Aura Finance
Part-time content marketing for a DeFi protocol during the move from Beijing to Michigan.
Started in early 2024 as part-time content for Aura Finance, a DeFi protocol built on Balancer. The work was managing day-to-day content — social media posts, images, video, mostly on Twitter/X.
Why the timing mattered
The timing was perfect. My wife and I were in the middle of moving from Beijing back to Michigan. She’s an immigrant adjusting to a new country, didn’t know how to drive, we had a young daughter, everything was in flux. A part-time remote job that paid decently was exactly what that period needed.
I kept it for nearly two years largely because of the flexibility. It let me experiment with AI tools (image generation, video, etc.) applied to marketing, while giving me a reason to stay in the weeds of DeFi throughout a pretty brutal bear market.
The day-to-day
Daily social content on Twitter/X, some blog posts. Aura was a mature protocol — it was doing its job well, but there wasn’t a constant stream of new features or technical developments to cover. Most of the significant tech work was happening on the Balancer side, which impacted Aura but wasn’t Aura’s story to tell.
It was a tough time for any DeFi protocol on social media. Interest in the niche had been in a multi-year decline. I’m honestly not sure how well I did — hard to separate my own performance from industry trends that made the job harder for everyone, and I tend to be critical of myself.
Where I actually grew: AI media
The unexpected upside. I’m not a graphic designer but was doing my best in Canva. When AI image generation got good, I started using it heavily. Same with video generation. This was the period that made me genuinely competent with AI-generated visual content.
The governance situation
Aura is built on top of Balancer — the two protocols are deeply intertwined. Aura has significant voting power over Balancer governance, including who provides marketing services.
I’d been working with Balancer’s marketing team for about six weeks and got frustrated by what felt like poor execution on their end. Others in the community had been frustrated by their services and costs too, so there was support for a change. I put together a competing governance proposal and had the votes through Aura to pass it.
The process took much longer than I expected — 6-8 weeks instead of 2-3. I communicated poorly because of the timeline mismatch, and didn’t fully understand the internal dynamics. The vote was about to happen, then Balancer Foundation offered to just hire me directly. I agreed, got a contract. Next morning, it fell apart due to internal politics. Deal dead.
I regret the way I handled it — not the intent, but the execution. Continued my Aura work normally afterward.