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Fashion and technology are everywhere right now, from Bella Hadid\u2019s NFTs to virtual fashion shows in the Metaverse, fashion technology is paving the way for the future of fashion. No one is more familiar with this than Cathy Hackl \u2013\u00a0 known as one of the most influential women in fashion tech, Cathy is at the forefront of the intersection of fashion and technology and is leading the way. For the last decade, Hackl has led & advised both brands and talent – including, Clinique<\/a>, Ralph Lauren<\/a>, Louis Vuitton<\/a>, Walmart,<\/a> Procter & Gamble<\/a>, Kane Brown<\/a>, Madison Beer<\/a>, Yungblud<\/a>, etc. \u2013 into the metaverse.<\/p>\n With a keen understanding of technology, fashion and the way they can balance each other, Cathy has combined her knowledge to create a first-of-its-kind<\/em> new jewelry collection, Frillz. Working alongside award-winning jewelry designer Simone Faurschou, Hackl\u2019s new collection is as futuristic as can be, Frillz\u2019s timeless design merges the past, present, and future of the fashion and tech industries. The limited edition collection features a bracelet and necklace, which merges the physical nature of jewelry with an NFT chip \u2013 making the piece both physical and virtual.<\/p>\n People are rarely as impressive or talented as Cathy Hackl. Her entrepreneurial foresight, ability to understand trends and jump ahead of the curve has made her a force within her industry. When speaking to her there is a calm sense of authority. Cathy is a woman who has done it all, or as much is humanly possible, and isn\u2019t ready to stop any time soon.<\/p>\n You are known as the \u2018Godmother of the Metaverse\u2019 in tech circles. How did your path lead you to this? Where did your journey begin?<\/strong><\/p>\n The path that lead me to tech was definitely not a straight line, there were many twists, turns and pivots! I started off my career in media working in broadcast media in front and behind the camera, and even getting nominated for an Emmy Award in 2007 in what feels like a lifetime ago, but those communications skills have served me well in the tech industry.<\/p>\n I trace the path that lead me to tech back to 2004, when I was working at CNN. Part of my job there was to look through raw footage of the war in Iraq, so many images of war. I guess my role was a bit of content moderation and that can be very taxing and take a toll on someone. In some ways I had to turn down what I would call my \u201chumanity dial\u201d to get through the content I was watching and continue on, but a little less than a decade ago, something happened that helped me turn that dial back to normal.<\/p>\n I was already working in tech in the very early days of live video and live streaming and was spending a lot of time in Silicon Valley. I was invited to an event where there were some VR demos. I had the opportunity to try on a VR headset for the first time and experienced what it would be like to be in a solitary confinement cell in virtual reality. Within a few minutes, I felt claustrophobic and I took the device off, but something had changed. It felt like I was able to to fully turn on my humanity dial again. I also knew I had seen something important, maybe it was part of the future of storytelling or maybe it was the future of business, but I was sure of one thing: this is what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. So I made a hard pivot in my career and went all in on AR and VR. I joke now and say that I recognized a rocket when I saw one and I\u2019ve been on that rocket ever since.<\/p>\n I later went on to work at HTC VIVE and then landed my dream job at Magic Leap, where my journey into exploring what the Metaverse might become really began. When I was there, our Chief Futurist was Neal Stephenson, the famous sci-fi author and technologist that coined the term Metaverse. Working at Magic Leap was like a dream!<\/p>\n As the pandemic hit, Magic Leap laid off half of its employees and I was one of them. I was devastated. After being in such an incredible environment of innovation for almost two years, I had to ask myself: what do I do now? This led me to Amazon Web Services, where I worked on several projects including large scale simulations and learned a lot about cloud computing. At the same time I was writing in Forbes and had just published my second book and this allowed me to connect with many companies. I was writing about the Metaverse and Direct-to-Avatar in 2020, way before it was a thing, and brands and companies started reaching out and asking me to help them understand the Metaverse and Web3. I eventually got the courage to leave AWS and launch off on my own. So in 2021, I founded my own consulting firm. In just 10 months my company was acquired by Journey, where I am currently the co-founder and I lead the company\u2019s virtual, gaming and Metaverse studio. I also just launched my own luxury tech label called VerseLuxe, which is my own creative playground and is part label and part lab where we seek to explore the future of luxury through tech. Our first capsule collection, a Web3 connected jewelry collection called Frillz, will go on sale in about a month!<\/p>\n How did I get the moniker Godmother of the Metaverse? It was all due to community. So the first time anyone ever used the \u201cGodmother of the Metaverse,\u201d was my good friend Andrew Schwartz, who works at Nike\u2019s Metaverse team. Alexis Ohanian, Reddit\u2019s co-founder, tweeted in 2021, asking which women and folks he should be following in Web3. Andrew listed a few people and then he tweeted: \u201cOh, and don\u2019t forget about Cathy Hackl, she\u2019s the Godmother of the Metaverse.\u201d And someone took a screenshot, sent it to me, and people started using the term. I wear it as a badge of honor. (Source: The Drum<\/a>)<\/p>\n You have worked with powerhouses such as Ralph Lauren, Walmart, Louis Vuitton, and Clinique. Can you tell us what it is like to lead these brands into the metaverse?<\/strong><\/p>\n I have enjoyed working with each of these global brands, it\u2019s been a true honor to be trusted by so many of them to navigate these new waters. Each experience has been unique and I have learned from each strategy we have implemented. The Metaverse is an emerging space that is still in its early stages, so leading brands into this space can be both exciting and challenging. There\u2019s been a lot of wins and some misses, but it\u2019s been one of the biggest honors of my career to help guide many companies, brands and even cities into the future.<\/p>\n On the one hand, there is a lot of potential for innovation and new experiences, as it allows for immersive and interactive environments that can engage consumers in unique ways. On the other hand, the Metaverse is a complex and rapidly evolving space, with many technical and conceptual challenges that need to be navigated.<\/p>\n Leading these brands into the Metaverse required a deep understanding of the technology which I have acquired over the years and its potential applications, as well as a creative and strategic approach to building brand experiences that resonate with users in this new reality. It has required having a visionary mindset, a willingness to embrace change and a commitment to creating meaningful experiences for consumers in this exciting new space. Brands come to me because I have years of experience and speak from being in the trenches doing and building.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2023\/04\/Cathy-Hackl-Fashion-Tech-Innovator-161-copy.jpg\")
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