I am convinced that Metaverse will be one of the biggest fields.

Please tell us more about your background, how you got interested in blockchain & DeFi and what you are currently working on?

My name is Julien Paredes, I am a French Frog and I was born in Giza (Egypt). During my childhood, I traveled and studied in different countries such as Venezuela, Kenya, Scotland. These experiences have enriched me culturally and have enabled me to acquire a great capacity for adaptation, particularly in terms of relationships, and a curiosity about others, in all their differences.

The desire to create projects as a group, based on the culture, language, experience, and skills of each individual, in short, the singular contribution of each individual, appeared to me to be essential to make all creations and projects possible.

For the last +10 years, I have collaborated with various NGOs, associations, foundations, companies, think tanks, communities, and private investors for whom I've put my relational and operational skills at disposal by forming networks and cross-cutting projects. I also co-founded Puls Impact, a French startup to democratize donations and improve civilian societies' independence thanks to Gaming, Play For Good.

‍

It was quite natural after reading Satoshi Nakamoto's whitepaper that blockchain and cryptocurrency can shine and be linked to my actual activities. I was like, "Blockchain is a decentralized, peer-to-peer, immutable storage network which is censor free and regulator free because of the absence of one single controlling entity", for real?!

After this discovery, I studied a lot to immerse myself in this technology and to be able to interact with this universe. My first experiences were the translations of Whitepapers and announcements on Bitcointalk. That's how I came to get a deeper insight into a multitude of projects. I was able to experiment with forums, wallets, exchanges, and above all, I started to interact with communities and project teams. I saw after several collaborations that my skills and my vision could bring something interesting, so I integrated teams to put into practice my theories. I was lucky to be trusted and had various responsibilities such as project manager, salesman, writer, consultant, or project Ambassador.

Last year, I joined the Alias team as an Exchange relationship manager and Ambassador. Alias is a privacy-focused cryptocurrency, featuring two energy-efficient proof-of-stake algorithms, anonymous staking rewards, rapid transactions, ring signatures, and stealth addresses for privacy and anonymity, and a fully integrated Tor + OBFS4 layer for IP obfuscation.

I am also a contributor to the Peinture Fraîche street Art festival for the next edition in october. My goal will be to introduce NFT to the world's top street artists and to the visitors (+58k). I will have the mission to mint and set a marketplace of street-artist productions done during the festival.

Recently I joined Boson Protocol to disrupt what is current e-commerce and enables a decentralized commerce ecosystem for everybody and everywhere.

My mission as a Bosonaut is to create partner engagements as a Metaverse partnerships manager. Showing to brands, partners, creators, and users that Metaverse opens the gates to a new kind of multi-experience is my duty!

What have been your most important failures and what did you learn from them?

I do not know if I have a most important failure, but I think each failure taught me something to improve myself.

If you could change anything from the past, what would you do differently?

Maybe focus a bit more on learning new languages and coding!

What is the slight moment which changed everything for you?

My last year at Clermont-Ferrand University, I had to find an internship so I decided to move to Lyon to join Res Publica NGO. The founders had a total trust in my capacities and gave me total freedom to execute their vision. I stayed there for 11 years! Thank you Françoise & Jean-Claude. ;)

‍

What soft & hard skills have been most helpful in helping you succeed in DeFi?

As a soft skill, I would definitely say "listening". It's important to listen to others in order to understand their way of thinking and be part of a group.

As a hard skill, I guess building a community would be my pick. Without a community you do not have users neither than clients and we know how it is crucial.

How have DeFi and blockchain changed your life?

Thanks to the amazing people I met in that space, I was able to learn a lot, as I like to say (as a joke) I now have an underground blockchain MBA xD I am lucky & happy that today I can work in blockchain and I know it's only the beginning.

‍

What is a typical day for you? What are your work habits? (planning, how you work, rules you set for yourself, etc.)

Usually I start early with discovering the last news with my tea while my cat is playing around me. Then I share some relevant information with my team and chat with them about what we have to achieve. After grabbing and sharing all information, I start focusing on my duty depending on the position I have. I also feel important so stop working for 20-30 minutes to leave my mind free and comeback with fresh ideas. Sometimes just having a coffee outside can unlock many things. ;)

Which tools do you use in your daily life as a Head of Partnerships?

As everybody I am using LinkedIn to network. I am also using Lemlist, Hubspot & Pipedrive, Hunter.io & Phantombuster.

What are the best resources (media, blog, influencer, podcast, nl…) you follow to be always up to date on the DeFi and your niche?

Since I am a French Frog, I like to have a quick view at Cryptomatrix daily report. I am also a huge fan of Cathy Hackl. In fact I follow people from whom I learn a lot and my thread comes like this. =) I also read many newspapers (Times, Le Monde, Courrier International). And some website (Cointelegraph, Coindesk, Forbes). I also like to follow last eSport and Sport news. =)

What is your favorite DeFi Project?

I learned everything thanks to Curve, I really enjoy how they paved the DeFi journey.

Among the people you’ve worked with in DeFi, who do you admire most and why?

I learned a lot with my Froggy bro Zythop. He always had a great insight about the trends and the tech behind the scene.

What is different working as Head of Partnerships for a DeFi project?

I am not actually working for a DeFi project, but I guess it's all about the same things: building a network that will strengthen your project.

What part should Head of Partnerships play in DeFi and blockchain?

A sort of link between all departments so that the story tells what is special about your project.

What problem does your company solve?

The company I am actually working for is Boson Protocol. Boson Protocol is solving one of the biggest issue when we talk about linking smart contracts to real world commerce. We called Decentralized Commerce - dCommerce.

What's the most important or impactful project about DeFi you created or participated in? What made it so important or impactful?

Actually it is a project where I used to work but has never been released. This experience me that even if we think to have an innovative idea, putting everyone on the same path is a real challenge!

What is something you're working to improve?

Make people I care about happier a little bit more every day ;)

What is your vision for your niche? What do you expect to come in the next few years? What developments in the field do you find to be the most exciting?

I am convinced that Metaverse will be one of the biggest fields. I expect more adoption and more user-friendly dApp that even my parents can use.

Since I love networking and creating bridge, I really enjoy projects that are working on interoperability between blockchains.

Any tips for beginners who aspire to work in this domain, but feel completely overwhelmed to even start competing?

Every question is good to ask, knowledge is the key so do not be shy and go grab it!

Trust yourself, learn from your fails and work hard to achieve your dream. ;)

‍