GM, web3! This is part of a mini series, featuring profiles of people who have left Web2 for Web3 and exploring why they made the leap. If you have ideas for people to feature (including self-nominations!) reach out to us @Sarah or @Vedika.

Today, we’re excited to profile Mene Mazarakis, investor at Chapter One. Enjoy!

First, some context: what did you used to do, and what are you doing now?

I was previously at Meta (fka Facebook) where I worked across a few teams. I started as an early PM on the crypto team, part of a small team building out FB’s digital wallet called Novi. Then I led civic products at Instagram working on helping people register to vote for the US2020 election.

I’m now an investor at Chapter One, an early-stage crypto fund focused on product & design and making web3 accessible to all.

What was your first exposure to crypto/web3?

My first exposure to crypto was in 2013 when I was at debate camp in high school. One of the kids at camp showed me a gold coin that had a string of numbers on the back of it and told me that this was a bitcoin and that it would be really valuable in the future. At the time I thought it was a token you’d use in an arcade…

What was your “aha” moment / why did you decide to go FT into web3?

My aha moment was working at Novi at Meta. In college I traveled to Kenya and did research on the impact of mobile and cross-border payments for remittances and thought it was an incredibly fascinating and impactful area to dive deeper into. A lot of the aspects of my research we were trying to build that at Novi while adding a blockchain-based digital currency and wallet that was interoperable with all of your Meta experiences. Playing around internally with our MVP and seeing that we could move money at the speed of a text message and the cost of a fraction of a percentage point made me feel we were on to something. 

What was the most surprising thing about entering web3 full-time?

I’m most surprised at the creativity in the space, especially for thinking from first principles to problems in a novel way.

Working in web3 full-time also reminds me that the only constant in our world is change. Learning to adapt and grow is one of the most important things we can learn.

Finally - what is your favorite part about being in web3?

It has to be the people. I'm reminded daily about the diversity and inclusion of communities in web3. Not all systems are perfect but the current (rapidly evolving) state of web3 feels like an improvement in people coming together to push the bounds of existing tech. 

I’ve also never had more fun on the internet. 

Thanks Mene for joining us, and let us know who you’d like to see next!