Sasha Ivanova is a crypto enthusiast, computer engineer, writer, speaker, entrepreneur, business developer manager, mother and traveler. A Russian national, Ivanova left her native country in 2008 and set out to travel the world, landing shortly in Latin America. He has traveled and lived in different countries, including India, Peru, Argentina and Colombia. This year, after 7 years of residence in Argentina, Ivanova decided to move to Chile to boost the development of its startup.
The Russian enthusiast is known in the ecosystem for her participation in the NEM Blockchain project, in which she holds the position of Business developer. He also participates in conferences, talks and other outstanding events of the Blockchain world.
DiarioBitcoin had the opportunity to talk with Ivanova to learn more about their projects and their current work within the crypto and Blockchain ecosystem.
The road to the ecosystem
Since its arrival in the American subcontinent and its active participation in the Blockchain ecosystem within the region, Ivanova has commented on the growing market that Latin America represents for the adoption of this technology. His perspective on blockchain development in South America is optimistic and has even allowed breaking some myths for those who see the crypto reality of the region as “underdeveloped.”
In the technologist’s opinion, the Latino market has many opportunities to apply the technology and has proven to have successful use cases. Ivanova told the media about his arrival in the crypto ecosystem in Latin America:
I started as a writer on the Blockchain theme – I won a better text contest for an ICO startup. This was in September 2017, a time when there was a lot of demand for writers. To my colleagues the Blockchain issue seemed very complex and few wanted to get into it. I introduced myself deeply to the subject and fell completely in love with the philosophy of decentralization and cryptographic consensus algorithms.
Shortly after being awarded within the ecosystem, she began to know “the entire crypto and Blokchain community of Argentina”, and shortly thereafter, throughout Latin America. This recognition allowed the enthusiast to start organizing MeetUps and events to popularize and publicize the technology.
However, in order to be known among the Latino community, the enthusiast chose to change her Russian name to a pseudonym “more comfortable for Latin readers.” In the interview to the media, the expert said that in her passport her first name is Maria, followed by a Russian surname «quite difficult to pronounce«.
I had to invent something comfortable for my Latin readers. Sasha Ivanova is the most common name in Russia, something like Juan Pérez in Latin America.
The opening and connections within the crypto and Blockchain community in Argentina allowed him to get his current job within NEM. In 2018, Ivanova became an ambassador for NEM in Argentina and subsequently trained as a business developer & product manager, to be part of NEM Business development vertical.
Reconciling Life and Blockchain
The Russian-born entrepreneur, who, today, has become known as Sasha Ivanova among her Latin readers and followers, also spoke about the advantages and disadvantages of choosing the Blockchain world as a life path.
Among the positive aspects that have provided the adoption of this technology, Ivanova highlighted the possibility of receiving payments for work via the Internet from anywhere in the world, in seconds and with low commissions. “Of course cryptocurrencies solved my problem for a long time,” he said. In addition, he noted that the agility of payments also gave him more energy and focus to face his job responsibilities.
It is amazing how productivity grows when financial processes are streamlined. I think we need cash flow more than savings. I noticed that the more intensively I work and the faster I charge, the more energy I have. The brain recognizes activity as important and gives even more energy.
However, not everything on the road to the world of technology has been so simple. The Blockchain expert explained to the media that at times she has had conflicts to reconcile her personal life and her work. One of the main challenges was to coordinate the time differences between their labor relations, which made him have a day sometimes greater than 14 hours a day.
For example, for connections with Asia I woke up at 6 in the morning and for calls with Russia I stayed until 4 in the morning awake.
Challenge: motherhood and work
But the situation of “conflict between desires and need” of greater impact for the enthusiast was to reconcile his family time with his work. “The biggest pain is finding the balance of time between my children and work,” he said. Living in Argentina, Ivanova found that the country’s traditional infrastructure did not match its pace of life, explaining that in the southern country life is more geared towards women dedicating themselves to the home and family.
My daughter was only 3-4 hours in school, in this time frame it is difficult to reach goals or make a necessary number of meetings.
This was one of the motivations of the enthusiast behind her decision to move to Chile, “where the infrastructure is designed for people who work for many hours.” Currently, in addition to its participation in NEM, Ivanova is also developing the Sharp Shark startup, an intellectual property tokenization project for journalists and photographers. The project is about to start a startup acceleration program in Chile, to carry out its development and reach all of Latin America.
Before they gave me panic attacks and I felt that I would not be able to do everything. Sometimes I thought to slow down, rewrite two commercial articles per week and move to the countryside. But they really are temporary difficulties. Children grow and things get comfortable. I made my choice and I don’t regret anything.
Women in Blockchain
In the past, the crypto enthusiast has participated in different events, talks and fairs around cryptocurrencies and Blockchain. DiarioBitcoin took advantage of the interview space to ask the entrepreneur what her opinions were about the participation of women in the ecosystem, as well as the benefits that technology could offer to women in the labor field.
I see that the projects realized the advantages of having diversity. I note that in some cases, women charge more than men. I conceive that Blockchain helps develop strength of spirit in women.
As experiences of contributing to the promotion of gender diversity within the crypto ecosystem, Ivanova highlighted the work of the president of NEM Foundation, Alexandra Tinsman. This year, NEM partnered with CryptoChics, the blockchain women’s foundation run by Natalia Amelin, mother of Vitalik Buterin, and promoted a hackathon in Toronto. In addition, the Russian entrepreneur stressed that in NEM, the work team is made up of almost 50/50 by women and men.
From the vision of Ivanova, one of the great changes that Blockchain brings in the labor field is that particular skills begin to have more importance, than the profile of people. In this regard, the enthusiast also stressed that currently “sees no impediment to female participation” in the industry, but not many seem willing to support this change.
Upcoming events
This month Sasha Ivanova is participating as a speaker in different ecosystem events in Latin America. This Monday 26 will participate in the Unconference Finnovating in Santiago, and on August 29 will be speaker during the #SGDisruptive BlockChain event, sponsored by Google for Startups in the same city.
In September of this year, the expert will participate in the second edition of the Uruguay Blockchain Summit in Montevideo, along with other prominent Latin American and international ecosystems, including Gabriel Kurman (IOVLabs), Pablo Coirolo (Aeternity), among others.
Finally, at the end of September the enthusiast will travel to Argentina to participate in Buenos Aires Connection, an event that seeks to connect innovative initiatives and different projects in Asia and Latin America.
Also published on Medium.