Celeste Lopez (Intern at The World Music Foundation) shares her views on the Metaverse, the importance of different voices, the challenges, and the road ahead.

To The Verge held a meeting with Celeste Lopez, Intern at The World Music Foundation. She is on a mission to educate people about the Metaverse and believes it is important to build a community by including insights from the different voices.

She is associated with Queendom (The first-ever decentralized Metaverse platform for women and the underrepresented communities that offer a safe, equitable, and thriving environment to cherish inclusivity).

She is now committed to educating people about these immersive technologies and eager to learn about their insights as well.

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Motivation to join the Metaverse

In 2021, Celeste came across Metaverse & Web.3, which sparked an interest in her and, she started to enhance her knowledge about these technologies. From reading articles to attending webinars and watching YouTube videos, Celeste was on a mission to gain maximum knowledge about Metaverse and immersive technologies.

Soon, she came across Queendom, spoke with Nico Fara (Founder of Queendom), and learned that even she faced the same issues in the corporate world.

She got inspired to join Queendom because Nico was committed to creating an ideal space in the Metaverse! Building communities in Metaverse is another thing that motivated her to join this brigade. She faced some challenges as the existing system was racist & full of biases, but she committed herself to building a system from scratch. She believes everyone should have a voice to develop this new world.

Sharing the knowledge

Currently, Celeste is focusing on sharing her knowledge on Metaverse, NFTs, Web3, and other immersive technologies with people who are curious to know more. Everyone has heard about these terms, but there is a lot of confusion and wrong assumptions.

Hence, in conjunction with Queendom, she is working on a mission to educate people primarily through Twitter space. She engages in a live conversation with curious people who want to learn more about Metaverse. These are pretty candid conversations, and she enjoys hearing the insights of the people on all these topics.

She says, “Metaverse, Virtual Reality, Web 3, Augmented Reality, BlockChain, Crypto, etc., these all are nothing but the next internet! We have passed through different stages like Web 0.1 Web 0.2, and now is the time of Web 0.3. It will entirely be a new experience wherein we will be able to feel that we are in the same space and that is going to transform the world.”

Metaverse & NFT to revolutionize the entertainment industry in the future

As per Celeste, the musicians and filmmakers are all set to reap advantages from the Metaverse & NFTs. For example, musicians will get royalties for their music in the future. Presently, the artists are not getting what they deserve as they have to distribute the royalty between the streaming services, music labels, and marketing.

She says, “Having your music as an NFT, fans will be able to fractionalize royalties of a song, which means, they can own a portion of a song, this translates into building a community where fans and artists can be part of. Musicians will be able to communicate with their fans like never before through the perks of owning their NFT.”

Metaverse can help brands promote their products through storytelling. It would be all about experience, and brands will be able to connect with their customers through innovative methods. Filmmakers are already getting a benefit as they are experts at storytelling and technology.

As per her, the key differentiating factor & the only way to make these experiences successful and build an inclusive Metaverse is that different voices should represent throughout the production stages.

Focus on diversity & inclusion

Celeste thinks that focusing on diversity & inclusion is vital because she wants a Metaverse where the underrepresented communities (LGBTQ, Women, etc.) have a voice in the decision-making process. It is important that people have a sense of belongingness and there are no systematic biases in the same.

“As a consultant, right now my focus is on social media, expressing and reminding people to include more people, make people feel safe, develop a sense of belongingness in them so that can be translated to the new spaces of the Metaverse.”

It is not an easy task to perform, and there are big roadblocks. Most importantly, there is not a one-size-fits-all strategy that works. “It is important to gain knowledge and get into candid conversations with the people; that is how I have been trying to contribute to this world,” she says.

Advice to the Artists!

This is the beginning of a good time for artists across the globe, and they should join the Metaverse revolution as soon as possible. The future looks exciting, and it is going to become more popular.

“We still are in the early stages of building the Metaverse, so this is a perfect time to learn more about it and start creating an NFT collection.” “It is a big opportunity for the Artists, and they should make the most out of it.”

“For Artists, space like Open Sea is one of the most popular spaces to create & upload NFTs. I have navigated the Open Sea, and there is so much Art. It is amazing! So, as an artist, it’s really a good time to put your art up there because it’s a new space. People entering here now will be ahead of the game”.

She shares that creating an NFT collection is not that hard, but if someone wants to make it successful, then he/she will need to put heart & soul into it. The artists need to put in genuine efforts to build a good community so that people understand who they are and what they stand for. Once that is done then people will give their support & invest in the NFTs created by the artists because the people would believe in the vision and can identify the artist in some way.

It is a great time for the artists to develop their own community, give priority access, create memberships and float special promotional offers to make themselves popular and earn monetary benefits.

She gives a word of caution for the artists not to run after money initially. They should focus on building a good community of people who believe in their talent & work. Artists should embrace these relationships and engage their followers in conversations.

“There are immense possibilities through NFTs; one should know how to harness them”, she says.

The future ahead

It is a fact that the internet is evolving in what we call the Metaverse, and it is going to transform the way businesses operate across the globe. Currently, the businesses, the service providers, and the brands have a web page, and the clients/customers navigate the same to buy products or find solutions.

The future would be the same but with a difference! Instead of web pages, the customers would visit the virtual world, and the experience would be more immersive & interactive. For example, people would be able to enjoy a virtual concert wherein they can really be close to the singer/artist and save up money & time to commute.

The shopping experience in Metaverse will be entirely different as the customers will now be putting on some headgears. They will feel that they are actually going into a store and looking at the garments in a virtual environment. They will be able to choose an Avatar that is according to their body, and then they will be able to see how it actually looks on them.

This is not going to happen overnight, but businesses should start thinking about this new reality that is already here.

The key to thriving in this new world would be diversity. If the businesses wish to scale up their operations, they will have to listen to people with different backgrounds, opinions, identities, sexual preferences, cultures, etc. This is a diverse world, and Metaverse will bring us all together.

Conclusion

The Metaverse and other immersive technologies like NFTs are all set to transform the way we are living, interacting, and doing business. It will be all about experiences, and the key to success would be in great storytelling and taking opinions from different sets of people. Building a great community involves knowledge sharing & candid conversation with people that are needed.

Artists across the globe have a golden chance to make money through NFTs. However, there should be a whole-hearted effort to make the NFT successful, and the artist should connect well with the people.

The future looks bright for Metaverse, and the experiences will be more immersive & interactive for the customers. Businesses across the globe should gear up and get ready for this revolution. It is already here. The key to success will be diversity, according to Celeste.

Guest Profile

Celeste Lopez Baird did her Bachelor’s degree in Mass communication/media Studies from Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Studies. She also pursued her Master’s degree in Translation & Interpretation from Middlebury Institute of Technical Studies at Monterey, CA. She basically hails from Mexico but has been living in Oakland, CA, for the last 11 years. In her career, Celeste has worked for different organizations in the capacity of an Executive Assistant, Associate Producer, Production Assistant, Systems Coordinator, Translator & Interpreter.

She could not get a promotion, or her voice was heard despite her best efforts. Once she realized that all opportunities had been closed, she finally decided to exit the corporate world. She went on to pursue MA in Translation & Interpretation and started to work as a Freelancer.

She then came across Metaverse & immersive technologies and started to gain knowledge of the same. Post that, she joined Queendom (A first-ever Decentralized platform) and is on a mission to develop a strong community of people from diverse backgrounds). She offered us some great insights about Metaverse, NFTs, the importance of inclusion & diversity, and the future of immersive technologies.