Quick take:
- The Sandbox and People of Crypto (POC) Lab have collaborated to launch the first diversity hub in the metaverse.
- The joint project is part of the two companies’ way of celebrating Pride Month.
- POC will launch the first #MetaPride in collaboration with NYX Professional Makeup on June 24, 2022.
The Sandbox and the newly launched People of Crypto (POC) Lab have collaborated to launch the first diversity, equity, and inclusivity hub in the metaverse. The joint project is part of the two companies’ way of celebrating Price Month.
In accordion to the schedule, POC will launch the first #MetaPride in collaboration with NYX Professional Makeup on June 24, 2022, during the special “Belonging Week” event.
Dubbed the Valley of Belonging, the new hub will see The Sandbox open ahead of its Alpha Season 3 “to celebrate our differences, boldly reaffirming the importance of an equitable Web3.”
POC is built on the foundation of promoting cultural differences in the metaverse by empowering “creators and communities with diverse stories, teams, and projects that represent black and brown women, people of colour, and LGBTQIA+ creators, developers, and brands,” the company wrote in a statement on Tuesday.
The platform wants to onboard brands and creators that build metaverse projects that represent diversity and inclusivity in the 3D virtual worlds. The company has already set steps in motion to debut the global cosmetics powerhouse, NYX Professional Makeup to The Sandbox metaverse.
POC and NYX are planning to launch an 8,430 non-binary avatar NFT drop to celebrate Pride Month. The NFT avatar collection will feature voxelized makeup looks for each group represented in the Progress Pride flag.
The minting will occur on June 17 and will incorporate one of the most diverse NFT collections characterised by 36 skin shades, every ethnicity, sexual orientation, and gender identification. It is meant to celebrate cultural and physical differences ranging from different abilities like prosthetic limbs to cultural identifiers like the hijab.
Commenting on the project, gay and South Asian POC Lab co-founder, Akbar Hamid said: “There has never been a more important time to build a safe space that welcomes all given the rising discrimination against LGBTQIA+ and other minorities,” adding that “as someone who has had to hide my real identity, I want to help build Web3 as a place that allows marginalized communities to feel represented and not left behind. We are proud to have NYX Cosmetics as a partner that shares our mission.”
On the other hand, black and neurodiverse co-founder of POC Lab, Simone Berry commented: “Culture drives commerce, so Web3 can only scale if diversity and inclusion are rooted in the foundation of what is being built. Black and brown women, people of colour, and LGBTQIA+ have immense combined spending power and unprecedented cultural influence.”
Sebastien Borget, COO and co-founder of The Sandbox added: “Diversity, equity, and inclusion are essential in a truly open metaverse. Rather than replicating the biases and inequality of the real world, the metaverse must break barriers and forge an inclusive, welcoming global community.”
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