An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis
Don’t think, act. There has never been a better time for women to be part of the blockchain and crypto industry. The industry is realizing the impact of diversity, both on the community at large and on companies’ bottom line. There are now huge opportunities to solve interesting social and inefficiency problems at a global scale. This opportunity, combined with the momentum to build a diverse workforce, makes it a truly exciting time to be part of the industry.
I had the pleasure of interviewing Tina Chu, VP of Marketing and Growth at Cabital, a leading digital assets wealth management platform. Tina Chu is an award-winning marketing and growth leader with a customer-first mindset backed by leadership experience in top tech companies including Tencent, Expedia and Nokia, and Klook. She has led global teams to drive user growth for major products at both Tencent JOOX (SEA #1 Music Streaming app) and Klook App (Asia’s largest online travel agency). She won two times best mobile marketing award by Marketing Magazine while at Expedia.
Tina’s work spans across Asia Pacific and European regions. She is well-known as an expert on empowering women through digital content marketing campaigns. She has co-chaired the Wharton Women in Hong Kong Organization since its inception, and served on the committee for Wharton International Business Conference in Hong Kong. Tina holds an MBA from University of Pennsylvania’s prestigious Wharton School of Business School.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Can you share with us the story of how you decided to pursue this career path? What lessons can others learn from your story?
When I decided to choose my career path, I had four things that I was seeking.
1) Optimise growth and learning opportunities for myself — I wanted to grow and learn more than ever.
2) I cared more about having the right team and being in a healthy culture over the name of the company or my title.
3) The impact of industry impact, how I could shape a better world.
4) Whether it could fit my personal life commitment.
A tip I have for young people is to not turn down any recruitment calls just because you didn’t know much about the industry.
There is a funny story behind how I joined Cabital.
Cabital’s Co-Founder & CEO, Raymond Hsu, who is a long-time acquaintance of mine, called me one day to share an opportunity with me.
I was pretty much ready to turn it down because I didn’t understand what he was talking about when he started using a lot of crypto jargon like dex, cedi, Stablecoins, APY, and fiat.
He told me how much he needed someone new on board who was knowledgeable about crypto currency technology. I found myself more interested when talking about how Cabital’s product can help those new to crypto find their footing.
I didn’t think too much and accepted the job offer and decided to give it a chance, something new, a new chapter in my life. That’s the beginning of my crypto journey — my self-perceived weakness is part of the main reason on how I got hired.
I would also guess he would not be so confident to make a bet on me, the industry outsider, if I am not referred to by one of his trusted networks, so the power of reputation is proven.
I hope this story will inspire people who are interested but not sure whether to take a step because of self-doubt.
The blockchain and cryptocurrency sector requires a lot more talent in order to advance.
Always be open-minded, and you never know where life may lead you to.
Can you tell me about the most interesting projects you are working on now?
One of the projects we’re working on is how to solve the fiat to crypto on-and-off ramp problem.
We have some industry benchmarks showing that less than 1 out of 5 people purchase crypto with fiat successfully.
As a growth leader, to be able to work on an innovative on-and-off ramp fiat solution that can give the consumer a great journey is exciting and worthwhile.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
I am very fortunate that in my career path, I have met many wonderful people who have helped me, both men and women.
However the fun fact is women are disproportionately represented in the tech industry — but many women have really helped boost my career with great advice, help and friendship. And one of them I remain as lifelong resources and mentorship.
Anita, who was my two-time boss in my career, hired me with a blind trust — first when I moved to a new location and with serious school debt, she hired me for a new job scope.
The second time she hired me came with a promotion, even though I was 6 months pregnant. It’s great to feel someone who always has faith in you, and these are the people who you want to work with — caring but strong people.
What are the 3 things that most excite you about blockchain and crypto? Why?
I think the blockchain powered web 3.0 is going to be game changing and will transform finance, gaming, insurance and every area on the Internet.
I witnessed 10 years ago when mobile internet took off in China and how the country leapt past the rest of the world as more Chinese people acquired cell phones — making payments and communications fast and easy for everyone in the nation.
It reminds me of all those moments where our universe was just being opened up to explore with ease through smartphones or other devices…or even something as simple yet powerful like the Google search engine which changed everything because before its inception people were relying solely on libraries full books stored away from them at their homes, but 20 years later, everyone with an internet connection can access all information of all time.
Crypto high-yield saving products are great news for passive income investors like me.
I’m a working mother who spends time scaling Cabital and building the team — so I have two full time jobs, motherhood and building Cabital. So when I learnt that with stable coins I would generate high yield income, I was very keen to get into it. This is why I put most of my money into it.
What are the 3 things that worry you about blockchain and crypto? Why?
I am a believer that blockchain and crypto should go mainstream, the following would prevent the pace of evolution.
The crypto industry is still in its infancy, but it faces many challenges. Scammers can easily ruin the trust that players are trying so hard to build for themselves and others by pretending they have something valuable when really all there is nothing more than waste time or take your money with no return on investment.
Lack of transparency in certain projects. This lack of transparency contributes in which institutions and insiders capture outsized returns while retail investors take more risks, get worse pricing. Many of DeFi is funded by venture capital and other professional investors, so I think the industry as a whole should do better.
How have you used your success to bring goodness to the world? Can you share a story?
The next generation is the key to a better society. I have been working with my schools in giving youth career guidance and life coaches, sharing what it was like on their path so far as well. As a tech industry professional, I have seen that new technology can be exciting but it is also very disturbing too. In my humble opinion, I think traditional education systems might fall behind to prepare the coming generations for this digitalized world we live in today! So my goal has been to stay connected with young people and, providing life or career advice (depending on their ages)to give some inspiration on what they want from life.
I am also big on mentoring, especially towards women in the workforce. I created the Hong Kong Chapter of Wharton women’s community focusing on women empowerment and charity support, because I felt the career women’s life challenges are quite different.
I remembered when I was at one of the companies that I was the first pregnant woman /woman executive, many female colleagues reached out to me privately and started sharing some very personal struggles of balancing work life with me despite us barely knowing each other. That’s when I realized that’s because those young women didn’t have many role models who seemed to solve the complicated puzzle of work-life balance as career women; mothers in charge — it all came together for them… Naturally, coaching other women on how to navigate through their own complexities became my thing!
As you know there are not that many women in your industry. Can you share 5 things that you would advise to other women in the blockchain space to thrive?
- Don’t be afraid to share your opinion. Your voice would be different but matters. This is a young industry and sometimes it feels like a boy’s club. Women in the blockchain are likely to be underrepresented. Women should believe that industry are better off with women’s participation and voices. This industry NEEDS women’s voice, this is the industry where 70% of the audiences are male now but women are catching up quickly. The blockchain industry needs women, and not just to meet the surging demand for good talents. Diverse, inclusive workplaces are 11 times more innovative than non-diverse organizations.
- Help other women, Redefine the typical mentor-mentee relationship. Many women take a traditional approach and meet with someone monthly at Starbucks or another coffee shop; this doesn’t work well when we’re all busy juggling our professional responsibilities plus covid’s lifestyle ! If you need help reaching out: send LinkedIn messages (or cold emails) expressing how much value your company will bring if they were working together on projects, or just simple advice. You would be surprised how many hires or strategic resources I gained from cold-outreach or spamming my networks in social media.
- Don’t think, act. There has never been a better time for women to be part of the blockchain and crypto industry. The industry is realizing the impact of diversity, both on the community at large and on companies’ bottom line. There are now huge opportunities to solve interesting social and inefficiency problems at a global scale. This opportunity, combined with the momentum to build a diverse workforce, makes it a truly exciting time to be part of the industry.
Can you advise what is needed to engage more women into the blockchain industry?
Women leaders should be encouraged and actively participate in the media/social media to share their own stories. Being able to hear other successful women in the industry discuss how they got involved in this ‘unusual’ space helps other women who want to learn more or get involved in how to do so.
Blockchain has many people from both male dominated industries like technology and finance — it’s important to make space for these valuable voices in order to gain deeper understanding on how best we can help them grow by supporting companies led by women founders with less funding.
What is your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share a story of how that had relevance to your own life?
At the inauguration ceremony during the preterm of my MBA, our dean shared this quote with us and that message carried throughout my professional life.
Consider two years from now, one of your classmates names 3 people whom they want to party with on the left side of a blackboard and he also names three more who would make good business partners on the right side of a blackboard. Ask yourself: which side do you want to be on?
This question has become my work principle in any environment I find myself working in — it’s been what drives me everyday towards success!
You are a person of great influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
Achieving a women-friendly work environment in the start up industry is not easy. Crypto and blockchain industries move very fast, which makes it hard for us to adapt our culture as needed vs talented female employees’ work life struggles. I believe industry insiders would recognize the importance for companies to create an environment that ensures talented women want to stay or return to the workforce but whether the necessary efforts are being made, I am curious. Hence, it would raise my hands to support not just start a movement but figure out the best solution to let the women stay and thrive.
How can our readers further follow your work online?
Follow Cabital LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Telegram accounts, we are planning to launch a series of women talk crypto content.
This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for joining us!
Wisdom From The Women Leading The Blockchain Revolution with Tina Chu Of Cabital was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
