PARADO 👨🏾‍🚀 ( Building Arc )

Hi, my name is Tolu, but most of y’all know me as Parado. I’ve spent the past four years finding my way around web3, thinking I had it all figured out. But one mistake even the greatest in this space make is thinking that web3 is only about money. Trust me, I was that person, chasing profit without realizing there was something so much bigger happening right in front of me. It all started back in 2019 when I first got into crypto. I was fired up, thinking I’d cracked the code to making money as a teenager. My first big win was on a token called $SAPA, which went from $0.002 to $0.20 in days flipping my lunch money in the process. I was sure I’d made it, but I had no idea how much more there was to this space than profit and loss charts. I spent most of 2020 glued to my screen, barely sleeping, obsessed with the next big token. Then on one of my token raids (as I like to call it) I met Favor, a trader who could read market trends like a pro and had this way of simplifying the most complex concepts. We started chatting, sharing ideas and dreams, and before long, Favor was the one who changed how I saw everything. Unlike me, Favor wasn’t just in it for the gains. She wanted to use web3 to connect with creators worldwide, to build projects with meaning. “Meet me in person” she wrote one day after I’d told her about my latest loss. She was in town for a web3 conference, and I was….......nervous. I knew she was sharp, but I had no idea what to expect IRL. When I arrived at the café, I almost missed her, a petite figure, curly hair, laughing at what looked like a meme as she stirred her coffee. I recognized her from her profile picture, but somehow she was…different. When she spotted me, she broke into a smile. And let me tell you, that smile hit harder than any green candle I’d ever seen. I walked up to her, and for a second, it felt like I’d known her forever. We spent hours talking, and I found myself telling her things I’d never shared with anyone in the space. She listened, really listened, and her perspective was nothing like mine. Favor wasn’t just here to “make it.” She saw web3 as a way to empower artists, support creators, and build tools that give people freedom. “Tolu,” she said with a frown on her face , “you’ve got to stop looking at this space like it’s just a stock market on steroids. There’s real potential here—people who want to make a difference, tech that can change lives. You’re too focused on what you’ve lost to see what you can gain” Those words hit me hard. She invited me to join GbewaDAO, a decentralized community full of artists, builders, and dreamers, and I decided to give it a shot. This wasn’t my usual crowd. These were people who were making things that mattered: digital art, storytelling, collaborative projects, and open-source tech. They weren’t fixated on profits; they wanted to create, to connect, and to build a new internet. And, for the first time, I started to see web3 for what it was, the next phase of the internet. Then the breakthrough came. After a few month of participating in the DAO, sharing ideas and building some amazing tech products, I received a message from GbewaDAO’s founder, a mysterious figure known only as "Sage." With my heart wanting to escape from my chest, I opened the message: “Parado, we’ve seen your journey. We believe in your potential to make a difference. We’re offering you the DAO Scholarship to pursue something meaningful in this space----------no strings attached.” I was skeptical. A scholarship from a decentralized art collective? It sounded too good to be true. But Sage wasn’t joking. This scholarship wasn’t about money. It granted me access to resources, mentors, and the support I needed to go beyond trading. Favor was there to guide me, too, nudging me out of my comfort zone and into spaces I never thought I’d find myself. With the scholarship, I met developers who were building DAOs for social impact, artists who were making NFTs to support mental health awareness, and educators using blockchain to provide free resources to underprivileged communities around the world. I was learning things that made all my past wins feel small. I was connecting with people whose dreams were bigger than any token chart, people who were using web3 to make a real difference. The twist? That scholarship turned out to be the most valuable thing I’d gained in the entire spaceI realized I’d spent years chasing something that had blinded me to web3’s true potential: not money, but meaning. Finally, I had found what I was looking for without even knowing . #TheBlockStages #FrontierDAO @Frontier_DAO

Congratulations Rubyto Greater things are yet to come 🔥🤝

It's been almost 2 years man Time moves fast GSVM tho 😂😂

It's been two weeks. It's time to pull myself together Nobody's coming to save me. What's the alpha now guys?

In school, you'll make friends And get to build a family along the way. These guys put me on to so many opportunities both in web3 and academically. Grateful to have completed this journey with you 🤝❤️

Reintroducing: TINUBU Toluwani Fuwagboye (GMNSE, GMNIMECHE). B.Eng, Mechanical Engineering. (Second Class Upper Honors) 4.13/5. Thank you, God!♥️ #funaabinduction26