Could you tell us a little bit about what it means to be an Investor Relationship Manager?
Hello and first of all it is really great to find myself on the list with such inspiring women in fintech as Victoria, Teagan, Caroline, Grace, and Leah - thank you guys for putting me in!
I have started the IR department in a consulting company in Tokyo where I worked at the time. We did a great job for people with absolutely zero experience in crypto or finance. I have a master's degree in State Municipality Management so moving to Tokyo and working in IR was a challenge for me. I can remember that period of time I was having meetings during the day, and at night I would read blockchain news and watch videos to dive into the industry. And you can remember how dynamic 2017 was. Conferences happened every month where you go and pitch investors to get their contacts. It was fun.
What I love about the industry is that everyone - from investors of famous funds to billionaires - seems to be so reachable. In Tokyo, you can just go and hang out with Roger Ver (Bitcoin cash) and he would send you BCH to buy your drinks - super easy going! Or during the conference, you can bump it to Vitalik and ask for his opinion just like that. Can you imagine hanging out with Elon Musk or pitching somebody like James Dimon from JP Morgan on a conference? It's super cool! I love blockchain for that.
What was it like working closely with a Hollywood superstar? How did that influence your path into finance?
Here I might disappoint you as working as a PA wasn't anyhow related to my blockchain path. However, it was a great experience being able to travel all over the world and to participate in movie productions as well as to see the inside kitchen of cinema shootings. It was a very exciting and a once in a lifetime opportunity.
I would also add that working in a circle of famous people really eliminates all barriers. You see in practice that any person is reachable and the wildest dreams are just goals that require work.
What are some of your best tips on how to work the DeFi market?
My first advice would be to start with smaller amounts. By the way, I absolutely love DeFi. Every time I find a new strategy I try it with a small amount. For example, once I tried a new yield aggregator on the Polygon chain. I put a pair of platform’s native tokens (FISH) against ETH with 400%APY. Nice figures right? At the time I bought FISH for around 20$ and sometime later it crashed 20 times. So yes I lost around 500$ but some of my friends lost 20-30k.
Check if the platform went through audits, good ones. Openzeppelin, Consensys diligence, Trail of Bits, Hacken may give you the idea of how safe a platform is read information, follow specific telegram groups (there are some really good ones that give you the industry and investments insides. Not an ad but I am preparing a course (it’s free) of primitive videos with step-by-step instructions on how to install Metamask for example. And I give it using a super easy language, so that to onboard the audience with zero knowledge but those who really want to start their blockchain journey.
If you are not into risk, better sit in stable coins (there are many strategies where you can get around 30% APY for depositing stable coins. Your invested principal does not fluctuate with the market)
What do you think are some of the most important qualities someone should have to succeed in the crypto business?
I think a person has to be self-driven. Like to network as in blockchain it is one of the keys to success. And it would be helpful if one has any kind of financial and technical background but if you don’t - no worries.
To start an IR career from my experience you have to have courage and to work hard to succeed.
Maybe you will need a bit of luck also ;)
