My absolute hope is that more women, more women, more women, more women find their way to Bitcoin. Especially the moms because they will influence the next generation. And can change history.. Hey, everybody. Welcome to orange Hatter. Can you believe this is already the 100th episode of orange Hatter? I am absolutely blown away. It has been such a tremendous journey. It started with a one very simple desire I had, which was to make friends with more Bitcoiner women in the space. And by sharing their story I hoped to entice more women who are precoiners, who are still sitting on the fence about Bitcoin to hopefully identify themselves in, these Bitcoin women's stories and come a little closer to the rabbit hole and check it out. With that a goal in mind. I want it to talk to as many everyday women as possible. I wanted to present Bitcoin as something that is a use for everybody, your sister, your mom, your daughter, somebody you can stand in line at the grocery store with, somebody standing next to you or the post office, sitting next to you at the doctor's office. Every day women, because Bitcoin is for everyone. It's not just for the famous, it's not just for the rich, it's not just for the influencers. It's for everyone. There is a use case for everyone and. Yes, it can be used by refugees escaping political oppression. Or women who are escaping abusive relationships. But most importantly, I want to everyday women who are living paycheck to paycheck and accepting our monetary system as an inevitable reality having no way out. And just being victims to the inflationary environment that is just running rampant right now. And I know a lot of parents are very worried for their children. For the first time in human history people are talking about expecting their children's future to be less bright than their own. Throughout human history, generations of parents have placed hope and even expectancy that their children's future will be better than theirs, but for the first time it is not so. Everybody sees the problem we're experiencing, but not everybody knows the solution to it. So with orange hotter, my goal is to reach as many everyday women as possible with everyday women's stories. Through this project, I have met just amazing people. I went back and. Revisit it, the episodes that I have done so far. And I counted up the number of countries in which my guests have had life experiences in. Not just travel through, but lived there. I counted over 30 countries. They cover all the continents except for Antarctica. Are there any Bitcoiners in Antartica if you know of anyone, please let me know. I would love to interview them. I've spoken to people. Who are in their late teens. All the way up. To people who are getting ready for retirement. Throughout that age range, then you have people from all different backgrounds. I interviewed Mary Lou who grew up below the poverty line. And I talked to people like Andy, who is a venture capitalist. So everybody in between. We all have our own personal life story. We all have our own personal reason why we're looking for an alternative to the currency that we are using today, Whether you're in the us and using the us dollar, which comparatively is still relatively stable or in a country where your national currency is devaluing very quickly. For our own reasons, we have found our solution in Bitcoin. All right. So for the rest of the episode, what I'm going to do is switch back and forth between making exciting announcements about new Orange Hatter initiatives and playing some of my favorite clips from the women I have interviewed so far. Make sure you stick around, listen to the very, very end. I have a special offer for you. That you don't want to miss. So here we go. To kick us off here is the very first. Intro to the very first. episode for the orange Hatter podcast. And my very first orange Hatter guest Laura. Hi, everyone. Welcome to the first episode of Orange Hatter. I'm so excited to launch this project to share stories and conversations with women in the hopes that I can help you get interested and curious about this thing called Bitcoin. My very first guest is Laura from Italy.

Okay. Hello everybody. Chao. I and from, from the salute, you can understand it, and I'm Italian. I'm speaking for Milano. Maybe one of, of the two most important cities in Italy. And, I, the first time I heard, about Bitcoin, it was, during, the Covid Lockdowns because we have, we had in Italy, a lot of problems also in my town is in the north of Italy that had, that lots of problem that worldwide, are known. I'm a normal person. I have a normal job. So I have no money to invest and Bitcoin was not one of my target. the first things it was to recognize that I was completely financial illiteracy illiterate completely. I didn't know anything about money, about, uh, financial, about economics. I was so, so ignorant about, uh, this topic, but I I work, uh, with, um, with a nice job in a commercial office. And, my income is, 1,200 Euros. And I have to pay a lot for, for rent for the house, a lot for groceries, a lot for, uh, energy bills. So I have, I, I, I remain with maybe 100 euros in, uh, in the pocket. That, that I can do all my, all my, uh, I have to do everything with this. really understand why I am so poor in my 50. Uh, 54 years. I work from 30 years and I don't have money, uh, as a store of value, and now I understand why, why I don't have. Everything has changed because first off I saw, uh, a light, uh, we used to say in Italy. I dunno if, if it is the same in the States. I saw a light at the end of the tunnel. I understand that Bitcoin is a freedom tool.

If you want to listen to Laura story, please go back to the beginning of the episode history and start with episode one. She talks about her personal financial experience with such honesty Laura's super passionate and working with local merchants in Milan to try to create something similar to Bitcoin beach. She's such an amazing person to get to know. The next present I want to highlight is Nancy. Nancy is probably halve Laura's age. Her life is just beginning. She's a young woman. In Tanzania, she has a toddler. She's just starting. Her journey as an adult and. She's really quite ahead of her time. Even as a young adult, working with her husband, very deliberately to look for ways to safeguard the value of their savings. I want to highlight her background. And then just a quick story about how she found Bitcoin.

My parents worked in Botswana and then Zimbabwe, and then we moved to Papua New Guinea in the South Pacific for most of my childhood, and then moved to Tanzania when I was a 16, did two years of high school here and then went to Cape Town, South Africa, then moved back here to Dar es Salaam, where I currently am. I'm married to Don and that is how I got to know about Bitcoin. When we met, to be as frank as possible, we were both terrible with with, um, with our finances. We didn't have any savings. When we started dating, we, we thought it would be nice to kind of put some money into a joint pot to spend on our dates. In Tanzania, they have mobile money. So your phone, you can send money to your phone and store it on your phone. And so we started just by doing that. And then the pot grew and it, it reached the limit. of what could be stored on mobile money. So we opened up a bank account and then We had to open up several other bank accounts, It was a lot of bank fees. I would get a salary to my bank account, And then there would be a bank fee to send some to my phone, and then there'd be a a mobile money fee each time I tried to use it from my phone. it was costing me money to have money I think where Don really started seeking was we were living month to month, and it was really frustrating because we both had full time jobs, we were both working at international schools, but for some reason it just felt like we couldn't save anything, like nothing, nothing we do made, nothing we did made a difference, and at the same time we had, Our parents who have properties and. In their time, they were able to buy properties with like one month salary, which now is worth so much more. The expectation was you get married, get a job, buy some land and start building a house. But it was impossible. We, we couldn't do it. my dad bought land Good land when he just got out of university. He just finished his PhD and he bought it for 700 shillings That same, plot of land would probably go for like upwards from 200 million shillings now. And so Don was feeling really frustrated with that whole situation. So I said, Find us a way find us a place where we can we can put our money that's safe that you know where we can stand a chance to to start to save and he found Bitcoin.

So as you can see. Nancy and Laura. Two very different women, different age group. Literally from different continents, different life background. Coming to Bitcoin with a common goal of somehow safeguarding the money that they earned through their hard work. I've also interviewed, as I mentioned before. Many women from different cultural backgrounds. I'm going to highlight a few of the women here. They are from. Different continents, sauna living in Belgium, but from India marina, she's living in New York, but grew up in the global south Terico in Thailand, but grew up in Japan. And of course our own American women. Let's take a listen.

I'm based in Belgium. I've lived here my whole life. my husband He is from the U.S., I'm from Europe, but we're both originally from India.

I was born in the US, um, half Mexican, half American. I lived in the US, until I was five. And then I grew up in South America, Mexico, Bolivia, Columbia, and came back to the US for college. So I'm American, grew up in Latin America,

I was born and raised in Japan I was interested in the world outside of Japan, so as soon as I entered college I started traveling around the world. So far, I've probably visited more than 70 countries. but I stopped counting after 50 countries, so I don't know exactly.

I Am 29. I live in Midland, Michigan, a fairly rural area. I was a paramedic

Through orange Hatter, I've met some just really fascinating women. And one of my favorite guests on the show was Gillian. She. Has taken so many pivot points. In her life that she went from studying film. To be one of the early adopters of the internet working as tech support and finally through several more pivots. And an above being a Buddhist psychoanalyst. Fascinating story. Let's take a listen.

Many, many years ago, 55 years ago, I was born in Malaysia. I was raised there till I, till I was 13 and my parents sent me to Singapore to study because they have a better educational system. I went to college in the States because I wanted to study film. I did my master's in East Asian languages and cultures went to live in Japan for a year and then went to Thailand and subsequently to the States, to Spain, and then came back to Japan.

Isn't that fascinating. And that's just the first half of Gillian's life. Since that point, she transitioned into studying yoga and Rolfing. And then subsequently went into cranial sacral therapy. And finally to Buddhism studies. Um, I'll let her tell her story.

I was doing craniosacral therapy that was put together by someone called Franklin Sills, and he was visiting from England in to Boulder to teach a cranial course. And the wife was coming so I only knew her as the wife Franklin's wife, and she was going to teach a three day workshop called coalescence of compassion. I was really attracted to these words, coalescence of compassion. So I did do the workshop three days. I sat there just crying. It wasn't sobbing was I was seated there present and tears just rolled down and I understood it as. a resonance, a strong resonance when you hear truth that you don't hear normally. And you see this person in there in front of you and you can see something you never saw. It's a kind of presence. It moved me so much. So I thought, I want to study with this person. And the only thing she was doing was a master's in psychotherapy, in Buddhist psychotherapy. And I'm like, Psychotherapy? No! I don't want to study psychotherapy. And then one or two weeks later, I thought, Oh, if Maura, her name is Maura Sills. If Maura is going to teach a singing class, I would go. So why wouldn't I go for psychotherapy or whatever it is? So I said, okay, I'll go. I decided I applied and I went. And this course was in England, in Devon. So another two years plus another year of practice. I was trying to free myself and help people free themselves through therapy, but we will never be free without a free money. And I was like this white elephant in the room was missing in all this therapy and alignment stuff I'm trying to do. We need to align with money. And so that was actually for me, the last piece coming together, although probably money is the first piece of many people, but it's like it had to come last for me. And like, this is it. This is the final alignment needs to be made. We cannot right the Buddha was able to do it. But how many people can be Buddha He had to go through all he lived in a time of manipulated money. Even though he had it, but it's still he was worried about concerned about other people, and he was looking for a way within right to find happiness and peace and equanimity in that world. And he found it right and he taught us he gave us the teachings. But imagine if we didn't, if that money part was taken care of, I gave a presentation on Bitcoin and spirituality. I took the teaching, The Four Noble Truths, the of Buddha's teaching, where the fourth truth is the Eightfold Path, the Noble Eightfold Path. And if you look at all the Noble Eightfold Path, Bitcoin, or sound money like Bitcoin, can help you really more easily achieve, Five of them. So for me, telling people about Bitcoin, helping people understand, helping people use it self custody. That's my thing.

I've heard a lot of different people. Share the idea that they believe Bitcoin is a godsend. But I've never looked at it through the lens of Buddhism before. So I have found Gillan's, discussion absolutely fascinating. If you'd like to hear the rest of it, make sure you go to orange hotter podcast episode 85. Through the many conversations that I've had with orange Henry guests. I came up with an idea. That. All of these fascinating women spread all around the world. Wouldn't it be amazing if we can get everybody in the same place in the same room, under the same roof, going through the same experiences and being able to feel absolutely free to speak our mind because we each understand and agree on fundamental views about the world. And so. I dreamed up this idea of doing an orange Hatter women's retreat. Started spreading the word and asking people for locations and came across Amanda, who is part of the Bitcoin Yucatan project. In Merida, Mexico. And we just absolutely hit it off. We literally. See. The world through basically the same lens and long story short, we created the Yucatan. Orange Hatter women's retreat, which will be taking place March 16th through the 20th. in 2024. And, um, since then, even as I talk to more and more women who are in different, beautiful locations of the world, The idea is that we will eventually have a orange hotter women's retreat on every single continent to make it really easy for Bitcoiner women to gather. And to share and elevate their energy. So that we can do what we believe so deeply about, which is to spread the coin to every corner of the earth. So, if you've not heard about the retreat before our retreat is now closed for March. So keep an eye out for future retreats. They will take place in Yucatan or elsewhere, I am talking to several different women about different locations right now. And make sure you add your name to our email list. Go to www.orangehatter.com and you'll find under the tab labeled Retreat, Yucatan. And then also other locations. You can enter your email address there and we'll keep you posted. And now let's keep going. I'm having so much fun. Listening back to all of these women's interviews. I want to introduce of couple more women they're American with different backgrounds, let's take a listen.

I'm a single mom, and my daughter's 26 now. And I learned about blockchain and Bitcoin about five or six years ago. My background's law, I didn't know a lot about finance. I wasn't interested in finance until I kind of, you know, learned about Bitcoin and, and this area.

I have three adorable children, and they're all under seven, so seven, five, and one. So we're just starting the elementary school craziness and afterschool activities and meal planning, house management, all sorts of fun stuff like that.

Generation Bitcoin, which is a group of Gen Z Bitcoiners who are really on a mission to try and bring Bitcoin education to Gen Z and really inspire them to be a part of the Bitcoin space and grow it and innovate in it because they will inherit Bitcoin, moving forward. I am very lucky to now be a part of the group. I am in charge of projects. One project that we are just starting is called the Bitcoin University Guide. It's important for students to feel encouraged to embrace Bitcoin, where their world is changing a lot, but Bitcoin is kind of hope and that Bitcoin is for everyone. So this is really where the Bitcoin University Guide comes in.

Let's hear a little bit more from our American women. First one is Sarah. You heard from her just a little bit ago. She has three young children all under the age of seven. Also Lindsay. A very interesting first encounter with Bitcoin. And Mel who came into the Bitcoin space through antiques. Let's take a listen.

My husband is a musician, and as you can imagine, the Covid pandemic shutdowns did not do very well for musicians and public performance, the arts in general. So we were in a very scary situation where in the blink of an eye, our projected income for the year went to zero because every gig fell off his calendar. There was just a lot of fear, but also time. And he started looking into Bitcoin specifically as this new technology in finance. He started researching Bitcoin. A lot of people are like, why not just stay with money? It's working okay. Why not just stay with money? I don't feel the need, like, or when I say money, why not stay with dollars, like, credit cards? Why not, you know, whatever. And I'm like, well, there is something better. There truly is something better. And we know how to appreciate tools for their purpose and, and even antiquated tools Like a phonograph, like an Edison phonograph. Victrolas. Like we have victrolas, but there's also things that just work better with new technology. And I think that's something that's really exciting to think about is like, this is, or maybe even just like a vocabulary to put Bitcoin in is like, this is just a new technology. It's just a, a new way to think of and use currency that is more secure, holds its value and is really going to be even more scalable.

Sarah talks about how she's planning to use Bitcoin in her life, which is really for college planning for her three young children. Instead of investing her money in a 529 college savings fund.. She decided that it would actually make more economic sense to save for her children's college in Bitcoin, if you know someone who has young children and are wondering if Bitcoin is something that would be applicable to them. Please direct them to Sarah's episode. Her episode actually was divided into several smaller parts. This is in the early days of my podcast. Sarah's episodes run from 47 to 51. check it out and share with your friends. Next let's listen from Lindsey. She is a neonatal intensive care nurse. And has a fascinating story about how she first came across a Bitcoiner.

I found myself on a first date with a guy who was a Bitcoiner and I met the guy for dinner and we were just getting to know each other, talking about our lives, our backgrounds. You know what we were doing in Nashville. I live in Nashville, Tennessee. And it comes out that this guy is preparing to buy a house and actually as of that day, had like seen a house and put an offer on it, but he was waiting to hear if his offer was going to be accepted because the offer was in Bitcoin.

Next we'll hear from Mel and antique reseller.

My husband is a comic booking card collector from childhood on and we were gonna buy our first house and I saw this eBay, I kept hearing about eBay and I said, why don't we try selling some of this stuff on eBay and maybe we can raise some house money. Well, that was it. I was hooked. And I, I couldn't even buy a digital camera. It was so expensive to buy one. I bought a scanner. I would lay things on it. I would put a blanket on top. I'm a completely clueless financially. I have no nothing., we grew up with nothing. We didn't, know anything about the stock market, know anything about anything, we're not taught that in school. The only thing my mom taught me, which really annoyed about, to this day, money's only good for the things that buy. there's been two things in my life that I could see straight down the line. One was selling online. I could see it straight down the line. 20, 25 years, everything was gonna be online, and Bitcoin is only is the second thing in my entire life that I've ever felt like that 20, 25 years straight down the line.

Here's another American woman that I interviewed with an interesting perspective on Bitcoin and how it changed her outlook for the career that she has chosen, that she was so originally motivated by, but now seeing it completely through different lens. Let's take a listen to Aimee story.

my dad, he owned several businesses, he was a general contractor, and I feel like he always was feeling like the state and the federal government were just putting too much on him as a, an employer and taking too much of what he was earning and he was always resentful of that. And he would also say things like you really don't own your house because if you don't pay your property taxes, the government can take it from you. so he was always railing against the system in that way. And then my ex husband was, a huge, pro medical marijuana, anti state kind of person. And so, I think that I had, a lot of, Freedom inclinations from those two influences and then during COVID, I guess that's really when the light for me, uh, because as my background, I said, was in science, my doctorate's in microbiology and molecular genetics. And when I saw the response to COVID, it didn't make any sense to me. And then, as soon as the government was like, we're going to shut down for two weeks. I'm like, it is not going to be two weeks. This is like, a lot of the freedom grabs they did after 9 11. I remember noticing that back then, all the freedoms we were losing. And, I've been practically resentful of going through TSA every time I have since, which has been many and thinking it's ridiculous we're still doing some of these things. And Vermont was extremely, extremely, compliant. I felt so alone because I was the only one looking around saying, this is insane. This is not how you should react and deal with a respiratory virus. Everybody's eventually going to get this no matter how much we lock down and how long we lock down. It's a respiratory virus. and, you know, because it was this small thing that people couldn't see it was just so fear driven and it was the same thing with 9 11 after 9 11 the whole fear narrative around, um, terrorism, and it was just used to take people's freedoms away and, and our government, I feel, I felt ever increasingly since then is, it's just become like a cancer on our country. Our government has gone further and further away from the values that this country was founded on. I work in higher education and access to higher education is very important to me, but I realize with our fiat currency and our debt, I mean, things are so broken and, with The vast majority of people that have gotten poorer and poorer versus the 1 percent of the 0. 1 percent that have gotten richer and richer, this chasm can't be, fixed at this point with anything, but Bitcoin. And until, things come back into balance with people tending toward Bitcoin as a sound money and as a base layer to a new financial system, the folks that I work with, I don't think that they're just going to be able to change their lives by attaining a college degree. I think that, they're working within a system that's so broken that that system needs to be fixed first. But, I feel like I got one foot out of the higher education world because it's kind of like burst the bubble. It's made me feel like my job won't make a difference because fundraising to make college more accessible doesn't matter when the fiat system has screwed things up so badly. working in philanthropy, the other realization I've had is that the people that are in a position to make large philanthropic gifts have benefited, they've been on the benefiting end of the fiat system. And to me, it's so appalling now to realize that, now they're giving that money back to the other people that they essentially stole it from whether they were, they weren't like wittingly doing that, but they, but that is essentially the reality. And now they're giving it back to them with conditions and it just has made me lose so much. So much of the inspiration of what originally drove me and my work and in fundraising in higher ed

You can listen to the rest of Aimee interview on. Episode 78. After talking to so many women who are Bitcoiners, there's one common theme that comes up over and over again, which is everyone would rather. Not be working in the fiat at world. But to be working in the Bitcoin space. That has inspired me to start a Orange Hatter Mastermind group. And what that is is a group of us. We're all entrepreneurs. Bitcoin women. Developing our business. So that we can. Live breathe, work in the Bitcoin space. It can feel very lonely. Which is why earlier in the episode, I talked about gathering Bitcoin or women together for our retreat, but that is only a short time out of a year. And so this mastermind group I created, we meet weekly and we come together and we support each other consistently. And with Face Time and with sharing with cross promoting with listening year when we need some encouragement with ideas when we need some advice. we Are working together. Creating synergy to make our business successful. The group started in January this year. And. It is a one-year commitment. I am going to open up another group in June of this year. And we will meet in the middle of the day. Right now, the group that I have is meeting in the evenings. Which hasn't worked for all the different time zones. So the one that is launching in June will be in the middle of the day In the Eastern standard time zone. so that hopefully will make it easier for people who are. in Europe. Outside the U.S. Time zones. If you are interested, go to www.orangehatter.com. And under the tab that is labeled get involved. Look for mastermind and there, you can put your name on the waitlist so that when the mastermind group opens for June. You'll get a notification and you can send me your application to get involved. Again, that's www.orangehatter.com/mastermind, or you can just go to the main website and go to. the dropdown menu, get involved and scroll down to mastermind. Okay. So, so far we've heard from people who live outside of the U S we've heard from people who are from the U S. And now I want to introduce you to a few women who are immigrants to the U S so they have a unique perspective comparing what's happening here. And what's happening in their parents' country. First up is Sophie. She is a Venezuelan American. Let's take a listen.

My parents came to this country in the eighties when the United States was at the peak of its economic performance, even today, they're very much in denial that the dollar could collapse or that the government is corrupt because they've seen it in such an extreme version in Venezuela in their country that they cannot fathom that it would happen here. Even though, people are people and people make mistakes and nobody is immune to sin, you know. and power corrupts, everybody. I'm gonna be honest with you, I just never thought about money, because I mean, except for like, in the way that most people would think about it. Do we have it? Do we not? Are we gonna live the next day? But I never really thought about where money came from. Even as the inflation crisis was hitting Venezuela, I just didn't understand what that actually meant. In my mind, I was like, well, an evil dictator has taken over the country, so of course the economy is gonna do badly. But I didn't understand the bridge between A and B. I didn't understand what it was that the government was doing and what nationalization was doing to our country to make the currency inflate. And basically corruption devalue our currency. So I never really thought about it from that point of view until I understood what Bitcoin was. And when I understood Bitcoin, I started going back to my upbringing. I started, I started understanding, wow, okay. So they started printing more money to pay off more people to, 'cause it was a corrupt government and the more people they paid off, the more dollars they stole from other reserves because the, the was backed by the dollar. And then, when they ran out of dollars, they had to print more money so that the dollars would be worth more then I understood, wow, they're doing something very similar in the United States. How could that be? We don't have a corrupt government or, so I thought, and then that, that all started making sense. But at first my upbringing didn't really clue me in to any of this stuff because I was just, I was living in a bubble. I didn't know what was going on, and I was very, I just didn't know.

Check out Sophie's episodes. 60-62. Next up Aida. She is a Cuban American. Let's hear her story.

I am from Cuba, so I had a little bit of background or of how hard is to not have an economy or not. You don't even think about it because. It's so, the situation is so bad that at some point you don't even care about that anymore because there is like no crisis, no temporary crisis. It's a complete, the full year crisis that you have in your country. Your money is not valuable at all. Your lives becomes just to worry about the food that you're going to put on the table that day because you cannot plan ahead. You cannot plan for retirement. Like in this country, people think about they have their retirement plans and they have all that thinking on the future and then they move to Florida. That's the stereotypical, right? That people move to Florida and have a beautiful retirement there. You, you don't think about that in Cuba. People, what they do there, first of all, the lucky ones that have a little bit of money to save is the struggle, how to save it because our country have changed the currency multiple times. The currency is totally devalued, so we don't even, we don't even appear on the inflation charts anymore. Every time people talk about inflation, how inflation grows and everything, they mention Venezuela, they mention Argentina. Cuba is not in the charts! Because we are so done, we don't even are part of those charts. So it's really hard for the people there. People also use like gold, like buy jewelry sometimes to have the savings and they save in dollars, which is what most of the Latin American countries do, right? And that's the way that they make savings. But for example. We, my, my family, for example, they had some savings once and in one currency, which is, which was not the dollar was another of our currencies in our country. We, we had two. And then the government decided to switch. So their wealth diminished, right? They lost a lot of money, and now they changed the currency again, and they lost again, and it is constantly like that. It is, it is like that. And for example, right now my parents, they don't, they don't have a retirement right now. So they work so hard, they work for, for their family, to provide for their family, to build something for their future, to have something, and there is no value of what they have right now. And it's, it's a really, really, really hard. And that's one of the things that makes me think on Bitcoin, because I want to kind of have a something that helps me in the future to not struggle that way, like they do it in in our country. And like I said, sometimes to people here is in the US, people see it as an investment. In our countries could be is something that will save us or will give us freedom from our government because having a money that nobody can print more, that nobody can change it for something else suddenly, or take it from you and freeze your accounts in the bank. Having the government hands out of your money. That's awesome.

Check out Aida's interview episodes 63 to 66. Next up we have Liv, who is a German American.

I'm originally from Germany, where I've studied psychology. And I've moved one and a half years ago to America because my husband is originally from here. We actually met in New Zealand while traveling, and then we decided to stay together, and we lived for two years together in Germany while I finished my master's there, and then we moved around one and a half years ago here to, to America, and While we were in Germany and COVID hit and all those restrictions were a thing and the world was a little bit upside down. My husband was talking about Bitcoin all the time. I was a little bit annoyed at that time. I have to admit, because he was talking in the morning, in the evening about it. And he was just. nonstop talking about it. And I was like, okay, is it about Bitcoin again? I, I was a bit. Interested in a certain way, but also annoyed at the beginning, but then yeah we did a lot of hikes. You couldn't really do a lot during COVID, so it's really nice in Germany. You just leave the village and you just go for a hike wherever you are. And we talked a lot and he explained Bitcoin constantly on a deep level. And then A lot Bitcoineries in Michigan, also the South Bend, sorry, it's the Benton Harbor meetup. All those people are in Ann Arbor. They have a meetup now where everyone is into those topics of farming, sovereignty, and running permaculture project and this reminded me a lot also of those events, Katie, the Russian is organizing where it's all about the whole system, not just about money. It's about what do we eat? How can we improve that more woman can give birth in a normal way rather than having a C section. How can we improve our medical treatment and all of those kinds of other topics, which are very fundamental. And so I thought it was just so amazing to experience it that way. And this is what got me really into Bitcoin.

You can listen to more of Liv story on episode 97. I've learned so much over the last few months of doing the podcast. Every time I talk to people I have more Inspired ideas to get more women involved and more connected in the Bitcoin community. I have launched the orange hatter women's retreat specifically because there seems to be such a great desire for women in this space to get to know each other and to have the opportunity to build friendships and working relationships so that we can help each other grow. I created the orange Hatter mastermind for this reason. Hyperbitcoinization is going to take every single person's effort. Everybody is a foot soldier. Everybody is a star. My continue goal is to create synergy among women and to create the level of support that is not available elsewhere. Especially, because this is such a unique a group of people. We have shared beliefs that are just not found outside the Bitcoin space. We believe in freedom. We believe in autonomy. We believe in self sovereignty. And it's almost like it's an unspoken understanding when you say I'm a Bitcoiner and somebody else says I'm a Bitcoiner immediately. You just have that connection, that you stand firmly on similar ideals and believes, and there's not really even any need for explanation. And a lot of us feel somewhat isolated in our immediate social group. Bitcoin is not yet as popular as we all hope it would be one day. And so at least for me, and a lot of the people that I've spoken to. There are very few that have friends and families are also Bitcoiners whom they can share exciting news with, or even talk about something frustrating in the news that Bitcoiners can see through. That Other people are accepting as just a matter of fact. If that's you and where you are, you feel isolated. Don't hesitate to reach out, go to www.orange hatter.com. There are many ways for you to get involved. I've mentioned the retreat. I've mentioned the mastermind group. I also have a weekly reading group. And even if you haven't read the book that we are discussing right now, come anyway, come socialize, come meet people. We meet every week, Monday nights, seven to eight 30 Eastern standard time. And all you have to do is send me an email. Our links are private so that we don't get trolls. We unfortunately have had that experience. So, um, you know, just reach out. This is a safe space where all women. Who are trying to further our own education in Bitcoin, as well as share Bitcoin with people we love. So show up. Um, like I said, if you can't make the retreat. Come to the reading group. If you want to take it farther and you want to make a living in a Bitcoin space, then consider joining our mastermind. There are many ways to get involved. Okay. So let's keep going. I want to share three more stories with you today before we wrap up. Next up is Toshi from Nigeria and she gives us a glimpse of what she has witnessed in terms of money.

I am Nigerian. So I'm from the East. Eastern part of Nigeria. So we, we are from, um, from a certain tribe called the Igbo tribe. Yeah. So, because Nigeria is, divided into, different ethnic groups, different tribes, and we have over 503 languages spoken in Nigeria. Last year, towards the ending of last year, the Central Bank of Nigeria decided that they wanted to redesign the old Naira notes, particularly the 200 Naira notes, 500 Naira notes and the 1000 Naira notes. the CBN, CBN is Central Bank of Nigeria, so the CBN gave a particular deadline for the circulation of that old naira nodes design because they wanted it to be out of circulation, hence. The banks should stop giving out that money, that particular ordinary note around to the people, and whenever people come in to deposit the ordinary note, it should remain with the bank without it going back into circulation again. But this wasn't the case. It kept, the ordinary notes kept circulating and circulating and then the deadline kept, approaching. And then, the central bank gave like an ultimatum that once it gets to this particular date, that old Naira notes becomes invalid. It's no longer a legal tender. we see lots of people. At ATM points have long queues just to be able to get have access to the newly designed Naira notes. And because, of course. The newly designed Naira note wasn't already in circulation. In fact, I would say it was on a scale of one to 10, I would say like just two over 10 of that of the new design of the Naira note was already in circulation. So it was crazy. And the whole 36 states of Nigeria, not a lot of people had access to the new, to the new design of the Naira notes. Hence, People were beginning to form long queues at different ATM points, at different banks, people were forming long queues for hours. Some people would stay for more than 12 hours just to be able to have access to the newly designed variant. And, you know, at some point I had to... Make trips to several locations, to see what really is happening. And I think I should still have some of the videos, I don't know. So I started making videos so that people would see what really is happening, and it was crazy and it was devastating, you'd see people would come out as early as 6:00 AM just to be able to withdraw their own money. And at the end of the day, they would not even be able to have access to the money because at the end of the day, you see the A t M machine would. The ATM would stop dispensing cash, and you'd see these people who have left their house since 6 a. m. stranded with no money at all. So it was really, really devastating. There was no money. People, for the first time in Nigeria, people didn't have fiat to buy and sell or to make payments for stuff, because for a long time, Nigeria... Cash is king in Nigeria. A lot of people still use cash to buy things, to make payments, and you know, all of that stuff. So cash is still king in Nigeria. So it was really devastating for business owners, for families, and all of that. So, thinking about how the whole financial ecosystem has been, you see that There's a whole level of control, the central bank, or I would say it's certain, a certain group of people have so much control about money. Now, I was going somewhere, so I stopped to get a cab, and I saw this man, he was kind of like in his thirties or forties Um, and he was in really devastated. He was just standing there and he was, he looked really helpless and he was just telling the other guy that he came out to withdraw 5, 000 Naira and 5, 000 Naira is actually less than 10 dollars. If you see how crazy that is. So he just came out to draw less than $10 just so him and his family can have something to eat for the day, and he wasn't able to do that. So he, he didn't even know what, what to do. He didn't know how to go home or what to tell his children or family about, you know, their feeding and sustain. So he was just dating us, teaching and. And I was just thinking, it's not like this man doesn't have money. He probably does have money in his bank account, but here he is stranded because he cannot access his money because of the whole, the whole process of redesigning Naira and all of that. So, you know, at some point I began to see, Why there is an urgent need for things like something like Bitcoin.

You can listen to the rest of the conversation I had with Toshi in episodes 67 to 70. Next up is Carrie from Australia. Carrie shares openly her personal experience. From the point of view of a Jewish descendant and the lingering Generational trauma. that is experienced through money.

I was brought up by a gold bug. So my mother was hyper aware of issues to do with debt, to do with what happened when we came off the gold standard in 1971 when currency stopped being backed by gold at all. And she had painted a very, very bleak picture for me over the years. So and really gold was the only investment that she trusted and for all the right reasons. Once I started hearing about Bitcoin, not only did I connect very quickly, with the problems that it solved. But I also saw a much more hopeful picture for humanity than I had seen at any point in my life. Even with gold, because I didn't see gold as hope. I saw gold as a potential escape, as a way of maintaining value when the rest of currency went to zero in purchasing power. But I did not see it as hope for humanity. Bitcoin not only has the capacity to maintain purchasing power against fiat, like gold, but it is transformative in terms of what it does for us as individuals and therefore for society as a whole. And it's a deeply, deeply powerful, world changing technology like the internet on steroids. I will say this on a very personal note, being brought up by a gold bug and being told every single conversation from the age of five and probably less, that The world is terrible and there's no hope and Western civilization is broken and is doomed and I suffered with terrible depression for many years and a lot of it was because of this sense of doom and gloom and that there really was no hope and that There was no way out. And so perhaps for me, part of the excitement of discovering Bitcoin was, it was quite personal. It wasn't just the global South. It wasn't just debt. It wasn't just the next generation and all those kind of altruistic things. There was something very personal in it for me, that. When I say it was the first hope I had in over 50 years, I really mean that at a, in a deeply personal way. And as someone who's Jewish and was brought up with stories of the Holocaust, and my mother was brought up in the UK being bombed, and I've told this story a couple of different places, but you know, her brothers were fighting in the war. They were both pilots, I think, or one might've been. Air Force and one might have been Navy. I might have that wrong. And you know, cousin in concentration camp, et cetera. And Really, part of her whole, my whole upbringing was the West is going to hell in a hand basket. People turn on each other when things get ugly and Jews will be blamed and vilified. And so there was a very personal aspect to all of what was going on with money printing and with debt. It felt like the world was a very dangerous place. I never really got past that. And Bitcoin. started to help to heal me. And part of that is the hope of the protocol itself. And part of it is the community who perceive the world in a not dissimilar way to me, and a sense of finding my tribe. But it's a very broad and very diverse tribe. I've been toying recently, as I think as we all do, when we first encounter Bitcoin, is this a cult? Am I falling for something here? And then someone like Greg Foss is so helpful here when he goes, it's just math. And you go, okay, so I'm in the cult of math. I can live with that. To the degree that math is a cult. That's apparently the cult I'm a part of.

You can catch the rest of my interview with Carrie. On episode 74. Before I go on and share the last story with you today. I want to share a very exciting new project with you in the orange header initiative which is what I called, Chain. Intention experiment. Bitcoin edition. I have recently been reading Lynne McTaggart's work on intention experiment. And I thought, why not? Bitcoin? We have so many women who are trying to make a difference in the Bitcoin space. And thoughts have power. So. I created the intention experiment. You can find it on my www.orangehatter.com/intention- experiment. Or you can go to the main web page and go under the tab labeled get involved and find intention experiment there. The kickoff is going to be on the last day of the women's retreat in Mexico. I think it's really fitting. That after the women have absorbed all the wonderful energy and shed negativity and raised our vibration, that it would be the perfect time to kick off our intention experiment with women from around the world and men too. it will only take 15 minutes, five minutes to gather five minutes to focus with a breathing exercise or two, and then five minutes of sending our collective thought energy toward our intention. I am in the process of talking to different leaders in the Bitcoin space to figure out a measurable metric that we can all send our intention to so that we can start to track the impact of our group intention. And it will be an ongoing thing, but our kickoff right now is going. Going. To be a March the 20th. It is a Wednesday. And it will be at 11 o'clock Eastern standard time. for more information, go to the web page and sign up to be on the email list. As we get more details I will share. And also of course, send reminders out. Let's see what we can do by. Synergizing our thought energy. it's a new territory for me. But the more women I talked to her in the space, the more I realized that we all understand. That there is this undeniable energy flow that is moving Bitcoin. And we want to add some oomph to that. And, um, you know, play our part. So if you want to get involved, make sure you go to. www.orangehatter.com/intention-experiment and get your name on the email list and join our livestream on March the 20th for the intention experiment. All right. So now. I want to share the last story with you. Mary Lou is one of my favorite guests. So humble. What an incredible life story she shared on the podcast. And I want to show you a little clip before we wrap up today.

I'm Mary Lou, and my husband is Jeff. We've been married 48 years. We have four children plus another one we call a son. We have ten grandchildren so far. And I'm also close with my three brothers. And what a blessing to be surrounded by family. So, God and family are the things that are very important to me the most. I feel like. The reason I was put here on earth was to raise children into a whole new generation for our country and for our world. So that was my definite main focus. Now that I'm older. I, I'm retired from my real job. I was Director of Religious Education for the Catholic Church, actually for five Catholic churches at the same time. Growing up I grew up below the poverty level. My dad had four jobs, but no benefits whatsoever. No health insurance, just by the hour. and. It never bothered me that we were really poverty. we had cousins that were on what they called welfare back then. And they would share some of their stuff with us if we really needed. I feel very blessed that I was never jealous or envious. of my cousins for receiving, again, they called it welfare back then, I know they call it something else nowadays and back then, you wouldn't have food stamps or EBT cards, you would go line up in long lines down Main Street to a building where you would pick up welfare food. And it was interesting. It was, it almost looked like army food where you'd get an enormous can of tuna fish and printed on it. It said tuna fish. That was the only thing on the can, you know, and a block of cheese, but it would be like 10 pounds. In one block, and it said cheese. So, you know, whatever kind it was I don't know. But my, my, I would say, if, send Mary Lou if she comes and stands in line with us. I'll give her some of the stuff we don't like. So, We had a lot of stuff we didn't like either. My older brother and I still to this day talk about we'd get a cardboard box and inside was a plastic bag and the box said, Non fat, dry powdered milk. That was exactly what it said. It was the worst. And we, my mom and I, we'd mix it in a blender and you had to mix it with warm milk because it would be too lumpy and then put it in the fridge. And I say that because it goes to show how I became a saver, not a spender, how to get along in life with a low amount of money for many years. I'm not a person that wants to be wealthy, just comfortable. And I think through these life choices and life learnings, but mainly due to God's blessings, we're comfortable enough. We're ready for retirement should it come, you know. my husband has been working, if I can brag, 51 years at the same company. I heard about Bitcoin through my son. He started to tell my husband and I about Bitcoin he was diving into it. he was really pouring time into it. He wanted to share this with us, but at the time, my husband was not really interested. He had his way of saving. but My son was so on fire, he wanted to tell my husband and I about Bitcoin I missed a lot of the conversations because I'd be playing with his kids. I'm trying to listen but all talking grandma, grandma, grandma. And My son started coming over to my house late at night, when all of his kids were home in bed. That way grandma couldn't be playing with kids. He started giving me articles to read, resources and his own explanations and that was the beginnings of me wanting more

I don't know about you, but every time I listened to Mary Lou's interview, I am. Energized and inspired all over again. If you have enjoyed listening to these stories, please share Orange Hatter with the people that you love in your life. I recently partnered with the Bitcoin diaries. It is an online store that has. fashion wear for Bitcoiner women. The Bitcoin diaries made a design specifically for orange header and you can order the t-shirts with free shipping worldwide through my website at www.orangehatter.com/support us. If you go to the main website, you just go to the dropdown menu where it says, support us and you'll see the three different designs, one for the podcast and two for the women's retreat. You can support actually two big corner women at the same time. if you go there and place an order for the t-shirts, she took great care to make sure that her designs are feminine And created with a women in mind. So go check it out. You can follow the link and get to her website and check out her other designs as well. And if you use. The Orange Hatter coupon code, you get 10% off. That's "Orange Hatter" in the coupon code, field, and you'll get 10% off of your entire order. So that's a really great way for you to support us. In addition to sharing. Uh, our orange hat, our episodes with people. If you haven't heard all the different women's stories on orange header, I encourage you to go back and check them out. There are so many amazing women sharing their stories on Orange Hatter. I just couldn't go back and, take a clip from all of them. There's Violeta who started her music career. On Italy's X-Factor and now is a passionate advocate for musicians to have self sovereignty over their music. There's Vivian. I Chinese Canadian, who is. A young woman who is active in the Bitcoin space, passionate about sharing. Bitcoin with her podcast. I did an episode with. Two young women. One in college and one, a recent college, God discussing what it's like to. Live with a family who is passionate about Bitcoin. Ellyie, who is a nano technology scientist homeschooling her two kids. Elena, who is another Venezuelan American.. reflecting her experience in the us compared to her parents' experience in Venezuela. Prevo who is passionate about sharing the gospel as well as Bitcoin. Krista who started Access Tribe for women in Bitcoin wanted to create a community for entrepreneurs? Noelyn who is. From Kenya. So many stories. Please make sure you go back and check them out. And if you listen to an episode and you think of someone in your life who, my resonate with the story, Share the episode. with them.. Women to women stories are really, really powerful and you never know what will click. For someone and entice them to come closer to the Bitcoin rabbit hole. Okay, so you've made it this far. And thank you for staying with me. I promise that I have a special offer for you. If you are thinking about attending the Nashville conference, the one that is put on by Bitcoin magazine. Uh, that's taking place in July. I have a special coupon that you can use. This is considered a financial aid. That is offered. It is a 50% off coupon for women who are wanting to purchase the general emissions ticket. For the Nashville, July, 2024 conference. Please use the code orange Hatter five zero orange header five zero for 50% off. This coupon is limited in number and it's reserved for women only. So make sure you take advantage of it. And if you try to, use the coupon code and it's not working, it means that, we've reached The limit of the number of coupon used. So unfortunately, You'll be out of luck then. So make sure you take advantage of it as early as possible. And I thank you again for sticking with me and celebrating the hundredth episode of orange hotter podcast. I appreciate you so much. Come back and, uh, keep listening to amazing Bitcoiner women's stories. And make sure you get involved. As I mentioned before, there's the weekly women's reading club, there is the women's retreat. There's the mastermind group. There's the intention experiment. And. If you just have any comments, if you have feedback. You can send me an email directly. Tali@Orangehatter.com. Thank you so much. And I will see you in the next episode.