October 29th, 2025

‍In the highlands of Chiapas, Mexico, mist drifts over coffee plantations and biodiversity thrives in every corner. Here, Gabriela Chang, Co-Founder of EthicHub learned her first lessons in trust – not from books, but from life itself. People of Chinese, German, Arab, and indigenous heritage coexisted seamlessly, and nature’s abundance was never far from daily life. This early immersion in diversity and resilience shaped her approach to building trust on a global scale, viewing inclusion as instinctive and nature as inseparable from human progress.

Today, Gabriela co-leads EthicHub, a platform leveraging blockchain to connect smallholder farmers with global markets – farmers who, despite producing 80% of the world’s coffee, often remain invisible to premium trade channels. Her journey from industrial design to impact finance illustrates the power of creativity not just in art, but in systems thinking, problem-solving, and human connection.
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From Industrial Design to Service Innovation

Gabriela began her career designing products, but she quickly realized that “solving problems is always about designing for people and systems.” Service design became her new canvas: every decision considered who would use it, how often, and under what conditions. Even a simple metaphor – like designing a car battery’s accessibility – reflects a mindset that balances usability, durability, and adaptability.

She describes creativity as a tool for freedom. “Sometimes fixing a problem develops into a new feature.” At EthicHub, this principle guides her team through unpredictable challenges, from crypto winters to pandemics, allowing them to innovate without losing sight of trust and impact.
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Designing for Financial Inclusion

Coffee is one of the world’s most traded commodities, yet 25 million families growing 80% of it remain largely excluded from banks, microfinance, and certifications. Gabriela calls this a design problem: current systems are built for scale, leaving micro-farmers invisible and unsupported.

EthicHub addresses this gap by connecting farmers directly with global investors through transparent, blockchain-enabled networks. Traceability, reporting, and programmable incentives reshape the trust equation. By focusing on verifiable outcomes rather than promises, her team ensures that trust becomes both measurable and meaningful.

Gabriela emphasizes that trust is the foundation of any financial or environmental system. When participants can verify results rather than rely solely on reputation or promises, systems can scale more fairly and effectively.
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Rethinking Environmental Incentives

Beyond coffee, Gabriela advocates for a broader approach to conservation. Current carbon markets often reward reforestation or avoided deforestation, but rarely recognize the value of maintaining thriving ecosystems. She envisions a system that “rewards conservation, not just restoration,” and stresses the importance of creative, out-of-the-box solutions, including programmable crypto-incentives.

Her perspective aligns with the growing recognition that sustainable impact requires redefining how we measure and reward environmental value. It’s not enough to prevent harm; systems must actively support thriving biodiversity and ecosystem resilience.
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What Builders Can Steal from This Conversation
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1. Trust begins within: Self-trust enables effective team collaboration.

2. Design for adaptability: Build systems that anticipate change and replacement.

3. Verify, don’t assume: Measurable outcomes create credibility faster than promises.

4. Think beyond the obvious: Incentives and rewards should account for thriving systems, not just gaps.

Gabriela’s story reminds us that trust is not abstract, but cultivated through creativity, verification, and a willingness to connect fragmented worlds. Whether in global markets, environmental systems, or local communities, these lessons show that meaningful impact is possible when design and human values align.

At Demia, we see these same principles in action: building infrastructure that allows stakeholders to trust verified climate and carbon data at scale, designing systems that reward real-world impact, and ensuring that environmental stewardship and human collaboration are inseparable. Gabriela’s journey is a vivid example of how trust, transparency, and thoughtful design can reshape markets and ecosystems alike.

To explore the full conversation and the practical lessons Gabriela shares, listen to the latest episode of The Future of Trust.

🎧 https://open.spotify.com/episode/1pEmRbIYVA0ZZRl7yTsodJ?si=FRVW-qbBTY-4s2HrVyIyeQ