For many of us, the Metaverse remains uncharted territory. Much like the tumbleweed-laden Wild West of the mid-1800s, the metaverse is a land teeming with opportunity, with much of its potential still waiting to be fully discovered.
One creative seizing this untapped potential is Maya Bernaia, a cryptocurrency community builder, investor, and digital entrepreneur. She is not only setting out to be a metaverse pioneer, but a pioneer for women in the industry as a whole.
“My projects stimulate creativity and assure people that being different is a benefit,” says Bernaia.
The Neverending Story
Bernaia has made a name for herself within the Web 3.0 space by always keeping a keen eye on what is to come. “My story is never finished,” Bernaia adds, “the best parts will always be unveiled in the future.”
Born in Ukraine, Bernaia was never one for playing by the rules. The day after she graduated from high school in Ukraine, she left, seeking more considerable opportunities than those afforded her by her homeland. As a graduate of Harvard School of Design, Bernaia has possessed a creative approach to tech from the start.
With a strategic plan — as well as through a lot of patience and hard work — Bernaia set out to change lives with her innovative tech solutions in investing, gaming, and social media. Her business, IamFuture, introduces and develops digital strategies in the Web 3.0 environment, which is being touted by Harvard Business Review, among others, as the “future of the internet.” According to recent studies, however, women make up only 26% of Web 3.0 investors, placing Bernaia on the precipice of bursting through the technology industry’s glass ceiling.
From Crypto to Metaverse Metarollers
“I never stop experimenting and developing my ideas, even if they sound absurd,” says Bernaia. Delving into the cryptocurrency community, NFTs, and the metaverse when it is all still in its relative infancy could be considered “absurd” to some, but for Bernaia, it’s a natural progression.
“I am very proactive,” Bernaia explains. “I see enormous opportunities to improve people’s lives, especially their individual development and connection to creativity and income.”
According to Bernaia, IamFuture brings opportunities for development and creative connection through a host of projects in the metaverse space. The IamFuture cryptocurrency platform offers “strategic solutions, marketing consultancy, transparency and interoperability, and decentralization through connection.” In terms that make sense for the uninitiated, IamFuture hopes to help people seamlessly transfer their hobbies and passions into the Metaverse.
Coming down the pipeline is a Metaverse-based community for roller skating aficionados called Metarollers. This club boasts a unique set of 6,000 roller-skating-themed NFTs, created by Bernaia under the name Miss Volatility, which are the precursor to a Metarollers “Perform-2-Earn” game.
In Metarollers, players will skate around digitized areas of real-world locations, performing tricks and collecting artifacts that can be used to purchase and trade NFTs, all governed through the IamFuture ecosystem. Bernaia hopes that the new “Perform-2-Earn” game gives players a chance to discover mysterious new items, get creative with their use of the metaverse, and even meet some of their favorite celebrities.
More Innovations to Come
Bernaia has no intention of slowing down when bringing new ideas to the Web 3.0 space. In an industry that doesn’t often welcome female entrepreneurs with open arms, she remains highly motivated to win at all costs. “I don’t have the right to fail,” Bernaia explains. “It’s success or nothing.”
Indeed, it is this forward-thinking mindset that is fueling further innovations with IamFuture. For instance, Bernaia is working on other ideas such as ways to bring scents into the Metaverse, developing emotional portraits for users, as well as a comic series — and has no plans to stop churning out innovative ideas any time soon.
When Bernaia first entered the Web 3.0 space, she took the route many entrepreneurs take: she jumped off the proverbial cliff and figured out how to fly on the way down. “I closed my eyes, took a step, and jumped,” Bernaia says.
This entrepreneurial spirit has disrupted industries for centuries and continues to drive advancements in virtually every industry to this day, particularly in regards to technology. In Bernaia’s eyes, the Metaverse is a place where anyone can be who they want to be, do what they want, and change the world for the better.
“It’s incredible how wonderfully you can achieve what you want and what you like to be in today’s Web 3.0 environment,” she says. “Yesterday, we could not even dream about this, but now, it is bringing equal opportunities for everybody and total freedom.”
Written in partnership with Ascend
