CAREER OUTLOOK
BLACK LEADERS
Powering Metaverse
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From higher education to child safety to fashion, Black thought leaders in the metaverse are launching businesses, leveraging technology, and creating art that offers free admission—andopportunities— to all people, especially underrepresented voices. While some thought leaders received their education from prestigious universities in the U.S., others are self-taught or seized the chance to learn tech while holding another position at a company. What they all have in common is the desire to create a more inclusive world through the metaverse and for the metaverse to influence the world we live in.
RYAN DENNIS Senior Manager MetaJuice
From an early age, technology piqued Ryan Dennis’ curiosity. As a teenager, he studied engineering technology at Columbia University to learn how technology could be used to foster inclusivity and community across the globe. Dennis received an honors Bachelor of Arts degree in journalism from Hampton University and was bestowed the Outstanding Leadership Award. He went on to manage marketing teams across nine cities in the U.S. for companies like BitTorrent, TRON DAO, Exodus, Abra, and ICO Alert. Dennis is senior manager for MetaJuice, the blockchain subsidiary of the IMVU metaverse with over 1 million daily active users. He led the launch of a blockchain-enabled metaverse at the GamesBeat conference hosted by Meta and VentureBeat. He is also the founder of two messaging and communications startups, NFTs Life and CryptoLately, which aim to help metaverse and cryptocurrency companies reach target audiences. He currently resides in Silicon Valley.
RAULVIN COKE CEO & Co-founder Future Wise Group
Raulvin Coke is a globally recognized
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USBE & Information Technology | DEANS ISSUE 2022
futurist, business transformation executive, and in-demand consultant, speaker, and media personality with deep experience working in tech-related fields with companies such as NBC Universal, MediaBrix, and Oracle. He is co-CEO and co-founder of Future Wise Group, a Web 3.0 brand strategy and metaverse marketing agency working with startups, businesses, influencers, and celebrities to strategically expand their footprint to monetize within the metaverse economy. Recently, the company executive produced two podcasts: Esports, Metaverse & Beyond—a kids-focused podcast— and Metaverse-ology, which features entrepreneurs and thought leaders in the Web 3.0 space to help demystify the metaverse ecosystem and economy. Both shows were listed in FeedSpot’s Top 25 Metaverse Podcasts.
JACQUELINE SHAULIS (JK SHAULIS) Founder Awesome Enterprises LLC
Jacqueline Shaulis is an international motivational speaker, executive coach, and bestselling author supporting BIPOC women and advocating for inclusion and diversity. She’s partnered with the National Center for Intersectional Studies and is using the metaverse as a tool for connection for intersectional introverts and amplification of the lived www.blackengineer.com