I normally get home at around 7.30, have a shower, make myself a giant smoothie and have a piece of toast while sitting outside on my phone and catching up on any team comms that may have come through overnight. I’ll also look at what’s going on in the world and check in on other brands we love.

8 A.M. – If I really have my life together, I’ll make time for a 10 min stretch/ light yoga before I head to my desk just to prevent getting sore while I sit at a computer all day. But most of the time, as I work from home, I just turn on the Bluetooth speakers and head straight to my desk. (I love to work with loud music — I’m not sure my housemates love it, though).

9 A.M. – The Pleasant State team all work remotely, so we rely heavily on tools like Slack and Asana to communicate and manage our projects together. Ami Bateman (my fellow co-founder) lives just half an hour away so we catch up a couple of times a week. But most days, we work separately — though I can’t wait until we have our own space to work together. I generally spend the first hour of my day on community management, emails and reviewing our ads in more detail.

10 A.M. – I manage the majority of Marketing here at Pleasant State. We’re a very small team so this means I work on strategy with the team but then have to implement the bulk of those deliverables on my own. I like to put aside an hour each day to create social content, engage with our customers and create Instagram stories as our customers love that ‘face-to-face’ contact.

Pleasant State reduces plastic waste by making super concentrated, just-add-water cleaning products.

11 A.M. – As we’re in the InDemand phase of our Indiegogo campaign and our product is due to arrive in just a couple of months we’re also doing a lot of planning for our product launch. No two days are the same! Today I’m working with our Graphic Design Intern to finalise the design of our mailer boxes and A6 comp cards that will go inside each box.

12 P.M. – As Pleasant State grows, we’ve been lucky enough to receive some awesome opportunities for events, media interviews, and features so I will usually take an hour to write back to inquiries or prepare my responses. Today, for example, I am writing this interview. 🙂

1 P.M. – Lunch time! Yum! (I live for food). Today I’m having honey soy tofu in a vermicelli noodle salad. My housemates have a new puppy so I will normally take 30 minutes to go outside with him, eat my lunch and have a little run around.

2 P.M. – This is usually when I look at my list of things to do and say, “Oh dear.” Which means I often take a minute after lunch to reassess my timings and make sure I’m on track for the rest of the day. Today I’m creating a brief for our Graphic Design Intern that will cover all design elements of our upcoming Christmas campaign. This means I will need to have the strategy mapped out, the copy written and the channels selected, plus give her design guidance for the whole campaign so she can format it nicely and I can then schedule it into all our channels. This includes things like email, social posts, ad content, website updates etc.

3 P.M. – The above job is quite a big one so I’ll still be pulling all this information together for our amazing intern.

4 P.M. It’s been a few hours since I’ve checked in on community management. Our audience is pretty active so it’s important to check it regularly. Part of our current planning phase as we transition from crowdfunding to product launch is ensuring brand consistency throughout all our channels, so today I’ll be looking at our Instagram and Facebook bios to ensure they are aligned with our key messaging.

5 P.M. – I’m very big on work life balance so don’t like to go overtime too much, but today is a big day as we head into the weekend. I like to make sure I’ve ticked off everything on my list before I finish. Pleasant State has been lucky enough to have a Facebook rep providing us with support across our ads lately so after a phone call with them yesterday I’ll make some of the changes they recommended to finish off the day. Conversion ads have been a huge revenue driver for us so it’s important they’re constantly optimised.

6 P.M. – It is so hot here during the day, we don’t have an air conditioner so I’ll usually finish off work by grabbing a beer and quickly running down to the beach for a sunset swim to cool off. We’re very lucky to live walking distance to the beach, even though it can also be a bit distracting.

Sian and Ami, the Pleasant State co-founders, celebrating their Indiegogo campaign.

7 P.M. – Well what do you know, it’s food time again! Today’s Friday which means I’m heading out with my partner and friends. My Friday night classic is a fancy pizza accompanied by a couple of margaritas. Now that’s living.

8 P.M. – On to my second margarita.

9 P.M. – Who knows — depending on my mood, there might be a third, haha! But I have a bit of work to do this weekend so it’s home and an early night for me.

10 P.M. – Last check over socials to make sure all is well in the world of Pleasant State and then I’m off to sleep.

11 P.M. Can’t talk, sleeping. 🙂

How and why did you become an entrepreneur? Was it something you always intended for yourself?

I always said, “I want to own my own business, but I don’t know what it will be.” I suppose that’s the beauty of it: You just have to open yourself up to the possibility. One day the opportunity will present itself and it’s up to you to jump at it. For me, that opportunity was Pleasant State. To be honest, though, it definitely wasn’t a chance encounter that led Ami and Pleasant State to me. I studied Journalism and Professional Communication because I wanted to launch my own magazine, which I ended up doing straight out of university. But once I realised a magazine wasn’t going to do it for me, I put a lot of effort into upskilling in digital marketing. I knew it would be a huge asset when it came to launching my own business again, which it definitely has been. Years of working in a digital agency and building my own personal brand led Ami to me so I wouldn’t have been presented with this opportunity without the ground work.

Sian attacking plastic waste on the beach, and with good reason: 8 trillion tons of plastic waste end up in the ocean every year.

What makes your Indiegogo project unique?

I love this question! There are so many things that make our project unique. I feel that crowdfunding in general isn’t as common in Australia as it is in places like the UK and US, so the fact that we went down this route for funding in Australia is quite unique in itself. More broadly, we’re a female-founded start-up based in a small town on Australia’s Sunshine Coast. We’ve worked really hard to not take on investors and ensure that in all aspects of our business we are putting people and the planet before profits. At the end of the day, Pleasant State is and will be more than just a cleaning brand. We’re here to demonstrate that doing good is good for business. I would also say that our general energy makes our project unique. We have put so much time and effort into building Pleasant State from the ground up — so much research, so much creativity and so much face-to-face contact to build a relatable, honest brand that brings hope to our customers. Oh, and our crowdfunding video is a beauty. 😉

What’s your biggest piece of advice for women who want to start their own business?

Always remember that you are enough and that you’ve 100% got this. Even when you don’t have it, just know that if you believe in the back of your mind you can get it done, you will. Ami and I often laugh about how out of our depth we’ve been with certain elements of launching Pleasant State. We’ve never designed products or worked with manufacturers, and I barely even knew the meaning of most business Jargon (which can feel super embarrassing sometimes). But don’t be hard on yourself and don’t hold back from asking for help. Don’t know the answer? Just ask! It’s something I have really struggled with, but I’m working on.

Sian and Ami packaging up Pleasant State perks.

What tools (gadgets, apps, books, podcasts) would you recommend to anyone starting their own business, crowdfunding campaign, or project?

The most important tool is happiness! The start-up world is filled with people telling you that you need to work all hours of the day to be successful. That’s just not true, nor is it healthy! Make time for you. But as for podcasts, there are a few really interesting ones that I enjoy. I really like some of the interviews they do on Female Startup Club and Business Chicks. As a digital marketer, I spend a crazy amount of time on socials so unfortunately I don’t find the time to read enough. But I would 100% recommend finding brands and businesses that you admire and following them religiously. Stuck for an idea? Why not see how they communicated it? Taking inspiration from other amazing brands and making it your own is a huge help when you have a small team. Just make sure you’re not just copying other brands. The key is to find new ideas and then think about how you can make them your own or even better! In terms of gadgets, Loomly has been great for all our scheduling, Asana for team management and, of course, playing loud music to get me through it all!

What’s your favorite Indiegogo campaign, or a campaign you’ve recently supported?

I’m not sure I have a favourite but there were definitely a few that inspired me in a big way throughout our initial campaign. Like I said in my previous response, I’m big on taking inspiration from those around me and for us that was Hitch. I loved their video and the way they set up their story. It was genius! And, of course, back here in Australia I loved the campaign by Who Gives A Crap, their tone of voice and video just got me. It was definitely the inspiration for the comedic relief in our campaign.

Want to support Pleasant State? Check out the crowdfunding campaign today, or explore their website, Instagram and Facebook to learn more!

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Dec 01 2020

Why Leading Cities and States Should be Protecting ‘Digital Citizens’ from Mobile Threats

When most people think of Zimperium, they may recognize us as the leader in enterprise mobile device and app security. Or, they have seen the recent news on the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA), a U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) organization, selecting us to deliver comprehensive Mobile Endpoint Protection (MEP) to the unclassified government furnished (GFE) devices of servicemen and women around the world.

In regards to the DoD announcement, this a watershed moment and we are honored to protect DoD mobile users and endpoints against phishing, malicious/risky apps, OS exploits and network attacks.

We are also honored to be protecting the “digital sidewalks” – as Jordan Sun, the Chief Innovation Officer for the city of San Jose and Director of the Mayor’s Office of Technology and Innovation (MOTI) referred to it in a recent commentary in The Hill – for New York City residents and Los Angeles Metro riders against mobile threats with the only machine learning-based, on-device mobile security solution.

I recently had the pleasure of hosting a panel session during this year’s North American International Cyber Summit. The panel – The Future of Mobile Technology and Security for the Digital Citizen – featured:

Mitch Herckis, senior advisor of New York City Cyber Command;
Douglas Anderson, senior director Information Technology for the Los Angeles Metro; and
Jayson Cavendish, senior security architect for Tech System, contractor to the state of Michigan.

Below are select snippets from this lively, compelling and informative panel discussion.

A little bit of background

Mitch:

“NYC Cyber Command is a relatively new organization, particularly by New York City standards, where we have some agencies that marked their life in over a century. We were created just three years ago by executive order and we were formalized into the city charter just this past month.

“As the senior advisor for operations for the organization, I helped with the central part of our mission which is to implement cybersecurity as a central authority across a hundred plus agencies.

“We also have a resident phasing mission, ensuring residents of New York City are able to be safe in their own digital lives.”

Doug:

“LA Metro is the third largest transit company in the U.S. We transport about 1.3 million riders a day. It is a sizable agency and because of that we have a fairly large presence.

“One of the things my team is challenged with, is looking at using technology for innovative ways to enhance the customer experience. Equity is another big issue here for Metro. We have a lot of riders that are low-income and cannot even afford connectivity.

“Even though it is not blanketing the city, our routes do cover the entire city and they are basically based on population and ridership density, those kinds of things. Where there are more people there are more routes. It seemed like a good way to maybe accomplish some of the goals that the city wanted to do.”

NYC Secure and LA Metro Secure

Mitch:

“The NYC Secure initiative is the name of our citizen-focused initiative and it was announced back in March 2018. The goal of it is essentially to defend New Yorkers from malicious cyber activity on mobile devices across Wi-Fi networks and beyond.

“There are two major pieces to this initiative. One is the NYC Secure app, which is free for folks to download through the App Store and Google Play. It is security for anyone who downloads it – focusing on providing New Yorkers a level of protection. It alerts you to risks, threats and attacks including if you are connecting to unsecured Wi-Fi networks.

“More people have moved to mobile – – over 50 percent of traffic is mobile these days. So, there are increasing attacks there.

“We realized this was the right thing to do, that we commit to keeping people safe in their daily lives from crime and we should want to bring that same commitment to protecting New Yorkers into cyberspace.

“We figured out we need to do it in a way that reflected their values and preserved individual privacy and the NYC Secure initiative and the NYC Secure app is what came out of it.”

Doug:

“My CIO actually went to New York and saw Mitch’s project out there and that is how we got involved in looking at protecting the devices.

“The folks using our Wi-Fi on the buses are not the most sophisticated users. They are low-income. They do not have their own data plans and don’t necessarily have a carrier helping to protect their device.

“They rely heavily on various forms of public Wi-Fi to communicate. Some have older devices. They are cheaper devices. They do not necessarily keep them up-to-date.

“Basically, as long as they can access Wi-Fi and there are a number of apps they can download and use, they are able to communicate. It was a pretty big, challenging environment. One of the things that we really wanted to do was keep it as simple as possible.

“When people transfer from one vehicle to another – there are hundreds of thousands of transfers in a given day – their phone will automatically re-login to the new Wi-Fi network, when they board a new vehicle. However, that causes a bit of a problem because now you have individuals who will try to spoof the network, to access a million plus riders here in Los Angeles.”

Should cities protect their citizens?

Jayson:

“When the pandemic started, for those with the ability to work at home, they were now relying on networks they typically reserved for play or entertainment. Further, as they started doing that, K-12 and higher education started going completely online, that happened back in April and May.

“As we came into August this year, a lot of the universities made the decision to go fully online. Some like Central Michigan University have students on campus but most of their classes are online.

“We need to figure out how we make sure we use trusted Wi-Fi networks. For example, my wife and girls may go shopping for shoes at a local retailer. While they are there, they jump on Wi-Fi for free while shopping for shoes and are buying other things while on that network. I can tell you this, because they come home and I ask if they bought other clothes on their mobile devices while shopping for shoes. I ask if they use their credit cards. Of course the answer is ‘Well, yeah.’

“I think the reality for most of our constituents is that this isn’t top of mind for them. We need to give them a tool or a way that they can put on the digital mask to protect each other.”

Issues and challenges

Mitch:

“This is also an equity issue. Not everyone has access to their corporate account, a secure corporate environment or certain protections as mentioned through their provider. In fact, something like 17 percent of Americans have smartphones only. I think it goes much higher if you look at some equity issues that are particularly around low-income individuals or folks who are in lower income brackets.

“Our vision is for New York to be the most cyber resilient city in the world and to achieve that vision, it means giving everyone the tools they need to do what is necessary to protect themselves. Sometimes it is about giving them the things to recognize that, that might not be a link to NYC Wi-Fi, that might be someone down the street.

‘The reality is, not everyone has access to security measures and NYC Secure is a very simple tool that they can use for security while maintaining their privacy.

‘During this time of COVID in particular, there have been malicious attempts at applications that mimic the sort of things that we would expect from a tracing app, those have been passed via email or phishing attempts. I think providing this basic security to folks is something we see as protecting everyone, all New York.”

Doug:

‘We discovered that we had a huge number of kids using Wi-Fi, believe it or not, to do their homework on their way to school because they did not do it the night before. They were taking advantage of the fact that they had Wi-Fi on the buses to do their homework.

‘But again, you have got a very unsophisticated audience there and it can easily be fooled into things.

“One of the things we specified on a login page, in the terms and conditions page before you go to an active portal, was that we wanted to indicate that we were not tracking their device. That is a big deal here. A lot of people are riding the buses. We really want to know where they are going, that is very helpful to us to understand the ridership patterns, but people do not like to be individually tracked, especially a number of individuals and the lower-income group.”

User privacy

Jayson:

‘We are evaluating opportunities to make this available to the citizens of Michigan. One of the most important facets of that would be that the tool does not retain or send back or keep any information about the citizen.

“Can it protect me from mobile malware? Can it tell me where solid safe networks are? Can it help me protect against phishing attacks? And can it do all of that and not send any of my data back to a monitoring device or spy on itself? I think those are the real critical aspects of this entire area that we are looking into.”

Mitch:

“There is a lot of really interesting data we could have gotten if we decided to take that in. It would be fascinating data and helpful data, but the reality is no one, no New Yorker probably really wants an organization called New York City Cyber Command taking their data off their phone and frankly, we do not want that to be.

“We want to provide the tools without people questioning our motives. To put a very fine point on it, the city sees nothing. If you choose to download and install the app, we will not be able to see information about you on your mobile device. There is a strict privacy policy and technical controls to ensure the privacy is respected.

“New York City was hit hard during this global pandemic. As part of our own response in trying to do things to help our citizens, we put out advice to small and medium-sized businesses on working from home. I think people think of New York and they think of big buildings, but the reality is there are a quarter million small and medium-sized businesses in New York – from that one guy working alone to a small group of people who are doing something like a small startup.

“We put working from home guidance out for small businesses. These were kind of very broad but one of them was, if you do not have mobile security you should be looking at the NYC Secure app because people out there who are doing everything from deliveries to running a small business, who may have had a small stand before but are trying to find out new ways to get their products out there. So, you never know why you need mobile security necessarily, but it is always going to be people who need it and we were happy to be able to do it for New Yorkers during this time.”

Contact us

For more information on how we can help secure the citizens in your area, please contact us.

Why Leading Cities and States Should be Protecting ‘Digital Citizens’ from Mobile Threats

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Nov 11 2020

A Day in the Life of Entrepreneur Haby Barry, Founder of Fulaba Jewelry

This week, we’re featuring Haby Barry, the entrepreneur behind Fulaba, a luxury jewelry brand that blends African high culture with modern design to craft elegant wearables. Haby started Fulaba to bring authentic Fulani jewelry, handicrafts made from precious metals, and a centuries-old tradition to the global market.

“Africa has such a rich jewelry tradition from countless ethnic groups representing nobility and royalty, so we are expanding our collections to introduce the world to these beautiful designs and stories. We also aim to uplift women and people of the African diaspora while helping to develop the finished jewelry industry in West Africa. So often we see just raw materials exported out of Africa causing the value to escape and be captured elsewhere.”

5 A.M./6 A.M. Dawn prayer somewhere in this timeframe depending on the sun cycle.

7 A.M. Usually back in bed occasionally checking my messages from overseas (Europe & West Africa).

8 A.M. Reading articles online and checking email.

9 A.M. Go for a morning run or a bike ride or do an at-home app workout.

10 A.M. At my home office working on marketing and communications or whatever is most pressing that day while eating breakfast.

11 A.M. Usually in a Zoom meeting or on a call with my collaborators or freelancers.

12 P.M. Prepare orders for shipment and drop them off at the post office.

1 P.M. Arrive at WeWork to continue working from there. I find getting out of the house even for a few hours helps me to be more productive and focused.

2 P.M. A call with my production manager in Conakry to get updates on the progress of the artisans who are hand making our jewelry. Reflections on what I’d like to power through the rest of the day.

3 P.M. Check-in call with my content producer in Paris…lately we have been spending our time finalizing the design of the Women of the African Diaspora photo book and brainstorming different ways to get people excited about it.

4 P.M. Eat lunch while following up with contacts via email, text, and social media…crowdfunding isn’t for the faint of heart!

5 P.M. Brainstorm content, digital ads, and/or campaign strategy. As a professional marketer turned entrepreneur, I’ve learned that being fluid and adapting is key. I am constantly learning and testing and modifying as I go.

6 P.M. Check-in with my advisor on WhatsApp via messages, audio messages, or a call. I appreciate and value the experience and wisdom of others who have scaled businesses and want to learn from them. My eyes and ears are open, and I am prepared to incorporate feedback not only for better outcomes but also to become the best leader I can be.

7 P.M. Drive home while listening to my favorite songs which usually include some South African house music.

8 P.M. Eat dinner then do a 25-30 minute meditation.

9 P.M. Relax and watch an episode of Girlfriends on Netflix or The Daily Social Distancing Show with Trevor Noah.

10 P.M. Have some tea and send shipment tracking emails to customers. Dive into whatever I have not gotten to yet but don’t want to push until tomorrow.

11 P.M. Finish up my work commitments and get ready for bed. Before I go to sleep, I read my dream of who I want to become (which is written in the present tense), and visualize it.

*Women of the African Diaspora*, co-written by Haby, tells the story of 10 women from West Africa, California, and Paris, told through the lens of fashion, history, and art.

Now that you’ve gotten a glimpse of what Haby’s day is like, get more inspiration in our exclusive Q&A with Haby.

How and why did you become an entrepreneur? Was it something you always intended for yourself?

I knew that I wanted to become an entrepreneur since I was a teenager from watching my father’s experiences. Business always excited my dad and when he finally made the transition from teaching full time to becoming a full-time entrepreneur, I saw him truly light up…it was so validating for him.

It was clear to me from a young age that I wanted to create, and I saw very quickly from working in corporate America that I could not realize my potential and serve the world in a meaningful way in that setting. Therefore, my motivation for entrepreneurship continued to grow stronger, but I never thought that I would be in the jewelry business.

I did always know however, that I would be involved in some type of creative business. I happened to start Fulaba because I used to always get compliments from people in San Francisco on an old pair of brass Fulani earrings I got from Harlem and I thought to myself that I could get a better quality version of these earrings made and tell the story as a Fulani woman.

What makes your Indiegogo project unique?

We are not just selling a product, we are making a declaration to celebrate the elegance and culture of African women and women around the world. We are uncovering a rich African jewelry tradition and developing a finished jewelry industry in West Africa. Most of the raw materials for jewelry from the region are exported out causing the value of finished jewelry to be gained outside of Africa. Additionally, we are giving back and committing to donate 5% of all proceeds to benefit youth education in Guinea.

What’s your biggest piece of advice for women who want to start their own business?

Make sure that it is something that you can enjoy because you will be spending a lot of time on it and the results will not come fast or easily. Becoming an entrepreneur is a journey and it is more rewarding when you connect your business with a purpose that is meaningful to you.

What tools (gadgets, apps, books, podcasts) would you recommend to anyone starting their own business, crowdfunding campaign, or project?

Technology and information are all important tools but what trumps all of that is support from other business owners. I recommend finding a group of people that you can connect with whether it is an accelerator or organization that can offer support through your personal and entrepreneurial journey. For example, this year I have been a part of a community called The Fem League, which is focused on helping women step into their power and it has been integral in my development particularly in these unprecedented times.

What’s your favorite Indiegogo campaign or a campaign you’ve recently supported?

I appreciate what Jacqueline Ngo Mpii is doing with Little Africa Paris and learned about her campaign through my advisor. I hope to be able to collaborate with her sometime in the near future.

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Sep 11 2020

Decentralized Exchange Aggregator 1inch Partners TRON to Integrate its Trading Protocol, JustSwap, and Other Enhancements

1inch has teamed up with the developers of Tron (TRX), one of the largest platforms for building decentralized applications (dApps), in order to complete the integration of JustSwap and Mooniswap.

1inch provides an aggregator for decentralized on non-custodial crypto-asset exchanges with “the best prices” on the market. There are no registrations or sign-ups required to use 1inch. Its creators claim that it’s safe and secure.

The 1inch team stated:

“We’re thrilled to announce a partnership with TRON, one of the world’s most popular blockchains. … 1inch will fully integrate with JustSwap, TRON’s decentralized trading protocol for automated liquidity provision, and our automated market maker (AMM), Mooniswap, will integrate into TRON’s blockchain.”

Sergej Kunz, co-founder and CEO at 1inch, said that the integration will allow them offer “faster, cheaper service, and high-throughput scalability.” Users will also benefit from the larger developer communities of all these platforms, Kunz added.

As explained in the announcement, support of the TRON blockchain in 1inch will allow the aggregator’s users to “get the best rates” for TRON-based digital assets. The integration of Mooniswap with the TRON blockchain should enhance TRON’s decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem.

As noted by the 1inch team:

“Liquidity providers on the TRON blockchain will benefit from Mooniswap’s ‘virtual balances,’ which slow down price changes, preventing arbitrage traders from earning up to 100% of the swap slippages and therefore dramatically increasing liquidity providers’ earnings. Thanks to Mooniswap, TRON’s regular users will get an extra level of protection from front running attacks.”

TRON’s developers said that they expect that the integration will allow JustSwap to serve more traders or investors, while improving its price accuracy. JustSwap was launched in August 2020 and it has reportedly reached $100 million 24-hour trading volume.

TRON’s developers are planning to incentivize or reward liquidity providers (LPs) on Mooniswap with TRON’s native TRX tokens.

Founded in 2017 by Justin Sun, TRON aims to compete with Ethereum but has failed to capture a significant market share (when compared to the progress made by the Ethereum ecosystem).

TRON’s mainnet went live in May 2018, which was also around the time that the EOS mainnet was launched. In July 2018, TRON’s developers acquired BitTorrent, a decentralized solution for file-sharing. TRON’s virtual machine was launched in August 2018.

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