What will we leave behind? Lessons from ancient queens

Love history? Me too! Here’s my summer reading reading list, plus insights

Hi there, 

I hope you’re all having a great summer! I’ve been focused on producing the next (and last big print finale!) issue of Des Femmes Magazine, plus a few reports that I’ll finally get to share with you in September. There was also a sudden death in my family this past weekend, which will force me to learn about bitcoin inheritance procedures for the first time. 

I’m not sure whether I’ll write about that family experience. He was 45 years old, relatively healthy, so his death was unexpected. It’s unclear if he had any will or plan to guide us. Right now our priorities are grieving and honoring his memory. It’s made me think a lot about legacies, which will be our topic today. 

Lately I’ve become obsessed with queens and female warriors throughout history. I wonder how people will remember me and my loved ones too. Some of the books I’d recommend about women leaders include “Women Warriors: An Unexpected History” by Pamela D. Toler, “The Daughters of Kobani” by Gayle Tzemach Lemmon, “African Princess: The Amazing Lives of Africa's Royal Women” by Joyce Hansen, “Pirate Women: The Princesses, Prostitutes, and Privateers Who Ruled the Seven Seas” by Laura Sook Duncombe, and “Jezebel: The Untold Story of the Bible's Harlot Queen” by Lesley Hazleton. If you prefer to watch history instead of read it, the biopic “Mary Queen of Scots” is also one of my favorite movies (Take it with a Hollywood-sized grain of salt.). These stories have inspired lots of brainstorming about leadership in general. 

In the meantime, I’m still using every opportunity to learn more about community-managed projects using digital assets, comparing how people react to power in different contexts. 

Money Insights 

With regard to communal fund management, I reached out to the angel investors at the African Bitcoin Lightning Capital group, which uses a bitcoin multisig wallet for group investments in African bitcoin startups. Their group is made up of friends who were already wealthy, and had ample experience in the tech industry, before they got together to create their community wallet. They contributed an equal amount of funds to the wallet, then started discussing opportunities sourced from their own professional networks.