First off I would like to thank @joseph for this amazing opportunity. I hope I am not too late for entry into this contest. I would also like to congratulate @barrydutton for taking the cake on the first SteemFest contest. I hope to see him in Lisbon!
My name is Jeff. I am 25 years old and I am a lover of animals, nature, technology and freedom. I found out about Bitcoin while I was attending my 3rd year at the University of Connecticut for a Political Science degree. I was immediately hooked. As a broke college student I did not want to miss out on the Bitcoin phenomenon, so I decided I was going to take time off from school to pursue a job and acquire bitcoins (I did not acquire nearly as much as I had wished). For the past 4 years I have been working as a Project Manager and Operations Coordinator for my grandfather’s construction company. I truly believe there will be many use cases for blockchain technology in our construction field in the future. I have spent many hours trying to teach him and other members of my family about the benefits of blockchain technology. As of now I do not want to go back to school for a Political Science degree but I would definitely consider taking classes to further my understanding of the booming FinTech industry. In my spare time I co-operate a Twitter account (@LibertarianWing) with over 40,000 followers, we aim to produce and curate freedom-minded content. I am a big fan of live music, I love to travel, hike and explore the outdoors. From the day I found out about Bitcoin it was something I wanted to get involved with. I attended the 2014 Inside Bitcoins Conference in NYC and enrolled in a Digital Finance MOOC at the University of Nicosia. I found out about STEEM in July of 2016 but I did not start posting until May 2017. I really regret not immersing myself in this platform right away but I am very grateful to have found my way back. As someone who uses Social Media very often, I see a ton of potential in a platform like STEEM and I am very interested in learning more about it. I believe a trip to SteemFest would be an amazing opportunity to network, learn and grow and I would be more than honored to be the chosen Minnow! I think the most important thing that I will bring to SteemFest is PASSION. I am very passionate about my beliefs and I think it is a drive than can go a long way. For over 4 years I have been what you would call a ‘Bitcoin Evangelist’ and I tried to introduce everyone I met to Bitcoin. Once I recognized the importance of a platform like STEEM I became very much of a ‘Steem Evangelist’ and I have been promoting Steemit amongst my friends. So far I have gotten a list of friends to join and I intend to keep it growing. I believe a trip to SteemFest will help me introduce my friends and family to STEEM by having the conversation about my trip with them and showing it is a real application used by people all over the world. I believe that a network of 40,000 Libertarians (on my Twitter Account, @LibertarianWing) is also a great attribute to bring to the table at SteemFest. That is 40,000 liberty-minded social media users that I could potentially refer to Steemit. I think that a trip to SteemFest could help me discover new ways to help market the STEEM platform to my Non-STEEM followers. I intend to put my time and effort into helping this network expand and thrive in the ever competitive crypto-space.