Irene Zhao, a self-made millionaire, recounts her path to success

Yuqing Irene Zhao, popularly known by her stage as IreneDAO, is a Chinese influencer and model born in Singapore.

In 2008, Zhao migrated from China to Singapore as a teenager. She completed her secondary education and then enrolled at the National University of Singapore to earn a degree in communications. When this happened, Zhao also started uploading photos and videos on Instagram. Her posts were primarily on fashion and fitness; initially, she had just about 800 followers. Her content was mainly focused on such topics. She asserts that she “lucked out” when people started showing interest in her photographs.

In the subsequent seven years, Zhao’s following has increased to a total of 439,000 people. She has settled down in Singapore, and it does not appear that she has any immediate plans to go elsewhere.

She graduated from the National University of Singapore with a degree in communications and new media. She was seriously considering pursuing a career in public relations, but the universe had other plans for her.

Meanwhile, Zhao started uploading videos to YouTube. She may occasionally produce vlogs on her channel, in which she will primarily communicate in Mandarin.

However, Zhao has also been employed in the financial industry since she graduated from university. After beginning her career as a commodity broker, she became the chief marketing officer of a decentraliSed financial firm called Konomi Network. It was the beginning of her adventure into the realm of blockchain technology.

Zhao has stated that she does not enjoy blogging for profit as much as others believe, although she has such a large following on social media. And even though most of the photos on her Instagram are self-portraits, the influencer admits that she isn’t particularly fond of shooting pictures of herself.

She is forced to rely on product placements and paid advertisements on Instagram to make money. This is not the kind of content that she likes to share on her platform.

Zhao believes that NFTs might be the answer to resolving this problem. Through the creation of her NFT collection, Zhao was able to demonstrate that content creators on the internet may earn money directly for their work. They would no longer be required to distribute content without charge on social media platforms or rely on the size of their audience reach to get sponsorship arrangements. During seven years, Zhao developed strong personal ties with many brands and established a solid network inside the Southeast Asian influencer network. However, for Zhao, being an influencer has always been a secondary source of income.

Zhao has been focusing on developing her decentralised social media platform since she released her NFT collection. She wants to encourage other creators to follow in her footsteps with her new project, which she calls So-Col, which stands for social collectibles.

Although sex appeal plays a significant role in her NFTs, they have much more to offer than meets the eye. There is a lot more to the success of IreneDAO NFTs that’s less obvious, like the great community and the support from industry thought leaders. People tend to look at something they don’t comprehend and then attempt to explain it using what they already know.

Posting hot photographs on social media may garner initial attention, but it will never lead to long-term success. You need to be familiar with the culture of NFT and come up with stuff that is either humorous or thought-provoking. There is no guarantee that a person will get fame simply by posting a gorgeous photo. Zhao would like for people to think that NFTs have some practical applications.