Failure to code led to success in tech, Marieke Flament, CEO NEAR foundation

As CEO of the NEAR protocol foundation, Marieke Flament is currently one of the most successful female leaders working in fintech. But it took some convincing for her to give up an established, super successful corporate career; she was even told she was ‘full on crazy’ for considering it. As she tells presenter Lloyd Wahed in this episode, she defied her critics to join Circle in 2015 where she stayed until being inspired by another female CEO to move to banking app Mettle. The trajectory to the top hasn’t been smooth: admitted into one of France’s Grandes Ecoles to study computer science, Marieke discovered that she wasn’t good at coding and looked for alternative career paths. A period of time living in China taught her how to be solution-orientated – a mindset she describes as key to her success as well as a willingness to show weakness and be prepared to fail. As well as discussing her professional journey, Marieke also talks about her reason for joining NEAR over its competitors, and the ground-breaking opportunities innovations such as Decentralized Autonomous Organisations are offering the tech sector.