Women in Blockchain: Marina Petrichenko of Salamentex
For our following interview, I have asked Marina Petrichenko, Business Development Specialist | Salamantex to join us.
“Salamantex is dedicated to the planning and trading of digital cryptographic assets (e.g. cryptocurrencies and decentralized point-of-sale apps for businesses), directed acyclic graph techniques and IT services, including research, development, and deployment of work processes into the blockchain. Our focus lies on “easy-to-use” interfaces, offering companies and final customers easy access to services in these areas.”
Q #1 Give us a summary of your background and how you got into Blockchain & Digital Currency / Cryptocurrency?
A #1 My background is coming from around 2 years in digital marketing and business development in the Blockchain / Crypto World.
My career as a Chief Marketing Officer and Chief Business Development Officer was including a different kind of Startups: ICOs, Exchanges, Cold Wallet Solutions, OTC deals facilitators, White Label solutions for Exchanges, Blockchain Gaming companies, VC firm …
I also have a Digital Currency Certification from the University of Nicosia and “STO Crash Course” certificate.
Q #2 Tell us about your current position, responsibilities and some day to day activities that you look forward to?
A #2 I did consult for companies in terms of marketing and business development. Among my clients, a crypto media startup “Proof Of News” , AI and blockchain healthcare startup Pharmeum and VC firm Atomind. I recently started at Salamantex where I consult business owners from the first idea, assess potential fundraising opportunities, building partnerships, structure the business and sales funnel to ensure business automation is in place.
At Salamantex we provide a network that dramatically simplifies access to and handling of various cryptographic assets (such as cryptocurrencies) to individuals and businesses. Our offers are particularly attractive for newcomers in this area and make it very easy to get started. The factors simplicity, speed and safety are paramount to us.
Q #3 If you had to be critical about yourself, which part of your career would you like to improve on?
A #3 I’d like to improve my public speaking skills and I already started to work on it by speaking at some crypto events.
Q #4 What advice do you have for children/youth (10–18 years ) today especially young women about the Blockchain world? How do we nurture interest in this new Technology?
A #4 I would advise not to be afraid that this industry “is too complicated” and you are “not smart enough”. Being in the blockchain world doesn’t mean, that you have to be a coder/programmer/ super technical person. The Basics of this technology is easy to understand to everyone if you spend a bit of time and some effort on it. Like in any industry, in Blockchain there are plenty of non-technical jobs like PR, Marketing, Accounting, Law, Customer Support, etc. If you have a passion for it — just go for it!
Q #5 What kind of skill set would you be looking at in job applicants?
A #5 Depends on the job position of course. The most important in my opinion is that the person is passionate about the blockchain industry and the idea behind it. For such kind of person, it will never be just “9 to 6” job. With the passionate mindset, working in this industry becoming your lifestyle, your passion and you ready to work 24/7 for it, because you understand that you are building the future!
Q #6 Blockchain to me is a forward-thinking force of snowballing Technology, but where I’m from a lot of people still see Bitcoin as a scam.
How do we bridge the gap between Technology and people that are skeptical about it?
A #6 The reason for that is a lack of education and disinformation from the media. Of course, there are bad players out there, but if the person is educated enough to understand how things in this industry work — he/she will never get scammed. Like in any investment activity — you have to research first where are you investing and don’t expect a miracle daily ROI — nobody can promise you that.
Q #7 Can you please provide the details of an educational facility that is in your area or country if anyone reading this article decides to find out more about Blockchain.
A #7 I would suggest taking the Introduction to Digital Currencies from the University of Nicosia (I have it myself). You can take it online and it’s for free. The course is very informative and provides a good detailed description of each aspect of crypto and blockchain technology.
Q #8 What is your current opinion on the Digital Assets, (Cryptocurrency) market and share with us your opinion on where you think this Technology will take us?
A #8 Tricky question. Cryptocurrencies currently are still not ready to fully replace fiat due to many external and internal factors. Nevertheless, you can already pay everywhere with your crypto using, for example, Wirex or Revolut — you simply transfer your funds to their Visa / Mastercard cards and use it as a normal card. We can see, though that mass adoption is coming and more people start to use and understand crypto. Even companies like Facebook, eBay, Microsoft, etc are into it — and that means something.
Q #9 What new exciting projects are you currently working on or planning?
A #9 I am working on my book for kids and teenagers about blockchain and crypto to help the education of this new technology. Hope it will be useful for someone.
Education topic is very essential for mass adoption, so I might be focusing on sharing my knowledge with others in the nearest future to make the world the better place faster.
Q #10 What is your favorite Blockchain project and why?
A #10 There are plenty of amazing and really useful blockchain projects out there, so it’s really hard to tell. I like projects like Brave browser, where you get paid to see ads, or Steemit, where you get paid for generating the content… after all why people constantly generating content and watching ads for free, while big companies are making money from it, collecting and trading people’s data?! The data should belong to people and the content generation should be rewarded.
Remarks by Morne
“Thank you Marina, you are so right the content generation should be rewarded for their skill set! I will be looking forward to your book, I am sure we will be able to share it here in the future. Education is Key! Knowledge is Power!”
Well there you have it, our second interview in the Series #GIVE2
Thank you, Marina, for participating, it was really fantastic to get first-hand information from leading Blockchain Professionals like yourself.
With my ambition to educate children and students to on-board Blockchain Technology in combination with GIVE Nation’s Platform, a collaboration was born. My articles here about the lives of Women in Blockchain will hopefully point out opportunities, careers you might not have thought of and insight into a Global Change in the financial system as we know it. The principle of this change will be embedded in the GIVE Nation’s APP.
Please visit the website here.
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