Twelve-year-old Nyla Hayes has already accomplished a lot: student, artist, and billionaire entrepreneur But talking to Nyla, it's hard not to feel like that sudden success has gotten into her head

And it would certainly be easy to get carried away After all, Hayes has already earned over $57 million in Ether cryptocurrency thanks to her NFT artwork, which is selling extremely well She was also recently Time Magazine's "Artist in Residence" for a collection depicting Time Magazine's "100 Women of the Year"

No wonder they named Hayes to the 2021 Future 50 Awards, which recognizes the 50 most influential people driving innovation

Inspired by the long neck of her favorite dinosaur, the brontosaurus, Nyla is known for her long neckie portrait of a woman It began when she was nine years old

"I was actually at my grandmother's house and I had just gotten a new phone and I asked my grandma what I should draw And I asked my grandma, and she said, 'Draw whatever you want ' So I said, 'Well, I love being a woman, and I love the dinosaur Brontosaurus, so why don't I put the two together and start making a girl with a long neck?'

Before Hayes knew it, she had built up a collection, and her uncle encouraged her to go the NFT route for two reasons: first, it would allow her to get more people to see her work without much initial expense, and second, as Hayes says, "the blockchain protect my IP"

Spoken like a true 12-year-old Though, Hayes will turn 13 on January 1

For Hayes, the message of her artwork is much more important than payback The Long Neckies concept is about empowerment and loving yourself

"My Long Neckies represents diversity and women around the world It's about people being comfortable in their own skin and making young girls feel empowered to be themselves," says Hayes

So what's next? Hayes didn't want to say too much, but she wants to continue to inspire others and plans to do so by mixing the NFT space and the digital world with the physical world

"We're trying to bring the two together, but that's all I can tell you," Hayes said Stay tuned