Stella Achenbach
Designer • The ALANA project, Founder
• Lead Steward at Unlock Protocol DAO
Building Purpose-Driven Communities
Who is Stella - Can you share a bit about yourself? What are your core values, beliefs, and daily habits that shape your approach to work and life?
I am happy to be here, and thank you for inviting me, Anupa.
My background is in design, and I graduated several years ago from the University of Applied Arts, Vienna. I believe everyone has a purpose and that we can all outgrow the version of ourselves we were yesterday. Constant learning and curiosity inspire me.
Your journey in fashion has been a significant part of your story. How did it lead you to The ALANA Project and your mission for a better future?
Yes, true. I started working in couture, moving to fast fashion for more solid pay before eventually pivoting to digital fashion. I had a hard time with how scrupulous the fashion industry is and the people within it.
I joined my first Web3-based digital fashion community due to an invite via Instagram messaging. I truly enjoyed the company there and stuck around. Eventually, I created ALANA as a 3D avatar that people from that community wanted to dress. As I learned more about blockchain, it made me wonder if ALANA could provide a positive version of a ‘trojan horse’ and help educate people about the technology that I started to grow so fond of.
Where do you see emerging technologies fit into your work and also the ultimate vision of ALANA?
ALANA is all about teaching creators and builders novel tech solutions to empower them. While creatives contribute significantly to revenue generation in most industries, they are often underpaid and undervalued.
The main goal is to introduce these groups to tech, which will help them to become more independent from centralized platforms.
What inspired you to become a founder, and what motivated you to build a community for learners, creators, and builders?
My journey within the aforementioned digital fashion community was a massive driver in becoming a founder myself. It felt like, for the first time, I belonged, and others shared values similar to mine. It made me feel confident enough to try.
ALANA received many good responses from fellow creators, but blockchain tech seemed very tricky for them to understand. I put one and one together and felt I had a bit of a solution there.
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Builders in ALANA = People with a creative background who are moving on to learning more about tech driven creative solutions, such as visual coding, game engines, training their own AI models, etc..
Can you describe the ALANA initiative? What are its core values, and how do you invite people to become part of it?
The ALANA Project is a creative educational community. We do a lot of peer-to-peer learning, and while we build products together, it allows us to grow more fond of using blockchain-powered applications. When someone uses tech frequently enough, it will eventually become a norm.
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Within the project, we have something called the ALANA Manifesto or “The 10 Principles of a Good Community.” This is an Unlock Protocol powered free NFT that displays the values we stand for very clearly. The idea was inspired by designer Dieter Rams and his “10 Principles of Good Design.” Like ours, they were long-lasting and sustainable principles that some might call common sense.
What are some of the key challenges teams face today, and how do you support them in overcoming these obstacles?
I see three fundamental issues: Hierarchies, where there is no need for it, a low amount of direct communication, and, most of all, a united vision. Until we had the ALANA Manifesto or a unified branding within ALANA, many ideas were either ineffective or inefficient. Having these learnings in a community setting helps you apply the solutions found to your own problems.
How does one join The ALANA Project?
I recommend going with the Manifesto first to ensure our values are truly aligned. If that is a hard “YES,” mint the free NFT and join either our Telegram or Discord (includes guided onboarding). The difference is that we use Discord mainly for operations and recently started Telegram to provide a more accessible space to the broader community.
If you are interested in learning more about ALANA, this video. Of course I am available for questions via my social channels as well.
Tell me about Unlock. Unlock Protocol is about the creator’s economy and decentralization. What fundamental problem does it solve, and how do you see it reshaping digital ownership and memberships?
Unlock Protocol by name is a protocol and not a platform, so everything you use the protocol for belongs to you and only you as the (wallet) owner and original creator who issued (deployed) the smart contract.
Essentially, the protocol offers you a suite of smart contracts that you can deploy without any coding knowledge. Best of all, you can edit the contracts. You can use it for events, certifications, memberships, and subscriptions, and anything else you can think of.
There are several token-gated access solutions and membership models in Web3. What makes Unlock Protocol uniquely different?
Unlock Protocol lets creators, builders, and organizers be in full control over what they are putting out there. Since the wallet creating these contracts is mine, I can use these contracts and the data connected absolutely independently from, for example, the Unlock Protocol Website.
The website is ‘just’ a pretty user interface, but the control is in the hands of the smart contract creator (wallet holder). If we are looking at regular platforms these days, what do we control on there? Nothing! If they go down, our content does as well.
What are the most exciting or unexpected use cases you've seen from the Unlock community, and how have they influenced the protocol’s evolution?
We have a dedicated page for these called “Unlock Showcase.” Feel free to submit something to Unlock Protocol DAO so we can feature it on there!
Personally, I think the most important one is, of course, ALANAmagazine, but in general, people use it for anything. I am using it to token-gate different sub-pages on my website. The limit is what you can think of.
How do you stay inspired and continue to generate fresh, innovative ideas for your work?
Taking a break and getting a clear perspective is the only thing that truly works!
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I am trying to be a bit more forthcoming when I speak about myself these days so here we go: I have hobbies.
I do my ‘workout’ by playing Beat Saber, and I generally love all types of action-adventure games on PC (no console for me). I also paint. Something not a lot of people know as I don’t publish these things in order for them not to turn into work as well.
All of these things help me to find a balance.
What advice would you give to other founders in this space?
First of all, stay strong and as independent as you can to prevent being overtaken. If you want to build something with purpose, dependencies will kill you. Don’t listen to the people who don’t truly have your best interest at heart. Proof them wrong eventually.
My advice is literally only for people who want to build with purpose. If you are building out of economic interest, don’t listen to me since a different approach might be needed.