Polkadot Head Ambassador Application: Irina Karagyaur

Greetings dear Polkadot community!

I’m Irina Karagyaur (X) and this is my application for the Polkadot Head Ambassador position.

I want to begin this application by sharing a little about my journey in this wonderful ecosystem. First, I was honored to join the Polkadot community back in August 2020 and began advocating for it in my local community in London UK where I was based at the time. Those days I held many activities during that summer, and as a result I was invited to my first interview about Polkadot on Cryptonites TV in September 2020.

Considering my background in management consulting and business development, my primary focus in the Polkadot ecosystem has always been on identifying the growth and development opportunities while consistently connecting active members of the Polkadot ecosystem with my business network. Thanks to that work, I was deeply humbled to be promoted to Polkadot Head Ambassador for Western Europe.

Since joining the program, I have provided systematic support to the Web3 Foundation Collaborations team and later to the Parity BD team, always looking forward to bringing new opportunities into the Polkadot ecosystem. This included:

• Onboarding new ambassadors for Western Europe,
• Onboarding to a Thousand Validators program,
• Introducing the Foundation for International Blockchain and Real Estate Expertise in my capacity as a Co-Chair for London to Polkadot (Organized and hosted the first DeFi & Real Estate academic event in partnership with UCL & FIBREE).
• I have a proven track record of onboarding new parachain teams and DApps into the Polkadot ecosystem.

Additionally I have contributed to Polkadot by:

• Facilitating the creation of the report Polkadot & Cosmos for Enterprise
• Moderation of several events, for example Polkadot Decoded Impact Stage, contributing to the event's success.
• Creator of PolkaOscar
• Representation of Polkadot at the International level in various events. First at the United Nations COP26 (first in history NFT collection presented at the United Nations). Then later in the United Nations COP27 where I included Polkadot as the main sponsor and program partner for the Digital Innovation Pavilion. In that location, I helped with a hybrid panel discussion about Polkadot technology and sustainability. Last year in COP28 I co-hosted the **Digital Innovation Pavilion **and represented Polkadot in my capacity as Head Ambassador as well while I held a hybrid fireside with Polkadot Blockchain Academy. Apart from those activities, at the UNESCO HQ in Paris with the invaluable help of Polkadot treasury (Gov1 model) I contributed to, organize and curate the first ever Web3 & NFT exhibition called “Reconciliation with the Living”, which is a milestone in the art world. Represented Polkadot as HA and introduced Web3 and Decentralization concept and narrative at the ITU HQ in Geneva; represented Polkadot at UN Geneva Forum 2022

In the curation field I served as a Sub-Curator for events bounty and currently serve as a curator for BD Bounty and Games Bounty. Very recently, I was honored to be selected as a W3F Decentralized Voices Cohort II delegate.

As a volunteer as an editor and expert contributor to International Telecommunications Union (ITU) Focus Group on Metaverse (FG-MV), and served as a mentor for the UN Women Mentorship Program, Member and Expert Contributor of the Culture and Creative Industries (CCI) Taskforce UN Climate Change Global Innovation Hub (UNFCCC), EU Climate Pact Ambassador for Spain at the European Commission.

Fortunately my work has been acknowledged with several awards and recognitions. I was named one of the Top 100 Women of the Future. Winner of the 2022 Rising Women in Crypto Power List by Wirex and The Cryptonomist. Distinguished in Asia's 100 Women Power Leaders list. Winner of Women of Web3 Changemakers 2023 by Near Foundation. Mentioned as one of the Top 20 Women Blockchain Leaders in 2023 by Whizlabs. Featured activist at COP28. LinkedIn Top Strategy & Metaverse Voice 2024. Mentioned as one of the Top 20 women in blockchain 2024 by Mural. Mentioned as one of the Top 20 Women Blockchain Leaders in 2024 by Whizlabs.

Since I consider communication and education a main priority:

• I Delivered a TEDx talk "Knowledge Communities are Shaping the Metaverse" at TEDxMaviliSquare 2023.

• Featured in Entrepreneur India, Arab Finance (Top 15 viral interviews of 2022), CoinDesk, Cointelegraph, BeInCrypto, Financial Times, Harvard Business Review Turkey, Missions Publiques, Museum Week Magazine, GeckoCon by CoinGecko, Benzinga, NFT NYC and more.

Made several publications:

• Building the Future of Real Estate with NFTs: It’s the Business Model, Stupid! (2022);
• Collaboration For Transformative Digital Climate Innovations Stocktake Report and Next Strategy for the Climate Chain Coalition (2022);
• A Wormhole Linking the Metaverse and Space Explorations: The Metaverse Multiplanetary Economic Model (2021);
• Get Ready for the 2022 Metaverse Real Estate Boom (2021);
• The Power of Ownership (2021);

To channel my work in an organizational structure I co-founded BQ9, which is an ecosystem growth agency and a boutique advisory firm on a mission to “turn great ideas into great Web3 products”. My company works on business model creation, product ideation and development & Ecosystem Strategy.

Currently I’m collaborating with Energy Web on Web3 growth strategy and Global Leaders new community program. While I’m also the creator and a host of The Business Case for Polkadot podcast & DOT4Business community in partnership with Polkadot Blockchain Academy.

Why vote Aye? Future plans.

I will consistently represent Polkadot at key events at the international level: International Telecommunications Union, United Nations, UNESCO, COP29, EU. Later thisyear, I will be representing Polkadot and speaking at an international event in Warsaw in July alongside the members of European Parliament, Countries representatives to EU (ex. Former Cabinet Minister of the Netherlands), European Policy Center, European Innovation Council and some of the world's largest tech enterprises. I will also continue representing the Polkadot ecosystem at key industry events worldwide. Jointly with the PBA we will continue hosting The Business Case for Polkadot podcast and grow DOT4Business community.

My main focus will be ecosystem growth and onboarding of B2B and B2G players into the ecosystem. Therefore, my ongoing BD proposal includes:

• Museum Week Loyalty program for museums and cultural institutions.

• Collaboration with the Founder Institute, world’s largest pre-seed accelerator. Organic press coverage by Crypto Daily and Binance.

• Onboarding 734,366 new users to the Polkadot ecosystem, with the potential of reaching 60 million active users in the Tap Nation ecosystem through this collaboration.

And many more exciting announcements yet to be made public in the coming month.

I believe in the potential of Polkadot technology and the power of the Polkadot community. Through my experience, I know the strength and dedication of this community. I am committed to continuing to build a thriving ecosystem by onboarding competent and passionate Senior Ambassadors and Ambassadors. My mission is to make this program a success and our ecosystem the default choice for builders, larger enterprises, and governments. I aim to make Polkadot an example of the practical benefits that Web3 brings to the world.