Creating an Ecosystem of Value for the Future of Education - Julie Smithson

Hello and welcome to The Glow Up- fabulous conversations with innovative minds. I'm Nathan C and today I am chatting with Julie Smithson, CEO of MetaVRse and co-founder of 6ix Ventures. Julie, it is so good to see you today. Thanks for joining me.

Thanks for having me and, helping glow up your podcast. I'm excited to be here. My name is Julie Smithson and I am the CEO of MetaVRse and co-founder of 6ix Ventures. 6ix Ventures is our family company where we've been building for, many years. We decided to put, all of our companies and the mission of what we're doing under one umbrella. My mission is to inspire and educate the next generation of future leaders. To think and act in a socially, economically, environmentally sustainable way. We're gonna do that with, emerging technologies. That's the mantra of what we're building. So under 6ix Ventures, we have Unlimited Awesome, MetaVRse, and, we're also working on a sovereign data solution as well, for the education system. So that's the big story there under the 6ix Ventures umbrella.

I love this idea of a family of serial entrepreneurs, recognizing the numerous, companies and intellectual properties that you have all sort of fitting together under a theme and, building, that umbrella, that parent that can support them all. Literally a family of, products and services, for the family of entrepreneurs. Can you talk a little bit more about that journey to envision and realize 6ix Ventures and, to start this new vision for, that core vision that you're leading with.

I think our journey started when my kids were young and nine, 10 years old. My older daughter created her first company solving, an ugly tan line problem, and she built out, The Love Sandals. that leave a heart-shaped tan line and sold over 3000 pairs of shoes. That was when she was, at age nine. we realized that with the future of technology and education today. the kids were not learning what they needed to in order to see their potential and to learn the things that they're not teaching in schools today. So that became our big mission with Unlimited Awesome. And that we needed to build out a curriculum that taught perseverance and critical problem solving teamwork, collaboration, social impact environmental sustainability, as well as financial literacy, all the things that they never taught in school. So we put a curriculum together, called The Unlimited Awesome Program and Academy. At the same time we were building the MetaVRse and we started MetaVRse in 2016, way before the metaverse trend, happened. Today we actually own a word trademark on the word MetaVRse. But in the last, nine years, we have built over 200 immersive projects, to understand the technology with spatial computing and how are people learning and educating, training, how do consumers and retailers play together in this space Avatars are part of it, 3D assets and interactions and that sort of thing. So that's what MetaVRse became this game engine and almost like a research hub for us using and working with our clients to build and innovate brand new solutions. Taking all of that learning and lessons and the product from MetaVRse. We knew that it would lend itself to become the virtual campus for Unlimited. And that's where we are today, putting this educational curriculum together with the MetaVRse engine, to provide, the curriculum to support and inspire that next generation to have the skill sets and knowledge of both, what they need to know about entrepreneurship and innovation, but also using the technology that is within our ecosystem today.

Wow, I gotta take a moment to just, absorb a little bit. This is fantastic, right? Like, every founder story usually starts with that pain point and to see this pain in, the future you want to create for your children and, helping them, start on their entrepreneurial journey. now that problem becomes so clear and I think I wanna dive into a little bit more about using MetaVRse, understanding that this vision was gonna be in an immersive space, was gonna leverage cutting edge technology and then using client work using partnerships, using these projects with brands to really test, understand and validate, how to use, what do people need, how are people really working in there so that you can take these things to the next level. Like one, great job, working with clients to pay for the R&D, that you're looking to build in the future. Wow, what a great, data set. 200 projects is, I think Mr. Beast's advice is, you know, you wanna do something new, try a hundred times, and you're bound to learn something. Can you talk a little bit about what you learned as you worked through these 200 spatial projects and how that's impacted the vision that you have today?

Absolutely! My whole who I am today lends itself to the experience you have when you build something for the first time. And, proud to say, I built all of these projects 200 plus with my team, but also 12 world firsts. to tie that To innovation is, where we built everything for the first time and worked with our clients. We learned so much when we implemented, you know, training systems for one of the biggest medical companies in the world and transforming all of their training applications into virtual labs. And even putting gamification behind that, especially when we were dealing with a consumer experience that we did with Mars Wrigley, and the"Juicyverse". And then you start to add all these technologies together, the gamification in the interactive space, obviously builds out a faster retention model of learning, as well as engagement, but also introducing avatars and how, a code of conduct needs to be implemented into these spaces because it's a brand new place to meet and connect and to interact as well as you, you know, you're dealing with product purchases and designs and things like that. So, a more spatial understanding and awareness about what this technology can do that ties itself into learning and that retention and engagement on the other side for that user became the magical recipe, that, lends itself to education, to training, to marketing and collaboration. And those were the core pieces that we focused on from the MetaVRse perspective to learn more about as we saw the changes that were needed in the education system that would lend itself to the curriculum and how we're gonna build this out.

So I love that. This theme of like how game mechanics, engagement, creating space for community are all things that, a brand desperately wants as well as a core, driver of successful, education experiences is such a fantastic insight and a great way to touch so many aspects of innovation. When you're balancing this strategic long-term vision for transforming education, plus the short-term demands of, running a family of companies, how do you, plan for and measure, the impact of the work that you're doing on the road to this vision?

Yeah, absolutely. And seeing how the technologies, started to converge. Right. And you know, I'll use the term Web3. It's not quite the term that you use when you're pitching customers'cause they don't quite understand that. But it is the convergence of the immersive spatial computing space with AI and then with blockchain. And we actually did a world first with Mars Wrigley with the"Juicyverse" and the Starburst candy by building out the first in the world IRL to URL, to IRL project, that was consumer facing that led the consumer to a product purchase. Using gamification and AI and the blockchain all within that one experience gave me a huge sense of understanding of how this technology is engaging and rewarding, as well as providing the user with either knowledge or, the satisfaction of understanding or connecting with a brand and what they're trying to get across in their messaging. So, it was a huge learning experience for me that these elements just, they need to lend themselves into education in order to engage the next generation who are already on Fortnite and Roblox and expecting this type of ecosystem, moving into their world where they're rewarded. for, the levels that they achieve and, whether they collaborate with somebody next door or from across the world. This technology lends itself to opening the cultural understanding and building empathy and skills that we need as we're moving into this fourth industrial revolution of change, of how digitization is gonna change the way that we're learning and we're teaching.

The impact of any marketing campaign, is almost always sales. Bravo, for having an IRL to URL to IRL, right? That's a pretty complicated, tech, based workflow to be driving actual sales, with immersive and, Web3, products is, stellar. I love that you very casually also were measuring the impact of your work in world firsts. Just the subtle, like first to market, right? But that you very quickly are turning those into like, we needed to know that so we could do this for this vision with education. There's something that you mentioned avatars like two or three times. In the immersive space as you or I, I think it would be really interesting to hear what did you discover about avatars and that personalized, nature, that is so important to this model for global learning?

Yeah, avatars really open up the conversation of digital identity and for years, and I'll give an example, I didn't just learn about avatars through MetaVRse, but also with XR Women. And, another title I hold to my name is that I'm co-founder of XR Women. We're the largest group of women working in immersive and spatial computing in the world. We cover over 60 countries of representation and every week we meet immersive as avatars learning from each other. And it's a truly proud part of my life that I am a part of this community. Anybody listening who wants to join, we meet every Wednesday immersed in the space. When I say immersed, it's not just going into Google. It's not just going into Teams. It's representing yourself as an avatar and going into these immersive virtual worlds where people meet and collaborate. But we also meet and learn, with a full presentation. Avatars are kind of crazy looking still. They're very uncanny. They don't quite look like us, even when they try to look like us. But they do represent your voice in these spaces. And when you start to engage with other people and collaborate, you have an identity as an avatar in that space. And I think there's a lot of learning to be done around digital identity. And the human agency part about that. As humans, we've always gone into these platforms, with our email. And checking, you know, not just our email checking, but we're logging in with an email. And that email, depending on your domain, of your email, is who owns your data and who owns you as you're going through your work. As you're engaging with people, as you're posting things, as you're creating files, you're saving files. It's all tied to your email. And as we start to take the step into our technology, I always say we're about to take a step into the z axis and step into our technology as an avatar. We have our identity that moves with us and is with us wherever we go. And as humans, we need to take ownership of our own identity. Pay closer attention, to what we're engaging in, what we're learning and what we're transacting at that time. You know, we haven't even talked about buying things in the metaverse but that's starting to happen. If I wanna buy a pair of digital shoes that go onto my avatar's feet, but also buy those same pair of shoes that come to my door. I'm using my profile, my identity to make that purchase and understanding the connectivity of the email right to that transaction. Or say you and I, Nathan go into a space and we have a meeting and we decide on some really important things that we're working on, you know, that's all confirmed and decided by that, that identity that's linked to your email. And I think that as we're engaging in these spatial computing experiences, more and more, people will have to really, connect to who they are in the space, because we're gonna start to add a wallet to collect the badges, to, collect a coupon after we've gone through that game or we've learned something. So, there's this whole learning curve that I think humanity is going to face in a way that, you know, we're all used to just saying,"Oh, just use this email." But that email is really, really linked to who you are as a person and the actions that you have in these metaverse locations, whether it's my world or any of the other worlds that are out there. So, there's this huge education lesson that is around this and digital identity is at the core. Actually human identity is at the core!

I thought we were gonna get deep into right, the personalized connection. A lot of the common aspects, of an avatar, which you did touch on and I love. Avatars are our digital identity. And that identity and that sort of record of that identity, the trust of that identity, the agency of that identity, either digital or physical or hybrid, is very important. Started to ring very clear and as you were talking about, hey, you know, everything's connected to your Gmail address and like, how do you feel about that being the source of truth for you? You know, I was listening to news podcasts this morning talking about how like US citizens are having their devices, you know, searched and, scraped electronically as they're entering, the country. Because our government the US government has decided that that's an okay thing to do. The lawyer who was representing somebody, you know, a number of clients with human rights cases was talking about how his entire work life is on that phone. And, you know, the danger or the risk that handing it over to the feds could potentially mean for him and his clients. So the risk that I'm hearing about identity, about putting everything in one place about sort of being lax about how you understand your digital footprint and your digital tech stack is a real danger that we are experiencing today. Makes me wanna ask the question. Can you talk more about this sovereign data center and how that fits into this vision for online identity learning and some of these next commerce, stages as well?

Yeah, absolutely. I think, the conversation of data, we've been talking about it for a while, but the conversation is definitely heightening. Marketing companies are starting to take your data and repurpose it and reuse it or sell it and also the conversation about how, where are we gonna store all this data and where is it stored and who owns me? When you really dig deep into those conversations, it can really stress you out because you don't know who really owns you or where things are kept where that file storage is linked to. I think one of the biggest lessons I had was just, having my identity taken away for two weeks last year was the biggest eyeopener for me in understanding that whole premise of who owns me and how much control I have. But also that email is also what else it was connected to, you know, whether it was my bank accounts or just, you know, a school login for the kids. You know, all of a sudden just understanding this whole identity and how you're linked to things is truly an eye-opener and I encourage everybody to really go through that inventory process, of learning your own personal tech stack. When it comes to data, you know, we've nonchalantly clicked"I agree" at the bottom of all of the things that we've signed up for, whether it be a new phone plan or you're signing up for a subscription of one tool or another. But now it comes down to, you know, where is that data being stored? And with Unlimited Awesome we saw this writing on the wall of the big tech companies, obviously owning everything that we do, we say, we post, we share, whether it's Facebook Messenger or on X and your messaging there and Instagram. All of these different social platforms have really taken over and owned us in ways that make it very difficult for us to leave. I for one, have my entire kids' digital profiles on Facebook and for me, I don't wanna lose that platform. So the approach that we're taking with Unlimited Awesome is that we want to build our own sovereign data center. So the ecosystem that we plan to build with Unlimited Awesome through the MetaVRse Engine, the MetaVRse Engine being an open source tool as well, that is not owned by any of the big tech companies and could, intentionally be an open source tool for many. But in the Unlimited Awesome curriculum, the plan is, to have the data from the students being hosted, by our own sovereign data center. We're talking brick and mortar here in Ontario, Canada is where our first one will be implemented, and then we'll work on it throughout the world. But we're actually looking at a clean solution and one where we'll take the energies and put them back into other solutions so that we're essentially building a carbon free, data solution. And that is what we need most when it comes to the Earth's sustainability.

It's so key. Honestly, if I were to boil down my entire experience working with, enterprise companies around innovative technologies, I would say the biggest blocker by volume was"Where is my data?" And I need control of my data in ways that you tiny company aren't thinking about. So, I think almost anybody, that you would engage in the future, is gonna want this. And it's very interesting how trust, transparency, and control, all come together to kind of deliver that safe digital, identity and experience. Julie, we are getting to the fun part now! We've talked about the vision. The show is called The Glow Up, which is a notable transformation, rebirth, a leveling up of sorts. So I'm very curious, what's the glow up you're hoping to make with 6ix Ventures and MetaVRse, in the next say, six months?

Yeah, so, our big plan is to launch a beta of the Unlimited Awesome, program and, to kickstart the first round of students that would be, engaged into the curriculum itself. One of the things that I've personally been doing is going through the curriculum myself and the first element or Castle of Success is about perseverance. And I think this is something that, as a takeaway for anybody who's listening to The Glow Up is to glow yourself up with your own perseverance. One of the things that. I do on a daily basis is a gratitude journal, and it seems like it's very minor, but it certainly sets your mind up for every day and putting your mind and your heart in the best way to move forward through this time of exponential growth. And And I'm not just talking about the gratitude journal. Where I personally, you know, I write down three things that I'm grateful for and three things that I'd like to have happen throughout the day. And then I do an affirmation of myself and then at the end of the day, just checking in and, you know, did I reach my goals? That's just the entrepreneurship side, the technology side, the AI side, all of these new tools, the innovation, the speed at which things are happening, that's another pace as well. So we're seriously going through the stage of exponential growth, that if we don't have the right mindset and the health, the wellness about ourselves to be able to cope, how are we supposed to make those critical decisions and really start to dig into innovation and problem solve? So that's why we say that with Unlimited Awesome. the perseverance part, you know, doing the gratitude journal, getting exercise, eating right, having that physical exercise, being able to deep breathe through the stressful times to pace yourself out, but also to. Have a side of"humanics" about you. And this is a term that I like to bring up. It's one that I learned, you know, five, six years ago from Joseph Aoun's book called"Robot- Proof." And"humanics" to me is the fact that I know you, Nathan as a human on the other side of this connection, and I'm gonna treat you with respect and, you know, honor our friendship and connection. But I also understand that we've got a platform here that's recording us, and I understand that you're gonna take this data and you're gonna share it out with everybody. So I understand this trifecta, that is taking place. You know, we all need to lead into this state of"humanics" and have cultural empathy about where everybody's coming from. I always say everybody has their own story. Everybody has their own journey. There's so many things happening in the world that you just don't even know what's happening on the other side with that other person. Again, grounding yourself with perseverance and putting yourself in the right mindset of wellness to be able to communicate and have healthy conversations. Being able to think through innovation and creative problem solve, it all stems from having a healthy mind state. That's kind of the biggest takeaway I think for this Glow Up session, that I could share with everybody. So, yeah, be mindful, be present with yourself and, treat others with the same respect.

Oh my goodness. This idea that shaping the minds of future business leaders and, digitally, adept humans, that we need to start by giving ourselves a glow up, making sure that we connect with our humanity and, that as founders and entrepreneurs, we stay connected. to our wins and our balance, our goals. That humanity is the thing that will help us, persevere, is such a lovely offer. To start sharing this curriculum, to start, building and seeing Unlimited Awesome in the world, like what a fantastic way, to start to introduce that! Heck yes! With big goals, also sometimes means long horizons. So how do you, you kind of alluded to it, in this daily practice of really, taking it day by day, but how will you know in the future, that you've made it, that, your vision for, 6ix Ventures and Unlimited Awesome and MetaVRse, that you've achieved that, how will you know?

Well, I think that you need to celebrate every day. So I would say that I've already kind of made it in my own way so far, even though Unlimited Awesome is not fully launched. I've celebrated my own, I've made it to today, right? I think my journey, just like everybody else has a journey, but mine has been one of growth in my confidence, especially over the last year just due to entrepreneurial events that have taken place, as for Unlimited Awesome, the fact is, is that we we're seeing a lot of people have conversations about education already. Everybody is top of mind right now for education and, and seeing that people, and knowing people are are, are welcoming the program that we've been building and putting together, It, it's, it's heartwarming because we have a solution. We have a solution for a new education system. We know how we need to deploy it. The next generation of students are already in Fortnite and Roblox. They're already expecting an interactive gamified life. You know, coming out of that game and, you know, schools competing with Fortnite, you know, you just, you need to be of equal, stature when it comes to engaging with students. And so building this out, in the next six months we're raising money for, a bigger fund for the Unlimited Awesome Academy. Seeing it going live, that will be a moment for me, right? Seeing students being engaged with it. But we're already seeing the traction of investors and community starting to adopt what we're doing because there is no solution out there that's like what we've thought of and we're curating, some of the smartest mentors we've got. We're aiming for a thousand this year, but we've got well over a hundred, of amazing, people committed to mentoring this new curriculum and being a part of this solution that will set up the next generation to discover their fullest human potential.

Amazing! A thousand new mentors! Julie, every episode of The Glow Up makes time and space to, give a shout out or a spotlight to a community group that's doing great work. Is there a nonprofit or an innovative project or a group that you think could use a little extra attention?

I would say XR Women. We're a nonprofit, doing incredible work. We have surrounded ourselves with a global community of knowledge and passion and innovation and curiosity. We've got two student chapters, one with the Ringling, College of Art and Design and SCAD which is the Savannah College of Art and Design. The future for XR Women is really this community hub of learning and it's learning about immersive tech and how we can use it for humanity's best applications. That is where I would probably plug my heart into because we certainly are passionate. We don't want to stop doing what we're doing. We've been doing it for almost, we're going into our fifth year this year, and we're at over 200 immersive events. So we're looking for sponsors, we're looking for, obviously monetary money makes the world go around. So we're looking for those brands that are gonna wanna, or even just your average person, we don't necessarily need, a company. But, you know, we've created a really unique, learning environment that, I find is very inspiring and I believe a lot of other people do too.

Absolutely! Five years of XR Women. That is just outstanding! I have to say that XR Women events, both online and in person have been some of the most productive places for me to build network and community. So, really a beloved org, for the folks here at The Glow Up as well. Julie Smithson, it has been such a pleasure to talk with you. Thank you for making time, in your very busy schedule. I'm curious, do you have a call to action for folks listening? How can people learn more or follow up with you, if they're interested or want to learn more about any of these, outstanding and innovative projects?

You can find me on LinkedIn, Julie Smithson. I have a title of Top 100 Women of the Future, which is a little bit unique, but, I'm happy to collaborate and, I've been speaking lately at local colleges about, digital identity and VR storytelling so I'm certainly open to providing any of that, expertise. So finding me there, that's probably the easiest and the fastest way. The call to action, if anyone's listening and they wanna become part of, the Unlimited Awesome mission, you can sign up on our website unlimitedawesome.com. We are looking for mentors which, you know, once we do launch the commitment's about one hour a month so it's not too labor intensive, but you'll be a part of something that's gonna be truly global and impactful. And I guess the last plug I'll do is join XR Women. You can sign up at xrwomen.com and you can join up for the, you know, sign up for the newsletter and stay in touch that way. We've got our YouTube channel where all of our recordings are there. And then of course attend a session any Wednesday. Learn from the community how this technology's being built and how it's being used.

Oh my goodness! Julie Smithson, it's such an inspiring story for me to, hear about the long term vision that you're able to build for yourself, 6ix Ventures and MetaVRse by really anchoring in your reflection, your sense of self, and those core values that you bring, to all these ventures that you're working on. As a founder, that reminder to be grateful to do the work of review and to also take actionable steps with customers whenever possible to build your vision in a methodical, planful way that allows space to grow and change as the market and the world around you changes. Thank you so much for joining us on The Glow Up. It's been such a treat!

Well, thank you for having me. It's been an honor to be here.