From studying law to co-founding a blockchain startup

in #life7 years ago (edited)

Hi there everyone!

I am really excited to join the Steemit community and I want to share my story why I am here.

Since I was 7 if anyone asked me who I wanted to be, they expected me to say 'a princess', and I would respond 'I want to be an attorney, like my mummy'. And that made people laugh. But throughout the years this kind of stuck in my head. And as I was this kind of nerd, good at everything, I didn't know what I wanted to do. And I tried to find out.

I chose a high school that allowed me to choose my majors a year later than any other. Just to buy some time. In my second year, next to picking History and Maths as my majors, I attended an evening drawing class because I thought that I could become a fashion designer. And for that I needed to pass drawing and painting exams at an art university. The dream kind of vanished into thin air when I started painting. Let's say I am more inspired my Miro and Kandinsky than Rembrandt or da Vinci.

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Long story short I ended up in law school. I chose European Law at Maastricht University, which because of its broad curriculum, bought me some more ... time. During my studies, I tried to fall in love with law by getting involved in various activities but it didn't work out. Let's say it wasn't meant to be.

But thanks to being at Maastricht University I found out my true love. By choosing to write an extended thesis in the topic of Law & Pop Culture, I tried to answer a question whether when we reach singularity should AI have human rights. And I based my research on scifi films. So I actually ended up watching 20 scifi movies in the name of research, studying some philosophy and writing maybe 2 pages in the entire paper about law. Thanks prof. Smits for letting me do that. So that was part 1 of falling in love with technology.

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Part 2 was becoming a volunteer at Maastricht Entrepreneurship Week which revealed the startup world to me (and actually explained the word 'startup' to me). And most importantly, I fell in love with the people in the community. Being curious and open to talk about ideas. Happy to share their knowledge. I knew I found my tribe.

2 years later, after having flirted with the corporate world a bit and working at a digital health startup, I co-founded Trivial - a blockchain based startup. Why? Because I need this bit of madness in my life. Ok, maybe more than an average person. And I think blockchain can enable those beautiful and crazy ideas come into life. And what we are doing is enabling users to find those ideas which are being developed on the Ethereum blockchain. So we are an Ethereum blockchain explorer/interface/browser - still figuring out how to call our baby.
Oh, and if you want to check it out, there you go => www.trivial.co

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And this is where my heart and focus is at the moment. But I want to end up with another note. I believe I found my passion: shaping technologies that change the world. Because that excites me. However, I still don't know who I want to be or what I want to do in the future. And I came to terms with that. The exciting part about life is not knowing everything. And grasping the opportunities on the way.

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Welcome to Steemit @kellug :-D excited to see what your interesting skills bring to the platform !

You have been resteemed as part of #newbieresteemday. Congratulations on your content Newbie and as always, Keep Steemin’! I invite you to learn more about the initiative and Come Join Us!!! Newbie Resteem Initiative

join the Steemit Newbie Resteem Initiative Discord channel here: https://discord.gg/xcekaZU

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Welcome to steemit, kellug!

Wow!!! Im super impressed and excited to read and learn from you. Also, id love to know your conclusions about ai! ( not the full dissertation tho :P)

haha, well I concluded that they should have the rights ;)

Btw have you ever been on discord? Did i mention that you should checkout #teamgirlpowa ?? We need yoouuuuu lol

This is an interesting and inspiring post—thanks for sharing your journey! I love especially your insight that not knowing everything is what makes life exciting. I look forward to following your writing here on Steemit.

thanks :) It took me some time to realize it though!

Welcome! This is awesome. That's an amazing life path to go down. I could never quite figure out what I wanted to be either. I used to be down on myself about it; I would pick up projects and be super excited about them and then find something else that fascinated me six months later, and want to do that too. It seemed like everyone else had some kind of life path, or at least a desired life path. Then I saw a Ted Talk that made me feel much better about it, which I always tell my friends to watch when they feel similarly. It's not such a bad thing being good at a bunch of different things and having a lot of interests. :)

definitely! In the meantime I also explored various fields and got involved in several communities, started 2, became a tech journalist... And it all led me where I am. Where I am happy.

That's what I always used to say when people asked me what I wanted to be--"Happy."

Sounds like Steemit is a great place for you, welcome! I really enjoyed reading your post and am following you for more. Considering joining the Steemsugars discord channel - started for the purpose of getting more women involved in steemit and crypto - https://discord.gg/D2V8nq9

thanks a lot! need to explore discord as well!

Welcome to the platform where blockchain ideas flourish

Hey there! This high quality content has been featured in the Newbie Resteem Day #MinnowMondays post for this week. :)

Check it out here and Keep Steemin'!

The real fun is in the not knowing!

You are going to love it here on Steemit.

:)

Welcome.

xox

thanks a lot!

Ah I envy people like you who are brave and are also okay with being in the spotlight. I'm like still conflicted if I wanna be known for whatever I do or not. Lol.

I'd like to start a business soon too but the tax and everything involved... You have to take care of employee benefits and such. Uhm... Well. Maybe when I am older.

Welcome to Steemit and congratulations on your new business!

no need to envy! Maybe it's not for you to be in the spotlight. Maybe there is a different path. Or maybe you will finally find the spotlight you want to be in. I didnt want the law spotlight so I found another one ;)

Haha. Nice thought. Ok then. 👍