# Tyrice HICKS > Knovel Protocol Founder, Reimagining Book Publishing with Blockchain • Featured on BeInCrypto Location: San Francisco, California, United States Profile: https://flows.cv/tyrice From 1959 to 1964, Virginia chose segregation over education in Prince Edward County. The children left behind became what history calls the Lost Generation. My family was among them. That loss never left us. It became our fire.I grew up watching my father, become an award-winning author while fighting a publishing industry that kept writers like him from true ownership. At the beginning of 2021 I spent a few years at Ally Bank empowering people with financial management tools, working alongside a passionate team to serve 3.3 million customers. With that extra income I began collecting books in my Charlotte apartment, renting out titles from my personal library to friends online across the states.That mini-library experiment sparked a bigger question: Why do authors still route through publishers to reach readers?Why do readers still pay platforms and never own the ebook? The ebook shouldn’t disappear, it should become programmable.Stories are global. The infrastructure behind them should be.I believe in the power of storytelling and this lead me being one of founders of Knovel Protocol. In simple terms, we steward authors’ IP and bring their work directly to the readers who value it most.We bring the internet’s original vision to publishing, where authors own their audience, readers hold a stake in the stories they love.I have dedicated this next chapter to empowering independent authors with free publishing at Knovel. Readers deserve more community, more joy and greater diversity in storytelling. Writers deserve fewer barriers, and more pathways for their stories to find an audience. Knovel is defining the future of publishing with greater access for all.B.S. from North Carolina Central University and studied at the Academy of Art University. Featured in BeInCrypto and 2022 recipient of the ICC Innovation Award at Ally. ## Work Experience ### Product @ Knovel Protocol Jan 2025 – Present | San Francisco, CA ### Founder @ Knovel Protocol Jan 2024 – Present | San Francisco Bay Area Founded Knovel Protocol as a social, self-publishing platform powered by blockchain technology. Building sustainable economics for authors and readers through decentralized publishing infrastructure. ### Events, Philanthropy @ SFMOMA San Francisco Museum of Modern Art Jan 2025 – Jan 2026 ### 6th Bitcoin Startup Lab Cohort @ Bitcoin Ai Startup Lab Jan 2024 – Jan 2025 Participated in competitive Bitcoin accelerator program, connecting with co-founder and forming what is known today as Knovel Protocol. Developed foundational understanding of blockchain infrastructure, tokenomics, and decentralized publishing systems. ### Product Designer, Mobile Banking @ Ally Jan 2021 – Jan 2023 | Charlotte, North Carolina, United States Designing for 3.3M customers at a $185B bank taught me what it means to build at scale. I led Spending Buckets to 900,000+ users, 2022 ICC Innovation Award. Joining Ally’s crypto team early on confirmed blockchain wasn’t a trend, it was a new ownership layer most industries hadn’t figured out yet. Publishing was one of them. That realization, plus a personal book-lending experiment, became Knovel Protocol. ### SPV Investor, Token Metrics Inc. (via Wefunder, 2021) @ Token Metrics Jan 2021 – Jan 2021 Early-stage investor in Token Metrics Inc.'s pre-seed round through Regulation Crowdfunding SPV. Conducted independent diligence on AI-powered crypto analytics platform, evaluated offering documents, and supported innovation in web3 data intelligence sectors. ### Boutique Facilitator @ CHANEL Jan 2018 – Jan 2020 | San Francisco, CA I worked at Chanel during Karl Lagerfeld’s final collection, one of the most significant moments in modern fashion history. Chanel taught me that a brand is only as powerful as the experience it creates around its product. At the flagship, every client interaction was choreographed to make someone feel like they were stepping into a world not just a store. The brand itself was the infrastructure that protected the designer’s vision and delivered it with consistency across every touchpoint. ### Sales @ Hermès Jan 2016 – Jan 2018 | San Francisco, CA At Hermès I learned the most important lesson of my career: people don’t buy products, they buy stories with provenance. Every piece in that store carried a history like what artisan made it, how, and why it would outlast trends. Customers weren’t purchasing leather goods; they were purchasing membership in a narrative. ## Education ### Bachelor of Science - BS in Human Sciences North Carolina Central University ### Master of Fine Arts - MFA in School of Fashion Academy of Art University ## Contact & Social - LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/tyrice-hicks - Portfolio: https://www.knovelprotocol.com - Portfolio: https://www.tyricehicks.com --- Source: https://flows.cv/tyrice JSON Resume: https://flows.cv/tyrice/resume.json Last updated: 2026-04-13