Eric 'ET' Thomas Launches The ETVerse To Help Artists Of Color Across The Globe Profit From Their Gifts

Going from Web 2.0 to 3.0, ET gives praise to his son and ETVerse co-founder Jalin Thomas for helping him make the transition.

The impact that he’s made in his career so far already speaks for itself, but Jalin pointing out how he can help people economically and have the ability to fully use their gifts opened his eyes to how he could change even more lives through the metaverse.

“I have to really give credit to Jalin for making that connection,” ET told AfroTech. “And then I’m just using the gifts and talents that I’ve been using for the last 30 years in speaking and motivation consulting, but just using it on this platform now.” 

The platform, which is focused on creators of color, aims to provide opportunities for artists across the world. While enlisting creators to join the ETVerse, ET connected with longtime art collector Iris Nevins.

As previously reported by AfroTech, in 2021 she launched Umba Daima — an NFT studio that educates artists on Web 3.0 and helps Black artists gain a profit from their work. As her platform works to empower Black and brown people, she believes that the ETVerse will also help the communities in even more ways than just monetary.

“I think that there’s a lot of room for more conversations around health, wellness, purpose, and value,” she said. “I think sometimes the NFT space gets caught up a lot in money and how much sales are people making and how much are they selling their NFTs for. Who made $1 million today? And I think it can be very distracting from the true power of this technology, which is not just about people making money overnight. It’s about people being able to have more control and ownership over their intellectual property and about the power here to be able to build communities that have their own economy. I think that ET has a real potential to really kind of provide a safer and more wellness-focused element to Web 3.0.”

After recently launching, the ETVerse will soon be dropping its first round of limited edition NFTs titled the Genesis Collection. The collection features artists ranging from cities including Chicago, Atlanta, and Charlotte to Lagos and Dakar. Genesis is minting on June 1 and all proceeds will go directly to the artists and The School Days Foundation.

With the scouting of global talent, ET has been going past just the art by getting to know the artists’ background stories, as well as learning how they want to impact the Earth with their artwork. 

“Like we’re literally having a conversation, meeting together and planning in the metaverse. There are no boundaries. There are no limits. It’s really one world as a result of Web 3.0. So I’m overjoyed and I can’t believe we’re making this type of global impact without me having to pack clothes, get my passport, and go through TSA. Right for our home, we’re able to do business together. You could have never told me that I would be in Africa daily and making changes in the world through [Web 3.0]”

Just as the intent in creating the platform was for the founder to be able to just show up and use his gifts, its artists will be given access to do the same. 

“I mean, you look at it like now as an artist, you have access to Eric Thomas’ millions of followers. So, all you have to do is focus on your gift — that’s art. Then, I can take that art and give it to the millions of people that follow me and give them an opportunity, not only to purchase your [artwork] but also to make a difference in your country. And so it’s like, wow this is unbelievable how we can benefit and profit from each other’s gifts and work.”

Click here to enter the ETVerse.