This story is a part of Hacker Noon's Meet the Writer series of interviews. The series is intended for tech professionals contributing the most insightful Hacker Noon stories to share more about their writing habits, ideas, and professional background (and maybe a hobby or two).
If you too would like to start contributing to Hacker Noon, you can do so here.
So let’s start! Tell us a bit about yourself. For example, name, profession, and personal interests.
Yo! I’m Alyze Sam from Kansas, USA. I started my life as a hospice and home health nurse. I dedicated 13 years of my life to serving the dying, mentally ill**,** and the addicted….that was until I was PLOWED by a semi-truck.
*** Seriously. See? My back still hurts.***
I was an early investor in BTC, so after spinal injuries and a new metal clavicle, I took out my nursing retirement and went all-in on crypto, in early 2015.
I wasn’t able to work much after my accident and feared being termed ‘fully disabled’ and having no income- so I reached out to blockchain industry leaders and went ALL IN.
Dmytri Buterin sent me guides on everything blockchain and smart contracts. You can find most of that learning over at BlockGeeks.com now.
I was learning to write, code, trade, then I tampered with mining rigs/farms, solar mining… etc. ANYTHING I COULD LEARN in blockchain because I knew it was the future and I wanted to have a “life”. I didn’t want to be broke or feel as if I was physically unable to live my dreams or most importantly, I wanted to support my family with new physical challenges and depression that came with no longer caring for my patients.
All of the studying and volunteering for opportunities in tech paid off- as I began to hustle a career in blockchain four years ago when I once again cheated death, I was quoted by the HER Foundation as one of the worst surviving cases of Hyperemesis Gravidarum they’ve seen, as I lost 46% of my body weight while pregnant.
HG is a rare pregnancy complication, you can find out more in the documentary that I’m starring in, made by experts here.
The Crypto community were some of my only friends, and saved me from of my most horrible moments - I even battled homelessness enduring this disease. So, people don’t understand what blockchain is to me… Bitcoin saved my life and allows me the freedom I’ve never had. If I had to do it all over again to be where I am now, I’d do it and complain a lot less. :)
#Blessed #ThankYouCryptoNerds (The crypto community did a fundraiser for me when I felt as if couldn’t battle on my own.)
Interesting! What was your latest Hackernoon Top story about?
It was a fun little (no, it was a long) ditty.
I was chatting with one of the internet’s heroes and discovered that a once amazing website, we all have known, loved, and even TOTALLY relied on at times, is absolute trash in its current state.
Wikipedia/Wikimedia has fallen far from what Co-Founder Larry Sanger once envisioned and what it aimed to be. Dr. Sanger first stated this was thanks to Wiki now being controlled by a small centralized circle of obviously biased entities. (-See more on Larry Sanger via Twitter or his personal website.)
Feeling pissed off after discovering this absolute BS, I joined Dr. Sanger and used my trusty “typewriter” ( winky face) to whistleblow many of Wiki’s issues, offered education to protect readers, and then summarized with a solution Dr. Sanger is announcing to the world.
My last article was, what I hoped to be: a solid and supporting expansion on a Press Release given to me by our well-known and loved father of digital knowledge, Dr. Larry Sanger.
Dr. Sanger, thank you for being so good to the world and to me, personally. I cherish you and your work. We all do. :)
Do you usually write on similar topics? If not, what do you usually write about?
I write about the tech I’m co-founding, or solutions I’m working on. I’m an accidental writer- actually. I’m not a trained writer. Adam Alonzi has edited and worked closely with me and I’ve become an awarded writer and best-selling author thanks to his love and direction.
I write to learn. I desire to be an expert in the tech I produce and give unbiased education along the way so people can decide if my tech is right for them, or not.
I want to bring technological solutions to the ‘least of these’ and empower people to change the world for the better. That’s my only goal. I became homeless because of my health, this technology has saved my life, I also know it can save countless others, so I feel a massive obligation to share- if my time writing has helped even one person, I feel it’s worth the time and effort, I put into my findings.
I’ve worked on and written about: fintech, blockchain, smart contracts, NFTs, IPFs, LIDAR, hypergraph, AI, privacy tech, whistleblowing, medical texts, and social impact initiatives- I was also a two time awarded International Poet of the Year.
Great! What is your usual writing routine like (if you have one?)
I write about whatever I want when I want. I’m basically a nearly 40-year-old moody teenager in blockchain….
I write a lot, but I’m a co-founder, so most of my time writing is spent in white papers, light papers, and technical guides. Many in fintech have called me to make very complicated things very simple to understand.
Being a writer in tech can be a challenge. It’s not often our main role, but an addition to another one. What is the biggest challenge you have when it comes to writing?
I like to run my mouth. I really aim to be an unbiased writer- but when I see something that OBVIOUSLY wrong - I work in ethical tech - I have a hard time shutting my ‘Karen’ down when I’m upset about something I feel is wrong. (ie. I called wiki a shitty platform- #SorryNotSorry )
What is the next thing you hope to achieve in your career?
With some of my favorite people in the world, I will help Light up Haiti using our hand-powered generator that we are turning into a jobs program, which will build a middle class in economically depleted areas You can visit our website and find out more here: LightUpHaiti
Wow, that’s admirable. Now, something more casual: What is your guilty pleasure of choice?
#NFTs, baby. I’m launching NftyToken on Bitcoin’s birthday this year in New York when I’m speaking at the NFT.NYC conference with my partners, 7-time awarded Webby Winners, the viral video game makers, HitCents and Hollywood Talent agent and CMO of General Motors, Mr. Ed Mills. We also have an AI, Privacy, Tokenomics, and BioTechnologist that sit as founders on our team to advance in the NFT industry.
Email me if you’d like an invite to our private rooftop event and launch, I’ll put you on the waiting list and give you a little gift you cant join us! :)
Do you have a non-tech-related hobby? If yes, what is it?
YES! I made babies! My children are the reason that I do all of this. They get to spend every second on my arm as I work on this technology and share the amazing news with the world. They get to travel all over the world and learn what’s important, love, kindness, and doing things to make the world a better place.
I absolutely love two things in life: My babies and blockchain.
What can the Hacker Noon community expect to read from you next?
Even though the Bad Crypto Podcast turned me into Mz. Stability, from The Blockchain Heroes… in writing I’m not terribly stable or predictable. I write to learn- I’m currently releasing a new Stablecoin book, as I wrote the first three published books on stablecoins, this is our final, I hope.
I also have a book launching with Joyce Chow of iHollywood and my writers at our tech incubator, Mass Crypto on NFT’s and a Fintech Dictionary. You can find my team and I doing a book signing at Art Basel in Miami this December. Reach out to me for an invite to any of my exclusive events, as we are always in the market to make super rad friends that want to build together, in efforts to ‘code empathy in our technology.’
Thanks for taking the time to join our “Meet the writer” series. It was a pleasure. Do you have any closing words?
Yes. Yes, I do.
“I don't want to talk to you no more, you empty-headed animal food trough wiper. I fart in your general direction. Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries.” -If you don’t know where that quote is from, I don’t know if we can be friends.
If we’re friends: KEEP IT KIND AND WEIRD!
Reach out online and tell this Kansas girl to keep tucking along, together, we can make the world a better place and have a really great time in the process. Thank you all so very much. Happy to discuss possible collaboration with any of my projects.
Alyze Sam
Alyze Sam is a refreshing blockchain strategist, a novel educator, award-winning author, serial co-founder, and a vehemently driven advocate. Sam’s book ‘Stablecoin Economy,’ was published by Don Tapscott at The Blockchain Research Institute in January 2021. The Bad Crypto Podcast developed a Blockchain Hero NFT inspired by her work: Mz. Stability.