Hey there! Welcome to the Marketer Of The Month blog!

We recently interviewed Daniela Barbosa for our monthly podcast – ‘Marketer of the Month’! We had some amazing insightful conversations with Daniela and here’s what we discussed about-

1. Challenges in Blockchain Adoption: Lack of understanding and developer shortage hinder blockchain progress

2. Hyperledger’s Education Approach: Hyperledger focuses on educating, training, and certifying developers

3. Notable Project: Climate Action: Collaboration with British Columbia uses blockchain for sustainable mining and carbon accounting

4. Inclusivity in Open Source: Hyperledger promotes inclusivity by welcoming underrepresented communities

5. Balancing Innovation and Stability: Hyperledger maintains enterprise-grade stability through defined project lifecycles

6. Future Vision for Blockchain: Daniela envisions seamless blockchain integration across industries, emphasizing its impact

About our host:

Dr. Saksham Sharda is the Chief Information Officer at Outgrow.co. He specializes in data collection, analysis, filtering, and transfer by means of widgets and applets. Interactive, cultural, and trending widgets designed by him have been featured on TrendHunter, Alibaba, ProductHunt, New York Marketing Association, FactoryBerlin, Digimarcon Silicon Valley, and at The European Affiliate Summit.

About our guest:

Daniela Barbosa serves as GM for Blockchain and Identity at the Linux Foundation and Executive Director of Hyperledger Foundation with an experience of 20+ years. Join us as Daniela discusses blockchain, Hyperledger’s education, impactful projects, open-source inclusivity, innovation-stability, cross-industry integration vision, and much more!

EPISODE 119: The Legacies of Linux: Collaboration, Open Source, & Blockchains with Executive Director Daniela Barbosa

The Intro!

Saksham Sharda: Hi, everyone. Welcome to another episode of Outgrow’s Marketer of the Month. I’m your host, Dr. Saksham Sharda, and I’m the creative director at Outgrow. co. And for this month we are going to interview Daniela Barbosa, who is GM for Blockchain and Identity at the Linux Foundation and Executive Director of Hyperledger Foundation.

Daniela Barbosa: Great to be here. Thank you.

Don’t have time to read? No problem, just watch the Podcast!

Or you can just listen to it on Spotify!

The Rapid Fire Round!

Saksham Sharda: So let’s start with the rapid fire. The first one is at what age do you want to retire?

Daniela Barbosa: Next year.

Saksham Sharda: What’s your favorite mobile app?

Daniela Barbosa: LinkedIn.

Saksham Sharda: How long does it take you to get ready in the mornings?

Daniela Barbosa: 20 to 30 minutes.

Saksham Sharda: The most embarrassing moment of your life?

Daniela Barbosa: I have had many.

Saksham Sharda: Mountains or beaches.

Daniela Barbosa: Beaches for sure.

Saksham Sharda: What’s the most useful mobile feature you can’t live without?

Daniela Barbosa: Text messaging.

Saksham Sharda: Favorite color?

Daniela Barbosa: Blue.

Saksham Sharda: What time of day are you most inspired?

Daniela Barbosa: Mornings.

Saksham Sharda: How many hours of sleep can you survive on?

Daniela Barbosa: Two.

Saksham Sharda: Fill in the blank. An upcoming blockchain trend is ________.

Daniela Barbosa: Decentralized finance.

Saksham Sharda: The city in which the best kiss of your life happened?

Daniela Barbosa: San Francisco.

Saksham Sharda: Pick one Android or Apple.

Daniela Barbosa: Apple.

Saksham Sharda: The biggest mistake of your career?

Daniela Barbosa: Not moving faster sooner.

Saksham Sharda: How do you relax?

Daniela Barbosa: I sleep.

Saksham Sharda: How many cups of coffee do you drink per day?

Daniela Barbosa: One.

Saksham Sharda: A habit of yours that you hate?

Daniela Barbosa: Chewing my nails.

Saksham Sharda: The most valuable skill you’ve learned in life?

Daniela Barbosa: To have empathy for others.

Saksham Sharda: Cities or countryside?

Daniela Barbosa: Cities for sure.

Saksham Sharda: The last one. Which is your favorite Netflix show?

Daniela Barbosa: I don’t watch Netflix. I skipped that one. I don’t watch that TV. I’m such a dork.

The Big Questions!

Saksham Sharda: Alright, so the longer questions. The first one is what are the biggest challenges facing the development and adoption of blockchain technology today? And how do you plan to address them?

Daniela Barbosa: So I think some of the biggest challenges are two things. One is education. People still do not understand what blockchain is and what blockchain can enable, regarding things like efficiencies and productivity, around multiple industries. The other challenge is developer education, getting enough developers into the ecosystem that can help build and develop these new applications. So at the HyperLedger Foundation, we do a lot of work regarding education about blockchain and blockchain-related technologies. From a developer perspective, we have a great way to onboard new developers into our ecosystem and to the different projects that we have. We also spend a lot of time making sure that developers have access to training. I’m training to understand the basics of blockchain or things like digital identity and self-sovereign identity. And then as they get deeper into their coursework, how to develop, how to be certified administrators, etc. So I think that’s a critical part of what the HyperLedger Foundation offers.

Saksham Sharda: So could you describe a project or initiative that you have been particularly proud of during your tenure at this foundation?

Daniela Barbosa: Yeah, so I think, some of the work that we’re seeing around climate action, specifically, where technology is being used to solve real-world problems, really inspires not only myself but our community as well. So I’ll give you an example of the government of British Columbia, The government of British Columbia has been contributing and participating in the HyperLedger Foundation since 2017. What that means is they have developers and they’re contributing code They’re building the code bases that are being used for different projects. One of those is with the energy mines initiative. This is an initiative with the public and private sectors, working with the mining industry in British Columbia to be able to sustainably mine minerals out of the earth and be able to track those along the way. It’s a great powerful way to use blockchain, from a Providence perspective, from a sustainability and carbon accounting perspective as well.

Saksham Sharda: And how do you ensure that the open-source development process of the Linux Foundation remains inclusive and diverse? And what strategies have you found to be the most effective in achieving this goal?

Daniela Barbosa: So we have a salient saying here at the HyperLedger Foundation, and across the Linux Foundation that all are welcome. So every meeting that you go to, for example, we start with our all-welcome message. We want to make sure that it’s a place for inclusivity. We also spend a lot of resources and time to make sure that, for example, underrepresented communities in the engineering and developer community understand that there’s an opportunity for them to come to the HyperLedger Foundation, and to build skills that they can, in turn, contribute back to their companies, to their governments, to the regions. So from a diversity perspective, it is a battle that’s ongoing, open source is no different than other technology. platforms out there are how do you make sure that you have the right people in the room for us, it’s really important to spend time with, for example, university students across the different regions, and just make sure that they understand that all are welcome. All can contribute, and all can participate in our open communities.

Saksham Sharda: And how do you personally stay current with the rapidly evolving landscape of blockchain technology? And what resources or communities do you rely on to stay current and up to date?

Daniela Barbosa: So one of the things is every single day, multiple times a day, the Hyperledger communities get together to work on different projects, special interest groups in our special interest groups, really range between supply chain, trade, finance, health care, and many more. I listened to many of those special interest group meetings sometimes in person, sometimes via recording, and I read a lot. I think one of the things that blockchain and blockchain Technologies have done is create a lot of content around what’s happening. So keeping up with LinkedIn, keeping up with the blockchain, media, and mainstream media as well is important. It is a rapid-fire industry every single day. For example, I’ve had a couple of talks here at the Mobile World Congress. I wouldn’t go on stage without actually looking to see what happened in the news because every day there’s something new and something big.

Saksham Sharda: And the danger of getting left behind?

Daniela Barbosa: Exactly, no one wants to be left behind or not know what’s being said. But I think it’s just the evolving technology. And these innovations and technologies move fast. So you just have to try to keep on top of it, it’s hard.

Saksham Sharda: Could you discuss your approach to managing and leading a global team of open-source developers, and what skills you think are most important for success?

Daniela Barbosa: So, one of the things that the HyperLedger Foundation is unique is that we only have nine employees. These nine employees are empowered throughout the community to guide the community, the developers, and the marketers in the community to support the projects and the work that the teams are doing. So for me, it’s really important to find a nice balance between giving my staff the opportunity to also be leaders and manage their departments as well, whether they’re the community architects that work very closely with the developers, or the ecosystem team that works very closely with our member companies, is how can I empower them to empower the members of developers as well. So for us, we have to be open. We have to have empathy for others. There are people in our organization and in our community who have other life circumstances, and we want to make sure that they find that all are welcome here and that they can participate, regardless of where their background is and what their day-to-day looks like.

Saksham Sharda: Going back to keeping up to date with the trends, how do you balance the need for innovation despite experimentation with the need for stability and reliability in blockchain technology?

Daniela Barbosa: Yeah, so one of the reasons that companies use HyperLedger Technologies, the projects that we have is because we have a very established project lifecycle. These projects are open-source code bases that are developed collaboratively in the community. But they also have a project lifecycle that is understandable by enterprises. So for example, we explain our projects as being enterprise-grade. Enterprise-grade means that organizations can use the code, implement the code, and know that there’s a community to help support it. For example, the most advanced of our projects will have LTSS, which is its support, and that helps an enterprise understand that this code is built for the enterprise, and it’s production-ready as well.

Saksham Sharda: Because you describe your vision for the future of blockchain and identity, how the work being done at the Linux Foundation is contributing to this?

Daniela Barbosa: Vision. So it is a 10 or 20. Year of future vision. I think a lot of these technologies, although the news might seem like it’s moving very fast, the adoption of that technology moves at a slower pace, as it probably should. I think one of the things that we have to keep in mind is that I hope that one day we don’t talk about blockchain. If you think about going to a website, and you don’t say, Wow, this is great JavaScript. You don’t maybe the geekier ones of us might do that. But the goal is that blockchain becomes part of the infrastructure that financial services, healthcare, supply chains, and governments build into their systems. And I think we’re getting there, where people do not want to discuss just the blockchain element of it, but what this technology is doing. So if I see a future in five to ten years where I don’t have to speak about blockchain. I think we’ve accomplished that.

Saksham Sharda: Alright, so the last question for you is personal, What would you be doing in your life if not this right now?

Daniela Barbosa: Oh, that’s a very simple one. I will be a librarian. So I have a Master’s in Library and Information Science, and I’ve always been interested in the bits and the bytes of data and the quality of access to the data that many librarians are focused on. When I did my master’s program, I did it around information technology in the early 90s. I was very interested in where the internet was going, and where people were going to be able to get their education and have access to the media. So even I think, at one point, maybe I’ll retire to be a librarian and my dreams will be fulfilled.

Saksham Sharda: To what extent can you relate the metaphor of a librarian taking that off a blockchain maintenance closet?

Daniela Barbosa: Well, because librarians have to have to be trusted individuals, right? There are people in the community that come and if you think about librarians, where did they order things, what are blockchains their blocks of orders? So you know, there are a lot of connections between information science and Library Science and blockchain as well.

Saksham Sharda: So the last thing you could do is just tell us your name. I am name, job title and catch me at the Mobile World Congress.

Daniela Barbosa: My name is Daniela Barbosa. I’m the general manager for blockchain and identity at the Linux Foundation. I also serve as the executive director of the HyperLedger Foundation. Catch me at the Mobile World Congress 2023.

Let’s Conclude!

Saksham Sharda: Thanks, everyone for joining us for this month’s episode of Outgrow’s Marketer of the Month. That was Daniela Barbosa, GM for Blockchain and Identity at the Linux Foundation and Executive Director of Hyperledger Foundation.

Daniela Barbosa: Pleasure. Thanks for having me.

Saksham Sharda: Check out the website for more details and we’ll see you once again next month with another marketer of the month.