Non-Fungible Tokens: Martin Mobarak On The 5 Things You Need To Know To Create a Highly Successful Career In The NFT Industry
An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis
How to buy, sell and create an NFT and the costs associated with the transactions.
Many have observed that we are at the cusp of an NFT boom. The thing is, it’s so cutting edge, that many people don’t know what it is. What exactly is an NFT and how can one create a lucrative career out of selling them? To address this, as a part of our interview series called “5 Things You Need To Know To Create a Highly Successful Career In The NFT Industry”, we had the pleasure of interviewing Martin Mobarak.
Mr. Mobarak is the CEO and Founder of Frida.NFT, a pioneering and innovative blockchain technology platform reforming the charity industry to increase transparency, donation frequency, and donor incentive.
The wearer of many hats, in addition to founding Frida.NFT, Mr. Mobarak is a public speaker, an accomplished businessman, and a passionate advocate for charities that improve children’s health, fired up by his own personal experience in fighting rare children’s diseases as a parent.
Mr. Mobarak’s vision is to introduce Frida’s work into the metaverse and leverage her powerful likeness to bring together a community of collectors, creators, and art lovers on a mission to merge the traditional art world with the expanding potential of the digital worlds in art and immortalize humanities story.
He is committed to create a unique GFT NFT to help solve the problem charities need to help the less fortunate as well as fight for domestic violence against women, and support parents of children with debilitating diseases. He is a recognized business leader, being named as one of the country’s top CEOs, and philanthropic entrepreneurs by Exeleon Magazine.
Strong believer in conscious-minded leadership, he is active in several cause-based charities, such as the Association of Children with “Crouzon syndrome”, Association for Children with Autism, The Autism Society, National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, Ronald McDonald House Charities.
As an art alchemist transforming physical art into digital gold, he supports the Frida Khalo Museum of Coyoacan in Mexico, the Palace of Fine Arts,in Mexico, and the National School of Plastic Arts in Mexico City.
Mr. Martin is an innovator, business leader, financier and a talented entrepreneur recognized for his product and technology innovations, leadership talents, business formulations skills and focus on crypto and NFT investments.
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/martin-mobarak-b8b41033/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/martin_mobarak/
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit. Can you tell us a bit about your backstory and how you grew up?
Growing up in a Mexican City, I was someone who was introduced to the works of Frida at an early age. I was fascinated with her paintings and the cultural impact Frida had in extending the history of Mexico.
The legacy of an artist can often be determined by the impact and influence their art holds across generations, across communities, and across geographical boundaries.
Renowned as Mexico’s most popular painter — Frida Kahlo was an example of excellence whose artistry continues to have an impact in our lives and in our society.
Her artistic legacy molds into the form of an incredible biographical narrative in which, using drama and rich symbolism, Frida shares the story of her intimate experiences, her despair, her beliefs, and her values.
As I grew up, my understanding of art expanded and simultaneously my appreciation for Frida’s work and her life beyond.
I grew up in a Lebanese/Mexican household with a strong influence of Lebanese culture. For me, Mexican food, music, and art were a different world altogether. I discovered Mexican culture as I started my high school years.
Through my school trips to cultural sites, I grasped more understanding of the country’s rich history.
I recall my first visit to the Museum of Frida and getting introduced to her artworks. It was a very typical field trip to every school in Mexico. But to me it was extraordinary as I was immediately fascinated with her paintings, like love at first sight, even though I visited the museum several times during my school years, each time was like a first time.
My involvement with arts increased during my high school years, when I signed up for artistic shop classes and plastic arts school.
One of my best friends was a prominent painter, and a teacher in Mexico City in the school of Plastic Arts, which is how I got more serious with art and education myself in the school.
I eventually moved to a different state, pursued college, and started my professional journey. However, I brought my love for admiring and collecting art with me in this journey.
Throughout my professional journey as an entrepreneur and business leader, I have also been a passionate visionary of technology.
I owned one of the first ISP providers in Anchorage Alaska. I was involved in the development of the Internet between 1993–1998. I’ve always been involved in technology.
Moreover, when I was introduced to the burgeoning blockchain technology and Bitcoin in 2009, I became obsessed with the potential of the industry. This led me to start my own cryptocurrency AGCoin, which is a silver-backed crypto.
AGCoin is the first crypto platform to invest in Silver, and it’s the next generation precious metal tokenization model with continuous access to liquidity and availability. Creating a silver-backed tokenomy while tokenizing vault deposits, we have attempted to produce innovative solutions that address customers’ needs but also provide consistent support.
I learned about blockchain through various different conferences in Dubai and the US, while in the last year, I have learnt all about NFTs.
Is there a particular book, film, or podcast that made a significant impact on you? Can you share a story or explain why it resonated with you so much?
The only movie that resonated with me was Green Mile. It made me realize , we need to be more aware of our humanity, and things around us. Nothing is as it seems. Incredible story, that made me rethink life, and how we can touch each other’s life. John Coffey is an innocent man accused of raping and killing two girls. He tried to save those girls, but instead he got prisoned and jailed for death row. It is about human suffering , and how we are responsible for each other’s actions. He did not know he had a gift, and he just used it to help others . He uses his gifts only to help others, but not himself. It affected me at a deeper level to understand the ripple effect of our actions.
Is there a particular story that inspired you to pursue a career in this new industry? We’d love to hear it.
I realized the potential of the NFT market and how the technology can be leveraged to bring forth a change in the charity space. This prompted me to introduce Frida.NFT.
Frida.NFT’s vision is to create the bridge between the traditional art world and the expanding potential of Web 3.0. This community-driven initiative has a vision to introduce Frida’s work into the metaverse and leverage her powerful likeness to bring together a community of collectors, creators, and art lovers on a mission to merge the traditional art world with the digital art world’s expanding potential and immortalize humanities story.
Like a Phoenix rising from its ashes, this collection of 10,000 NFT’s represents the rebirth & immortality of a timeless piece by Frida Kahlo “Fantasmones Siniestros or “Massive Sinister Ghosts.”. This piece will be transformed to live eternally in the digital realm.
Valued over $10,000,000, I have decided to take this to be the first perpetual royalty charity initiative.
The mission for me and the team is to create a consistent donation stream to charities, while rewarding the ones who are willing to be a part of this journey.
Each Fantasmones Siniestros NFT grants the holder membership to our exclusive art-driven charity foundation along with a host of ever-evolving benefits including, but not limited to, access to luxurious amenities, unique experiences, and exclusive events around the globe.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began this fascinating career?
Giving back to society is an integral part of my value system. My personal experiences with my daughter have given me this unique perspective “It is bigger than me, you, and Frida would have understood it if she was alive.”
During my early years living in Alaska, my first daughter was diagnosed with a rare congenital disease and due to this I had spent countless sleepless nights in the hospital, broken and helpless. This was 30 years ago. And that changed me completely.
I was myself in need of a place to stay, and these financial and logistical difficulties, as well as the broken health system in this country, made me want to take things into my own hands, just like Frida had done. Years later, when I became wealthy, I helped countless patients, their parents whenever I was in the hospitals, this time for my second daughter Elektra (now 11 years old) who was diagnosed with Crouzon Syndrome. Anytime, I see a person in need in the broken health system I had to interfere. Therefore the proceeds from the sale of all the NFTs will go to the Charities that are dear and near to my heart and very important for my family.
I saw a number of other families who were facing this struggle to afford the care they needed. I tried to help them in whatever capacity I possibly could. Along with my daughter’s battle, I prepared myself to combat the broken healthcare system of the country.
While my daughter had surgery after surgery (21 surgeries in total) and recovery of 3 months each time….it was difficult, but I managed, I got help from a loving family and other giving people. There are many families in need of help all the time and not enough resources.
This impacted me to make a bigger difference. Through Frida.NFT, I am dedicated to bringing forth a disruption that contributes to the overall welfare of the industry and the society at large.
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
When I got into the cryptos I had a big time life changing mistake. When I started investing in silver goal mining, I believed silver and gold would be unbeatable, and I kept investing, and it brought no real money at the beginning. The funny thing is I had the opportunity in silver crypto mining, but I did not. I just did not believe in it back then. But If I did invest in bitcoin, I would have made all the money, more than on the actual physical mining of the gold and silver. I got blinded by it, by the gold. That is in the crypto world. It is a true life story where I had the opportunity. It showed me gold is not what it appears to be..The lesson I learned is “ to believe in your instinct not logic”. Since then, I always believed in my instinct. I was caught up by Blockchain. But on a little later side.
If crypto ever got to the same level of gold, it would be something very valuable, and not believable back then.. And it did.
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?
Yes, I have an amazing mentor who was an amazing pilot, captain and a talented businessman who helped me become who I am today, who believed in me and my potential as an entrepreneur. And that is Mr. Dave Harrison, one of the amazing Flying Tigers that I met by coincidence while I was in South Florida.. Dave was a client of a shop where they fix planes, and where I used to work to help fix planes. One day David landed and told us his plane was broken. He came to the shop I was working at. His plane’s landing gear was broken. It was Sunday, but I told him I could help him fix his plane even if it was Sunday. I took it inside the hangar and fixed it and even painted it, then I called him back to tell him the plane was ready, and he was very impressed by this act. This was the start of our relationship. He took me out to dinner that night, and then he kept coming to the store to have conversations with me. Over a period of 6–7 months, Dave felt he could give me business advice about an opportunity that was near us. An air aviation business was going out of business, he told me and insisted that I buy it. Not only did I not have the money, I was very skeptical and I kept refusing to buy it over. Finally one day I went to talk to the business owner who gave me a tour of his facility, and I realized he was troubled by the debt he incurred. Dave kept insisting and pushing it on me. I kept politely refusing it. Finally one day he introduced me to his financial adviser at Merrill Lynch who was managing his will, and money. His manager’s name was Peter. With Dave’s insistence I had a meeting with Peter who had a half million dollar check ready to be given to me in an envelope. Peter told me even though he researched about me and he does not know anything about me, he trusts Dave’s judgment and he told me to take this money, and consider it at least to please Dave and that I could bring it back anytime. Peter said; “Martin, take the check, buy the business. Mr Harris must have seen something in you and he is almost always right.. You do not need to pay it back. “ He convinced me to really look into that business in detail to buy it. I did go to the place, checked the finances of the bankrupt aviation business, and I also realized it was a good but badly managed business. I went back to Dave with the check in my hand to find out his terms of payment. Dave said:” I expect nothing in return. Just do it”
I ended up buying the business, and I turned it around to be a very profitable business. Later on, 8 years later I sold it to a hedge fund firm in NYC for $4 million. Dave believed in me and he saw something in me that nobody did, including myself. I owe him my career, my success. He was a true mentor and a great person. I am very grateful to have met him.
Are you working on any exciting new projects now? How do you think that will help people?
Yes, we are working on the follow up event of the Frida.NFT. This event follows as a continuation to grow our network of NFT members and to bring additional valuable masterpieces to our collection. I am committed to create a unique NFT to help solve the problem charities need to help the less fortunate as well as fight for domestic violence against women, and support parents of children with debilitating diseases. I am a strong believer in conscious-minded leadership, therefore I am active in several cause-based charities, such as the Association of Children with “Crouzon syndrome”, Association for Children with Autism, The Autism Society, National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, Ronald McDonald House Charities.
As an art alchemist transforming physical art into digital gold, our NFT supports the Frida Khalo Museum of Coyoacan in Mexico, the Palace of Fine Arts,in Mexico, and the National School of Plastic Arts in Mexico City.
We will organize more exclusive events to the community we created through the FRIDA.NFT project. It will be exclusive to Frida.NFT holders and will feature a plethora of masterpieces. More incredible paintings are coming soon to the metaverse and shared with the world. We have big plans for the Metaverse and a few big surprises, such as benefit tiers, different rewarding sponsorship levels, and other potential surprises. For that, and also to get a hold of Frida.NFT, you need to go to www.fridanft.org
Ok super. Thank you for all that. Let’s now shift to the main focus of our interview. I’m sure you get this question all the time. But for the benefit of our readers, can you explain in your own words what an NFT is, and why people are spending so much money on them?
An NFT is a non-fungible token, which means that it is an item that is so unique that it can not be interchanged with another item, versus for example a dollar being equally interchangeable with another dollar. This uniqueness gives NFT’s their value. People spend a lot of money on them because they don’t want to miss the boat. In our case, there is no actual “Fantasmones Siniestros” painting by Frida Kahlo anymore. Why? Because I burnt it! Frida herself would have wanted it to do the same, to ultimately help end the suffering of the children and women, she would sacrifice her own painting, I know that. After I burnt it, my team and I converted it into an NFT. That is why people are in line to buy the limited number of NFTs for this piece of art. And this art keeps giving back. It is a gift that keeps giving back to the community.
The NFT industry seems so exciting right now. What are the 3 things in particular that most excite you about the industry? If you can, please share a story or example for each.
1. Potential for the technology to be used as unique identifiers for people removing the ability to create false identification documents
2. Gaming/metaverse — using NFT’s as collectibles in video games which can be sold once the player is ready to move on from the game. Currently gamers cannot do so. Example — Axie infinity
3. Art — Artificial intelligence is creating incredible art in the form of NFT’s and transforming art into an NFT like Frida’s immortalizes it and shares it with the world
What are the 3 things that concern you about the industry? Can you explain? What can be done to address those concerns?
1. Scams -Due to lack of education, on where to buy , search for the legitimate ones. Public needs to be careful before jumping into any transaction. Just do your homework.
2. Liquidity on the value of an NFT asset
3. Copyright infringement- Nike lawsuit is a good example to that.
What are the “myths” that you would like to dispel about NFTs? Can you explain what you mean?
Just like you listed some of the myths in this article at https://medium.com/coinmonks/top-5-myths-about-nfts-1b91e448ed56
I also believe that “NFT is just too harmful to the environment.” statement is just a myth. Any new technology and innovation can be used to benefit the community, environment and charities. And that is what I am trying to do to kill this myth. FRIDA.NFT ‘s value is on the smart contract that guarantees anytime the NFT is traded it keeps contributing to the charities.
What are the most common mistakes you have seen people make when they enter the NFT industry. What can be done to avoid that?
Lack of education, research and believing in the myths created.
How do you think NFTs have the potential to help society in the future?
I personally believe that NFT holds the key in revolutionizing the entire charity industry! Blockchain technologies are the answer, if managed correctly to raise capitals for many industries, why not charitable ventures? It’s a very viable solution for a possible perpetual pipeline of funds, transparent and secure.
Over the last decade, I have collected timeless pieces of history. As the current owner of the paintings, I have a vision of creating perpetual donations to multiple organizations for the needy with royalties from the NFT sale and collection.
My goal is to make an impact by providing donors full transparency of foundation funds, increasing donation frequency through perpetual donations, and dramatically increasing a much larger incentive for the community to donate.
The charity industry has struggled to keep up with the advancements in technology and digitalization, thereby prompting the public to take notice. Inefficient bookkeeping, unpleasant user experiences, and distrusting donors make for an industry that is quickly losing public interest.
Owing to scandals surrounding mismanagement of donors’ gifts and general lack of transparency, public confidence in charity leaders has seen a sharp decline in the last decade.
According to the Give.org Donor Trust Report, 32 percent of respondents trust charities less today than they did five years ago.
Through Frida.NFT, I hope to share the artworks of Frida with the world, instead of holding it in my possession while making a global impact.
Ok, fantastic. Here is the main question of our interview. What are your “5 Things You Need To Know To Create a Highly Successful Career In The NFT Industry?”
It’s very tough to settle on just 5 in such a growing industry, but if I had to choose it would be:
1. Understand what is an NFT and the underlying blockchain technology.
2. Understand what a smart contract is and how it works.
3. Understanding how to evaluate a quality NFT project.
4. How to buy, sell and create an NFT and the costs associated with the transactions.
5. Understanding the verticals NFT’s can be used in and how (Games, Social media, Metaverse, music, etc.).
You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire 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. 🙂
As a Mexican Native, my vision is to bring the work of Frida Kahlo into the metaverse and bring together a community of collectors, creators, and art lovers.
Frida had an impactful presence in my growing up years. As I learned more about her life of pain and suffering, it impacted me to take notice of her struggles and how she conveyed these emotions through her paintings.
Frida Kahlo lived a tumultuous life to say the least, from Polio, to being told she would never walk again after a terrible bus accident, to marrying a notorious womanizer Diego Rivera, Frida painted her emotions and life until her painful death.
I share her feelings of pain in this material world, and yet, still not giving up helping the needy and trying to fix the broken system. In my case it is the health system and the people that suffer from it.
We are very blessed that very prominent leaders read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would like to have a private breakfast or lunch, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them 🙂
Michael Jordan. He is a great businessman, and also a great athlete who showed a lot of strength and determination in entrepreneurship, teamplayer. He had no scandal; he is just a correct, and transparent strong figure in society to me.
Thank you so much for these excellent stories and insights. We wish you continued success on your great work!
Non-Fungible Tokens: Martin Mobarak On The 5 Things You Need To Know To Create a Highly Successful… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
