This article was originally written on Medium in June 2021. Information below may be outdated.
I’m thrilled to announce that Jon Youshaei has joined the Origin team as our first Creator in Residence. As we grow our NFT platform, Jon will work alongside our top creators, host interviews with them, and make content to educate their audiences about crypto as it becomes an even bigger part of the creator economy moving forward.
Many of the creators we work with have millions of followers who are curious about NFTs and crypto, but want to learn about it in a way that’s both engaging and entertaining. After all, NFT’s are so much more than just numbers on the blockchain. They’re about the stories behind them. As a creator himself, Jon understands this through and through. As one of few people to work at both Instagram and YouTube, Jon has lived and breathed this for the past 8 years and worked with many top creators and celebrities.
As a writer for Forbes and Time magazine, Jon knows how to tell stories, host interviews, and simplify complicated topics without dumbing them down. We believe all of this will help us introduce countless new people to NFTs, Origin, and the broader crypto community — and hopefully, make their first experience with NFT’s as fun as watching their first-ever YouTube video or using their first-ever Instagram filter.
I first met Jon at the East West Blockchain conference in December 2017. At the time, he was working at YouTube as their head of creator monetization marketing but eager to learn more about the crypto world. I jumped at the chance to be the first to introduce him to the space. Right then and there, in the hallways of the Hyatt Regency in San Francisco, I helped Jon set up his digital wallet and transferred him his first $10 of Bitcoin. That moment, as Jon would later tell me, helped his understanding of Bitcoin grow even faster than the price of it.
Visiting Jon at the Instagram offices in 2019 with Micah and Yu Pan
Over the years, our paths continued to cross. In 2019, Micah, Yu Pan and I met Jon for lunch at the Instagram offices in San Francisco. Jon had recently joined the team at Instagram as one of the first hires on their creator marketing team and we wanted Jon’s advice on some new product explorations we were doing at that time. We laughed as Yu Pan shared stories about the early days of YouTube and how much things had changed and little did we know what was on the horizon. Then in early 2021, Jon started hosting a popular interview series on Clubhouse with creators, including several who launched NFTs with Origin, including Jake Paul, Ryan Tedder from OneRepublic, the family behind the Charlie Bit Me viral video, George Lopez, and more. We recognized this would be a great opportunity to bring Jon into the fold as our first Creator in Residence and help us with upcoming high-profile interviews and drops. All while empowering more creators to learn about the NFT community.
Jon interviewing comedian George Lopez for his Origin-hosted NFT drop
We love the fact that Jon is a creator himself. In addition to his work at Instagram and YouTube, Jon is also known for his public speaking, writing, and original videos. Last year, Jon received recognition for his work from the prestigious Forbes 30 Under 30 list. We’ve encouraged Jon to continue creating content himself while also being the voice for creators at Origin.
Please join me in welcoming Jon to the Origin family. It looks like my $10 investment paid off in a big way!
Learn more:
Follow Jon on Instagram, YouTube, Clubhouse, and Twitter
Buy Origin Tokens (OGN): Coinbase, Coinbase Pro, Binance, Huobi, Upbit
Get interest-bearing Origin Dollars (OUSD): ousd.com
Check out upcoming NFT drops: originprotocol.com
