Parker Jay-Pachirat is a Web3 investor, community champion, and decentralization advocate.
She currently holds two positions at FinTech Collective, leading community management and serving on the investing team. Previous investments include some of the earliest Ethereum DeFi projects as well as the Web3 wallets Rainbow and Dharma.
She is also a founding member of Boys Club, one of several rapidly growing DAOs dedicated to bringing inclusivity to Web3.
Boys Club launched in November 2021, at the peak of cryptocurrency’s biggest bull run, and has seen sustained growth despite a months-long 70% drop in the cryptocurrency market.
Jay-Pachirat, as one of the DAO’s core members, has made a significant contribution to the project’s early success.
Based on her experience in Web3, she recently spoke on two panels at Consensus 2022 about the decentralized future and community building.
Creating Web3 Communities with a Boys Club Pioneer
She talked extensively about her experiences at FinTech Collective and Boys Club, how Web3 can better serve underrepresented communities, and why she can’t wait for zero-knowledge proofs to explode on Layer 2.
Can you talk about how you got into cryptocurrency?
Parker Jay-Pachirat: I’ve always been fascinated by power structures. I grew up in an anti-tech household; neither my family nor my peer group were interested in finance or entrepreneurship.
I was studying critical theory and interrogating power structures when I began reading about technology, particularly AI. I saw parallels between my studies and cutting-edge technology. I threw myself into it as soon as I realized that.
I began as a product manager at a social media startup, then moved on to an early-stage VC, and finally to Fintech Today. I eventually became Chief of Staff and expanded the crypto media arm.
I began working on Boys Club around that time. I saw a post about bringing together women who were interested in cryptocurrency for a dinner.
‘This is awesome, I get to meet more women in crypto in New York City,’ I thought. I talked to Tina and Natasha, the co-founders, about what they were trying to build, and the first dinner was illuminating. I met women from all walks of life. It was a lightbulb moment for me when I showed them my NFTs in my Rainbow wallet. ‘Wow, there’s a lot of demand in this space,’ I thought.
To read our blog on “With the launch of the Lens Protocol, Aave makes a Web3 social bet,” click here
