Hackernoon Women In Tech Interview Series
The HackerNoon editorial team has launched this interview series with women in tech to celebrate their achievements and share their struggles. We need more women in technology, and by sharing stories, we can encourage many girls to follow their dreams. Share your story today!
Technology’s Poet, Nature’s Griot
I am Tagan Horton, an artist and designer building at the bleeding edge of digital media and cryptographic data technology.
I am a Creative Advisor on NFT projects for artists and organizations through the Opera Sneaker NFT Art Agency. I am building a green NFT marketplace, Dakar Gallery.
My passion is storytelling. I am a poet, blogger, film producer, and game narrative designer. I translate stories as a technical writer, data scientist, and emerging technology researcher.
I am inspired by nature (the world’s first technology) to create global regenerative ecosystems.
The Origins
As a child, I thought I would be a rocket scientist.
I changed my mind by high school and began taking engineering and nursing courses to prepare to become a biomedical engineer.
By the time I got to college, I had my heart set on being a United Nations Ambassador.
However, after gaining experience in international policy, I decided that I wanted to be in a more creative space.
I was inspired by technology’s ability to bridge global communities after traveling to 3 continents. I spent 4 months in Dakar, Senegal with a women’s entrepreneurship community. I wrote a research paper on Microfinance Institutions and Mobile Bankings Impact on Entrepreneurship in West Africa.
After this experience, I decided to learn more about start-ups. I gained specialized skills in product design for mobile and web applications such as UI/UX prototyping and visual design. Additionally, I began working at a start-up in Cleveland, a SaaS platform for sporting teams and entertainment venues to create marketing websites for group ticketing fundraisers. When the Covid-19 pandemic shutdown events, the company’s revenue went to “0” as sporting and venues closed with no inclination as to when they would return.
As a result, I was able to focus on other ventures. I created an original podcast series documenting the stories of founders during Covid-19. Additionally, I piloted 3 podcast series within the Cleveland entrepreneurship ecosystem: Lay of The Land, Innovation Intersection and Dream It, Do It.
While supporting a national entrepreneurship ecosystem, I began to pull back the curtain on outdated Web 2.0 systems like digital marketing, digital banking, and venture capital tech investment.
This led me to change my perspective on human-centered product design for technology. I focused on researching emerging technologies: digital art assets (NFTs), blockchain security (Ethereum), and quantum computing.
Decentralized Media
Artists, designers, and art collectors are curating the future of film & TV distribution.
Popcast is a term I created to define an emerging art media for streaming.
Popcasts are NFT videos that unlock additional streaming content. This type of art medium has existed on the Internet before NFTs. Now, communities can unlock the full value of a “popcast” for their communities with NFT gamification.
NFT Collectibles are a transformative tool for communities to fund and build public goods.
NFT tooling is a refreshing alternative to slow bureaucracy that has limited innovation in the past. NFTs are disrupting media as communities utilize the technology to imagine new forms of media streaming.
New ‘types’ of content will be created by communities for communities. This includes a combination games, social media, live streaming and more. NFTs and DAOs owned by art communities will offer new ways for creators to fund large-scale projects.
Artists and designers are utilizing NFTs to provide sustainable solutions for humanitarian crises such as #63A4P.
Art Education
In my search for the most creative space to make a sustainable global impact, I found art education.
The root of education or learning is community.
In the summer of 2021, I designed a Popcast curriculum for high school students. I taught the 5-week course and led the students in developing a pilot
The idea for a gamified curriculum came to me during my time as a Kernel Block III Fellow. The Kernel community is an ecosystem for free learning through written curriculum, events, and conversations.
I inspire art Web3 communities to learn through curated art gaming experiences that connect the physical and digital world.
My first NFT, Voilà Couré is a game character that appears in the Griot Games and the #63A4P NFT project. In the summer of 2021, I co-curated Boabab Flower, an artist meet-up for brunch and a walk on the Atlanta Beltline. I curated an NFT birthday weekend of events to gift 24 art assets from my first NFT collection, Black August. In the winter of 2021, I co-curated the NFT.NYC Kernel Art Dinner.
Self Care Hobbies
My transition to a plant-based diet drastically improved my mental health during the pandemic. It also gives me the energy to do other things I love such as prayer, cooking, yoga, music, walking, and salsa dancing.
Women That Inspire Me
I am inspired by women that have led and continue to lead such as: my mother, Fatima Al-Fihri, Dr. Aafia Siddiqui, Angela Davis, Chief Lady Afia Ekong, Katherine Dunham, Zora Neale Hurston, Sonah Jobarateh, Maimouna Youssef, Titi Ogufere, Nana Ofriatta Ayim, Faith Hunter, Jah9,
Tosin Oshinowo and Holly Grimm.
Advice
First, know who you are.
Featured image: “Couré For Aafia”, a pfp for humanity.