Yulia Barnakova

Yulia Barnakova is a renowned metaverse and web3 strategist and Metaverse Lead Business Strategist for Accenture. She is a prominent advocate of using metaverse technologies in business and is on a mission to inspire leaders to adopt this technology in their organisations. Yulia frequently works with Fortune 500 leaders, helping them explore and seize opportunities with metaverse and web3 technologies by delivering metaverse tours and hands-on demos. She is also an articulate speaker who recently gave an extremely informative TEDx Talk, Think You’re Not Tech Savvy, and is now a highly sought-after speaker on the topics of the metaverse, web3 and digital trends.

After completing a bachelor's degree in Finance and International Business from Vilanova University, Yulia completed a master’s in Communication from the University of Pennsylvania. She then joined Bashpole Group as VP of Marketing, where she played an instrumental role in helping the start-up win the QVC award for Consumer Innovation for an innovative Pocket Grill product. Following that, Yulia landed the role of Senior Associate at Decision Strategies International, a market leader in future-focused consulting. Within a short period, she was promoted to Consultant and then Senior Consultant before joining Heidrick & Struggles in 2016 as a Principal. Demonstrating exceptional talent, Yulia would then become Principal, Digital and Innovation, concluding her time with Heidrick & Struggles as Global Digital Innovation Lead, Consulting Practice.

Her expert knowledge of emerging technologies has seen Yulia regularly contribute to multiple publications, including Training Magazine, Heidrick & Struggles, and Knowledge Wharton. Moreover, Yulia is involved with several metaverse and web3 communities, where she conducts keynotes, teambuilding experiences and business tours in metaverse platforms. She has been recognised as a Microsoft MVP three times for her creative experiments, blending 2D PowerPoint and 3D XR presentations. Furthermore, her tutorials on creative presentation and communication tricks have been viewed over 8 million times and featured in US YouTube installations.

A remarkable professional able to envision the future and stay ahead of it, Yulia is a highly sought-after expert on emerging technology, helping leaders across industries prepare for digital disruption. She also plays an integral role in inspiring leaders to adopt and integrate innovative technology and techniques in their work. Presently she shares her vast knowledge as a speaker, eloquently talking about the metaverse, web3, VR, and AR, as well as offering the latest insights into visual communication.