I came out as transgender in March of 2020, and started fully transitioning that summer. There are many parts to that process, and my least favourite of them is definitely learning how to apply makeup.

I like to think I'm pretty good at putting a look together, but that's usually due to Sephora's in-store makeup artists (or others if I'm travelling and can't get an appointment). I have, though, recently started makeup lessons.

My reason for that is TikTok. Specifically, the universe of makeup tutorials that exist there and elsewhere. It's how a lot of women learn, and while I have picked up some knowledge from makeup TikTokers and Youtubers, there are still a lot of things I suck at. Blending concealer being at the top of the list.

It's frustrating when you know that you don't know something, and you don't know what exactly or where to go to learn it. I chose to join She-Fi's latest cohort because despite working as an engineer in crypto for 2 years, I wanted to make sure my knowledge was comprehensive. I mostly didn't want to find the crypto version of concealer that I didn't know how to blend.

She-Fi is structured in the cohort learning model, which has been proven to be more effective than self-paced individual learning. The She-Fi Café acts as the substrate for past and current cohorts, and contains a mix of curriculum material and social channels.

It didn't take long for me to find my crypto concealer(s), namely the finer details of optimistic rollups and some tradfi concepts like derivatives that I hadn't ever really understood. The content is easy to understand via clever presentation, and each cohort has associated quests to complete like creating wallets and minting NFT's.

Maggie is an excellent teacher, and I would highly recommend She-Fi even if you already work in web3/crypto or have a broad base of knowledge. On top of the material covered, the confidence you'll have from knowing you have a comprehensive base of knowledge will feel as good as getting your makeup done for a night out!