Ep. 43 - Shaping the METAVRSE: XR technology & the evolving place of women in immersive futures

I sit down with someone whose influence can be felt across technology, education, entrepreneurship, and global community building. Julie Smithson is the CEO and co-founder of METAVRSE, XR Women and Unlimited Awesome. She is a driving force in shaping how we create, collaborate, and thrive in the spatial web.In this wide-ranging conversation, Julie shares the incredible trajectory that brought her to becoming one of today’s most respected voices in immersive tech. We explore how her human-centric background in hospitality, combined with more than a decade of XR experience, informs the way she leads and designs for people rather than machines. She opens up about the mission behind Unlimited Awesome, a new educational ecosystem focused on perseverance, social impact, environmental responsibility, and preparing young people for a future where entrepreneurship and emerging technologies converge. We also discusse about why AI-first creation tools will redefine how students and creators build immersive worlds. We dive into the importance of governance and AI literacy, the shift toward agents over assistants, and why collaboration may become the most transformative “killer app” in the next wave of immersive adoption. And of course, we celebrate XR Women on its 5th anniversary: a vibrant global community now spanning more than 60 countries, empowering women and girls to lead, innovate, and shape the next era of spatial computing. Julie reflects on the current state of women’s representation in XR, where progress is happening, and where the industry urgently needs to evolve.

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