One of the first moments I realized my hair was  "different" was on the kindergarten playground.

A boy ran up to me and yelled, "Your hair looks like spaghetti!"

In a moment of toddler-fury, I shoved him down a mini slide.

That would be the first of many times my hair was a conversation starter—often without my consent. Growing up in a small Illinois suburb, no one around me had curls like mine. Everyone wanted, and already had, sleek. Straight. I wanted that, too.

I tried bangs. I tried bobs. I tried copying my friends’ hairstyles. Nothing looked the way it was “supposed to.” There were no curly-hair tutorials, no influencers with coils to look up to. 

At 17, I met the first stylist who understood. She gave me a cut that finally made me feel seen. In college, people loved my curls. When I’d straighten them, they’d say: “Why would you do that?!” 

For the first time, I felt pride in something I had tried to hide. 

But when I graduated, things changed.

Suddenly, I was entering the workforce. And I feared my big head of curls would be deemed as “unprofessional.”

Not only that, but now that I fully entered the “real world,” I was tired of being accosted. 

Every bar or event I went to with friends, strangers would come up and ogle. “Can I touch your hair?” Drunk men would follow me around, hand outstretched, looking to violate a boundary. I felt disrespected. I felt clownish.

I began thinking to myself, What would life be like if I wasn’t the girl with the hair?

So I straightened it. Every day. Washed, blow-dried, flat-ironed, re-curled. 

I spent an incredible amount of time, and obscene amounts of energy, into the thing I wanted people to forget.

Funnily enough, the thing I wanted to go away for everyone else, became all-consuming for me.

The time, the damage, the detachment—it spiraled. I dyed it. I chopped it. I bronzed my pale skin. I couldn’t leave the house without makeup. I wanted to be polished. Less loud. Less different.

But it never felt like me.

Then covid hit.

And the world stopped.

During lockdown, I stood in front of the mirror with hair growing curly from the roots while the ends hung straight and dead. I asked myself: 

What if I stopped trying to fix what was never broken?

So I made a commitment: For one year, no heat. No dye. Only healing.

Slowly but surely, my hair started coming back to life.

And as my curls healed, so did I.

I grew SheFi. I manifested and met Jon. I stopped wearing heavy makeup. It coincided perfectly with my inner work during the pandemic, as my inside and outside began to reflect one another.

After all that time, I let myself be seen again. Really seen. Not filtered, not flattened—me. 

And the reception was wonderful. 

My friends supported me every step of the way. The second I started letting my hair be naturally curly, those who only knew me with straightened hair couldn’t even remember that version of me anymore. They called the blow-dry era “a glitch in the Matrix.”

I was meant to have curly hair. 

We think self-love is a destination. But it’s a journey. It’s a daily practice. Some days it looks like throwing out your straightener. Other days, it’s acknowledging and accepting that you're scared to show up without the mask. 

Wherever you are on that journey—doubting, experimenting, recovering—embrace it.

Because sometimes, you have to lose yourself to find yourself.

But when you finally learn to love your whole being as you are, the world makes room for you. Real room. Don’t be afraid to ask for support along the way, too. Your friends, your community, will always have your back. 

So keep checking in with yourself. Do the inner work. Embrace what feels good. What feels authentic. 

The world doesn’t need another version of someone else. It needs you.

Join Us in Decentraland! 🌇 

This week in Season 14, we entered the Metaverse with our partner Decentraland.

You should absolutely join us! 💫 

We’re encouraging all SheFi members and alumni to share photos of their adorable in-world avatars. Plus, we have an epic Season 14 graduation planned!

Meet new people, design and buy wearables, play games, and more in Decentraland.

See you in the Metaverse!

Content We Loved This Week 🥹 

First SheFi and Base took over the timeline.

Now, SheFi and Matcha stole the spotlight! 🍵 

Last week, Matcha cofounder Will Warren joined us to teach Season 14 all about the beauty of DEXes, and the ease of Matcha.

We saw our blockchain baddies swapping all week!

Here are some of our favorite posts.

Tag us @shefiorg for a chance to be featured!

SheFi’s Crypto News Roundup 🏇 

The world of crypto expands far and wide beyond SheFi, so we’re bringing you that news direct to your inbox. Check it out. 👇️ 

• Stock futures slip ahead of Powell’s speech; Bitcoin drops over 2%. Markets show slight weakness ahead of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s remarks, while Bitcoin falls over 2% to around $115,000.

• OpenAI CEO Sam Altman warns of potential AI investment bubble. Altman cautioned that investor enthusiasm for AI may mirror the dot‑com era bubble, despite AI’s transformative potential and OpenAI’s massive $300B valuation and $6B stock sale plan.

• Meta nearing $2 trillion valuation, powered by AI smart glasses success. Meta’s AI-driven Ray-Ban smart glasses—over 2 million sold—have fueled investor excitement as it prepares to launch a more advanced model, potentially pushing its valuation past $2 trillion.

• Crypto exchange Gemini Trust files for an IPO. Gemini, founded by Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, has filed for a U.S. IPO after rivals Circle and Bullish staged blockbuster debuts.

• BitMine's Crypto Holdings Surpass 1.52 Million ETH To Become Second-Biggest Crypto Treasury. BitMine Immersion Technologies disclosed that its crypto holdings have exceeded $6.61 billion, including 1.52 million Ethereum, making it the world's largest Ethereum treasury and the second-largest crypto treasury globally.

Follow our socials for more updates!

Travel Scholarship from Avalanche 🔺 

Time is running out! You have until the end of August for this opportunity.

We are partnering with Avalanche to offer another the following scholarship.

This time it’s for LATAM Women+ student developers to attend Devconnect ARG.

If you’re a student currently enrolled at a university in Latin America, check out this form to be considered!

Plus, if you head to Devconnect ARG, you’ll be able to pop by SheFi Summit. 👀 

Celebrating SheFi Successes 🎉

• Inês published a book called “She Sails”.

• Riya has kicked off her personal brand journey!

• Mewtwo is now CSO at Chick Studio!

👉️ Share your wins so we can celebrate them 👈️

SheFi & Crypto Events 🌎

Going to ETHCC, Token2049 or Devcon? Join our Global Events Telegram Chat: https://t.me/shefisummit

More updates coming soon… 🤭 

SheFi Opportunities:

• Travel Scholarship Application – DevConnect 2025: Apply here

SheFi events:

• 8/21 Mexico: SheFi x Mobil3 - She leads Finance: RSVP here

• 8/22 Virtual: Investment Cluster Yield Farming Roundtable: More info on SheFi Hub

• 8/27 Berlin: Nodes & Noods 🍜: RSVP here

Other events:

• 8/27 Austin: Femme Founder Bootcamp S2 - Info Session!: RSVP here

• 8/28 Santa Monica: Chipped Summer Social: RSVP here

• 9/23 Los Angeles: Future Tech Salon: RSVP here

• 10/01 Singapore: TOKEN2049 Singapore: RSVP here

• 10/2 Singapore: Arweave Day Asia 2025: RSVP here

• 10/21-22 London: Zebu Live: SheFi members gets a 20% discount with the code SheFi20

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