My future will not be defined by war or peace or gender inequality.

If I tell the world who I am and where I come from, it will see me as a victim, a passive survivor of a conflict beyond my control. I am the perfect victim: A single mother forced to flee Kyiv, to leave my life and my country behind to save my family.

The world underestimates me. It underestimates Ukraine. It underestimates victims.

We Ukrainians are strong, digitally-mobile pragmatists. Crypto donations may be saving the Ukrainian government and army, but Ukrainian people are saving themselves, crypto wallet in hand. I know because I am one of them.

Yes, I am Ukrainian. Yes, I left the country with little more than a crypto wallet and a set of convictions. Yes, I am also a woman in tech and a single mother. Yes, I face the structural and social implications of this daily.

Yes, I can fight for myself, just as I will fight for you and anyone left underrepresented and underestimated in the mainstream, anyone willing to stand up and make art, design software, write code, and create in the Web 3 gold rush.

Follow if you want to learn how.