Leaving all the crytpo talk out is essential because most people instantly stop listening once you bring up blockchain or any of these terms.
Simplest way to explain it is to ask the question which you eluded to, "is it fair for companies to use the data you create for their own personal gains," most would say no, then go on to explain how Steemit enables you to potentially gain rewards for your content creation. When I put it into these terms and someone starts asking me questions then I begin to discuss the more technical aspect of the platform.
Thanks for posting this man, awesome to see Steemit getting optics on as big of a platform as Bloomberg!