Episode 48

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Published on:

8th Nov 2022

48. Living Very Online

Today's episode features Claire Graves, President of The Webby Awards. Each year, The Webbys highlight excellence in digital art, media, design, content, and more. Also each year, you hear your favorite major podcast hosts begging you to vote for their show to win a Webby Award. Claire and I talk about the history of The Webbys, internet trends, and why adding gaming and metaverse content was especially critical to the Webbys.

Transcript
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Welcome to the meadow woman podcast. We address the

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issues, opportunities and challenges facing women in the

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development of the metaverse the biggest revolution since the

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internet itself. Every week we bring you conversations with top

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female talent and business executives operating in the

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gaming and crypto industries. Here's your host Lindsey, the

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boss poss the metal woman podcast starts now. Hello, and

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welcome to the metal woman podcast part of the holodeck

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media Podcast Network. I'm your host, Lindsay DeVos. Class and

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from struggles to success. We're covering it all. To our

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returning listeners. Thank you so much for listening to me week

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after week. Thank you for all your love and support. I

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appreciate it. It means the world to me. And for all the new

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listeners out there. I hope you will enjoy the show. I hope

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you'll join me again. I am just so excited about today's guest

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because I live my life very online. Meaning I'm big into

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social media and podcasts and just the internet in general. I

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guess it's kind of a generational thing but also not

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really I just really love being alive. Today we have Claire

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Graves, who is president of the Webby Awards. Straightforward

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pedia the Webby Awards are awards for excellence on the

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internet presented annually by the International Academy of

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Digital Arts and Sciences judging body composed of over

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2000 industry experts and technology innovators. And if

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you're someone who also listen to podcasts, you'll occasionally

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hear the host say, don't forget to vote for me or check me out

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on the Webby Awards for being nominated. So, one day I'm

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hoping to get there. But Claire, thank you so much for having me

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on. coming on today. I'm just so excited to have you here. If you

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could introduce yourself give a little bit of background I'm

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sure everyone wants to know. Well, first of all, thank you

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very much for having me on Lindsay. This is I think gonna

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be really fun. As you say, I'm Claire, I'm president of the

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Webby Awards. We have been honoring outstanding achievement

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on the internet for the last 27 years this year coming up in May

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will be the 27th annual Webby Awards. And we honor everything

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from you know websites. We started with websites 27 years

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ago, and now we recognize everything the breadth of the

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internet. So videos social mobile apps Dapps. We introduced

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this year software, podcasts as you say, games. And now this

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year we introduce Metaverse immersive and virtual categories

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as well. Yes. And that's what I'm so excited to talk about.

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Because I would imagine, for the audience that listens to this,

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they may think, Oh, why are the Webby Awards here. But I think

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this speaks to why the web these were created and the kind of

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changing nature of content and entertainment. So I would love

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for you to dive a little more into the gaming category, which

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is a newer category. There are kind of different awards out

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there for games. So when you are judging for Gaming Awards, what

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kinds of things are you looking for? What kinds of games and

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people and all of that, like what are your kind of core

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categories that you're looking at? Well, you know, one of the

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things that I think is really super fascinating about our role

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as the Webby Awards is that we have this kind of really

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interesting view on how the internet is changing and how

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content changes. So actually, you say that us recognizing

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games is new, but it's not we actually have been recognizing

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games since the very beginning of the Webby Awards. So like you

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know, 27 years ago, one of the very first winners at the Webby

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Awards was I'm sure. Again, many of your listeners recognize it's

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called You Don't Know Jack.

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That was a winner in 1999. And we've continued to recognize

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games at my very first Webby Awards, which is in 2011, we had

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Angry Birds was our breakout of the year. But you are right. In

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essence, we have only started recognizing dedicated, dedicated

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categories for games, I think probably about five years ago.

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And our sweet spot for the games that we recognize is really like

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casual games, mobile games, so games like hauwa, it takes to

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one of my favorite games winners from last year as a game called

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Alba, Acadian fire and 12 minutes. So we're really

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recognizing you know, those games that you can really play

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it play on your phone. But we also recognize work from games

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companies across all of our categories as well. So in the

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advertising categories in the brand and entertainment

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categories as well, that makes a lot of sense. Just because I

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know I mentioned I live my life very online. And a huge part of

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that is mobile gaming. And a huge part of this podcast is to

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say that people who play mobile gaming are a huge part of the

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gaming industry. So I think that that flows very naturally into

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giving kind of awards for that when you're looking to add new

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categories because as you mentioned, it's it this is more

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geared towards the casual side, the mobile side of things, which

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I love, and frankly, there's not enough awards out there for

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mobile games.

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But when you're looking to add new categories like this, what

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kind

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To have audience, it's a little bit hard for me to say but like,

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what kind of audience? Are you out there looking for? Are you

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looking for people who are I don't know, I don't like what's

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your like average kind of user? Like, are your average the

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average experience or the average entertainment experience

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you're thinking about for a person? Like what is what is

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that?

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The web is, you know, we're really recognizing companies and

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people that are creating the best work. And I think, you

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know, back to your point before, you know, one of the important

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reasons for us deciding to go out there and recognize games in

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a dedicated way is because there's so much innovation going

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on within that space. And for us, it's really important to be

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making sure that we're really kind of like holding up and

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benchmarking and recognizing the people that are making the best

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work. So it is independent creators, we do have a ton of

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independent creators that enter and participate and win at the

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Webby Awards. But it's a lot of the games companies as well,

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that makes sense. And how has Gaming Evolved in the time that

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you've been at the web is, as a category of interest in what

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you're looking at. I mean, it's huge, right? The industry is EA,

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I don't even need to tell you, you and your audience, the

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industry is human, humongous. And I think there's so many ways

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that you can show how it's grown and how it's changed and how

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it's becoming, I think I would say one of the, you know, kind

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of like most one of the most important kind of cultural

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centers at the moment, as well as the gaming industry, you

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know, we get a lot of entries, we get 14,000 entries from last

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year, we got 14,000 entries from all over the world. And we can

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really see how content is being shifted where people are going

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and where advertisers are going to advertise to those people

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through what is entered into the Webby Awards. So over the past

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few years, we've seen a really huge increase in the work that

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is around games. So not only just games submissions into our

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dedicated categories, they keep doubling every year. But also

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we're work that's made for games companies, so like, you know,

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fortnight advertising or Minecraft advertising. But then

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alongside that, you know, we're getting that we're getting

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those, we're getting branded content pieces from those

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companies. But of course, we're also getting a lot of

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advertising within those games as well. So experiences that,

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you know, companies are creating within those spaces to reach new

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audiences and bigger audiences that are gathering on in LA on

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games as well. Yeah, there's been so much growth and it's

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it's cool. I mean, yeah, every year the audiences are growing.

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And this This leads right into kind of this discussion about

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the metaverse and this new category. I will absolutely link

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the announcement in the show notes. But that is something and

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like you said I was a little wrong about gaming being a new

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category. So please correct me again, if I'm wrong in the

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metaverse, but what are those new categories? And what made

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you want to add them to this year's awards? Yeah, so I think

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it kind of goes with us wanting to add those into the those

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categories into the awards. We launched Metaverse, a massive

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and virtual this year. And for us, it's always really important

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to be recognizing the new work that is being created as a

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pandemic hit and everything kind of went to these virtual

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experiences. And people started spending more time in Metaverse

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experiences as well. We opened up what we call virtual and

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remote categories. And we had those, you know, people

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participating in those categories for a couple of

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years. And then we kind of identified that actually, most

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of the work that was being entered into those categories

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was Metaverse work. It's what the industry is kind of talking

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about at the moment. It's really a kind of interesting place for

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brands to go in and experiment. So we set up the metaverse

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categories that people are entering at the moment work is

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really super interesting. But also at the same time, we're

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kind of going out there and getting some of the kind of

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biggest and most important people within the metaverse and

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work through space to be judges as well. And they help us kind

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of define what we are what we're recognizing, and define the

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criteria for judging as well. That makes a lot of sense,

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especially given the growth during the pandemic. Why do you

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think it's important to start thinking more about the

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metaverse? I think this can probably be a bit of an obvious

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question, but it's just it. This is a bit early on in terms of

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the industry and the web is is something that kind of follows

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industry trends. Obviously like you said during the pandemic,

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there's a explosion in credit these experiences and what's

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going on in the metaverse, but where do you kind of think we

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are with that and why do you think that we should be thinking

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about it, you know, for awards, for example. It's kind of a big

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step close. So I think I totally agree with you. I think we're

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kind of taking our first steps into what the metaverse is and

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and what is good

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within that space, and for us, it's just really important to be

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focused on what innovation is happening and what new work is

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being created. And one of the really hard things to do when

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something is so new is to be able to benchmark, what's

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actually good in that space. What's a what's a good

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experience for the people that are in those spaces? What's

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really smart, what is what's a really clever execution, maybe

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what's a bit gimmicky and what doesn't make sense. And so we

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think it's important to benchmark that work so that

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people can see what's good. And that's really why we've done it,

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that's definitely a new way of thinking about it, especially in

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a world of user generated content. And that makes a lot of

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sense. It's hard to establish that baseline,

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when, unlike, you know, traditional industries where

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people become experts in something experts in

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advertising, our experts in brand activations are experts in

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even hosting a podcast. Now anyone can do it, that totally

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makes sense. And I want to tie this into kind of this broader

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question of what you have seen, in your time at the web use in

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terms of changes in, you know, just, and again, some of this is

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really obvious, but I'm interested in your perspective,

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changes in how we think about entertainment, what we how we

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spend our time what we do, how we engage with the internet,

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even, like what have been some of the things maybe that have

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surprised you and things that you know, five years ago, you'll

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this will never happen and then it happened or just anything

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unexpected. That's kind of come up as you've been the one

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studying the internet here. I mean, some of the stuff maybe it

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hasn't, maybe it's never gonna happen. We'll see. So I joined

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the company in 2011. And when I joined the company, when I

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joined the Webby Awards, we didn't on social social wasn't

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really even it was like at the was at the beginning of brands

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getting on Twitter and brands getting on Facebook. And so that

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in 2012, we opened up, we opened categories like we're doing now

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for Metaverse for social. And I think, you know, when when I get

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asked that question, that is the space that I think has kind of

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changed the most. And you know, it's not always for the good.

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It's not for the better of the internet, when I joined, you

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know, when I joined this company, Twitter, Twitter was

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kind of like a place that most people were just using for like

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updating people about, you know, going to get coffee, or bagels

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or breakfast. It was so long. I when I look back now, I'm like,

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Why? Why did I need to put that out there?

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I would say today, it's probably the most talked about thing that

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is happening in the world at the moment. And you know, people are

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really thinking about it as an extra existential thing. Like,

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what, what what is going to happen? And how is it going to

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be made a good place? Or is it going to be made an even worse

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place for people to be at the algorithms weren't the same when

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when I first started, and when we first opened up the social

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media categories, they weren't really based on, you know, in so

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much on engagement, and you know, rage engagement as well.

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And so I think that that's really one of the things that we

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have really, you know, watched and seen change. But at the same

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time, social is also really used for good. You know, a couple of

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years ago, we honored Greta tunberg at the Webby Awards, and

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that movement that would not have gone anywhere, if it wasn't

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for social media. And you know, she really changed the

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conversation about the climate crisis and, and enabled, you

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know, young people to go out there and tell everybody what

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they think. And so I think, you know, it's kind of it is very

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powerful place, but it's a place for us to be really conscious of

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what's going on on social media as well. Definitely. And I want

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to tie that into one more thing that was kind of in this again,

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this announcement that I will link in the show notes about the

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metaverse, and that is the responsible tech category. Can

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you tell me about the inception of that, and kind of what the I

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mean, again, sort of obvious, but what the goal of putting

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that out there and what impact you think it will have, and how

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you hope that things like the web is can kind of help shape

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responsible tech, as we talked about Twitter. So responsible

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technology. Now it's kind of this huge term that not a lot of

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people really understand in a way. And I think that one of the

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reasons that we have launched the responsible tech categories

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is to address that. So Responsible Technology for us is

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about creating technology for the good of the world. And that

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could be across lots of different areas, accessibility

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diversity algorithms and AI, and we launched them this year.

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Actually, we have been thinking about it for a long time and

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thinking about how to do that in the right way.

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And we were lucky in that we were encouraged to do it by some

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partners that we have. They're called Media Networks. And they

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are a social good fund. And so together, we worked on the kind

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of creating the categories to honor responsible technology

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work across information for good accessibility, a ton of

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categories, a few categories. We also launched it with an in

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depth report looking at the state of Responsible Technology

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for our industry. And with a survey that we did to 200 people

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in our industry as well. And our industry is, you know, the

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people that are part of the Webby Awards community. So that

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is people that work at media companies, and startups and

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advertising agencies and technology companies and brands.

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So the people that are really creating the internet, creating

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the best work on the internet, their report, I think, is a

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really great document for the industry to understand the

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complications within the group creating ecosystems for

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Responsible Technology. But also, it just speaks in really

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human terms. And so it's a really easy way to understand

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what were the issues and how to address the issues and how to

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also make change yourself. So we're so proud of it was really,

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really, it's where the idea of of doing this is not only just

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to educate and help people understand Responsible

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Technology and why it is so important. But the aim is to be

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encouraging people to create new work within this space as well.

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Well, I'm so glad that we're having this discussion, because

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I again, like I said, I've heard all about the webinars because I

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know so many people who get nominated, and you win, which is

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really fun and cool. But I haven't thought about the kind

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of real impact behind consistently picking out the

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good parts of the industry and of any industry really, and of

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noting that and of how that can be a real driver for change. So

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I really appreciate all your perspective on that. It's just

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not again, not a viewpoint that I have ever really needed to

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think about or have thought about. So this has been really

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great to learn about. Do you see, as the web has evolved? Do

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you see kind of more work or categories, especially because

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tech is like kind of such a huge problem in society

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geared towards highlighting these kinds of solutions? Like

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do you see that kind of data as a as a path forward for

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expansion, like starting with responsible tech, maybe growing

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out of categories there, I'm sure there's already plenty of

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work and things that you've highlighted that do kind of pick

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out the good, but I'm wondering like how you kind of balance the

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fun parts of it would be like we can actually make a real impact

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parts of it. And if one has outweighed the other previously,

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or if you're kind of both working with those in

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conjunction all the time, if that makes sense. Your question

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is a great question. Because it is something that we have we

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really noticed for the Webby Awards over the last six or

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seven years, we noticed that more and more work was social

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impact work. And so we started to create more categories for

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that for that work. So you know, we have this Sustainability and

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Environment category and the diversity, equity and inclusion

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category and our public service and activism categories, which

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we've had forever, always some of the most competitive. So with

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that insight, you know, that workers growing with also the

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understanding and insight that social impact is becoming more

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important to people more important than it ever has been

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before people are starting to think about, you know, social

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movements that they think are important, but they're also you

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know, really kind of wearing it on their sleeves as well, it so

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the what that what they buy at the supermarket is based on how

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ethical and how good they think that company is, what they watch

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on Netflix, or Hulu is often about, you know, how learning

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about social impact, who they follow on social media is often

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related to social impact. We also, you know, really kind of

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like looked at the landscape and looked at companies and the fact

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that companies have noticed that when they have a purpose and a

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mission, they retain talent much more, they're actually much more

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innovative. And so we created the Webby Awards created a new

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award solely for social impact work. It's called the anthem

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awards. We launched it last year, and it recognizes work

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across seven different causes for social impact. So health

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education and the arts, humanitarian action services,

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Sustainability and Environment and responsible technology as

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well. You know, it's amazing, it's the most amazing thing

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being able to recognize social impact work and people that are

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making work in nonprofits and brands that are really making an

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impact. It's the most incredible thing and we thought that it was

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going to be successful, but we really had no idea that it how

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the industry would respond.

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And and it's been an incredible ride. So far, we're in year two

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now. And it's pretty amazing. You definitely found that. And

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then we'll also link that in the show notes that people can check

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it out and nominate and vote for people who are in that category.

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That's, that's really cool to hear. And obviously, we've gone

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through so much social change in transition. And I think it does

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speak to the fact that the web is is is listening, which is

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really good, because that your right people are paying more and

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more attention to that lately. And again, providing that

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benchmark and that baseline can be really valuable, a powerful

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tool to make sure that that continues in a good direction. I

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want to change it up a little bit, because we've been talking

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about the weapons so much, we haven't talked about you quite

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yet. So tell me about your work and how you got to where you are

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your role, how you've been kind of able to move up in your time

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at the movies and and continue to stay motivated and continue

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to stay creative. Think it's very easy to get into a slump

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after 10 years at a company but you have just remained creative

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and open and exploring new ideas. So tell me about your

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journey a little bit. Okay. Well, you can tell from my

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accent that I'm Australian, hopefully, yeah, I had an

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English.

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I grew up in Australia, but I actually I was born in the UK.

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And then I went back to the UK for University. I went to

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university up in Edinburgh in Scotland. And then after school,

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I moved down to the to London to England, and I started working

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in the advertising industry. A year or so I landed at and

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digital agency called poke, which was an incredible place to

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work it was Do you know one of the most creative digital only

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firms in the UK at the time, it was just like a magical magical

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place. It was 60 people but everybody was like best friends

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and just wanted to create the best work. So there I was a

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project manager at the time, which was a digital agency back

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then, was somebody who both managed the client and manage

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the production of the work. And I was working across like big

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consumer brands. So the Guardian, which you know, is the

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newspaper, one of the newspapers out there, American Express Red

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Top Shop, or a little bit of work for Orange, which is a

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telecommunications company out there. Barnardos, which is a

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children's chat, charity and Skype, which was a huge client

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for us back then we did skype.com, which was a really,

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really, really big website. Yeah, just you know, barely

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anyone gets off there too big.

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You know, I moved to London, it was a bit it was like the place

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to be. And then I realized that maybe the place to be was New

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York City. So I wanted to move to New York, I moved to New

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York, I interviewed at so many places I interviewed all over

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the city. And I was talking mostly to like advertising

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agencies and some production companies, I just couldn't

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really like find the opportunity that I really wanted to get

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into. Or the one that I was excited about, I suppose I

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should say. And then I had known the founders of the web GIS for

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a long time, a few years, because they came to London

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often and we would hang out when they were in London. And they

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said, why don't you come and work here. And actually, it was

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the most amazing gift and opportunity to me because the

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internet people they're my people. And I really love the

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internet. I love like talking about the internet. I love

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internet banter. This job I get to like be with the internet

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people, you know, I get to like spend time with the best people

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in the industry. And then look at how it is changing and how

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content is being new contents being made and contents being

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shaped and formed. And I find that really fascinating. And

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it's also like an incredible job because I don't know of another

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one like this where you just celebrate for a whole year. We

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just celebrate love that. You did say you said the magic words

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about being within people. I actually joked the other day, I

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still think about if my head wasn't so full of tweets that I

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could constantly reference, I might have an original thought.

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They're all just sitting in there waiting to be used.

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So totally get it. Yeah, same. Can you talk to me a little bit

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about how you've been able to since you started at the web

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GIS, how you've been able to move up? And what were the ways

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that you continue to be able to grow like what did you do to

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keep yourself kind of moving forward? Well, you know, we're,

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we're lucky at this company because it's not a huge company,

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but it hasn't, we don't have a lot of people here and so

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everybody kind of gets to wear lots of different hats at the

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one time. And so you can find areas that are interesting to

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you and you can you know you can eat a lot

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Together, we can get excited about ideas and then make those

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ideas happen. So, you know, as I said, I started as a producer,

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and maybe I didn't say that I started as a producer, then, you

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know, I've been here for 12 years. So I've kind of grown as

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the company's grown. And we've really grown the Webby Awards

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since I started as well. And which means that we're able to,

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you know, hire new roles and create new roles and be able to

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go out there and grow the company in interesting ways as

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well and grow that grow what we recognize and grow, who we

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recognize in interesting ways as well, as you have moved up. Do

Unknown:

you miss the production side? All I would imagine that you

Unknown:

spend kind of more time on like people management than maybe

Unknown:

actual kind of production work? What has that changed been like

Unknown:

for you? So production work, I mean, I think that there's parts

Unknown:

of production that any manager still does in a way, because

Unknown:

production is all about like working to help get people to

Unknown:

create the things that you need to create and do the things that

Unknown:

you create to do. So it's a little bit like that being a

Unknown:

manager as well, because you're still working with people to

Unknown:

mentor them and get them to think about, you know, their

Unknown:

work in new ways, as well, as well and create, you know,

Unknown:

they're, they're managing people that are managing people to get

Unknown:

the work done. But I see what you're saying that the thing is,

Unknown:

is that, for me, the biggest creative project that we have is

Unknown:

the Webby Awards. And it says, you know, it's a 90 minute show.

Unknown:

And together as a team, we create that. So we decide who

Unknown:

out of the winners, we want to go on stage. And we work with

Unknown:

our academy on the special achievements and making sure

Unknown:

that the special achievements are the big things that have

Unknown:

happened that year and credible for the you know, when you're

Unknown:

thinking about the history of the internet, and that year, I

Unknown:

still got a lot of energy and a lot of excitement of producing a

Unknown:

really big award show. It is big, and it's only getting

Unknown:

bigger.

Unknown:

I feel like every year I hear more and more about the web is

Unknown:

how has your kind of mental load changed as you've moved up? I

Unknown:

think we talk a lot about work life balance. And honestly, I'm

Unknown:

like a little tired talking about it. But I'm also curious

Unknown:

as to how people who wind up in positions as yourself or your

Unknown:

President, you know, you're in charge of this thing, how you're

Unknown:

able to kind of keep everything running smoothly, as well as

Unknown:

have a life.

Unknown:

So what are some of the things in ways that you're able to kind

Unknown:

of balance everything or tools you use? I'm hoping that those

Unknown:

might be useful to someone out there? Well, you know, the thing

Unknown:

is, is that you have for me, I have, you know, progressed in my

Unknown:

career at the same time as it feels like at the same time as

Unknown:

having a family as well. So I have two children, Frankie and

Unknown:

ray, ray is one and Frankie is four. And so it's you kind of

Unknown:

when you have children, you kind of have an enforced work life

Unknown:

balance, because you can't not go home to look after the

Unknown:

children. And on the weekends. You have to look after the

Unknown:

children.

Unknown:

They don't just raise themselves I've been

Unknown:

upstairs.

Unknown:

So you have to check you have to check off we have a lot of rules

Unknown:

here, I guess I guess they're not really rules, they're maybe

Unknown:

unwritten rules in that, you know, we don't like contact each

Unknown:

other off of work hours, that we don't really slack before nine

Unknown:

or 10am in the morning, and we don't really slack after six or

Unknown:

seven at night. And that is on the weekends, there is no

Unknown:

communication unless it's like you know, the weekend before the

Unknown:

Webby Awards. And we've got to like deal with stuff. And I

Unknown:

think that that's really important. Another couple of

Unknown:

things that we've done here, which I think are kind of

Unknown:

amazing, are on Fridays, we have no meetings at all. And that's

Unknown:

kind of fantastic. Because it means that you know that you

Unknown:

have a full day to like put your head down and really like think

Unknown:

about strategy and think about like just getting a thing done.

Unknown:

And you also know that the rest of your team is kind of doing

Unknown:

that as well and not having to you know, sit in meetings and

Unknown:

sit, sit on Zoom. And that means that you can also like go and

Unknown:

get lunch with someone or get coffee with someone and you know

Unknown:

that for me they're always particularly when I'm meeting

Unknown:

with people in the industry. There are always some of the

Unknown:

times that I get my good ideas or some of my best ideas is when

Unknown:

I'm like out and about and meeting with people and

Unknown:

understanding what other people are thinking about as well. The

Unknown:

other thing I will say is that um, this is maybe for you I'm

Unknown:

not sure Lindsay if this is for you, but I do

Unknown:

A lot of yoga, I love that.

Unknown:

Um, I'm glad I am not a yogi. But I think that the greater

Unknown:

point is that it's important to have something that's for

Unknown:

yourself outside of work hours. Yeah, and for me yoga is and

Unknown:

whatever a lot of people, you know that he's running that, you

Unknown:

know, classes or whatever, but it's one moment of just like tea

Unknown:

exactly time for myself on my mat. I'm actually kind of

Unknown:

sometimes the most creative when I'm on my mat, just like in the

Unknown:

flow. And it's also really good to stretch. Yes, I am not

Unknown:

necessarily a yogi, but I am a big stretch every night for

Unknown:

sure, like 2030 minutes of just stretching, and it feels

Unknown:

fantastic. So highly recommend that. I do. I was laughing

Unknown:

actually, to myself this morning, though, when I thought

Unknown:

about all of the kind of wellness stuff that I always

Unknown:

think I'm gonna do. I'm like, you know, I could just stop

Unknown:

lying to myself about journaling every night and waking up at 8am

Unknown:

Every day doing morning runs, and all this stuff. And like,

Unknown:

you know, having like one to two things that I actually do would

Unknown:

be more beneficial than starting and stopping 1000 things that

Unknown:

I'm not going to do.

Unknown:

That is like the point, right? Like, I think I've last couple

Unknown:

of years, I've just like, stopped beating myself up, like

Unknown:

I've stopped, I've stopped, like putting expectations as high as

Unknown:

possible for myself when I don't really expect that of anybody

Unknown:

else. And like you you shouldn't be, you shouldn't be mad at

Unknown:

yourself for not, you know, the I don't know, meditating every

Unknown:

morning, whatever goal you've set out, which is unrealistic

Unknown:

anyway. And just like to enjoy it when you do get to do it. I

Unknown:

like that point of don't put up the same. Don't put up higher

Unknown:

expectations for yourself than you would have anyone else. I

Unknown:

think it's easy to get lost in trying to implement all these

Unknown:

things. I read a ton. I read a ton books, news, all kinds of

Unknown:

stuff and so much wellness stuff. And I was like, oh, like

Unknown:

the research says I should be doing it. And it's like, but the

Unknown:

research also says that nobody does this. And there's a reason

Unknown:

why. And it's because people can't find the time.

Unknown:

So I like that idea of keeping her thinking about if if you

Unknown:

were kind of a friend like what would you be telling them about

Unknown:

the expectations they have set for themselves? I think that's

Unknown:

very wise and magnesium at nighttime

Unknown:

coffee to someone that wakes up in the middle of the night and

Unknown:

can't get back to sleep. Take it keeps you if you wake up, it

Unknown:

puts you back to sleep that I actually do not have a problem

Unknown:

sleeping but several people of America do. So that will be

Unknown:

helpful advice. Undoubtedly. Well, that that is Amenia part

Unknown:

of what I love doing on the show is bringing people on for advice

Unknown:

just like that of, of how to just be happier. I think there's

Unknown:

there's a lot of competing opinions out there. But it's

Unknown:

nice when someone can just share what makes them happy and why.

Unknown:

And what works, because it might work for someone else. I want to

Unknown:

kind of end with a discussion on podcasts because you and I

Unknown:

briefly bonded over both being huge podcasting as a no joke. I

Unknown:

think I'm subscribed to about 20 Like for daily ones and series

Unknown:

and all kinds of stuff like I just I have favorite hosts and I

Unknown:

mean just a lot. So first, what are some of the ones you love

Unknown:

listening to? Obviously, I'm sure ones that have won Webby

Unknown:

Awards, but either daily ones or series that you think like oh,

Unknown:

everyone should listen to this. It's amazing. Well, so I have

Unknown:

like a I listened a lot. Yeah, so I probably listen to I don't

Unknown:

know maybe the ones that you listen to the on the on the

Unknown:

daily but I start with the daily. Yeah. And up first. Those

Unknown:

are news, obviously. And then Axios is my after that. And then

Unknown:

I end with the Washington Post there daily. That's Post reports

Unknown:

which is great and also webby winner. I really recommend that

Unknown:

that's an afternoon that's on your commute home podcast. Mm

Unknown:

hmm. Are there any? Yeah, get tell me about series or like

Unknown:

theories. Have you? Have you listened to the new Anderson

Unknown:

Cooper podcasts on grief? No, I didn't know if you have one.

Unknown:

It's fantastic. It's called all there is. Ooh, what's it about?

Unknown:

So you know, his mom just passed away. Gloria Vanderbilt passed

Unknown:

away last year. And he's kind of it's really I think he just

Unknown:

started it as part of his process in grieving and he's

Unknown:

kind of in the middle of clearing out her things and

Unknown:

she's kept a lot. He kept a lot of stuff. But he also you know,

Unknown:

he kind of has gone through grief a few times in his life

Unknown:

and it really weighs on him. His dad passed away when he was a

Unknown:

kid and then his brother committed suicide as well. And

Unknown:

so he's still like grieving those and then he's also

Unknown:

grieving his mom because then that's his whole family that has

Unknown:

passed away. So he's out talking to people about

Unknown:

The grief process. And it's just amazing. It's amazing to you

Unknown:

know, because in this culture and you know, Australian culture

Unknown:

investment in British culture, we don't really talk about grief

Unknown:

a lot. We don't talk about death a lot. And so I am just finding

Unknown:

it really moving, because he's been really open about it. And

Unknown:

he's talking to people that are really open about it as well.

Unknown:

And it's yeah, it's amazing. I really recommend it. Well, that

Unknown:

sounds like difficult but useful. I don't know if this is

Unknown:

true for you. But I have found myself more often now laying on

Unknown:

the couch or sitting on the couch, and listening to podcasts

Unknown:

over watching television. And I just think to myself, if the

Unknown:

folks during the radio time learned that TV existed, and

Unknown:

that we are now going back, I am now going back to the radio, I

Unknown:

think they would be judgmental.

Unknown:

Are you that way to I don't know if I just sit and listen, I

Unknown:

definitely am listening all of the time. I find if there is not

Unknown:

like a conversation going on with somebody. I'm listening. So

Unknown:

I listen from from when I wake up in the morning until when I

Unknown:

get in back into the house at night. And also I teach so I

Unknown:

don't stop listening. That way as I walk into the house, no one

Unknown:

air pods just make it so easy to just pop on and pop one out.

Unknown:

Yes, I am totally with you on that. It's like when I take a

Unknown:

break. I actually forgot about music for probably a solid year.

Unknown:

Like I used to listen to a lot of music and I just totally

Unknown:

forgot it existed interspersing now with more music but but then

Unknown:

I was like, Oh, I don't listen to enough music. So I said

Unknown:

listen to music podcast. Oh, there you go smart.

Unknown:

Work around I like it.

Unknown:

Um, well, before we get into our last little segment, I am going

Unknown:

to just summarize what we talked about. We started with a

Unknown:

discussion on the Libby's and how, from 27 years ago, they're

Unknown:

giving out awards for websites and for brilliant design online.

Unknown:

You could have an interesting take on history of the internet.

Unknown:

And the goal is to recognize innovation, and benchmark the

Unknown:

people who are making the best work from independent creators

Unknown:

to companies in hopes that we can kind of set some standards

Unknown:

encourage new work encouraged inspiration to make the internet

Unknown:

a more welcoming place. You opened up virtual and remote

Unknown:

categories during the pandemic and kind of wound up putting

Unknown:

them into this new Metaverse category because a lot of that

Unknown:

fell under Metaverse work. And the metaverse category was set

Unknown:

up to actually start thinking about what's good in the space,

Unknown:

as is the ethos of the web is what's smart, what's fun, what's

Unknown:

a clever execution of a new technology? How can companies

Unknown:

build on that? How do people experience it? That all kind of

Unknown:

rolls into the metaverse category, we talked about the

Unknown:

things that you've seen change and how the growth in social

Unknown:

media has been the biggest and most powerful kind of change

Unknown:

that you've seen during your time with movies. And we've all

Unknown:

we all been a part of that. So I get it, how there's been equal

Unknown:

parts good and bad, highlight that story of credit tuned work

Unknown:

as the good. And I'm glad that you highlighted the good because

Unknown:

I think we all know that. We talked about the Responsible

Unknown:

Technology category and how helping people to educate and

Unknown:

understand what Responsible Technology is will hopefully

Unknown:

push more people to be inspired and creative. Social impact has

Unknown:

been a core tenant for the web GIS, and it's becoming more

Unknown:

important than it's ever been. Which means there's more

Unknown:

interest in expanding these categories. And eventually, the

Unknown:

anthem awards were then created to highlight all kinds of social

Unknown:

impact work. We talked about your kind of journey in your

Unknown:

career and how managing and producing have a lot of similar

Unknown:

aspects. You're constantly thinking about how to get the

Unknown:

best out of people how to get the best production out there

Unknown:

and make everything kind of run smoothly. And when it comes to

Unknown:

work life balance, creating the culture is one of the most

Unknown:

important things. So not contact people outside of work hours, no

Unknown:

meetings on Fridays, to allow people to have strategy,

Unknown:

reflection, time, even personal time for themselves just to

Unknown:

recharge and refresh for the next week. And then also the

Unknown:

third part, which is adding the outlet outside of work, whatever

Unknown:

it may be, for you it is it's yoga for sure. But just

Unknown:

implementing something that you can go to that makes you feel

Unknown:

good. It kind of helps you get through the week, one of the

Unknown:

points that I loved that we talked about was setting

Unknown:

expectations for yourself and to not put high expectations on

Unknown:

when you wouldn't in fact do that to other people. So making

Unknown:

sure that your expectations are reasonable and thinking about

Unknown:

hey, would I expect this much out of another person? And am I

Unknown:

calibrating properly to actually meet what I'm doing, which I

Unknown:

will absolutely work on in future because I calibrate

Unknown:

improperly all the time. And then we ended with one of my

Unknown:

favorite discussions which is on podcasts are both huge

Unknown:

listeners. Both of the people out there who are listening to

Unknown:

this are also huge listeners because I would love everyone to

Unknown:

come back week after week. But some of the recommended ones

Unknown:

from you on the daily side were

Unknown:

Are the New York Times is the daily Axio says daily news

Unknown:

podcast and the Washington Post daily news podcast. And when it

Unknown:

comes to series that you've been loving lately, Anderson Cooper's

Unknown:

on grief and reflections after his mother passed is one that

Unknown:

you recommend for everyone. So what I like to end on in every

Unknown:

episode is called a moment of reflection. And it's just a

Unknown:

chance for you to kind of look back on your career, think about

Unknown:

where you started, where you ended up now. And what I like to

Unknown:

ask people is what is one thing you would like to tell your

Unknown:

younger self, about getting into this kind of gaming

Unknown:

entertainment industry? And being successful? I think that

Unknown:

isn't, you know, when I get this question, the thing that I just

Unknown:

think for my younger self, because when I was younger, I

Unknown:

was like, kind of, I feel like reflecting on it, I was kind of

Unknown:

stressed out, like trying to, like make it work and trying to

Unknown:

you know, always like trying to do like an incredible job like

Unknown:

100% Perfect job all of the time. And I would just say to

Unknown:

past Claire, like, just stop and have fun. Like you're here

Unknown:

everybody is there to do the best work and make the best

Unknown:

thing and really enjoy it at the same time. So just keep having

Unknown:

fun and like, it's amazing. Enjoy it. You have such an

Unknown:

incredibly light energy to you that I hope that everyone can

Unknown:

take that advice to heart and go have fun. Because this has been

Unknown:

so fun for me. I think that we are kindred online spirits for

Unknown:

sure.

Unknown:

That is my point unless you're having fun right? Like if you're

Unknown:

not having a good time you spend so many hours at work. Yeah.

Unknown:

bring you joy every day. Very true. Thank you so much for

Unknown:

being here. Where can people find you follow you learn about

Unknown:

your work learn about the why these what things do you want to

Unknown:

plug plug away? For me, I'm at sai graves across everything you

Unknown:

can always find me at at Claire graves and then the web is you

Unknown:

can always find that the Webby Awards make sense. For everyone

Unknown:

out there. Please be sure to leave the five star ratings and

Unknown:

reviews. Check out other holodeck media podcasts

Unknown:

including metal business and business at esports. I'm on

Unknown:

Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn and Lindsey pass. You can catch

Unknown:

me Wednesday afternoons on the business of esports live after

Unknown:

show you can catch this podcast and your feed every Tuesday.

Unknown:

We'll see you next week. Thanks for joining us here on meta

Unknown:

woman. Make sure to subscribe to this podcast everywhere you get

Unknown:

your podcasts leave a five star review and tell your friends

Unknown:

family and colleagues all about us. Also, make sure to follow

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meta TV on all socials to get more of the best Metaverse

Unknown:

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About the Podcast

Seeking Alpha
Your sherpas in the wild worlds of crypto and dating
Join two women in their journeys through their careers, dating, and navigating emerging technology. We're here to learn together, be open about our lives (including the struggles and successes), have fun, and give a platform to some of the most interesting voices around the industry.
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