Bored Ape Yacht Club holder Laura Rodriguez joined the community over a year ago. After being convinced to get into NFTs, Rodriguez is now a community builder for Web3 and one of the most well-known Bored Ape holders. Rodriguez will be a featured panelist at Benzinga's Future of Crypto event in New York City on Dec. 7.
Intro to NFTs, Bored Ape Yacht Club: Rodriguez, known by many as Laura Rod or the Miami Ape, told Benzinga her history with cryptocurrency started with finding small ways to invest.
“I started learnings how to invest in crypto,” Rodriguez said. “Learned about the blockchain, that intrigued me.”
Rodriguez said it was her boyfriend at the time (now her business partner) who got her into NFTs, but it wasn’t without initial skepticism.
“I was very hesitant in the beginning.”
Rodriguez remembers asking, “wait, we’re gonna buy jpegs?”
Eventually, something “just clicked” and Rodriguez saw the value of NFTs and went down the rabbit hole of investing and researching communities and projects.
“Bored Ape Yacht Club was one of the first products that was my introduction to a meaningful community.”
Rodriguez didn’t mint a Bored Ape, but bought one later, calling it a “conscious purchase” that was “thought out.”
“The community was really pushing the brand forward.”
Advancing Bored Ape Yacht Club, Community: Rodriguez has been an active member of the Bored Ape Yacht Club community since buying her Bored Ape NFT.
Recently, Rodriguez was one of seven Ape holders named to the Bored Ape Community Council.
“It was an absolute honor,” Rodriguez told Benzinga of being named to the council.
Rodriguez said she didn’t know why she was on the call when she was told she was going to be part of the council. Rodriguez called her being named to the council “such a big honor.”
As a Latina in the Web3 space, Rodriguez said she feels a sense of responsibility and pride in being a council member.
Building a Brand: Rodriguez has built a brand and company around Bored Ape #9300 called The Miami Ape.
“Owning a Bored Ape opened up a lot of partnership opportunities,” Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez said owning a Bored Ape and starting her own company has empowered her to do “a lot of stuff that I love.”
This includes being a Twitter Spaces host, leading a podcast and helping advise NFT projects. Social media sessions and interviews from Rodriguez are often done in both English and Spanish to help bridge the gap and give underrepresented groups a seat at the table in Web3.
Rodriguez said she wants to lead with integrity in the space and provide social work and a social impact for Web3.
Benzinga Future of Crypto Event: Rodriguez will be a featured panelist at Benzinga’s Future of Crypto event in New York City on Dec. 7 speaking on a panel called “Ape Talk.” She and other Bored Ape holders will share how owning a Bored Ape has launched them into NFTs full-time and led to other opportunities in Web3.
Rodriguez has attended several NFT events over the last year including events geared towards collections like Bored Ape Yacht Club, Doodles and World of Women, projects of which she is a holder.
“We need this human interaction,” Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez told Benzinga that she is looking forward to networking and meeting with friends at Future of Crypto. This could include meeting audience members from Twitter Spaces that Rodriguez has hosted, since one of the advantages of real-life events is helping connect people.
“I truly believe that in the downtime is when people in the space want to create really cool things.”
Rodriguez said long-term builders are not worried about the next hype or cool thing, and instead are focused on creating something that is “long-lasting and impactful.”
Rodriguez said she’s excited to hear who is building what and looks forward to listening to other panels.
“I really do think that for you to be a thoughtful leader in any space, you need to be able to listen and learn from the best. Clearly, you guys (Benzinga) have amazing panelists that are going to add so much value.”
Hear Laura Rodriguez speak at the Future of Crypto by getting your tickets here.
