About

Q: Who even are you? A: Hey, I’m Paka. I’m a product manager at Edge & Node, where I work on The Graph — an open protocol for organizing and accessing blockchain data.

Q: Okay… but what does that mean? A: Imagine a card catalog or Dewey Decimal System — but instead of books, it’s blockchain data. The Graph helps developers find exactly what they need across a messy, ever-growing digital library of smart contracts and on-chain activity.

Q: How’d you get into this space? A: I’ve worked on several different software products over the years — from tools for managing medical data to platforms for analyzing geospatial information. My academic background is in Geography, and I did grad research using drone remote sensing to study grassland ecosystems. Over time, I became drawn to open infrastructure and decentralized systems, which led me to web3.

Q: What keeps you grounded? A: Gardening, mostly. This year I’m growing fruit trees for the first time, and learning a lot through trial and error. I live in the desert with my wife and our two dog daughters — a chubby white chihuahua-terrier mix and a small, long-haired chihuahua with attitude. They make everything more fun (and covered in fur).

Q: Where can people find you? A: LinkedIn is a good bet.

Q: Why “Paka”? A: Alex is too common and Pakalniskis is too difficult — so “Paka” just works.