Taylor Diamond-Vizcaino is the founder and CEO of True Dream Vision, a company that wants to see people in the LGBTQ community succeed financially, emotionally, physically, and culturally. It is introducing the world to Pride Pixies, a series of NFTs created to change the lives of others for the better through activism, support, inclusivity, acceptance, and representation.

"The enactment of the Florida 'Don't Say Gay Bill' appeared to be designed to marginalize, vilify, and set back human rights for the LGBTQ community," stated Diamond-Vizcaino. "I utilized the evolution of technology as a method for change, activism, and social awareness. Society has already built foundations to fight this bill, but now through the power of the blockchain, we can remove censorship through an immutable distributed ledger and support those that haven't had the education and freedom to search for their identity without prejudice."

Born in South Florida, Diamond-Vizcaino was the child of teen parents and raised by what she calls a village of independent youngsters. "Growing up in a Latin household to young parents instilled in me a sense of responsibility and independence. My upbringing allowed me to have room to grow and be creative but still feel responsibility and a sense of duty."

Nearly every member of her family was a teacher, artist, or entrepreneur. Throughout high school, she was taught leadership and perseverance through the Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) and was presented an award for her outstanding leadership in the district.

After high school, Diamond-Vizcaino relocated to Orlando, where she studied media and cultural anthropology and sociology at the University of Central Florida.

"During these years, I built a new support team with my co-workers while working as a lifeguard. Orlando granted me the opportunity to meet individuals from all over the world searching for their community while I searched for mine. With an anthropology degree and my knowledge of medicine, I began to turn my focus back onto society. At this time in my life, I was sure about my sexuality as a Bisexual woman. I started to educate myself more on labels and conservative thoughts about marginalized people."

Diamond-Vizcaino grew to embrace her creative side by selling custom prints, designs, and apparel on online marketplaces. Not only was she filling her need to be creative, but she figured out a way to help the community.

Technology and activism
A nonfungible token (NFT) is a financial asset consisting of digital data and intellectual property stored on the blockchain, such as video, photos, film, and art. Recoded ownership of this asset is also stored on the blockchain for the world to see.

NFTs allow their buyers to say they own the original copy of a digital file in the same way you might own the original copy of a piece of physical art. An NFT creates a chain of title and a certificate of authenticity that you couldn't attain in the traditional system. Some benefits of owning an NFT are that owners can obtain special rewards, or an authentic certificate of admission to an event, preventing counterfeit items.

NFTs first hit Diamond-Vizcaino's radar in early 2020, and her first thought was to merge her creative passions with technology. "Since technology is rapidly evolving, I called upon my father [a long-term cryptocurrency investor] to provide me insight into cryptocurrency, blockchain technology, and the monetization of intellectual property. The ability for creators to monetize their own intellectual property from videos, photos art, music, film, and memberships really had me thinking about how I can serve more of a humanitarian purpose in this world for good."

She realized that creators, visionaries, and people of all backgrounds now have the opportunity to utilize this technology as a humanitarian effort for social change. It was at that moment that Diamond-Vizcaino created Pride Pixies.

"The industry's biggest challenges are lack of inclusivity, the lack of education, and friction in the NFT and crypto markets. We are addressing these challenges by building an inclusive community, donating 5% of our profits to Human Rights Campaign Foundation and Ofrezco.org, to support marginalized people and women in tech. We are developing the first animated, nonbinary series of NFTs, the first nonbinary play-to-earn video game, and an NFT/DeFi platform with ease-of-access to enter the market, as well as supplying tutorials and webinars to educate all."

There has never been a time in a creator's life when they could monetize their intellectual property for life in perpetuity. Creators now have the ability to program a smart contract built into the NFT that can pay royalties to the creator of the NFT for life, as long as the NFT trades on the open market.

"These royalties can be used to fund educational events, donate to human rights activism, support women in tech, [or] develop and build out more an animated series, films, or video games," said Diamond-Vizcaino.

Pride Pixies' NFT was originally set to mint on June 1, 2022, but due to the recent volatile market conditions and inflation, Diamond-Vizcaino decided to postpone to June 1, 2023, allowing for more time to promote Pride Pixies, increase their engagement for a larger community, and continue developing the items on their roadmap.

Diamond-Vizcaino will only offer 10,557 Pride Pixies NFTs, so the limited-edition supply will surely be in demand.

"Change is evolutionary, and the impact we make is one that sets the path for the new visionaries of the world," she said.