Spotlight: Women-Led PFP Projects | MakersPlace Blog

Mainstream news coverage of web3 projects has largely been dominated by male-led projects — some with more, some with less overt Bro Vibes™ — such as the ubiquitous CryptoPunks, Doodles, and Bored Ape Yacht Club, the latter of which have done precious little to acknowledge Seneca, the primary artist behind the collection.

While the NFT space has proven to be quite open and welcoming to diverse audiences, women-led projects have experienced headwinds that others have not. For example, the female-themed NFT project Fame Lady Squad claimed to be the “first-ever all-female generative avatar collection on the Ethereum blockchain” but was secretly run by three Russian men. Once uncovered, the outcry was sufficient to push FLS to replace its leadership with actual IRL women.

The November 2021 NFT Art Market Report from analytics firm ArtTactic discovered that — over the course of 20 months of sales on Nifty Gateway — only 15% of artists on the marketplace were women and “male artists command[ed] 77% of total primary and secondary sales value at $258.3 million.”

Despite these troubling facts, women-led projects are developing quickly. This is the first in a series of articles highlighting the contributions of women, BIPOC, and LGBTQ+ web3 artists, and today we’re spotlighting three pfp (profile pic) projects run by and for women.

World of Women

You can hardly mention women in the NFT space without bringing up World of Women, one of the earliest, buzziest pfp projects overall and by far the most visible of female-centered projects.

WoW is a 10,000-piece NFT collection created to celebrate representation, inclusivity, and equal opportunities for all. With a current floor price of 8.2 ETH, a film and television deal, and a laundry list of celebrity hodlers that includes Reese Witherspoon, Dez Bryant, and Eva Longoria, WoW is indisputably a blue-chip project with staying power.

Founded by Portugal-based artist Yam Karkai, described the genesis to Elle Magazine:

“I started selling my pieces as one-off NFTs at the beginning of last year. Then I saw that these big 10,000-piece collections like the BAYC were booming. I appreciate those projects and I’ve learnt a lot from them, but I was disappointed that I didn’t see myself reflected, as they were clearly created for men. So, I decided to create my own collectible project, based on the art I was already doing.”

WOW reinvests 25% of its primary sales to buy the work of other crypto-artists and donates a percentage to charity, too.

Boss Beauties

Boss Beauties, another 10k pfp project, has roots in empowering women, specifically high school and college-age girls through Co-Founder Lisa Mayer’s My Social Canvas, which provides mentorship, networking opportunities, scholarships, and more to foster the next generation of women leaders. The Boss Beauties digital portraits aim to capture the…