As we celebrate Women’s History Month this March, we turn our spotlight on Lorena Billi, a visionary leader and the driving force behind Furt’Her, a groundbreaking project dedicated to empowering women in Web 3.0 and technology.

We had the pleasure to discuss with Lorena about her career, her project, and what she learned along the way. Through this interview, we hope to inspire more women to launch themselves in the realm of Tech and Web 3.0.

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Lorena’s Journey

Kingsley: Hello, Lorena! Can you tell us a bit about yourself?

Lorena Billi: Hello, I am Lorena Billi, and I am the founder of Furt’her. I am passionate about Web 3, travel, and personal development. I studied hospitality management in Brussels and International relations in Finland. I worked a lot abroad, and now I am back in Belgium. If I had to give three adjectives about myself, I would say: brave, joyful, and visionary.

K: As a child, what was your dream job? 

LB: I wanted to be a world explorer. And now I explore the world through technology and travel.

K: If you had to give yourself from 10 years ago an advice, what would it be?  

LB: It would be “Don’t be so naive”, the reality of the sector made me understand that.

Furt’her project

K: Could you present the project Furt’her to us? 

LB: Of course, Furt’her is a center for education for women in the Web3 in Brussels and around the world. Multiple initiatives are available, including networking, conferences, workshops, and online content … Our aim is to create a safe space where women can learn, be comfortable, and enter the Web3 sector that can look intimidating at first glance. The goal of the project is to inspire, inform, and create a network. The project Furt’her has been launched for a year and a half now, I recently onboarded 4 women to my project as advisory board

K: Was it difficult for you to enter the Web3 sector? 

LB: Yes, it is a very intimidating sector, not only because of a very male-dominated environment but also because of the complexity of certain aspects of the sector. For example, we talk about blockchain and artificial intelligence, which evolve quite fast. To remain up-to-date when you don’t have a technical background, can be intimidating. For me without a technical background, I saw how difficult and time-consuming it was to enter the sector, find good information, and surround myself with the right people, which is the reason why I decided to launch this project.

K: What made you want to start to explore the Web3? 

LB: I started because I was intrigued by the cryptocurrencies and the blockchain technology. I started then to dive into this sector by attending events, making some online researches and networking. I have discovered so many different interesting aspects and uses of these technologies that I felt like it was a whole new world to explore. That’s exactly what motivated me to learn more about it and find my place in this sector

K: Can you define for us what’s the Web3 ? 

LB: Of course, Web3 is an evolution of the internet compared to Web1 or Web2. It is bringing new technological tools that remodel the actual experience we have with the internet. It answers some of the challenges we currently face nowadays with the internet. For example, authentication issues, and ownership issues with personal data. The blockchain technology allows to handle data differently, for more security, transparency and ownership. Web3 is the next evolution of the current internet.

Women in Entrepreneurship

K: You use the pronoun “her” in the name of your project, what’s the importance of the feminine in this project for you? 

LB: It is to reply to a major gender gap present in that industry that I faced when I entered this sector. There were very only few women present. I decided then to create an incubator to allow women to get a first step into these domains and allow them to find resources and connect with a qualitative network of experts. The mission is also to inspire and create career transition opportunities.

K: What’s a good leader for you? 

LB: For me, a good leader is someone who inspires and motivates.

K: Did you have any role models who inspired you to get started?

LB: I launched myself because I wanted to create my project and my own company. A woman who inspires me, my grandmother, because of her resilience, which is a very important quality in the entrepreneurship world. It helps me keep questioning my choices and reinvent myself in front of obstacles. Resilience is a value that inspires me.

K: What advice would you give to people who want to create their own project? 

LB: Be conscious of the responsibility and the commitment that it brings to create your company. It’s not only a lot of hours, but also a lot of different titles that you need to carry at once, entrepreneurship means that you have to endorse a lot of different roles. You need to be able to make and assume each decision you take and be able to adapt yourself when necessary. It is a continuous adventure, with no pause. While it is your own company, you are in charge of everything that happens inside. People around you are also very important, in order to persevere and drive forward your project. It is important to create a network not only to get support but to stay motivated, to exchange ideas… In the end, the main responsibility when creating a company, always falls back on you.

K: Did you encounter difficulties when entering the world of tech as a woman? 

LB: I think the biggest difficulty might be the intimidation from a very masculine sector and the lack of knowledge that we can have when we don’t come from a technical background. This can lead to an impostor syndrome. But once we are educating ourselves, and we enter a knowledgeable network, it gets easier.

K: Do you think the world of tech is accessible to women? 

LB: I think that the world of tech is considered as a sector in itself while technology is available in every sector and impacting all of us. What’s important is to understand how women want to position themselves in the world of tech, and what role women want to take concerning the evolution of tech and its impact on our society (it can be regarding sustainability or awareness or any other aspect). It is important to take into consideration the tech evolution in our career path. And Furt’her is there to address this.

K: What message do you want to transmit to young women? 

LB: What I would like to share is that technology is part of our society, and it is impacting us in our careers and in our everyday lives. It is important, as young women, to get well educated on all aspects, technical, benefits, challenge, etc to build a conscious future all together

K: Do you have new projects coming up with Furt’Her? 

LB: Yes, we are developing projects to expand internationally with partnerships and also by ourselves. The Advisory Board is contributing to it and we are looking forward to develop valuable services.

For all the women who are interested in the tech sector or are not interested yet but want to know more about it. Get surrounded by people who inspire you and can help you grow thanks to their own experience and knowledge to the innovations of tomorrow. It is important to be able to take your place in tomorrow’s society.

Joyful, focused, and positive toward the future, Lorena, is a great example of a woman who takes her project further and helps inspire others to do the same.