Note: This transcript was automatically generated by artificial intelligence (AI) and therefore typos may be present.
Rob McNealy
Today I am talking to Amina Mottola. She is an influencer in crypto and she’s up north. She’s from Snow Mexico, also known as Canada. So I’d like to welcome to the show Mina. How are you today?
Amina Motala – Cryptocurrency Influencer
I am well all the way here from Snow Mexico.
Rob McNealy
I love snow Mexicans are some of my favorite peeps. I grew up in the Metro Detroit area. So we used to spend a lot of time in snow Mexico.
Amina Motala – Cryptocurrency Influencer
Nice, very nice.
Rob McNealy
Exactly. So tell us a little bit about yourself. You’ve been in crypto for a while. What kind of what’s haven’t gotten you into crypto and and what kind of things are you working on?
Amina Motala – Cryptocurrency Influencer
Yeah, quick story, my backstory. I loved Bitcoin many many years ago I used to search through the internet found a little documentary talked about Bitcoin and loved it. I saw the value in it wanted it right away. And I don’t know how early that was it was quite early, quite a few quite a few years ago. And I just couldn’t figure out how to buy it I really was quite new to like, as far as high tech went, I knew nothing. I could just function basics on my computer so I couldn’t figure out how to get it and I tried it even typed in how to buy bitcoin and just didn’t understand anything. So took a few years thought about an ATM machine that passed single mom very busy, went back to school very very busy just kept going on and on in 2017 I bought some Bitcoin and needed to learn a lot more became more to curious. And through that I ended up reaching out to the meetup community, started a meetup with somebody else and then ventured off on my own and started doing my own meetup for over two years now. So did it by weekly, not as much as bi weekly now just so busy with everything but yeah, so in through that I joined social media got connected with all kinds of people in the space in and traveling and conferences and building, you know, rapport and reporters and partnerships, and it’s been fun and exciting. So I love it. I really do.
Rob McNealy
So what part of Canada are your meetups held in?.
Amina Motala – Cryptocurrency Influencer
Yeah, so Ottawa, Ontario, which is the capital city of Canada.
Rob McNealy
I like Ottawa actually, you do many, many, many, many moons ago. I used to work in an industry and mana my clients was the RCMP. So okay, been to Ottawa.
Amina Motala – Cryptocurrency Influencer
Yes. Very nice. Did you kill in the winter?
Rob McNealy
You know, I didn’t get up to Nunavut or Iqaluit or in any of those places yeah I’ve definitely been to Canada in the wintertime and I think where I live in Salt Lake is about as far as North as I like to be in the wintertime at this point. Yeah so I can drive to the mountains I live right at the base of the mountain some but you know, I want to go into the cold I don’t like it cold that much. I like having I like the idea of having like two months of winter like.
Amina Motala – Cryptocurrency Influencer
Yeah, I agree with you. I think the winter just so long and it’s it’s such a process everyday living in it so that gets tiring on you and big and heated indoors for so long. Just tires you out. But I just saw recently just a quick side story. Talking about cold therapy and cold water and cold showers and things like that and embracing it. And I’ve been trying that and I’m starting to like it. And it really weird. energizing is really weird. But this is why I paint the ocean so I have a really nice view to to look at.
Rob McNealy
So we lived up in northeast Wyoming for two winters, right in the Black Hills, and we would heated we heated literally with a wood stove for two winters. And I said, that’s it. And up there, you literally have to heat like nine months of the year and no, no, not doing that, again, not doing that again. But I like skiing. I mean, that’s why we moved to Utah, actually. So we ski so that’s why we went to Salt Lake. I like so. Yeah, yeah. So but I like the fact that I can live in the valley. And it’s still pretty, I mean, it’s like in the 40s right now Fahrenheit, so it’s actually pretty nice and not too bad. I don’t like it when it’s negative five degrees every day. That’s just not pleasant for me. So you’ve been working on a few different things. So it sounds like this meetup has grown into other kinds of opportunities for you. Can you tell us a little bit about that?
Amina Motala – Cryptocurrency Influencer
So, uh, what my meetup Yeah, I mean, I really Actually I met a gentleman Jordan Santiago who started a an app called crowd zones which is for micro influencers. So that was really interesting. And I learned a lot through him. He’s pretty knowledgeable in the space and he’s still working on it. I think he’s going live with some part of it or something I’m not even sure I haven’t I’ve lost touch with him now but for February and it’s it’s all about micro influencing and social media and using blockchain as well. So that was really interesting learned a lot. I even got myself a desk at Innovation Center at a time for a little while while he was there, which is a really, I guess, had a quite a name for itself for high tech and government funded building actually. So things like that opportunities like that and just different events and venues and meeting interesting people through the meetup and, and then traveling and getting to know people like Bitcoin, Ben and traveling a lot, did a lot of his meetups and got To meet who I am going to be working with, as well is Dana blocky with coin flip. And they’re really cool coin flip is the ATM Bitcoin ATM machines and he is the second largest in the world. He has about 400 machines. And Daniel’s only 24 years old. So really, really young, energetic, intelligent entrepreneur. And I look forward to doing more work with him because we really want to bring up the machines up to Canada. So that’s, that’s the goal. And I want to assist him with that. So looking forward to doing to working on that further with him. And another project that came to light which I’m really excited about and its relationship that I built up since almost a year now with this person who’s brought me in to working with the corona family. And that is the corona games that they just launched. And I had read their press release last week. So it is an online gaming app with sports fantasy, and trivia, and they’ll be getting into blockchain tech and film production as well. So very excited to work with this family. It is the corona family that owned the beer company. So this is a completely new launch for them. And what’s great about it is there are big players in the in, you know, in their big corporation, they’re a household name. That will be they’ll actually be releasing the press release to the world and, you know, reaching the world’s population. So what’s nice about it is onboarding them into this app and then over time, they can learn about crypto currencies and blockchain so I see a great opportunity to help with adoption With Corona games, so I’m very excited, very excited to, to work with the social media and the marketing with them.
Rob McNealy
So with the corona games, are they going to be rolling up watching games immediately? Or is that something that they’re getting into later on?
Amina Motala – Cryptocurrency Influencer
They will be doing so I can’t I did sign an NDA. I can’t say a whole lot at this point because they are just releasing one thing at a time I wish I could really, but they are going to start unveiling things as they go along. They do have a lot of things lined up really exciting and in in a very different way to they’re going to introduce gaming and trivia in a very new light in a different way that that we know of so and their prizes are, you know, things like paying tuitions off and mortgages off and Disney trips and tours and it’s really quite interesting. They have they have family in mind and it’s a family friendly site. So non violent I say that non violent gimlets gaming and and yeah, so I’m it’s exciting what they have to to offer I can’t wait and then I can hopefully share more.
Rob McNealy
Well, I am certainly looking forward to that. So you’ve been traveling around Canada and the United States and going to conferences and you know, what would you say that the differences are Are there any differences between the the perspective of crypto and the communities down here in the United States versus up in Canada?
Amina Motala – Cryptocurrency Influencer
Differences um, how can I say I mean, I’ve done more because I’ve been to Bitcoin Ben meetups and so where they’re different is Ben does draw a crowd. He does draw quite a few people. So Ottawa, we are a government city, a little more conservative of a city, I would say. Say the interest is not that far different. It’s not that you know that any are more knowledgeable or less knowledgeable or anything like that. I have had meetups where I’ve had 20 to 30 people. I’ve had meetups where I’ve had three people. So I don’t know anybody out there who’s had a similar experience. I’ve heard many things. And I’m sure there has been. And being the bearish market, of course, I would experience having a low number. Lately, I’ve had up to 1012 people the last few meetups. So that’s been very encouraging and really, really great. But I usually had a really good response after a lot of people end up coming up and shaking my hand and thank you, me. So you know, they’re hearing something new, they’re hearing something that might spark an interest inside of them or just give them some hope or light or something. And I see that that’s the kind of feedback that I get back from usually at the end of a meetup. And a lot of times we are sharing there’s other people who are also very savvy in the inner room and we share Share the space and share the information. I always tell everybody you know is not my meetup. It’s all of our so haven’t been to too many different meetups to really compare. But I would say from what I’ve experienced to really, maybe as far as numbers, and only because a lot of them I’ve been to there’s been so many other influencers. So bit of a crowd has been drawn in, but the enthusiasm is the same and the Curiosity is there. And yeah.
Rob McNealy
Do you think the interest is more pertaining to the investment piece of it? Or do you think that the interest seems to come more along the lines of the decentralization technology aspects?
Amina Motala – Cryptocurrency Influencer
I’ve had a lot of both. So you do have a lot of people who are interested in I’ve had the people who are interested in making a quick buck who learned one to trade for instance, we even had people coming in to teach trading for those who were interested and I wanted to learn it just so I understood how it worked and and what people were saying and and determine knology but definitely a lot of people who want to invest who are careful with their money or who went, who were in situations where they needed to. And because there is this community is high tech, a lot of high tech individuals, so who were interested in the blockchain technology itself and a few different people who have had startups or Icos at the time back when Icos were a thing, they would do presentations by meetup to introduce the with their you know, their Ico and their new their new platforms. So quite a mix and a little bit of everything.
Rob McNealy
So as far as the technology goes, You seem to have a good you know, handle on the the tech scene least up in Canada. How many startups you see going on up there? Do you think there’s a really strong you know, tech hub up there as well or do you think that’s more focused down here in the United States or In other parts of the world
Amina Motala – Cryptocurrency Influencer
I think we have a pretty strong Tech Community up here in Ontario itself, not just Ottawa, Toronto is very strong as well. And there is a lot of innovation that goes on up here. Sometimes it surprises me even more than I realize. You know, I I’ve grown up in the Canada area where our high tech hub is and seen a lot over the years. And I would say, I mean, just recently, somebody told me you know, Apple has an office here in Canada, but nobody knows this. So it’s things like that, that I’ll hear of and a lot of creations like smart boards, you know, they’re created. The gentleman’s is living right here in Canada and created the SMART Board and I mean, there’s so many different inventions that have come out of the area, or you know, from Ontario itself. And with with as far as with blockchain or startups, there are a fair number just just gauging it by my own meetup and that I’ve had already a number of them that has come through and seeing them tells me something, you know, because not everyone has reached or found my meetup. And there’s including Montreal is another big city where there’s an active community as well. So I would imagine if I saw that, you know, a handful come through my meetup. And there would have to be quite a few more but to give you an exact number, I really don’t know.
Rob McNealy
So when you’re having people come to your meetups, a new people, what do you think, in general that the crypto community could do better to help introduce people to the technology into the space?
Amina Motala – Cryptocurrency Influencer
What could the crypto community do better as in the crypto community here in Ottawa,
Rob McNealy
Or anywhere in general, like? It seems that there’s a lot of polarized people and opinions out there, but it seems like we don’t do a very good job of bringing new people into the space and I was wondering what do you think we can do to improve that?
Amina Motala – Cryptocurrency Influencer
Hmm? What can we do?
Rob McNealy
See, no prefab questions here.
Amina Motala – Cryptocurrency Influencer
I like it. It’s good because we have to think and you’re making me think. I think it’s important to have education. I mean, this is why I do the meetup. So education is really key at this point. We are so early in it and there is so much to learn being that we are in it so early. So that education factor is what I looked for and what I needed to further into the space and understand it better and just to even invest. So I think if we can reach out to our communities into our meetups or whatever there is going on, definitely go there if you have something you can share. Even if you’re on social media or Facebook or with your friends talk about it talks about your family with your friends, and spread the word usually things are spread by word of mouth. I mean, this is a very valuable way that we grow, you know, whether it be a business or or teaching something. So definitely, I would say education. And if you want to even start a meetup like I did, you don’t have to be the expert. You know, it’s not net. It’s a community effort. And you’d be surprised at the kind of people that would show up and support so.
Rob McNealy
Also, as someone who also does run meetups. Yeah, you’d be very surprised at the kind of weirdos that come to meetups too.
Amina Motala – Cryptocurrency Influencer
Yeah, it can happen.
Rob McNealy
So, I always like to ask kind of questions about people. Do you have an opinion on what Bitcoin will or won’t do around May 20? Which is the havening that everybody keeps talking about? Do you think it’s gonna go crazy or do you think it’s just gonna be a big fizzle?
Amina Motala – Cryptocurrency Influencer
I don’t know. I have no idea. I have no idea but honestly, it’ll probably go a little crazy. And we Whether or not it stays crazy, that’s to be determined, and I’m not going to be the one to predict that. But I would think it would get a little crazy, maybe even just even before it too, so that would be a probably a likely prediction.
Rob McNealy
All right, little bit of crazy, but we don’t know how long it’s crazy. Right. I think that’s a fair. I think that’s a fair assessment. I think that I because, you know, like, ask people that because I have my I have very strong opinions about lots of crypto stuff, right? And I’m kind of a crypto heretic. So I always look at it is, you know, I think because there’s so much FOMO around that, that something’s going to happen just because people think there’s going to be something happening about it. But I don’t know if there’s anything that’s really going to be come out of it just from fundamentally change. I don’t know if it’s going to be something that can be lasting I think they’ll probably be a spike up and you know, running up in the run up, but um, the how long it’s gonna last, but still be wrong. I’m wrong all the time. As my wife, she’ll tell you, I’m wrong all the time. So
Amina Motala – Cryptocurrency Influencer
Sure, we can higher highs and lower lows. I mean, who knows, yeah?
Rob McNealy
Very cool. So, I mean, uh, where can people find out more about you?
Amina Motala – Cryptocurrency Influencer
Sure. So you can find me on Twitter at craft Fluence one. You can find me on LinkedIn, Amina Mottola, you can find me on YouTube. I do have a YouTube channel. You can check out some of my interviews with some of the CEOs of the projects out there. And that’s Amina em on YouTube and also Instagram, Amina Mottola, underscore and Facebook that’s another one too. So my name is everywhere. It’s not hard to find me and for anyone interested in Corona social media marketing, contact me please interested to hear about it. Anyone who’s interested in learning more about social media and marketing. So, yeah, perfect. Go see Corona games.com go check out the site.
Rob McNealy
Go see CoronaGames. com, check out the site and we’re going to have we’ll have all those links posted up on the website at Rob McNealy calm. I mean, thank you so much for coming on the show today. It’s been a fun chat.
Amina Motala – Cryptocurrency Influencer
Thank you very much. I appreciate being here.
Rob McNealy
You have a great day. Thanks for listening folks checks out on the web at RobMcNealy.com.