***Voting has started for the nominated candidates for the working group that is being set up for the new Steem Foundation - an idea fully supported by @ned and Steemit inc. - I am a candidate and you can help me by going to the Discord voting area, registering and clicking against my name in the relevant place. All help is much appreciated!***
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<center>https://www.sierranevada.edu/wp-content/uploads/vote-graffiti-sf-420.jpg</center>
<center>**For guidance on voting, please see [this post](https://steempeak.com/steem/@steemalliance/announcement-steem-alliance-working-group-election-voting-has-started).**</center>
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### Who Am I?
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Greetings all, I am @ura-soul and have been nominated for the Working Group election. 
I have been a software engineer for 36 years and wrote my first program at age 4. I have a degree in applied computing, which is a combination of business management, systems engineering and practical problem analysis / solutioneering. I have worked in numerous industries at all levels, including investment banking software, media companies and a social network startup. Separately, I launched my own social network about 10 years ago focused on healing, balancing and evolving. After seeing the power of Steem’s design and that an intention of it’s design is to support free will, I decided to shift my focus into growing Steem. I aim to integrate Steem into my own social network via an SMT when that becomes possible. 

I have been running a witness on Steem for over a year. I also run the community stats site ‘Steem Ocean’ and the Steem onboarding project @steempassport that aims to provide novel methods of scaling user account creation to ensure we can support very large numbers of users moving onto Steem powered sites. 

Politically, I most align to voluntarism and am not a fan of divisive agendas and power struggles – I know we can always find a balance that feels good to everyone if we take the right, respectful, steps and don’t move too hastily. I fully recognise that the expansion of Steem requires it’s public image to improve and I’d like to see the unique selling point of ‘proof of brain’ to be reinstated. We also need the economic model in use by Steem powered projects to be more aligned towards generating revenue than on purely distributing rewards.

I currently split my time between helping improve Steem, working for private clients on tech projects, writing my first book (on human and language evolution), keeping healthy (and coaching others) and researching a huge number of different topics with an aim of helping us create the best versions of ourselves.

[My Witness Introduction Post](https://steempeak.com/witness-category/@ura-soul/ura-soul-witness-application)
[Steem Passport](https://www.steempeak.com/@steempassport)
[Steem Ocean](https://www.steemocean.com)
[Ureka.org - my Social Network](https://www.ureka.org)



Wishing you well,
Ura Soul
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<center>I am currently among the top 100 in the [Steem User Authority Table](https://steem-ua.com/)</center>
#### <center>Vote @ura-soul for Steem Witness!</center>
<center>
[![vote ura-soul for witness](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmQcSNkNgmUxfMHoLJXMr7HKSqpgR7y1VFAksabJhDtNy6/witness%20vote%20button%20-%20steem.jpg)](https://steemconnect.com/sign/account-witness-vote?witness=ura-soul&approve=1)
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<center> [View My Witness Application Here](https://steemit.com/witness-category/@ura-soul/ura-soul-witness-application)</center>

<center><sub>
(Witnesses are the computer servers that run the Steem Blockchain.
 Without witnesses there is no Steem,  Steemit, DTube, Utopian or 
Busy... You can really help Steem by making your 30 witness votes count!)
</sub></center>

<center>
[![steem ocean - diving deep into the blockchain](https://i.imgur.com/xucjks1.png)](http://steemocean.com)
</center>
<center>Find out your voter rank position at [steemocean.com](http://steemocean.com)!</center>

<center>
[![tribesteemup-orange-banner.png](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmPmyY2GdTsNEC4rpUeQLEiek7QC6HACeMqrScoDdDmDxM/tribesteemup-orange-banner.png)](https://steemit.com/@tribesteemup)
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<center>
[![ureka.org](http://i.imgur.com/AzZb55n.jpg)](https://www.ureka.org)
</center>
<center>I run a [social network](https://www.ureka.org) too!</center>