The Explosion of the Creative Economy and Web3, A Founder’s Story with Rylee Armond

Rylee Armond is a surreal NFT Artist and the founder of omnicake, a web3-focused media consulting firm. Living and working in California, her art often reflects new perspectives of nature, especially the coastlines. Following her passions for art and technology, she entered the NFT community with the mission of empowering other creatives to learn more about the web3 industry. Since entering the space, Rylee has been followed by numerous prominent members of the NFT space including Paris Hilton and Pussyriot because of her passion for art and technology.

I was born in Newport Beach, California, so I feel very at home at the beach. My early childhood was very chaotic, but I always had a strong passion for learning and understanding how the world worked. This led me to study mathematics in college, and I am very passionate about the subject to this day, especially geometry-related topics. I worked as a mathematical consultant for years before entering web3, gaining the skills to help people break down complex topics into more understandable lessons.

My very first experience as an entrepreneur was working as a child model, and this was the first time I realized that I can contribute to projects and teams even as an individual through freelancing and entrepreneurship. I always had the desire to branch out and continue learning more, which led me to mathematics as a field. I had additional interests in business and created my first private consultancy surrounding strategic mathematics related consulting to share my knowledge. During this time, I was still creating art but it wasn’t the primary focus of the business. That shift happened after I discovered NFTs in 2017 through a project called Cryptokitties, and immediately I had the desire to learn more about the NFT industry. I spent a few years learning more about space and finally decided to create my own NFTs and fully dive into my web3 business in 2020. After joining the NFT community, I was able to utilize my skills as a consultant to help educate other projects and founders about the creative economy. Since joining web3 I have been very passionate about web3-focused media, and having that drive is everything for an entrepreneur.

The advice I always give is, ” there are no rules, only tools.” Meaning that, as a founder, it is so important to know the strengths and weaknesses of all the tools you have access to. Don’t be afraid to “break the rules” and disrupt industries if it makes sense. So many artists have told me it is “against the rules of art” to paint with black for example, but those are just barriers. Break down barriers if they don’t serve your creativity and always be looking for more tools to keep increasing your abilities as a founder. Having “no rules” just means to deeply evaluate any advice that is given to you, and not immediately dismisses new ideas. Oftentimes, pivoting a startup is necessary for a higher level of success and in my case, I pivoted my consultancy from being very math-focused to more web3 technology focused because I was very open to learning about new tools.