You don’t care about credentials and stuffy corporate speak. You care about my why. So let me tell you why I’m on this mission and what it entails.
I am on a mission to help women:
- Secure the 2-3 million open security roles that are projected to go unfilled by 2022
- Secure at least 50% of the $100 million that HackerOne plans to pay out by 2020
- With funds for scholarships covering books, cons, and certs
- Start and advance their careers
But I’m also a nuanced person just like you. That means that I will sometimes talk about all the things, including:
Joy.
Pain.
Hope.
Despair.
Encouragement.
Discouragement.
Perseverance.
Apathy.
Triumph.
Tragedy.
Love.
Permission to feel all of these things because we’ll still have to rise.
We have aspire to inspire.
We have to pay homage and keep important conversations going.
Because in this world of so much uncertainty, we need to tell stories that matter and share knowledge that moves people to take action.
This blog, established in February 2017, will be one way to do that.
You saw the movie Hidden Figures and/or read the book, right?
If not, fix it Jesus!
This movie spoke to me on so many levels, but I was really moved and inspired by Dorothy Vaughan’s character. Played by the lovely and talented Octavia Spencer, she portrayed everything I aspire to be: a fearless leader willing to create my own opportunities by any means necessary while being a rising tide that lifts other boats.
My favorite scene in the movie was Dorothy’s reaction to her and her team’s jobs being replaced by the new IBM computer.
She saw the writing on the wall, so she went to the segregated library and tried to get the programming book. The book she needed was in the “white” section of the library, but she did not let that deter her.
Dorothy and her young sons were kicked out because black people were not allowed in that section, but Dorothy took the programming book with her as she was being kicked out.
LIKE A BOSS.
She taught herself to program the IBM and got it to work when none of the men could.
She did not stop there: she trained the women under her to code too, delivering a small army of black women into new technical careers at NASA.
Dorothy chose herself and her team.
I have chosen myself to deliver an army of women into cyber careers.
My mission is to educate, connect, and empower estimated talent to thrive in this male dominated industry.
This blog will be used to share knowledge gained from professional experience, graduate school, successes, failures, research, collaborative projects, conferences, side eye events, and everything in between.
Cyber is not always sexy, so some of it will bore you to tears. That is the nature of this field, and if you can deal with the ebb and flow of dry technical talk mixed with humor and tears, then a career in cyber is a good fit for you.
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