Navigating the Metaverse Upland

Guests:Ashley Hopkins is the Chief Creative Officer at House of Blueberry, helping to make Digital Fashion the way of the future. For the past 10 years, she has created digital wearable Fashion in the Metaverse. She previously co-founded 2 successful digital fashion brands, as well as founded 2 fashion events.

Katherine Manuel is the Chief Advisor and Fractional CXO at The Boom Advisory. She was recently the COO and Board Director at House of Blueberry, a leading fashion house in the metaverse, empowering self-expression through digital wearables.



🦙 This podcast is brought to you by Upland - The Earth’s Metaverse where you can play-to-earn NFTs in an immersive Metaverse experience built around real-world neighborhoods while connecting with like-minded players. Download Upland on iOS, Android or sign up through our referral link to earn 6k UPX (2k more than normal) https://discover.upland.me/metaverse-podcast .

Guests:Jesse Schell is the CEO of Schell Games, one of the largest full-service game design and development companies in the United States. Some of their AR and VR projects include Among Us VR, HoloLAB Champions, and LEGO Brickheadz Builder VR. Their clients include The Walt Disney Company, Yale University, and Microsoft Corporation.
Jay Chang is the Founder of Genopets, the world's first free-to-play, move-to-earn mobile RPG. The Genoverse is powered by daily steps while earning crypto in-game. A Genopet is a generative NFT that evolves. Built on Solana, the game combines the nurture and evolution of Tamagotchi, the training and battling of Pokemon, and the crafting and collecting of Animal Crossing. They boast a 250K player waiting list back in 2022.
Ryan Mullins is the CEO of Aglet, an augmented reality mobile shopping game where commerce has merged together with the gaming world. Ryan also served as the Director of Future Trends at Adidas. He helped devise the digital and innovation strategy for the company as well as set up new innovative business models within the business to serve the creative community.


🦙 This podcast is brought to you by Upland - The Earth’s Metaverse where you can play-to-earn NFTs in an immersive Metaverse experience built around real-world neighborhoods while connecting with like-minded players. Download Upland on iOS, Android or sign up through our referral link to earn 6k UPX (2k more than normal) https://discover.upland.me/metaverse-podcast .

Guests:Alun Evans is the CEO of Freeverse, a dynamic NFTs infrastructure platform for brands and games. They leverage blockchain technology to create Living Assets™ or NFTs that evolve and appreciate in value with unlimited scalability according to how they are actually used. Their platform allows the creation of low-cost, dynamic NFTs that can be bought and sold in both crypto and fiat currencies simply with API calls, without paying gas fees – and with less impact on the environment.
Andrew Steinwold is a Managing Partner at Sfermion, an investment firm focused on the immersive internet of the metaverse. They invest in a range of blue-chip and emerging creators covering collectibles, gaming, virtual real estate, art, and other categories. Their portfolio includes Yield Guild Games, Petaverse, Immutable X, and BreederDAO.
Nicole Lazzaro is the President & Founder of XEO Design, the world's first player experience design (PXD) consulting company and leading researchers on emotion and the fun of games. Their clients include Sony, EA, Ubisoft, Sega, PlayFirst, Disney, Kabam, Leap Frog, Nexon, IBM, and The White House. Nicole is also voted by VentureBeat and Gamasutra as one of the Top 20 women working in video games, and Fast Company as one of the 100 most influential women in technology.
🦙 This podcast is brought to you by Upland - The Earth’s Metaverse where you can play-to-earn NFTs in an immersive Metaverse experience built around real-world neighborhoods while connecting with like-minded players. Download Upland on iOS, Android or sign up through our referral link to earn 6k UPX (2k more than normal) https://discover.upland.me/metaverse-podcast .

Guests:Steven Goldfeder is the Co-Founder & CEO of Offchain Labs, a company in the cryptocurrency and blockchain space that built Abritrum, a layer-2 Ethereum scaling solution. He's also a co-author of the book Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency Technologies: A Comprehensive Introduction.

Hilmar Veigar Pétursson is the CEO of CCP Games, a leading game developer on a mission to create virtual worlds more meaningful than real life. Their products include EVE Online, the world’s largest living work of science fiction. Hilmar also served as the Chairman of the Board of The Technology Development Fund in Iceland, which aims to strengthen development work and research in the field of technological development.

Jason Brink is the President of Blockchain of Gala Games, a leader in Web3 entertainment. Under the Gala brand, they have a growing roster of reputable partners across Gaming and Entertainment including DreamWorks, AMC, and NBCU. Plus, legendary game developers Peter Molyneux and Will Wright, as well as music greats like Snoop Dogg, Ice Cube, Kings of Leon, and BT. Jason is also the winner of the 2014 Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation / Global Development Network Prize for the creation of the “AidDollar,” a novel blockchain-based solution to solve the problems endemic to foreign aid. He’s a well-known figure in parts of the global cryptocurrency community.

🦙 This podcast is brought to you by Upland - The Earth’s Metaverse where you can play-to-earn NFTs in an immersive Metaverse experience built around real-world neighborhoods while connecting with like-minded players. Download Upland on iOS, Android or sign up through our referral link to earn 6k UPX (2k more than normal) https://discover.upland.me/metaverse-podcast .

Guests:Tareq Nazlawy is the President of ScienceMagic.Studios, a digital assets venture studio that helps brands and IP owners use web3 technology. He's an accomplished leader with a 15-year track record at the intersection of strategy, innovation, and digital growth. He’s the former Senior Director for Digital Growth at Adidas, where he was a pioneer in bringing the three stripes into the digital era.

Josh Chapman is the Managing Partner at Konvoy Ventures, a thesis-driven venture capital firm investing in platforms and technologies at the frontier of the gaming industry. Their investments include Axie Infinity, Role, Echo3D, Genopets, Sipher, Legends of Learning, Sanlo, Pok Pok, Ready Player Me, and Cognitive3D.

🦙 This podcast is brought to you by Upland - The Earth’s Metaverse where you can play-to-earn NFTs in an immersive Metaverse experience built around real-world neighborhoods while connecting with like-minded players. Download Upland on iOS, Android or sign up through our referral link to earn 6k UPX (2k more than normal) https://discover.upland.me/metaverse-podcast .

Guests:Michael Blank is the COO of Polygon Studios, a blockchain app development company. Scaling solutions that Polygon Labs initially developed have seen widespread adoption with tens of thousands of decentralized apps. The network is home to some of the biggest Web3 projects and well-known enterprises. They’re also carbon neutral with the goal of leading Web3 in becoming carbon negative.



Marieke Flament ​is the CEO of NEAR Foundation. NEAR enables the creation of OpenWeb, leveraging blockchain technology. It’s underpinned by the fastest, simplest, and safest proof of stake layer 1 blockchain protocol. And NEAR is the world’s first certified climate-neutral blockchain. Marieke was also recognized in the Women in FinTech Powerlist for 2017 and 2019.



🦙 This podcast is brought to you by Upland - The Earth’s Metaverse where you can play-to-earn NFTs in an immersive Metaverse experience built around real-world neighborhoods while connecting with like-minded players. Download Upland on iOS, Android or sign up through our referral link to earn 6k UPX (2k more than normal) https://discover.upland.me/metaverse-podcast .