Ambassador Stories, Journal #9 : Shaun & Quentin

Welcome to the 9th journal of our weekly “Ambassador Stories” series! :star_struck:

Every week, you’ll be able to enjoy the various, unique stories of our Cardano Community Ambassadors: what motivated, and still motivates them, to be part of this amazing and wonderful community?

The Cardano Community Team would also like to thank the Ambassadors for all their continued efforts and participation in sharing their stories with us. :writing_hand:

Please read all about Shaun Byres (@byres) & Quentin Kayila (@wnipos down below! :open_book:

Part 1: Shaun Byres, Ambassador Moderator.

Shaun has recently joined our Ambassador Moderator ranks, helping out in our various social media platforms and chat rooms, providing answers to questions and resolve problems. Prior to that, Shaun has been an active and long time community member. Shaun is a sincere and great guy who goes the extra mile in getting our community informed and engaged! Thanks for your continued support, Shaun!

(Shaun on one of his travels, getting some selfie-love from a Shisa. How was the food over there?)

1) Tell us a little about yourself. What is your background?

I’m 27. Born and raised in the Scottish highlands but moved to Australia a few years ago. I work as a Cloud Systems Engineer and have been in the IT field specifically for around 10 years. I enjoy spending my time traveling and experiencing different cultures (and primarily the food, mmmm!).

2) How did you get interested and involved with Blockchain/Crypto?

I’ve been involved in various bitcoin communities over the years. My interest started after joining the bitcointalk forum and buying my first coins on localbitcoins in 2014.

3) Why Cardano?

I love open source ideology and the vision that IOHK has laid out over the upcoming eras.

4) How are you contributing to the Cardano Ecosystem as an Ambassador?

I’ve been an active member in the community since 2017. My goal is to continue to support and add value to the telegram channels and other social media. I’m fairly active and you’ll see me under the username @byres on Telegram and the Forum.

5) What is your future vision for the Cardano Ecosystem?

I’m looking forward to seeing all eras come together and real uptake and adoption taking place. Developing countries is a huge opportunity to push blockchain mainstream and this is a primary focus for IOHK, Emurgo and CF.

6 ) What is your personal message to the Cardano community?

Bitcoin excelled back in the early days from having a tight community and many were spreading the good word of blockchain outside of the social media echo chambers.

Cardano will rely on similar support to drive things forward. Even little gestures like gifting tangem cards for Christmas, or a paper wallet for a birthday present really goes a long way - this movement shouldn’t be isolated to social media.

“A lot of times people look at the negative side of what they feel they can’t do. I always look on the positive side of what I can do.” - Chuck Norris

Don’t forget to like, follow, share Shaun’s hard work! He can be followed on the Cardano Forum and via Telegram: @byres!

—The End of Part 1.

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Part 2: Quentin Kayila, Ambassador Meetup Organizer.

Quentin is a very active community member, and always has been since the early days. We’ve also had the pleasure of meeting him at the IOHK Summit in Miami this year. Apart from being the French Cardano Podcast host, Quentin’s talks, meetups and workshops really help drive the adoption and awareness of our great project! We wouldn’t be where we’re at today with the community, if it wasn’t for Quentin! Thanks for your continued hard work and support! We’re all looking forward to more meetups and French podcasts!

1) Tell us a little about yourself. What is your background?

I am a computer scientist. I have worked as an IT consultant for the government for 10 years and I have started to speak to conferences about for 2 years now. I was born in Belgium but I have moved in Canada when I was 19 to study IT and to have a career in technology.

2) How did you get interested and involved with Blockchain/Crypto?

I have always looked for new opportunities to make a difference, but I was late to engage myself with social media, such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, … Maybe I would have learned about Bitcoin and blockchain earlier! Like a lot of people, my friend talked to me about Bitcoin and mining. I went through the rabbit hole and I never got out.

3) Why Cardano?

First, because of Charles. Then because the project is very different from all the others projects. I have researched Cardano when it first appeared on CoinMarketCap. I have watched the famous whiteboard video and it was exactly what I was looking for. Charles was filling in the gaps and blanks by explaining the first and second generation of blockchains. In some interviews, he talked about the atmosphere at that time, the DAO hack, Ethereum Classic and the third generation blockchain; which is Cardano. Cardano is the blockchain I can use to talk to about blockchain to Universities, government department, friends, co-workers or the board of the company I work for. The interest is higher with the Cardano project because you have academic papers to share, you have partnerships to explain, you have business opportunities and you have investment. Every aspect is interesting to me and I have different aspects to share with a lot of people without the negative publicity of Bitcoin. The funny part is that I start to talk about Cardano to explain Bitcoin.

4) How are you contributing to the Cardano Ecosystem as an Ambassador?

I saw the opportunity to launch a French podcast about Cardano. So I share views, updates and news about the project. Cardano has some French developers and team members. They helped explain the technology, the adoption strategy and other elements of the project for the French Community.

5) What is your future vision for the Cardano Ecosystem?

I agree with the vision of Charles. I want Cardano to be first used in developing countries where there are infinite practical use cases. But I think it could quickly become the most popular platform around the world being used by multiple parties from video game to supply chain, land registry and more. The future is bright.

6 ) What is your personal message to the Cardano community?

Cardano is not about investing money, it is about changing lives for the better, and our role as a community is to make sure we do what we have to, to get to that goal !

Don’t forget to like, follow, share Quentin’s hard work! He can be followed on the Cardano Forum, YouTube, Twitter, or on (the French) Telegram!


Such motivated community members we have in our ecosystem! Thank you all for reading, and don’t forget to leave your comments/likes and give our Ambassadors some Cardano community :heart: and follow their work!:100::muscle:

Until next week, with new people and new Ambassador Stories! :wave:

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Un grand merci Quentin pour ton podcast d’une très grande qualité.