Courage Kimber has worked in marketing, sold art, and was a producer on an award-winning independent feature film. A decade later, she’s taken a different career path – cryptocurrency. Today, she’s interacted with thousands of professionals with her content that educates and demystifies the crypto landscape. She’s also gained credibility by being featured in major crypto publications, built the Crypto Mastery Blueprint, and became a finalist for Rising Women in Crypto. So how did Courage carve out a credible voice in the complex world of cryptocurrency?
Crypto is still a very male-dominated world. However, that didn’t discourage Courage from entering the space. She had already come from the tech world, another arena heavily dominated by men, where she had spent over ten years working and building her career. She notes that this visibility can actually be an advantage for women in crypto. People approach her inquiring about what she does, and those conversations usually lead to valuable connections and clients.
Courage explains that crypto is evolving from purely speculative asset into one increasingly shaped by smart money. For her, this represents an opportunity not just for trading, but for transformation. With many women already working across tech, apps, and finance, crypto becomes a natural extension of skill sets they already use every day. It’s less about taking a leap and more about applying existing expertise in a new arena.
Those women willing to step into the space early can apply their experience confidently as the industry continues to mature. Courage is passionate about spreading knowledge about crypto, and sees it as a new path for women to get in on the ground floor and grow alongside the technology.
Courage is Liberian-American. Grew up in Southern California, where her Dad worked as an Aerospace Principle Engineer for Boeing, and her mom worked in the medical field as a claims auditor. Coming from an immigrant family, she understood the value of putting in the hard work to achieve her goals.
Courage admits that at first, she almost quit crypto three times. The cryptocurrency terminology felt deliberately confusing. The communities felt gate-keep-y. The learning curve felt impossible.
She is also open about the challenges she faced when first trying to get her footing in the space, noting “I felt dumb learning crypto initially. Watching teenagers explain DeFi on YouTube. Taking notes like a freshman. Feeling completely lost. It was a very humbling experience.”
But ultimately, something with her and crypto clicked. She realized her value wasn’t technical mastery, but her value came from the translation of it. Bridging traditional finance and digital assets, and explaining this to people in a way that was actually understandable, useful, and needed.
She credits her dedication to keep going, from her parents. Growing up, her dad taught her three powerful lessons about “just doing it”:
- Never tell anyone you can’t do something. The only way to know if you can – or can’t – is to try.
- You don’t have to be the one to do it yourself. You just need to be the person who comes up with the solution and figures out who can.
- Most people accept limitations. But if you experiment and push boundaries, you’ll realize those limits aren’t real.
Courage goes on to say, “Now I’m having people ask me to write for or teach C-Suite to executives.” Her pivot from techy-talk to translator has cemented her reputation as a trusted resource in the crypto space, with both enthusiasts and Fortune 500 company employees reaching out to learn from her and better understand the framework of digital assets.
Currently, Courage Kimber lives in Paris, having moved there when she was accepted into ADNx Meta program Station F. She was awarded the prestigious Le French Tech Talent Passport Visa, and granted innovative project status for Web3 education and Research. She works as a Crypto Education Specialist and Advisor, and the creator of the Crypto Mastery Blueprint, a comprehensive educational system designed for modern day business professionals.
Courage has also been recognized for her clear insights and practical approach to crypto literacy, having been featured in Politico, States Newsroom, The Baltimore Sun, MT Newswire, Crypto News, and LinkedIn News. In 2024, she was honored as a finalist for WIREX & BeInCrypto’s Rising Women in Crypto Awards, solidifying her reputation as a leading voice in the crypto industry. Through her work and the Crypto Mastery Blueprint, Courage equips professionals with the knowledge they need to navigate digital assets confidently and strategically.
Our friend, writer and filmmaker Lila McLaughlin sat down with Courage to get a little more acquainted with what it means to be a woman in the often erratic, male-lead, crypto industry.
First, can you briefly tell us about your tech background?
I’ve been working in tech for 10+ years as a technical program manager. I’ve held a wide variety of roles, everything from social media strategist to web producer, project manager, user experience subject matter expert. I’ve also been a business analyst, graphic designer, but for the most part, the area that I focused most on in tech was managing enterprise websites.
I was often a conduit between software development and the design and marketing teams. Also dealing with sales and marketing related project management work, we would keep everything running and moving. I also briefly worked as a management consultant with Accenture, managing projects and working with both commercial companies and government agencies on compliance related efforts as well.
How did you become so involved in the world of crypto?
I actually bought a little bit when I first heard about crypto, around 2012-2013 when I was in Silicon Valley. I had heard the buzz about it then, but I didn’t get work-involved at that time.
I got involved after I’d met someone from the Digital Chamber of Commerce back in 2017 through a friend at the rooftop bar at the W Hotel. I remember a woman talking about crypto. She was a reporter, and she was talking about crypto and I remember thinking, you know, she’s really smart. It was after that conversation, I knew I was going to go all in. I’m going to invest. And a couple of months later I did.
Can you break down your expertise for us?
Web3 education and training. I focus on content creation and thought leadership. That’s my area within the Web3 space. Translating and educating people about crypto and digital assets.
How has the experience been for you personally, being in a very male-dominated industry?
It doesn’t bother me. I’ve worked in tech, I actually feel like traditional tech is more male-dominated. I notice when I go to conferences or events, it’s usually majority male. But being female, there’s not a whole lot of us there, so a lot more people want to talk to us. I don’t necessarily look at it as a bad thing. I actually use it as an advantage in gaining more connections, gaining respect, credibility in the space. Of course, I do want to see more women in the space.
Was it is easy to gain footing as an expert in the space knowing crypto speaks to a heavy male-run audience?
To be an expert you have to show that you’re an expert. In the world that we live in, gender does play a role in whether people actually feel you’re competent or qualify for the position or if they’re actually willing to listen to you. Because typically, if you look at social media or our culture in general, the people who are elevated to be leaders are typically men.
As a woman, I think you have to make more of an effort to be visible and memorable. Because whenever you hear the word “visionary” or “leader”, usually it’s attributed to men. People are going to typically say names like Steve Jobs and maybe Sam Altman. Because as a society we’re all programmed to naturally think of men first. I think it’s important to make sure as a woman, that you are visible and memorable, because they’re not looking for us. We’re not the default. Men are the default. So that’s my approach -making sure I am visible.
What skills did you have to learn or teach yourself in your position to be successful in the tech industry?
To stay in the know, I stay on top of what’s going on – the different trends that are happening. I feel you should also be constantly learning – taking workshops or boot camps, certifications. I just finished a boot camp right now on using A.I. There’s tons of courses, tons of information out there, and just be continuously learning because it’s the only way to keep up, improve, and become more efficient at what you’re doing.
What parts of your job do you find most challenging?
The most challenging part of the job is often communicating. Communicating and educating people on the benefits of crypto. because there are so many people who are not familiar with how it works, so crypto often gets a bad rap. There are a lot of crypto myths out there and hard for people to build trust. For them to understand that there’s this great opportunity with crypto, that’s what I want to share and educate – communicate that there’s a lot of opportunity for growth and expansion in this space.
What excites you about the world of crypto?
How it’s changing and evolving. Every crypto season there is some sort of new trend or something that gets hyped. Whether it’s NFT summer back in 2021, or two years ago it was the tokenization of real world assets. There’s always something hot, a new way of doing things, or some new invention happening in crypto. For me, that’s the fun part. It’s exciting to see where it goes.
Do you predict more women will enter the crypto arena in 2026?
I believe more are entering the crypto space. A lot of crypto companies are starting to scale and grow and they need more of a formal way of doing things, more SOPs, more things that people who come from traditional corporate backgrounds can really help with, and particularly women. I also believe that more women will get funding for their startups in crypto in terms of percentage-wise versus traditional ventures.
In general, women only receive about 2% of funding from traditional funding, but I believe in the crypto space, there’s more to go around, so it’ll be easier. Another main reason I think more women will see the benefit to enter this industry is it still offers remote work. Being especially advantageous to women with families, who want the flexibility.
Who are some other women you admire in this space?
Some of the women that I admire in the space are Kathleen Breitman the co-founder of Tezos. She’s super smart, been in crypto since 2014, she focuses on capital markets and ecosystem growth. There’s also Joyce Kim, co-founder of XLM or Stellar cryptocurrency. She’s a prominent figure in crypto, who’s shaped conversations in the world of digital assets. There’s so many more women I admire, these are just two I’m really inspired by at the moment.
What advice would you give to other women who want to get in or level up in the crypto space?
I would encourage other women to get out there and meet people face-to-face in person. Go to conferences, events, and meet-ups IN PERSON. Because that leads to actual relationships, connections, and more opportunities than a cold email. I also invite women (and men) to start messy. Don’t be afraid of looking foolish while learning, because the risk is not your ego, but becoming obsolete.
And finally, do you mentor or teach any opportunities that can help women learn this world better?
I offer an online master class where I educate and talk about crypto, from the basics to how-to actually work in the space. You can sign up or get more details HERE.
You can learn more about Courage Kimber by connecting with her on Linkedin, or take a look at her speaking profile.
