I see our next speaker, Ye Lia Soko is already here and I'm super excited to introduce her to you. Delia believes that every person has a unique purpose but times and systems are constantly changing. How do you evolve without hurting your purpose?The answer to this and more questions will be provided in her next talk called Purpose School versus Evolution. How to strive Mitya Liva Soo. She is South Africa Ecosystems Leaders Labs working on co chairwoman of United Africa Blockchain Association. Hi, Oliva and welcome.

Hi. Hi, Anna and hi, everyone. Can you hear me? Sorry. I struggled, we can

hear you, we can hear you. We can hear you well and clear and thanks a lot. I will leave the stage to you and enjoy. Thank

you. All right. Um Hi, everyone and greetings from South Africa. Uh My name is Yi and I am the chairwoman of the United Africa Blockchain Association as well as the South African Eco lead on for working for Sys, working on co sorry. So, um actually my topic today not really. Um I'm not going to be presenting anything. I just want to share with you guys. I'll I'll share me with you guys, right? And see if we can inspire somebody today to actually pursue their purpose. So, um there's just a couple of things, I believe every person has a unique purpose and, you know, yes times and events are constantly changing and there is evolution, but every person has a unique purpose. So uh we will start with uh defining uh what is purpose. Well, in my understanding, I normally say purpose is the reason something exists or the reason something is mad or purpose could be your determination or, or your goal, right? So that is what I believe by purpose. And um I'll just share a little bit of my story in the tech space. I, I, I'm a woman in tech. Yes, but I'm a woman in tech that got in with no technical background at all and with no college degree, but I had a purpose and I had a goal and I wanted to be somebody.

So initially, um I wanted to study it after high school and um you know, circumstances being circumstances and time being time, I was not able to afford that college education. And uh time went on. I, I got, I got jobs, I, I evolved within the jobs, but there was one thing that really stayed with me and that was my purpose. I really wanted to be in the tech space and I was going to make it happen no matter what it takes, right? So this is where I would just go into um the aspect of sometimes you're going to face challenges, sometimes you're going to face delays and sometimes there's gonna be and evolution like right now, um times are changing, there's a new normal that is coming by. Um technology is what's taking the center stage. We used to have conferences in person conferences, we used to travel, but now we're here and it still feels like it's the same thing but times have changed. So my topic is how to thrive, right? How to thrive within your purpose. So, uh firstly, I'll just talk about um focus. You should have a focus of who you want to be and where you see yourself and see yourself doing that thing. I remember one time I said to my friend, I said, you know what actually um I want to, to inspire people, right?

Uh I remember at a time I think way back, I spoke to my mom if she remembers that time, I say to her, you know, by the time I'm 30 I, I want to be very rich at that particular time. It was something that was in my mind, but that wasn't my purpose. My purpose was really to be somebody that's a person can look at and say, look if she can do it, I can do it. And as I grew a little bit older, my purpose really didn't change, but I looked at being able to, to make a difference, right? I wanted to make an impact. And I said, wow, by the time I'm 30 I want to make an impact. I want to be in technology, but I did not know how. So um let me just fast forward um down the line. Somewhere in 2016, I got exposed to an online platform and I became a consultant, right? And this platform fun enough had um a Blockchain slash Bitcoin department and we used to get paid in Bitcoin. So I started to just look into that and say, hey, look, um I love what this, what I'm able to do with, with, with this, with this digital currency. But what is the underlying technology? So a few months down the line or a year down the line, I started to create uh what I would I called a learner guide. And it goes back to my, my, my second point, which is determination, right?

I was determined to be a woman in tech and I had to find ways to get into tech. It might have not been the traditional route that I had felt I should pursue back then. But then here the there was, there was a loophole that I saw and I said, look, um I really want to understand this technology. I started uh putting together information research and creating um this document. At first, I had no idea what I was doing, but I knew I needed to do something and I needed to be where I needed to be no matter how long it took. And then the other thing that came about was sacrifice, right? Iii I needed to put in a lot of sacrifice. You need to put in sacrifice for your purpose. You need to put in sacrifice for what you were made for. You need to put in sacrifice for where you see yourself. So I had to put in a lot of long hours. I mean, where everybody was gone out of the office, I would stay in the office and I would do this research and sometimes I would leave um at midnight. So I put in a lot of personal sacrifice. I put in a lot of time sacrifice and also resources I needed um it cost me to leave the office at night, right?

I needed to perhaps Uber, I needed to spend on, on, on, on certain small things like I'm not going to be able to go home and cook, but I needed to put in that sacrifice because I looked at it as a self investments on my part. And um the other thing that really drives your purpose is you have to have the willpower, the willpower to win. I, I wanted to win at this thing. I wanted to win at all cost. And I said, what do I need to do in order for me to reach where I need to go. So I put together this, this, this learner guide, this curriculum very well, thought out very well researched. And I told myself, I said, actually, you have done very well. I mean, this is 100 and 17 page document and a thought clicked in my mind to say, you know what, um, y you couldn't afford what they offered to teach you. But here you've built your own curriculum and this is what you need to learn. And what I decided was that this is what's gonna be relevant. I started to look at five years down the line and I said this is what's gonna be relevant right now. It might not look like it's mainstream at the moment. But this is what I wanted to do. This is who I want to be. I want to be in the Blockchain space. I just don't want to be in the Blockchain space because I want to be in the Blockchain space.

I want to be a leader in the Blockchain space. And when I become a leader, I said, I want to be noticed wherever I go, I want people to know that she is here. Not because of my background, not because of my skin color, not because of uh or wherever I'm coming from, but because of my ability to be the best at what I wanted to do, right? And um another thing that came across in this journey of purpose was, you know, you will encounter a lot of things. One thing that I learned is you have to use your resources at that particular time in order to get to where you want to be, right? What do I have in my hands right now that I can utilize in order to go where I wanted to go. I had a job in the oil and gas sector for six years. This job, I never got a salary increase. That is one, a lot of people in my shoes would have said, oh, well, um yo you know what, there's, there's nothing you're doing here. You could get a better job that's gonna give you maybe a 20% more increase, right? I got opportunities, but I never left and I never left because I looked at what I could use at that particular time. I had access to um an internet. Um I had access to the internet.

I had access to the office and nobody told me the doors needed to be closed. And I also had access to be who I wanted to be because I had support from the company to pursue what I needed to pursue. I was given time to travel. I was given time to hold my events and I got that support. So I leveraged what I had at that particular time in order to get to where I needed to be. One thing I also came to realize is that you know, what if you have a purpose and you have a goal? Yes, the odds might not be in your favor. Being in South Africa, being an immigrant, being uh here without a college degree, all those things, the odds were not in my favor, right? But I said I have the willpower to succeed and I will attain my goal. So I used what I had at that particular time to go where I wanted to go, where I wanted to be. And I also learned that, you know, um yes, do not change your purpose. You can do a few alterations, right? If I wanted to make a dress and I came here and I realized, well, um I don't have enough fabric to make a very long dress. I could make certain alterations and instead make the dress maybe knee high, for example, right?

Instead of uh the dress reaching all the way down uh below my, below my legs. So there is, you know, so there is um those things that will come, but you need to make alterations in order to attain your goal. Yes, there will be stumbling blocks, but you will get there just have the willpower be determined, focus and put in sacrifice. And the biggest thing you can ever do for yourself is, is self investments in, invest in yourself. That is the biggest kind of investment you will ever make. And nobody can take that away from you because that lays a foundation that cannot be shaken. I, I remember somebody asked me um at some point when I was learning all these things and I started a meet up group called Johannesburg Women in Blockchain. And I would go on a Saturday teach these ladies. I was learning as I was teaching them. Somebody asked me uh Yali, what, what are you getting out of this? But there's one thing that I say to them, I said I am building myself as a brand. And once I become a brand, nobody takes that away from me. And that is what I have been constantly doing over the few years in my journey, in the tech space in my journey as a chairwoman of the Ni United Africa Blockchain Association and because of my will power, I started to get opportunities for exposure.

I got to get, I started to get opportunities whereby I, I now could look and look at the tech and say, I know something I could go into tech and say, oh here I created my first smart contract. I'm learning to code and all those small little things. So I think uh for now, I think I would take uh time for questions if there are any questions. But before I go, I'm going to leave you with this. Do not wait for a parade, start your own parade and you will be surprised who is behind you. If you love to dance sta start dancing, right? If you want, if you like to sing, start singing, you will have an audience eventually. So I don't know if there are any questions. Um Anna

Ma, I really love what you are sharing and people are saying that it's powerful and very inspiration and people love your main point. Start your own parade. What inspires you every day to do your job? A question from Pai Zia,

what inspires me Um is the fact that there are people out there who are looking at me right? There are people out there who are supporting me. So I say, yeah, le if even if you don't want to do it for yourself, do it for that person who is looking at you,

they're inspiring. And I do, I do believe so and I really loved what you said about building your personal brand and investing into yourself because no one can take it from you, right? And that, that was something super inspiring. Um Why suddenly you feel you want to give up what you're doing when you feel you want to give up? How do you, you know, encourage yourself not to?

Well, I would cry if I want, if I have to, to be very honest, you know, uh there've been times that I looked at myself and I said, you know, what, why am I doing this? Right? And but give yourself time. If it means you want to break down, break down and uh sometimes talk to people who, who encourage you, but also look at where you're coming from. Why, why would you wanna stop now? Right? So those are some of the things that I look at

all right, if you manage to, you know, to get where you are right now and you can continue because you, you've been brave for so many challenging situations and now you build your self and keep, keep, keep going right. Challenging times won't, won't uh won't pass by. They will be there and you need to be.

Yeah, I will make you, I mean the

right. Thank you very much Diva. That was truly inspiring. And I really noted some interesting points for myself. We have so many questions from the audience. I think they can connect with you on linkedin or Twitter.

Uh I'm better with linkedin.

OK? And she will be happy to answer your question. Thank you very much and enjoy the rest of your day. Thank you.

Thanks, bye

bye bye.