Young, innovative, and female: the 20-year-old Uma Hagenguth is part of this movement of our generation, aiming to bring more freedom to this world. Being a young woman in the tech industry and co-founder of APPICS, the first blockchain-based social media app, Uma truly lives the idea of female empowerment.

“I’ve always tried to view the world from an external perspective. Most people are stuck in a constant loop: going to school, college, getting a job and so on. I was blessed to grow up in an environment of entrepreneurs. At first, it seemed insane that people could really earn money with their own online businesses – but then, I wanted to know more, and understand this technology and its possibilities”, says Uma Hagenguth.

Technology and women – even today, quite a rare combination…

Unfortunately, yes. This is a pity because female emotional intelligence is so important in this industry. Often, men only think about the technology itself. But women can feel intuitively how you can change the world with it. You can learn anything – most of the time, women just don’t get in contact with tech like men do. We should just try to be more self-confident and trust our own abilities.

So why don’t women do it?

Because the change in our society is happening right now. Women with superpowers are traditionally not expected. Until today, the voice of a woman is still not completely equal to that of a man. Often times, we have to accomplish more in order to be recognized. These are the rudiments of a time and a mindset that is long outdated – but that still hasn’t reached everyone yet.

What would be an example?

I was attending a Bitcoin Meetup in Berlin. At the entrance, I was being stopped by a young man and told: „The café is currently closed due to a Blockchain event.“ I just said, „Yes, that’s exactly where I’m headed – thank you!“

This subconscious judgmental attitude is still present in a lot of male mindsets. But we can’t let this become a personal barrier to our growth. My personal way of dealing with it: ignore the stereotypes and focus. I only pay attention to who I am and what I can change.

How did you get involved with the tech world?

Tony Winchester, the CEO of APPICS, one of the first Bitcoin millionaires in Germany and my mentor, was the one who first introduced me to crypto. Together with him and Sandro Ieva, the 3rd founder of APPICS, we founded a digital agency in 2012. I was 15 at that time. It was also at Tony’s home where I saw a Bitcoin mining rig for the very first time. At first, I thought it was something like a heater – until he told me that this machine actually creates money. 6 Bitcoin per day at the time!

And that’s what got you started with crypto?

Yes, amongst other things. The more I got into the crypto world, the more I realized: This is not just a new currency. This is a technology that will completely revolutionize our world. But for most people, crypto is just digital money.

Like the Internet in 1994?

Exactly. Blockchain technology is revolutionary.

Now is the moment of truth – who will recognize this huge potential first? Governments, banks, big corporations, or we as a society? This is our chance to make a change, to bring decentralization to social media and to stop third-parties from benefitting from our time and energy.

3 billion people are online every day – and 91% of that traffic comes from mobile devices. 14-year-old YouTube stars have a bigger reach than the President of the United States. The community is fighting to get its power back – we are witnessing the change right now. And Blockchain rewards proactivity.

But in order for that to happen, society needs to get in touch with the technology first…

And that’s where APPICS comes in. The crypto community is still young, and the rest of the „normal“ society lacks understanding. With APPICS, we are going to bridge the gap between crypto and mainstream, making it possible for anyone to benefit from Blockchain without actually having to understand how it works on a technical level.

Do you think this could be an incentive for women to get into the crypto space?

Definitely. Most women might not even be aware that finance and technology could actually be interesting to them – because they’ve never tried it. I would have never guessed myself that I would someday found a company in this very industry. You just have to get involved with it, and social media is making it more easily accessible.

How would that work?

APPICS is the first social media app which is based on Blockchain but is still easy to use for everyone. At the core, the app works similar to Instagram but instead of algorithms, the community gets to decide over the success of the users and the quality of the content. There is no need for sponsors or constant advertisement. The value of the content is created through interactions.

What does that mean?

Everyone can share pictures and videos, like, comment, and earn instant cryptocurrency tokens through other people’s upvotes. The bigger your influence in the network, the bigger the impact of your vote. In the end, your post might result in something like „20 dollars worth of APPICS coins“ – and this is your money. You can either leave it and receive interest, spend it in our shop system, or exchange it for regular currency to pay your bills.

Why do you think this would work?

Our team is unlike most cryptocurrency projects, being well-established in both worlds, mainstream, as well as crypto. We have been trading, programming and mining cryptocurrencies since 2011 – but we’re also artists and have connections to the mainstream entertainment industry. Especially the younger generation is yearning for self-determination.

With APPICS, we can show what would be possible on a larger scale: individuals retrieve control over their life, their time, and the value of their work. We don’t have to store our money at the bank anymore. We don’t have to blindly obey these institutions.

Our trust has been broken countless times by the governments and officials of this world, so now it only makes sense for people to be interested in Blockchain and APPICS.

Do you even have money stored in your bank account?

Hardly any. Once you understand the system, you’ll want to get out.

Nowadays I have most of my money in crypto and only exchange what I need at that moment. Most people are scared that their money will be worthless all of a sudden but crypto is not a lottery. You are investing in a technology that is bigger than the internet itself and that is a big difference. Our pre-sale alone has already shown how people around the globe are yearning for a change in social media, and blockchain is here to make it happen.

In what way?

We raised $1.5 million in just 26 minutes – although the pre-sale was supposed to last for 4 weeks. We were sold out in under half an hour and now, over 5000 people are waiting for our official ICO which starts today.

The team consists of 80% women – a coincidence?

The most important factor for us was the people. Of course, feminine energy can’t hurt in any team, but I’m not a feminist that insists on gender-specific competence.

The APPICS team consists of many smart, creative people – and most happen to be women. Still, I am happy that we are representing the women-empowerment movement with this.

Why is that?

In the last few years, I got connected with so many interesting, strong and intelligent women in business. Many of these women inspired me and helped me on my own path.

Today, I am becoming an inspiration to others, which is incredible. I often get messages from women around the globe, who are fascinated by my work. This support is a huge motivation to me. We can only really make a change when we are truly living this mutual motivation and inspiration and reflect it in everything we do.

A woman alone can be as strong as she wants – but with a global community supporting her, she can really make a change.

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