Fireside Chat w/Tahjar Roamartinez Founder @ CEO – CWG

[00:00:00] Thank you. [00:00:30] Thank you. [00:01:00] Thank you. [00:01:30] I don't want to scream. Can you hear me now? [00:01:32] Yeah, I've got my volume up all the way and I can hear you now. [00:01:36] Should I, is this loud enough or do I need to speak a little louder? [00:01:42] I'm wondering, I've got some equipment on my side so I can turn it up, but I'm wondering [00:01:47] if other folks will have difficulty. As other folks are joining, we can check and see how [00:01:53] it is, but I've got a feeling it may be a little bit low on the volume. [00:01:55] I can leave and come back. Maybe that'll... [00:01:58] Okay. Yeah, let's try that. I'll stay here so it won't close the room down at all. [00:02:01] Okay. [00:02:02] Hey, everybody. We're just getting our old things all set up. We'll start at the top [00:02:13] of the hour as always. We'll just get everything set up on our side and have an amazing talk [00:02:20] again this evening. Just getting the room all set up. So how's audio now? [00:02:29] Test one, two, three. Can you hear me now? [00:02:32] Yeah, I'm going to turn up myself a little bit because I'm all the way up. [00:02:37] We can ask some folks in the back chat how the volume sounds for them. [00:02:41] So, hey, everyone. [00:02:46] Check one, two, three. Can you hear me now? [00:02:48] Ooh, much better. Yeah. [00:02:50] Wow. All I've done was I added some headsets instead of just talking to the phone. [00:02:56] Oh, there you go. Well, you sound amazing right now. And I think that I already see some comments [00:03:01] in the back chat that it's already sounding better. So that's fantastic. [00:03:05] Great. I know this evening Tomas is probably not going to be able to be available. Also, [00:03:13] Lisa Beth. There's Octavia. Hey, Octavia, let me make you a mod right away. Great to see you. [00:03:18] It feels like it's been a while since I've seen you. [00:03:21] It probably has been a while. How are you? [00:03:24] You know what I'm going to say? I'm going to say the truth. The truth is I am absolutely [00:03:29] living the dream. [00:03:32] That's awesome. That's awesome. [00:03:34] Yeah. It's been a while. We had to rush to Florida. So I'm actually in the States now. [00:03:40] I'm at my mom's house. So we've been here for a week now. [00:03:49] Hi, Tadar. How are you? [00:03:51] Hi. How are you? I hope all is well. Can you hear me? [00:03:55] We can hear you. [00:03:55] Yeah. Definitely. We were having some sound troubles earlier. So if I'm projecting a little [00:04:01] too loud, let me know because I'm adjusting my settings here. [00:04:08] No, you sound fine to me. [00:04:09] Yeah, I think much better. Earlier, I had to turn all my equipment up really high, but I think [00:04:17] now we're in a great spot. [00:04:24] I'm reaching out to you. I hope all is well, Octavia, in Florida. I'm here in San Diego. [00:04:30] I hope all is well in Florida. [00:04:35] It'll be okay. My mother-in-law is in the hospital. So we'll see. Such is life, right? [00:04:42] You go for a while and everything's good. And then all of a sudden, things are not that good [00:04:48] and you have to deal with it. [00:04:50] Well, sending positive, healing energy your way to you and your family. [00:04:56] I appreciate it. [00:05:03] I see some amazing rock stars in the audience. So this should be a treat. [00:05:08] My friend, Eddie, and my friend, Nicole, I see you both in the audience. So welcome to Clubhouse. [00:05:14] And welcome to the Firestack Chat. I'm excited for both of you guys to be on. [00:05:22] Yeah, I'll tell you, I really enjoy these conversations. I've got it blocked on my calendar, [00:05:28] a recurring reminder every Wednesday, 8 p.m. Eastern to about 9.30 p.m. [00:05:33] Unless I'm like totally unavailable, I love, like so many others, of spending time getting [00:05:39] to meet, learn from, be inspired by. And I know tonight will be no exception. [00:05:44] I'll tell you, I'll tell you, I'll tell you, I'll tell you, I'll tell you, I'll tell you, [00:05:48] hey, I know it's the top of the hour, so let's do this. Let's be respectful of everyone's time, [00:05:53] especially that of our guests this evening. I'll go ahead and kick us off. [00:05:57] Tonight, Tomas is not available, and so he's asked for us to kind of lead the conversation. [00:06:03] Also, Lisa Beth, another regular, is not available this evening. [00:06:06] However, that just means we have more time to ask our questions of our guests this evening. [00:06:12] A couple of ground rules that we like to follow, things that we like to do to make sure that we're [00:06:17] all in a good place is just a reminder, if you're a vendor, we love you. And tonight, [00:06:22] we're not going to talk about your vendor thing, so keep your pitches into another day, please. [00:06:27] Typically, our format, about the first half of the time, we'll have the moderators ask questions of [00:06:32] our guests after we get to learn a little bit more about her and her origin story, and then the [00:06:37] balance of time. We'd love to hear your questions. You can come up on stage at that point, or if you're [00:06:42] not able to talk, we'd be happy to relay your questions to our guests, and we'd be happy to do [00:06:48] that if for some reason you're not able to do that. Many folks will say that they speak for themselves [00:06:54] versus the company they work for. If they work for a company that doesn't give them liberty to say [00:06:59] things and such, and so as those speakers, if anyone has that, they'll certainly help us with reminding us of [00:07:07] that. Remember, we're here to get wisdom as cheaply as we can. How can we learn from others? How can we be [00:07:15] inspired by others? And that's really the intent and the purpose for Fireside Chat. We've been running this [00:07:22] conversation over the last year. It's just hard to believe what the value that we've gotten week over [00:07:29] week, and just really love how that is working out for all of us, and tonight will be no exception. [00:07:36] So what we'll do is we'll just kind of go around the room. I'll introduce myself briefly, hand it over to Octavia, [00:07:41] then to Stephen, and what we'll do is have a brief introduction of those this evening, and then we'll save to [00:07:47] our guest until the end, and then ask a few questions, get to know her origin story, learn about [00:07:52] her story and journey, and I'll post a link to her LinkedIn page at the top, so you can go ahead and [00:07:57] check that out and get to know her a little bit in advance. So I'm Russell Ubex, been in cyber for, [00:08:05] gosh, a long time. Last couple of years, I've been running my company, Security Ever After, [00:08:09] where I help people get promoted into cyber or into cybersecurity leadership, teach with SANS, [00:08:14] work with IONS, and a bunch of other cool companies and cool things, but hey, that's just a little [00:08:18] bit about me. Octavia, I'd love to go over to you and have you introduce yourself, please. [00:08:24] Of course. I'm Octavia Howell. I am the CECL of Equifax Canada, and also the founder of Augusta [00:08:30] Sudafined, an organization to promote leadership in women, in Black women, within security. I'm also a member [00:08:38] of ITSMF and multiple other things, but I'm excited to have Tejar here and to hear her story [00:08:45] and hear what she's passionate about. So I'm going to pass it over to Stephen. [00:08:51] Thank you, Octavia. Welcome, everyone. Welcome, Tejar. My name is Stephen Garcia. I'm the VP of [00:08:57] cybersecurity over at FanDuel, been in the information security game for quite some time, [00:09:02] looking to learn from everyone here and also to give back however we can. Back to you, Russell. [00:09:08] All right. Well, thanks so much, Octavia. Stephen, great to have you here, and everyone who's here [00:09:12] in the room as well. Just love, or maybe some folks even listen to the replays. Who knows? [00:09:16] But love to spend just a little bit of time, Tejar, first saying thank you for being our guest. [00:09:22] It's going to be a good, friendly conversation. We can't wait to learn from you, lessons you've [00:09:27] learned, and things that you're doing, and impact that you're making with CWG, Cyber Warfighters [00:09:34] group, and all those things. But before we do that, we always like to start with your, a little bit [00:09:40] about you, a little bit about yourself, a little bit about your origin story, like where you were at, [00:09:45] what you're doing now, and the journey that you took. But we would love to have a lot of time for [00:09:49] you to tell us about you and tell us things that you've been working on as we get to know you this [00:09:55] evening. So the mic is all yours, and cannot wait to learn and be inspired from what you have to share [00:10:01] with us this evening. Well, thank you so much for the introduction. Thank you, Russell. Thank you, [00:10:05] Octavia. And thank you, everyone who's part of this, I call it tribe, Cybersecurity Tribe. Thank you for [00:10:13] taking your time, which is, everyone knows is so valuable, and you chose to chime in to this clubhouse. [00:10:19] So thank you for sharing this sacred space with me. My name is Tejar, the J is silent, [00:10:24] Roa Martinez. And to tell you a little bit about myself, I always like to share a little bit of a [00:10:31] story. And hopefully, in that, we'll bob and weave. And not only will you get to know me, but I'll get [00:10:38] to know you as everyone here as well. So basically, as a leader with over 30 years of cybersecurity [00:10:48] expertise, I'm so honored to be sitting among my peers, and to share a little bit about my story, [00:10:55] and my journey in cybersecurity. When I look back over my career, I reflect a lot about when I served [00:11:04] in the Army at the highest level as an Army officer, and serving at the highest level when it comes to [00:11:12] securing our nation against risks and threats. Sometimes I lean back in my chair, and I think [00:11:20] about a little bit further, how did I get here? Where did this journey begin? How did I become part of [00:11:25] the unicorns that I see here, and that I'm connected with here today? And so, as I lean back, and it comes [00:11:34] to memory, I was born in an environment of extreme vigilance when it came to safety and security around [00:11:44] my physical self, my mental, and my spiritual being, being first-generation African-American [00:11:52] and Cuban. So I'm Afro-Cuban, and I grew up in the toughest neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York. [00:11:58] And to bring that to the paint a picture, every day of my life was, I would get up in the morning, [00:12:08] and I would stand in my bathroom mirror, and I'm in a home with 10 people, and I'm the only little [00:12:13] girl, the baby girl in the house, and I would tuck a razor blade with the sharp side up between my gum [00:12:20] and my cheek, bracing myself for my 10-block journey through pimps, drug dealers, and gang members [00:12:29] to a train that I took one hour, one way, in hopes to get an education in STEM. [00:12:37] And I took that journey every day for four years, and that led me to my opportunities to serve this [00:12:46] great nation. And so one of the greatest lessons, I leaned back, what is the greatest lessons that I [00:12:52] learned? The one greatest lesson that I learned was in the eighth grade, and it was there that I learned [00:12:58] the power of sponsorships and champions. There was a gentleman, rest in peace, Mr. Habib, he was an [00:13:05] eighth grade math teacher, and he saw a gift in me, and he wrote a special letter that got me to this [00:13:14] school outside of what we call our zone school. So it was a special school that you had to score high [00:13:20] and know the right people to get in. And so that was my first interaction with the idea and concept of [00:13:27] sponsorship and champions. And it was that lever that changed the trajectory of my life to get out of my [00:13:36] circumstance. So you all here, Octavia, everyone here in the piano, Russell, [00:13:45] you remember that each one of us who thrives in cybersecurity, we all have had sponsorships and [00:13:55] champions to be able to thrive as CISOs. And so I'm also curious to know, you know, from you, [00:14:04] from you all, how sponsorships and champions have helped you along the way that changed your [00:14:10] trajectory in this space of cybersecurity, CISO, careers. So I'm interested in learning, [00:14:18] how did you get from there to here? Because we all have a story. [00:14:26] Russell, I think you're leading it. So I think this one should go with you first. [00:14:29] Yeah, happy to do that. And it's a great point. So, Tower, first of all, you know, [00:14:34] thank you for your service to our country as an officer in the Army. It's amazing. And then the [00:14:39] things you've already shared. I mean, having to tuck a razor blade for one hour train to get for four [00:14:44] years, I'm thinking, oh, my gosh, I mean, that I thought I had a life that wasn't like incredibly easy. [00:14:50] And now I'm thinking, man, it made compared to just the little bit that you've already shared. And we [00:14:54] can't wait to hear more. But I would say, yeah, happy to have that question turned back to me for [00:14:58] sponsorship. When I was privileged for five and a half years to work at the Federal Reserve Bank of [00:15:04] Atlanta, I was a CISO. And what I didn't know, my boss as the chief risk officer, my immediate [00:15:09] supervisor, she started asking me, hey, what would you like to do? And I started talking about what I [00:15:15] want to do in the future, how happy I was doing the things. And she looked at me, she said, you know, [00:15:19] I think the most valuable thing I can do is I can tell you what are the things that the executive [00:15:24] committee talks about? Because you don't get exposed to those. You don't get to go to those [00:15:28] meetings, except for when you give them a briefing, and then they kick you out of the room. [00:15:31] And for a year, she told me about the agenda, the topics. And what I didn't know was until [00:15:37] I got offered a promotion to CIO and SVP and all those things, but she was actually sponsoring me. [00:15:42] She was an advocate for me when I didn't even know that was something that I wanted to do. And it [00:15:47] changed so much. It gave me opportunities, insights, and things that without which I don't know where I [00:15:54] would be. I don't know. I would have never been able to serve in that capacity, especially such a big [00:15:58] organization like that. But by far, her sponsorship and her seeing something in me that I didn't even [00:16:04] see in myself made a phenomenal difference for sure. But Octavia, love to hear an example for you. [00:16:10] Then we'll go back and ask some more questions to get to know Tehar a little bit better as well. [00:16:14] Yeah, I think for me, it's been more of just, I had a mom who believed that I can conquer the world. [00:16:26] And so sometimes to a fault, and I had to explain to her sometimes that I could not do [00:16:31] all the things that she said or she thought in her mind, she imagined that I can do. [00:16:36] And so I think I was raised to be a little bit more confident in being able to accomplish things [00:16:44] that I probably would not have been able to accomplish had my mother not bolstered my head [00:16:51] up so much. So I think I had that, right? And it really was because, and I want to go back to [00:16:58] Tahar, right? Really, it's because of the upbringing. It's because, you know, my mother did not want me [00:17:06] to experience the same things that she experienced. And, you know, I remember you talk about, [00:17:13] you know, walking to, walking down the 10 blocks with a razor in your mouth. That's something girls [00:17:22] in my school did. And I've seen that happen, but I was always too afraid to do it because I thought [00:17:30] that I was going to cut my tongue up, right? And I was like, it was just one of those things where [00:17:35] I just was always too afraid to do it. But my friends did it. And I was happy to walk beside them [00:17:43] because they had coordination that I did not have to keep that razor from cutting up their lips. [00:17:49] So I would actually kind of put it back. I'll let Steven answer, but I want to, after he answers, I do [00:17:55] want to get back to you and how those lessons and how those things are just kind of growing up, [00:18:02] how they shaped your thoughts when it comes to security and the psychology of just providing [00:18:11] services, even either in the military, in your military service, or even in cyber, like how those [00:18:19] interactions and that preparation that you had to do, that you felt like you had to do, [00:18:25] how does that shape your everyday life and your career in cyber? [00:18:30] Great. Steven and then I'll follow Steven. [00:18:34] Oh, sure. Thank you, Octavia. Thank you, Dahai. Dahai, thank you for your service. Thank you for [00:18:39] your story so far. I definitely feel it deeply. I'm Afro-Dominican and I grew up across the river [00:18:45] from you in Newark. So I imagine we have a lot of the same shared experiences of kind of having to [00:18:50] grow up with your head on a swivel. So I really, I feel the story. I think overall hearing, you know, [00:18:59] the things about sponsorship and people, you know, like it's that old adage, it's who you know, [00:19:05] right? And in some sense, you know, part of this infuriates me because there's this like kind of [00:19:09] gatekeeper effect that you have in here, right? Like I've seen the schools that you're referring to, [00:19:14] right? Some of them that you will only get in if a congressman or a senator or a congressperson or a [00:19:19] senator writes you some letter of recommendation. I'm just like, man, what kid in Newark knows a [00:19:24] congressperson, right? Like, you know, so it's like that kind of stuff that drives me nuts. But I think, [00:19:30] you know, in your case, and I think in a lot of our cases, you know, we did hustle, we did push, [00:19:34] and eventually the right teachers and, you know, and if our parents were involved enough, [00:19:38] saw the push and got in there and did what they could to get us to where we're at, right? And so [00:19:45] I think over time, you know, I've learned in particular, like I'm one of these people that [00:19:51] gets irritated by that term self-made because no one does it alone, right? And I tell this to some [00:19:56] of our jiu-jitsu students, right? Like the path is yours, but you don't walk it alone. And when someone's [00:20:02] like, oh, I'm a self-made this, I'm like, did you build those rows that your delivery was on? Did you, [00:20:06] like, you know, like there's a lot that in particular this country does to just get a basic [00:20:11] business up and running that I think people take for granted? So, but sponsorship is always about [00:20:17] hopefully the right people see what you're capable of and just provide that opportunity. So I didn't [00:20:23] get here alone. I think there was a whole set of people that let me get to this point. And so I [00:20:28] thank each and every one of them, and I will pass it back to you, Ty. [00:20:31] And so thank you so much for sharing. It reminds me again, it just reinforced [00:20:36] my journey in this moment. You know, I have flashbacks still. And so to Octavia's question, [00:20:43] how did that pave the way to my journey? What's the lessons learned? Well, the one thing that I did [00:20:49] learn just in life and as a global leader, rightfully earned, I learned to lead by example [00:20:58] and through two pillars, your integrity and your character. I was always taught that your attitude [00:21:06] will dictate your altitude. So those lessons along the way, and that level of vigilance every day, [00:21:13] being just trained to see the subtle, the most subtle changes in a person's face, [00:21:21] an environment and an atmosphere. So those were the building blocks that qualified me to get the top [00:21:30] opportunities in our government and even in the nation and globally to be leaders on very [00:21:35] skilled teams where you really had to have a keen sense of not just the hands-on training. It's not in [00:21:42] the certification. It's a gift that's honed and grown and built. And to see the subtle nuances [00:21:48] of something that's just out of, out of, out of the norm. There's one thing we were traveling in, [00:21:58] from Kuwait, Tyrat. And this before we were the first ones on the ground, the first ones there [00:22:04] doing OIF-1, that's Operation Iraqi Freedom. And leaving, it was 2001. And I went and there was [00:22:15] subtleness of things that just didn't feel right, your gut, your spirit, just being trusting in your [00:22:21] intuitions, what was going on, what looked strange in the environment. There were times when it [00:22:29] definitely, we didn't go, we didn't blow up because there was an IED in the road. That's an explosive [00:22:36] device that's made. So that's where physically it showed up. And then being communications, [00:22:43] we would call them tiger teams, of setting up communications and ensuring that there were no [00:22:51] gaps when, between ground and air communications. And being able to identify some of the, the, [00:23:00] the resources or some of the tools that we had. For example, there was, it's, this is not classified [00:23:06] anymore. There was a certain gap between ground and air. And just through looking at logs and studying [00:23:13] video, I noticed that there was a 10 second gap in communications. And in ground and air, that's a [00:23:22] lifetime. So if there is a gap where a message, a warning is being sent between someone in the ground, [00:23:31] rather than flying at a helicopter or a different type of helicopter, Chinook or Apache, for example, [00:23:39] or a Black Hawk, there's just different types of helicopters. That's a lifetime in how long they can [00:23:47] travel in 10 to 15 seconds. That's how that skill set showed up and save a life and or secure the mission [00:23:57] and or allow us to fight better, faster than the enemy. So that's where that showed up there. [00:24:08] The resilience, where that showed up over my life, just go back to taking that journey every day in [00:24:13] four years. I never looked at the four years. I just thought, let me get through the hour. [00:24:19] Let me get through the next 15 minutes. And through that, I built the muscle of resilience. [00:24:24] And that resilience fed other tools of faith, hope and action, three pillars that I've always had, but I [00:24:33] recognize them now. And that faith, hope and action allow me to, first of all, get committed. [00:24:44] Not just be interested, but be committed to success, to be committed to cyber, because all of us can say [00:24:52] it's a daunting task. Cyber is something we all know that folks don't want us till they need us. [00:25:01] And we're taken for granted a lot. So it takes a lot of patience, a lot of resilience to know, [00:25:08] keep doing the right thing, try to get some momentum and support along the way. [00:25:12] I call it top cover or support from senior management to give us the resources we need. [00:25:21] And until they give us that, we figure out a way to get by until we get what we need to align with the mission. [00:25:29] Whether it's the mission of where you work now in your company, your nonprofit, your community. [00:25:33] For me, at the time, it was our nation. And living with that kind of resilience. [00:25:40] And then being able to compartmentalize. Because sometimes, once you know, you can't unknow. [00:25:47] And a lot of us lose sleep at night, even to this day, to know the different levels of risk that we have to manage every day. [00:25:57] And when something goes wrong, where in my situation, it would cost a life or a limb. [00:26:05] Money was the last concern. But life, limb, or resources, money, assets. [00:26:13] Here, in corporate or nonprofit, it can be someone's livelihood. [00:26:18] I remember in Austin, when our big blackout happened. It was a very big embarrassment in Texas. [00:26:27] Because we're the great state of Texas, and we're standalone. We're on an island. [00:26:32] So our infrastructure is not redundant to anyone else. [00:26:37] So we don't have to abide by regulations, and we don't have to have all these compliances. [00:26:42] It's great until it's not. But when that freeze happened, and you had a young child who died because they froze in their sleep. [00:26:50] We didn't have a lot of folks unless they went skiing. [00:26:53] My family was lucky that we had ski gear to get us through when there was no utilities available and no water. [00:27:03] Like we were a third world country, if you will. [00:27:05] I think that when you have these muscles that you've developed over the time, it shows up where you, in your community way, may not be so favorable or so highly supported. [00:27:25] And you may be even black-sheaped or ostracized for your opinions. [00:27:29] Because that's where you have to have the fortitude to lean in. [00:27:33] So that's where that, I call it, it's courage. [00:27:37] Abotional courage. Physical courage. [00:27:41] Mental courage to speak up. [00:27:44] I am a big advocate in the LGBT community. [00:27:48] Not only in Austin, but different areas like D.C. [00:27:52] All throughout California. [00:27:54] And in a place like Texas, especially now, before it was just words, now there's actually policies and legislator that says, [00:28:06] ah, we don't quite accept your culture. [00:28:11] There's also been times when in the military, being an officer over folks who would don't ask, don't tell. [00:28:18] And on the tail end of that, they could say, hey, I'm part of the LGBT community. [00:28:24] Having the moral courage and the integrity to speak up for those who don't have position, power, authority to fend for themselves. [00:28:39] And you can see them getting backlash because of who they are. [00:28:43] So over and over again, it showed up for me in so many ways. [00:28:48] And if I could say, where did that muscle come from? [00:28:51] It didn't happen overnight. [00:28:52] I didn't get it with a credential or certification. [00:28:55] It was people in community that fed into me. [00:28:59] But on the tail end side, I can't wait until I get to a certain level of success, personally, professionally, spiritually. [00:29:08] It makes me understand more importantly that before I take two steps forward, when I take a step forward, bring someone else along. [00:29:16] Bring someone else who looks like me. [00:29:19] And they don't identify that, yes, you are Latinx. [00:29:24] You are black skinned, but you are Latina as well. [00:29:27] Sometimes in our community, folks, when they think and close their eyes and think of what is Latina look like, it doesn't show up in my skin. [00:29:37] It doesn't show up with my greater hair. [00:29:38] I've seen that several times when I've been in networking events in Texas. [00:29:46] And folks assume, well, who is your husband? [00:29:48] Well, I don't have a husband. [00:29:52] And where are you from in Mexico? [00:29:54] Well, no, we're actually from Saguela Grande in Cuba. [00:29:57] And my family is from the DR. [00:29:59] And they just can't process it. [00:30:01] They're just trying to, in their box of what it looks like. [00:30:03] And it's important to join platforms like this so that folks can see what excellence look like in all different skins, in all different shapes. [00:30:15] And hopefully someone even here on this call can say, I identify and be encouraged. [00:30:24] So that's kind of how it showed up. [00:30:28] I'll pause there and give, because I'm so interactive and relate. [00:30:31] I just don't want to talk at folks. [00:30:32] I totally want to have an interaction to say, you know, hopefully everything I'm sharing will educate you quickly, inspire you. [00:30:42] That's amazing. [00:30:44] So amazing. [00:30:45] And I joined late, so I apologize. [00:30:47] But I caught the tail end of that, right? [00:30:50] So it's something that if you are sort of an Afro-Caribbean, Afro-Latino, it's really difficult, right? [00:30:58] Because I'm an immigrant. [00:30:59] So Generation Zero came to the States in the late 80s to the Bronx, right? [00:31:04] So you get in here. [00:31:06] And all of a sudden, if you speak Spanish, how do you know Spanish? [00:31:08] They're like, well, you know, we speak Spanish in the Dominican Republic. [00:31:11] That's what we do. [00:31:12] And it wasn't until I got here that I kind of saw how many buckets, everybody had to fit a bucket. [00:31:19] And God forbid you don't fit into a bucket. [00:31:22] And then it's like, we don't know what to do. [00:31:24] We don't know what to do, right? [00:31:25] And it's something that I think we need more awareness on. [00:31:29] I've noted in the last 10 years, there have been a lot of big pushes, right? [00:31:34] Specifically, if you're in the East Coast, I would say New York City, New Jersey, Connecticut area. [00:31:39] There's been a lot of discussions in this space. [00:31:41] A lot of big movement, right? [00:31:43] Because I don't think it's not only the Afro-Latinos that got that issue. [00:31:48] If you are of non-American African descent, it's just different, right? [00:31:56] So I think a lot of discussions are needed in this space. [00:32:00] And I appreciate you being vulnerable and speaking from the heart. [00:32:04] It's something that I really enjoy saying. [00:32:07] So thank you. [00:32:08] Thank you for sharing. [00:32:10] And how do I say you're Nessie? [00:32:11] You're Nessie. [00:32:12] So it's like, yo, messy, but with an N. [00:32:15] Yo, Nessie. [00:32:16] I get it. [00:32:17] I get it. [00:32:17] I have little plantainos my own. [00:32:19] I have my two sons, Byron and Benjamin. [00:32:25] Yo, Nessie, it would probably be a good time for you to introduce yourself, too, while you're at it. [00:32:30] So, yeah, thank you for that, Stephen. [00:32:32] You're Nessie Nunez. [00:32:33] I'm Cesar Deck Henry. [00:32:35] Just happy to be here with all of you and getting to hear your stories. [00:32:41] Thank you. [00:32:42] Thank you so much. [00:32:43] And so I always focus on I'm going to this One Thing podcast out in San Antonio in November. [00:32:50] So it applies to anyone, whether you're in business or just in life, focusing on the one thing and doing that well and then get to the next one thing and setting goals not only in family and business and life. [00:33:05] So I'll be going to that as kind of how I do my own development. [00:33:09] And I'm saying that to say when at a forum like this with so many powerful minds and we see the next little us in our communities, in our churches, wherever, that we be intentional. [00:33:28] Sometimes our lives can be so busy. [00:33:31] I get it. [00:33:31] We be intentional and have goals around how we're going to, I call it, shoulder up the next. [00:33:41] Shoulder up the next amazing woman in IT. [00:33:44] Show up the next amazing woman in board service because it cascades. [00:33:49] In order to become a phenomenal person at a board level, corporate board, private board, you have to check all these boxes. [00:33:56] You know, you have to be an executive. [00:33:58] You have to do all these things. [00:34:00] And so what happens if we don't do it for each other, then what happens, I'm on a board now and they're doing a headhunter for a seven-figure job. [00:34:14] And they'll go, well, I can't find anybody of color. [00:34:16] I can't find a woman. [00:34:18] And so that is when I'm like, wait a minute. [00:34:20] Here are some amazing people. [00:34:22] And if they don't get selected, I get that. [00:34:24] But at least I'm doing my part and I will continue to do more to find opportunities. [00:34:32] That's what I think is equally important is that I will find that a lot of folks won't raise their hand and ask for help. [00:34:40] I'm one of them. [00:34:41] And that we be intentional and pull folks aside. [00:34:45] When I think about Mr. Habib, rest in peace, he, I never asked, no matter the drama going on in my home and in my community, I never asked for help. [00:34:56] Because in my community, that was a sign of weakness. [00:34:58] And with my abuela, it was, oh, that's family business, family secrets. [00:35:03] You keep it all in. [00:35:04] You hold it all in. [00:35:05] You don't get therapy. [00:35:06] You don't get help. [00:35:08] And it becomes those demons that are, I believe, genetically DNA. [00:35:13] It's DNA program. [00:35:14] It becomes genetic or they call it genetic curses. [00:35:17] It's some folks like that terminology. [00:35:19] But it becomes generational dysfunction from a science perspective. [00:35:24] And I think that when we see folks like Octavia doing great things with helping women and helping Latinas and helping LGBT, make ourselves available. [00:35:39] And sometimes folks won't ask and go, hey, I know you didn't ask, but if I can be of a resource, here are some tools I have in my toolkit that may help you in your passion, in your journey. [00:35:51] And I'm being very intentional about that in different ways. [00:35:58] But together we can do more. [00:36:02] I love that. [00:36:04] And I agree. [00:36:05] I believe that there's no room for competition in the world when it comes to actually moving agendas forward. [00:36:12] Because the more people we move, more people move in the same direction, the quicker we get there. [00:36:18] So I'm 100% with you there. [00:36:22] Tahar, tell us a little bit just about, you know, you talked about your military service and kind of, you know, your Afro-Latina background and what that means to you. [00:36:37] And how sometimes that might, you know, what you've grown up with and the dominant culture in your environment might have held you back and how you're breaking out of that. [00:36:50] But one of the things that it just reminds me of is like, when I think about the term warfighter, it is fighting against, you know, sometimes even ourselves fighting against what's around. [00:37:04] But I know you have an organization, a company called Cyber Warfighters. [00:37:09] So I just want to know a little bit about that. [00:37:11] And then also, also, why Cyber Warfighters? [00:37:17] Like, why that name? [00:37:18] Why is that personal to you? [00:37:20] Well, I am a former warfighter. [00:37:23] An Army warfighter is an Army officer. [00:37:27] And so before we had Internet, it was about in the 90s is when I went into the military. [00:37:34] And back then it was big mainframes and it was basically intranets, if you will. [00:37:40] Only the government really had money for that. [00:37:42] It was intranets and stuff like that. [00:37:44] So back then it was called information assurance. [00:37:48] So why the name Cyber Warfighters? [00:37:51] I am a former warfighter. [00:37:54] And cyber has been my whole career trajectory beyond the military, even now I'm beyond the military. [00:38:01] So that's by the name. [00:38:05] My company basically, because the skill sets that I was just so blessed to have along the way, [00:38:14] serving at the government with unlimited resources, I could sit all day and think about problems [00:38:20] and how to implement and really solve global problems around cyber solutions and how to sell. [00:38:28] Before we were digital transformation, we were doing it on the government side. [00:38:36] And now you're seeing it echo layers and layers in the corporate sector. [00:38:41] And so for me, the passion was, my passion was saving lives on the battlefield. [00:38:48] And cyber was a way of doing that as the war was shifting to a cyber warfare. [00:38:54] It was no longer people with 100 guns like you did in World War II. [00:39:00] And as 100 people lined up and the next layer of 100 people, the battle shifted to the cloud. [00:39:06] It shifted to the Internet. [00:39:09] And so we had to make that pivot with that. [00:39:11] When I say we, there were other adversaries that were getting ahead of us. [00:39:16] And so it was no longer good enough to be proficient physically to fight a battle. [00:39:22] So that's where I really dug in deep and stepped up to the challenge for us to fight better, smarter, faster. [00:39:32] And then I kept getting these opportunities and promoted at higher echelons or levels within the government, [00:39:39] not just in the Army, but I worked at joint levels, which means, of course, the Department of Defense. [00:39:43] And so that's where I really saw my raw talent really thriving in that industry. [00:39:51] And so fast forward, I'm a disabled veteran now after four wars. [00:39:56] And Cyber Warfighters Group allows me to serve beyond my uniform. [00:40:02] How does that show up? [00:40:03] I was telling that story about the Texas when the infrastructure froze. [00:40:08] That means our elderly did not get their Social Security services, which includes their money. [00:40:13] The food and nutrition programs, we have a $4 billion program in Texas to feed kids who rely on those food and nutrition programs. [00:40:22] So some of those programs can't afford a big IBM solution. [00:40:28] They can't afford the talent, even internally, as a government or city employee. [00:40:34] So they can leverage a company like mine who will meet them at the AR with their budget and continue to protect the human, securing the human. [00:40:45] So we don't save lives on the battlefield anymore. [00:40:48] Eighty-four percent of our company are veterans who serve with me in one-on-one war. [00:40:53] Now we save livelihood. [00:40:54] And if your digital death is just catastrophic as a physical death, for those who ever try to get PPP loans or services during COVID relief, if you had an issue with your identity, your Social Security number, you couldn't receive the services. [00:41:13] And so that's where that transition happened. [00:41:16] But it wasn't a new passion or mission. [00:41:18] It just pivoted into a different platform from a battlefield to the cloud. [00:41:24] Does that make sense? [00:41:30] Indeed, it does. [00:41:32] Yep. [00:41:33] Yeah, definitely. [00:41:34] And I think this has been just an amazing conversation. [00:41:37] If you could see, I know it was just an audio platform, and I guess it's good in a lot of cases. [00:41:40] But I've got a full page of notes of things that you've shared with us, Tehar, and things from bring someone else along, the value of a sponsorship. [00:41:50] That triad of faith, hope, and action has just meant so much. [00:41:53] And I appreciate everyone for being here this evening in East Coast time, about 36 minutes into about an hour and a half conversation. [00:42:01] We're going to go over to mods that have any questions. [00:42:04] Octavia, I don't know if you do, or Stephen or Yonzi and Tomas. [00:42:07] It's always great to have you here, but I'd love to proceed for some questions. [00:42:11] And in about 10 minutes or so, we'll open up questions and the ability for folks to come up on stage. [00:42:16] Can we let Tomas and Vijay introduce themselves? [00:42:21] No, I was going to say the same. [00:42:23] Hey, everybody. [00:42:26] Thanks, Octavia. [00:42:26] Hey, Russell. [00:42:28] Hey, Tajar. [00:42:30] Hopefully I didn't mispronounce your name. [00:42:32] Thank you for taking the time out of your day to sort of join us this evening. [00:42:36] And I'm Tomas Maldonado. [00:42:37] I'm the CISO at the NFL. [00:42:39] Vijay, over to you. [00:42:42] Good morning, good afternoon, good evening, everybody. [00:42:43] Vijay Bala here, CISO of Asset Management at Goldman Sachs. [00:42:47] Tajar, it's a pleasure to have you today. [00:42:50] Thank you for sharing your platform with me in a very safe space where we can just share some of the areas that keep us awake at night and keep us a little vulnerable just in life, not just in our jobs, but just in being and living day to day. [00:43:10] Thank you. [00:43:12] Oh, you're welcome. [00:43:13] And thank you for your service. [00:43:14] Thank you. [00:43:15] Thank you for your acknowledgement, all of you. [00:43:17] Thank you. [00:43:47] that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that [00:44:17] responding to Octavia's question there. [00:44:21] I love that. [00:44:22] And thank you for sort of rehashing that. [00:44:25] And sorry for being late. [00:44:27] So I'm not going to stop the free-flowing conversation. [00:44:30] I know I'll catch up, and I'm sure I'm going to have some questions for you. [00:44:34] Brooklyn, I grew up, I didn't grow up in Brooklyn, but I lived in Eastern York, Brooklyn. [00:44:39] So I know a little bit about Brooklyn. [00:44:41] But I'll pass it back over to you, Russ, or whoever was next. [00:44:45] Sorry. [00:44:47] Yeah, no worries at all. [00:44:49] It's great to fill up the stage here with all the mods and so many folks. [00:44:53] It's not always we get to have so many of us together. [00:44:56] Stephen, any questions for you? [00:44:59] Yes, of course. [00:45:01] Look, I just want to make sure that I heard it right the first time you said it. [00:45:05] So it's Tahar? [00:45:05] Is that how we pronounce your name? [00:45:07] Yes, Tahar. [00:45:08] Okay. [00:45:09] Okay. [00:45:10] Yes, the J is silent. [00:45:12] Okay. [00:45:12] Yeah, I just said Tahar. [00:45:13] I'm using my Latino brain to say it. [00:45:14] I won't get it wrong. [00:45:17] So Tahar, okay. [00:45:18] So just want to make sure I get that right. [00:45:20] So look, we're on the topic of, you know, service and warfighters. [00:45:25] Look, I think I've been in the space, you know, for roughly a good period of time. [00:45:29] I've also gotten in the 90s. [00:45:31] My first DEF CON was in the single digits. [00:45:33] So one of the things that has kind of like bugged me over the years is that even then, it seemed pretty obvious that what was going on in cyber security was going to be super critical to anything in terms of warfare and national security. [00:45:50] And I remember kind of sounding this alarm back then when I was part of these joint private and public entities. [00:45:57] But it's really clear that the U.S. kind of gave up that edge. [00:46:01] I'm not really clear as to why. [00:46:03] And so I'll hear people say, you know, things like, oh, Israel is where, you know, cybersecurity is going. [00:46:08] I'm like, what are you talking about? [00:46:08] That's where it is. [00:46:09] I think they've invested so heavily in it. [00:46:14] And I think, you know, like there is an advantage that that's there. [00:46:17] Right. [00:46:17] The compulsory military service. [00:46:19] You know, and I've made this example with like Tomas in the room and I always pick on him because that's my boy. [00:46:23] But it's like, you know, with Israel and the military, it's like the NFL scout. [00:46:28] Right. [00:46:28] They're looking for you in high school. [00:46:29] Like, OK, who's got the propensity to serve in A200, et cetera, et cetera. [00:46:35] Is there any hope that we've got to kind of catch up on this? [00:46:38] Because I think we've we've almost skipped the generation that we were supposed to be educating in this. [00:46:43] And I think that's led to this scarcity in this. [00:46:47] You know, I mean, for people in our position now, it's great. [00:46:49] Right. We're high demand, low supply. [00:46:50] But I continue to have these concerns where we come from on the national security side. [00:46:56] And like right now, everything's great because we've got this great alliance with Israel. [00:46:59] And I don't think that's going to change. [00:47:01] But I just when I put my national security hat on, I think there's some concerns that we have to address. [00:47:07] So super curious what, you know, any non classified, of course, opinions you have on this matter. [00:47:11] I'm glad you said that. [00:47:12] So I do hold the clearance, but I will speak on the non class side. [00:47:16] I have a meeting with some amazing folks from Israel and they are bad. [00:47:21] I mean, their skill sets give my team a serious run. [00:47:26] The one differentiator, if I always go back to the one thing, is that they have the leadership. [00:47:32] And that leadership drives culture and everything else. [00:47:35] But they have the leadership that drives that as a priority. [00:47:39] And until we get realigned with that, we'll always be second. [00:47:45] As they call it, what's it saying in, I forgot the word, is nonee secundum? [00:47:50] We'll always be second to, you know, we'll never be second to none. [00:47:54] We'll always be second because of that, in my opinion. [00:47:57] And I had that confirmed talking to the elite Israel folks who are serving in their government. [00:48:05] And we were up in Orange County. [00:48:08] Fair enough. [00:48:09] Thank you. [00:48:11] Yonessi, you're up next. [00:48:19] Yonessi, give me like five seconds before we skip you and go to the mosque. [00:48:22] I am so sorry. [00:48:24] I was trying to look for my mute button. [00:48:27] Man, Steven is hard. [00:48:29] He is hard. [00:48:30] I'm here to try to get on the mute button. [00:48:33] It sounds hard. [00:48:34] Some might say efficient. [00:48:35] Let's just be cool. [00:48:37] Let's be cool. [00:48:40] No, I appreciate it. [00:48:42] I don't have anything else to add. [00:48:43] But it's just hard to get off the mute button. [00:48:46] It's good to see Vijay and Tomas. [00:48:47] What's going on, fellas? [00:48:48] You made it. [00:48:50] I made it. [00:48:50] Heck. [00:48:53] Yonessi, if you have any questions for the hire, now will be a chance to get your question. [00:48:57] No, no. [00:48:58] Like I said, I already had my question earlier on. [00:49:00] So I'm good. [00:49:01] Thank you. [00:49:02] All right. [00:49:03] Tomas, you're up next. [00:49:06] I'm still getting warmed up there, Steven. [00:49:09] And I'm actually in a car right now trying to drive. [00:49:12] So I'm going to pass it over to Vijay or open it up for the audience if they want to raise their hand and jump up on stage and ask questions. [00:49:20] Thank you, Tomas. [00:49:21] I can't wait. [00:49:21] I got too many questions to ask you, Tahar. [00:49:25] If I could, I'll have one on a personal question. [00:49:30] What are some of your hobbies that are unique and then more on the professional front? [00:49:37] Maybe I'll get to the professional front in a second. [00:49:39] One of my hobbies that's unique but has been put on a pause because I need knee replacement is jumping out of perfectly functional airplanes. [00:49:51] I've been airborne air salt for many years and I love the feeling. [00:49:57] I guess I'm an energy junkie. [00:50:00] What they call it, a rush junkie or adrenaline, adrenaline junkie on that. [00:50:04] So that's one unique thing is that I will jump out of a perfectly functioning airplane. [00:50:11] And so I'm going to have to find something else with that. [00:50:15] Another hobby is that I aspire to do is to be an avid golfer. [00:50:21] But starting now, I've got the outfit. [00:50:26] I had two lessons under my belt. [00:50:28] I'm learning the etiquette and I just want to hit the ball straight and consistently. [00:50:35] Hard and far is the next step. [00:50:37] So those are my two. [00:50:39] Those are really cool ones. [00:50:42] I am curious. [00:50:43] I just always thought like jumping off the plane has, you know, the knee doesn't do a lot of work. [00:50:49] But a golf, I guess. [00:50:51] You use it a little more? [00:50:53] I don't know. [00:50:54] There's a reason they say stick the landing, man. [00:50:57] I was about to say, you're trying to blow her completely. [00:51:00] Her knee is going to be gone. [00:51:02] You're trying to encourage her? [00:51:03] So I met a buddy who he has a nonprofit and they jump. [00:51:11] And so for people like myself or even veterans who may be paraplegic and can't jump for whatever reason or legs been blown off, [00:51:20] they have this special harness where you can tether to someone and still get that feeling. [00:51:25] So I just found that out Sunday. [00:51:27] So I will definitely let you know if I get back up in the air again. [00:51:32] So cool. [00:51:33] So cool. [00:51:34] So my question for you on the professional side is a lot of companies and organizations are trying to hire veterans right into the cybersecurity field. [00:51:47] Some of the folks in the industry and some of my buddies say that, hey, it's a little difficult to onboard someone. [00:52:00] Maybe there's a different operating style difference. [00:52:03] Maybe it's a culture shift. [00:52:04] Whatever. [00:52:04] Right. [00:52:04] But my question to you is like, what advice or tips do you have for hiring managers? [00:52:16] So to, yeah, to enable more high. [00:52:18] Yeah. [00:52:19] So I will say yes to all those things you just said. [00:52:22] It is a culture shift. [00:52:23] I had a softer landing in corporate America because serving at that, what you would call a stratcom or high level command, you're working with a lot of civilians. [00:52:38] They come in the form of like defense contractors, civil servant employees, civilians who some have served and some have never served. [00:52:46] So when you have that exposure, it's a softer landing. [00:52:50] But I will tell you some of my comrades that are still serving and outside and it goes all the way to general level. [00:53:00] I am a trusted source to have these candid conversations and helping them exit or transition smoothly. [00:53:13] It's very intimidating. [00:53:15] In the military, it's so safe. [00:53:18] Everything you need, like, for example, as an officer, I have a, if you're a general, you have an aide to camp, you have an entourage, you're king in that small pond. [00:53:28] You are a big whale in that small pond. [00:53:30] And when you come out here to the big world, it is scary. [00:53:34] Like, for example, getting in the military, you've been there 30 something years. [00:53:40] Your next job is campaigned and championed for you. [00:53:46] You yourself necessarily don't champion for your job. [00:53:50] Now, there's certain one-off jobs like myself. [00:53:52] You have to put your name in a hat and you have to compete for and all these different criterias. [00:53:57] But the military is a structure set up for your success. [00:54:01] Every officer will move every year or year and a half. [00:54:05] And each job is set up to be higher than the last. [00:54:10] So that's a very safe environment. [00:54:15] Out here in the big world, it's not that way. [00:54:18] And it is very humbling. [00:54:20] Another reason why I started up a company. [00:54:22] The interview process with us is not going to be the same they have in Amazon or Microsoft. [00:54:31] No one's ever going to tell a veteran who has the character, the epitome of what character is, the integrity. [00:54:39] They live and breathe this stuff. [00:54:42] So have someone 20 something years old across from you and go, well, tell me about yourself. [00:54:47] Tell me about your value system. [00:54:49] They are a walking standard of a value system. [00:54:53] From what I'm hearing veterans in our conversations, in our back channels, that it's very intimidating. [00:55:02] Sometimes they say it's condescending and insulting. [00:55:05] And then another thing of that is veterans who've been deployed have issues, and rightfully so. [00:55:12] There's no way you can go through what we've gone through and come out sane without some type of collateral damage. [00:55:21] Then you wouldn't be human, the things you have to do. [00:55:25] And so what I share with my brethren and sisters, let's reconcile our reality, right? [00:55:32] Some things that happen as far as our reality, we did it for God. [00:55:35] We did it for country. [00:55:36] We did it for core. [00:55:37] Hopefully it was God, core, then country in that order. [00:55:43] For my Marines, I think they put it in the wrong order. [00:55:45] That's why I make a joke like that. [00:55:49] But I think to answer your question, open up and be a place of grace. [00:55:54] And when I say grace, understanding, patience, they deserve it. [00:56:00] They love this country. [00:56:02] They love the ideals of this country. [00:56:07] And so they deserve the space and the time to adjust. [00:56:11] Some have said, I can't start a new job. [00:56:14] I've got all these DA appointments. [00:56:16] And I don't want to be a headache or a crutch. [00:56:20] I don't want sympathy. [00:56:22] So that's some of the many common feedback that I get. [00:56:27] No, no, this is so enlightening. [00:56:31] Tahar, if I could ask, right? [00:56:33] So, I mean, all great points to your fellow colleagues. [00:56:36] But any words of wisdom to the folks in the corporate side? [00:56:40] Like, how can we, as leaders in this space, promote more diversity? [00:56:45] But in this case, you know, from the armed forces. [00:56:48] So, for the armed forces, a softer integration would be connected with many organizations, Vets for Hire. [00:56:57] They will feed you veteran resources. [00:57:01] You have Vets for Hire. [00:57:02] You have, through the VA, there are several chapters. [00:57:06] There's the VFW. [00:57:08] Every state in the United States has a VFW. [00:57:11] That's Victor Fox Whiskey. [00:57:14] And that's a way to connect with the veteran community. [00:57:19] There are so many nonprofits. [00:57:23] Wounded Warriors. [00:57:25] I already mentioned Veterans for Hire. [00:57:28] Every state, like I'll mention Texas, they have Texas Veterans Association. [00:57:34] Where that's a network to plug in to have access to great talent that sometimes is untapped. [00:57:43] Just like, I'll put it on the other side, great universities. [00:57:47] When you talk about hidden figures, there's also great talent in HBCUs, which is Historical Black Colleges. [00:57:56] When we're talking about STEM technology. [00:57:58] And so, those are two very rich, I mean, overflowing talents. [00:58:05] Equally proficient in really leveraging your company. [00:58:11] And then it also allows you to do good. [00:58:13] And then when you are with the Vets for Hire, you get that acknowledgement publicly you can use for your own media. [00:58:20] Showing that you support your veterans, et cetera, et cetera. [00:58:26] Thank you so much. [00:58:27] Russell, over to you. [00:58:29] Thanks. [00:58:29] Thanks. [00:58:30] And I'll add that one more thing. [00:58:32] And anyone who's got questions, feel free to raise your hand. [00:58:34] We're bringing you up on stage. [00:58:35] And just to continue this conversation for probably the next 35, 40 minutes or so. [00:58:40] But I'll just add, you know, in my experience, hiring, well, a couple of things. [00:58:44] One, I've been privileged to teach people in all branches of the military, sometimes on posts, sometimes at, you know, conference rooms. [00:58:50] And I'm always shocked, you know, teaching warrant officers, very senior folks in the service, highly trained, highly qualified, all the characteristics and more of what have already been described. [00:59:03] And oftentimes they're like, wow, do you think there's a job? [00:59:06] Do you think there's a place for me in private sector? [00:59:08] And I almost pass out every single time because of those same attributes, the integrity, the training, the loyalty, all those things. [00:59:15] And I've always had on the other side and the hiring side, extraordinary success at hiring, leveraging, well, not necessarily having to, like, leverage their clearance and things that they've done, you know, when they had to go be deployed and do things. [00:59:30] But who they are, their character, it just, it was always, has always for me been a very safe hire. [00:59:37] And I've just been amazed to see on both sides, both pre and post while in the service and then enjoying having them on our cyber teams has just been something that's just been amazing. [00:59:47] So I would encourage everyone, if you're not looking for ways, plugging in through the resources here as well as in the back chat, I highly, highly, highly recommend that. [00:59:56] But love, again, if anyone would like to come up on stage, please raise your hand. [00:59:59] We'll bring you right up. [01:00:00] Love to have your questions be answered at this time. [01:00:11] Tahar, can I ask you a question? [01:00:13] What are you reading? [01:00:15] So I'm reading the one thing and I'm focused on that. [01:00:23] And another thing I'm reading is on sales. [01:00:26] So it's called spend sales. [01:00:29] And then on the spiritual side, I'm reading the learnings and teachings of Ifa. [01:00:36] Ifa is a Western African culture. [01:00:40] It is the opposite for those in the Latino community. [01:00:42] It's like if you are Lakumi and then you have Ifa or the teachings under Ifa. [01:00:52] And so it's just a spiritual journey. [01:00:54] It's a teaching of connecting with nature and energy around you and just respecting life at all levels. [01:01:02] At the human level, which is highly intelligent to the plants that thrive us. [01:01:08] So welcome to San Diego. [01:01:10] They've got me. [01:01:12] This new Yorker hugs trees. [01:01:14] You believe that? [01:01:16] What was the first book? [01:01:19] Was it the one that you said? [01:01:21] Yes. [01:01:21] The one thing. [01:01:23] It was written by me. [01:01:24] Yes. [01:01:24] I'm going to their conference in San Antonio in October. [01:01:30] And what they do is talk about setting goals, personal, professional, and even your family goals. [01:01:37] And the leader of that book, you know Keller Williams, the realtor? [01:01:42] He was co-writer of this book. [01:01:44] And I'm going to be meeting with the co-writer of that book and his wife. [01:01:48] And they're going to be having a workshop, a three-day workshop, self-development. [01:01:54] Thank you. [01:01:56] Tahar, did you already answer the question, Latina de donde? [01:02:01] Say that again? [01:02:02] No, I didn't. [01:02:04] You didn't? [01:02:05] You didn't tell us where Latina de donde eres? [01:02:07] She did. [01:02:08] She said she was a Cubana. [01:02:10] Not from Cuban, right? [01:02:11] Yes, yes. [01:02:11] Oh, okay. [01:02:12] My dad is from Saguaragande. [01:02:15] My mom's from the DR. [01:02:16] And I'm first generation. [01:02:17] And my sister, Amarilia, she's in Teaneck, New Jersey. [01:02:23] So that's not, I mention that because Stephen, you're in New Jersey. [01:02:26] Yes, DRN, DRN Jersey in the house. [01:02:35] Yes. [01:02:36] Can you fill it up, 89? [01:02:40] Huh? [01:02:41] Tomas is getting gassed. [01:02:42] He forgot to put himself on mute. [01:02:44] Sorry. [01:02:44] Sorry. [01:02:45] I forgot to put myself on mute. [01:02:46] My bad. [01:02:48] Yeah. [01:02:48] And the third book, if you didn't catch that, it's IFA, EFA, Teachings of EFA. [01:02:53] It's around West African spirituality. [01:02:59] We all know the story that a lot of us along our journey, if you're Afro-Latina, when we [01:03:05] were dropped off, a lot of us were Catholic. [01:03:10] And so a lot of my family is Catholic. [01:03:11] But behind the Catholicism, we hid our African traditions behind the saints. [01:03:18] And so the Santeria and all of that. [01:03:20] So that's just a little quick history. [01:03:21] Yes, very deeply entrenched in our history. [01:03:26] Yes. [01:03:27] I like the colloquial term dropped off, but I appreciate you there. [01:03:35] So I have a question. [01:03:37] And I want to dig a little bit deeper because I also want to make sure that people understand [01:03:41] exactly what you do to heart. [01:03:44] Do you mind kind of digging in a little bit deeper specifically about cyber war fighters? [01:03:51] Are you veteran? [01:03:52] Like, is it veterans that you employ? [01:03:59] What do you do? [01:04:00] Like, I really want to dig in a little bit just to provide some context into the awesomeness [01:04:06] of what you've created. [01:04:07] Yeah. [01:04:08] So going back to the numbers, 84% of our company are veterans. [01:04:13] And I make sure I hold that space there because of what I just said. [01:04:17] And basically who we service are regulated industries, oil and gas, banking, financing, utilities, and the supply chain. [01:04:28] And then that supply chain, that's dealing with big pharma. [01:04:31] It's dealing with biotech and companies like Walgreens, for example. [01:04:39] Very heavy regulated spaces that are required to be compliant with different standards and laws. [01:04:47] On the global side of it, being that we have teams in the East Coast, all five regions of the United States, [01:04:55] we have teams in Brussels, which is right next to NATO. [01:04:58] It makes sense. [01:04:58] We have people in Chile, in Itaewon, and even South Korea to understand the size and the scope of what we do. [01:05:11] And we have tiger teams. [01:05:12] And what these tiger teams are, they're very lean and they're agile. [01:05:17] And they're very niched in three areas, penetration testing, compliance, and also training. [01:05:26] So we train teams. [01:05:29] If you have IT teams, we train teams and we provide training that leads to certifications that you need to up your level in this field [01:05:41] from being an information security manager, for example, hopefully becoming an analyst, and then CISO and CIO, CO, on and on. [01:05:52] And so we lay out a roadmap, how you can get there quickly and how to get certifications. [01:06:00] The other area is, or the last big offering is, if you want us to do all of that, we have a 24-7, 365 security operations center. [01:06:10] And that center also has a facility clearance. [01:06:14] And what that means is that it can serve classified agencies, even like our three-letter agencies, FBI, IRS. [01:06:22] The facility has a certain level of clearance to hold classified data or classified, when I'm saying data, I'm talking about digital data. [01:06:32] And so what we do in a nutshell, I met the CEO of CrowdStrike last month. [01:06:43] I used to say, we just stopped breaches. [01:06:44] And he was like, you can't say this, what we say. [01:06:46] So we are the threat mitigation experts. [01:06:53] The one thing that we do, we are the threat mitigation experts. [01:06:57] We would love to be your proactive solution. [01:07:02] But the truth of this is, folks call us after the building's on fire. [01:07:07] So that's how we help support. [01:07:12] That's awesome. [01:07:13] Thanks for sharing that. [01:07:14] Russell, do you have any questions or come along? [01:07:19] I do. [01:07:19] Thanks, Artie. [01:07:20] And that was a great lead-in to the question I wanted to ask. [01:07:22] And I love to hear what you said there. [01:07:24] Your company's statement about itself is, we stop breaches. [01:07:30] And I'm thinking, wow, that's a powerful, powerful statement. [01:07:34] It means a lot to all of us here in this room or folks listening to the replay. [01:07:39] Without, of course, we don't need names. [01:07:41] I know you would be in integrity and never say things like that. [01:07:44] But do you see any common threads or common problems that companies who don't have their breaches stopped? [01:07:51] Any recurring themes? [01:07:52] Any things that maybe patterns or failure to do things or not do things often enough that lead to or contribute to some of the breaches that your company does have to respond to? [01:08:03] I'm just really curious about what you're seeing at the meta level that maybe we could all go back and double-check our respective programs. [01:08:12] Well, the three things that it stems off to many other symptoms. [01:08:17] But if we want to talk about the problems, the three common problems that spider off or branches off into many other symptoms. [01:08:25] But the one thing is the culture. [01:08:27] When you don't have a cybersecurity culture, then you don't have other things that stem from that. [01:08:33] Accountability, resources that makes that a priority to empower the folks who are responsible to protect that data. [01:08:41] You don't have the accountability. [01:08:43] So folks are nonchalant to take their training seriously. [01:08:47] They don't see something. [01:08:49] They don't say something. [01:08:51] The second thing would be to be proactive in your maintenance. [01:08:57] So vulnerability assessments. [01:08:58] They are a valuable tool when deployed accurately and wisely. [01:09:04] But then once you know, you can't unknow, do they take actions once those vulnerabilities are shared by either their internal team and external teams they may contract and partner with? [01:09:16] The third common thing is folks are not, how do I say this? [01:09:26] The teams that they have, they're not investing in their teams. [01:09:34] And so some of them may say if I pour money into them, they'll go off and do something else. [01:09:39] And what that leads to is that you have a lot of misconfigurations. [01:09:44] The reason why I'm saying investment in teams, because then the symptoms or side effects of that is you have misconfigurations that's being exploited. [01:09:53] You have mismanagement of change. [01:09:59] So there's no real change management, not only in your processes, but in your systems, updates and so on and so forth that fail maintenance plan. [01:10:10] But then you have folks who have wonderful tools, which is a good and bad. [01:10:15] You have powerful tools. [01:10:17] There is some, a buddy of mine was just doing, he's passionate about PowerShell. [01:10:21] And a lot of companies now are talking about, do we disable PowerShell? [01:10:25] Something as simple as PowerShell is a powerful tool that can help you and equally hurt you. [01:10:30] Someone like myself get their hands on your PowerShell. [01:10:34] There's nothing I can't do in your environment. [01:10:37] And folks don't look at it that way. [01:10:39] But PowerShell is one of those things that's sent in your environment, unmanaged. [01:10:47] And it's there as another opportunity to exploit your whole environment. [01:10:53] And that's just three. [01:10:55] And then from those three core things, you can come up with 400 others. [01:10:59] But they'll stem back to, in my opinion, those three core areas. [01:11:04] And I appreciate you sharing that. [01:11:07] And, you know, it's interesting how you started with culture. [01:11:10] I agree a billion percent. [01:11:12] It's the culture. [01:11:14] Do people know their role? [01:11:16] Is it in their job description at the end of the year if they have end-of-year evaluations? [01:11:20] I know not all companies do that these days. [01:11:23] Am I going to be graded on how well did I do those things? [01:11:26] Not just, yeah, I hope that's Russell's job. [01:11:28] I hope Russell doesn't just scan some stuff but actually pauses and tries to do some remediation, actually fixing things. [01:11:35] And then not focusing on configs. [01:11:37] I see that a lot of organizations. [01:11:40] They have the tools. [01:11:42] They have their SCAP certified scanner from whatever company they get that from. [01:11:46] That's got the capability to do it. [01:11:48] But there's just no thought of, oh, there's another aspect of how do I understand the configuration [01:11:54] and just do more than hope the configuration doesn't drift to a place that leads to the bad things that you're saying. [01:12:01] I'm just like cheering. [01:12:02] I'm doing my happy dance. [01:12:03] And not because that's true but because I think so much of those things are preventable [01:12:10] when there's a good leadership and a good culture of security that expands even beyond the security team itself. [01:12:19] So I love that so, so much. [01:12:20] I'm glad I asked. [01:12:21] I'm glad you shared that with us. [01:12:22] I'm super happy to share that sentiment. [01:12:29] And we're – it's like our CISOs, our security teams, all of those resources, even our help desks. [01:12:40] It's not the responsibility of just the folks who happen to have a SOC and sit in a SOC. [01:12:46] It's even our developers. [01:12:48] I will tell you a lot of these companies, they start off in the world of startup, and they're getting all this money, [01:12:56] and they're growing, and they're scaling fast. [01:12:58] I see it so much here in Austin and here north of San Diego. [01:13:02] And they're getting all this money, and they're growing, and they just want it to work. [01:13:07] But then what happens after they – before they want to go public, we've seen where – it's at the merge and acquisition. [01:13:13] I was just on the phone yesterday. [01:13:14] There's a company, can't say about to go public. [01:13:16] They have to do an assessment. [01:13:17] And that is not the time to put cybersecurity as an overlay. [01:13:24] That security has to be, you know, SecDevOps. [01:13:27] It has to be DevSecurityOps. [01:13:33] It has to be from the ground up to try to plug holes of an application or solution that's been developed. [01:13:39] And then we try to find all the holes. [01:13:42] It should be from the ground up. [01:13:43] It should permeate throughout the processes, the people, and, of course, the technology. [01:13:49] And it's unfortunate. [01:13:52] And I don't know how to get in the head of venture capitalists. [01:13:57] It goes, hey, before you buy in to invest in this, you want to talk to a cyber expert to get some consultations about the risk level of this investment that you're not aware of. [01:14:09] And it's going to bite you later when you start to scale and get the attention and go pre-IPO or IPO. [01:14:18] That's another problem that I'm seeing. [01:14:21] And there's more startups than there are security professionals. [01:14:25] But if we can get to have conversations with the very big venture capitalist teams and investors, if they would be the good spoke or hub to start talking to them because they're the ones who are investing in all these teams, that way we can get to the root of the problem instead of chasing all the end nodes of these growing companies. [01:14:50] That's an interesting statement there. [01:14:52] There's more startups than security people. [01:14:55] I was looking at some data. [01:14:57] I was stuck on that, too. [01:14:59] And you know what? [01:15:01] Even if it's not true, if it's like spot on, if it's off by just a little bit in either direction, I'm going to totally rip that off. [01:15:07] And the first couple of times, I'll give you credit. [01:15:10] And then a few more times after that, I'll just act like I'm the smartest person in the room by saying that there's more startups than security people. [01:15:16] But you know what? [01:15:17] I would say, you know, one of the things I was thinking about, you know, just the talent gap and kind of where we are from an industry. [01:15:30] You know, veterans have a unique ability to actually come in to our corporations and be leaders immediately, even at the age of 24, you know, at the age of 26. [01:15:46] Like they can actually because they've actually got that training, that leadership development training at the beginning. [01:15:51] I don't know how you guys feel, but I feel like our cyber gap is not necessarily at the entry level. [01:15:58] It's really at the leadership middle, like middle management to senior management level where we're very saturated. [01:16:08] And there's a lot of people wanting to come in. [01:16:10] But the skills that we need are at the leadership level. [01:16:14] And if there are so many startups, there's there are more people starting companies and there's more vendors out there than we are, then we're not able to get actual leaders in place. [01:16:28] Then I think the pivot really is to look at those that are trained in, you know, combat or trained in very strategic and rigorous crisis, you know, at a very early age to be able to get into our industry. [01:16:49] And I think honestly, I think that's the way to go. [01:16:52] Right. [01:16:52] Or even to look that way. [01:16:54] And I don't know if we've spent enough time actually looking that way, at least in the last five years. [01:17:01] I think that was kind of the point I was hitting at before when I said it's like we skipped a generation. [01:17:06] Yeah. [01:17:07] I mean, so some of us that we've been in this long enough that, you know, we've earned our stripes, right, through mistakes, through learning, through other people helping. [01:17:15] But when I see like this cottage industry of companies coming up, it's I think there are still plenty of CISO type folks that I keep seeing out here that are continuing to try to throw technology at a problem and say, oh, I'm going to go with that vendor. [01:17:30] But they're not actually talking about either a problem statement or what problems they're trying to solve. [01:17:36] It's just like, oh, that toilet's cool. [01:17:38] Let me go do that. [01:17:39] And I think that that's I mean, in a sense, it has fueled, you know, this booming growth in the industry. [01:17:47] And of course, the incentives are there for people to create these startups. [01:17:51] And I think there are a lot of legit companies out there, but I think it's made it a little bit more complicated for those of us that I think are skilled at this, that we know what to do, because now we go for funding and it's just like, oh, how do we know this is not going to be another security toy? [01:18:07] Right. [01:18:08] So it's worked against us in the long run. [01:18:12] I agree with that. [01:18:13] I agree with both of you on that context. [01:18:16] I'm saying it from a skewed lens of being in rooms and I am the only one not in the, I am a young coming up investor. [01:18:25] But when you talk about venture capitalists, they're at a different level. [01:18:28] And a lot of the rooms I've been in lately, I'm surrounded by venture capitalists and I'm coming from that skewed lens. [01:18:39] So a question for you, you know, so I'm looking at your LinkedIn information there and I see that you're a co-found, co-founding member of the company. [01:18:46] You know, PDA Private Directors Association. [01:18:48] I'm very familiar with that organization. [01:18:50] As I'm sure that you and PDA and others have been tracking, you know, the new SEC guidelines, future expectations of board members with their respect to overseeing and ensuring cyber is in a good place. [01:19:04] Is that going to save us or at least save the private, I'm sorry, save the publicly traded companies and help them to be better? [01:19:12] Do you have any hope in that? [01:19:13] And I totally recognize I'm asking your opinion. [01:19:16] And I'm curious if you think that's going to help us or just another checkbox to check potentially if you're comfortable answering that question. [01:19:25] I believe that's going to help us. [01:19:28] And so I'm glad you mentioned that, Octavia, I mean Russell. [01:19:34] I'm very passionate about putting cyber professionals, women, veterans in their spaces. [01:19:41] And so on board service, I'm very connected in helping that along. [01:19:48] Not only veterans from general to enlisted, but also women of color, and that's including Latinas. [01:19:57] And these critical points of change. [01:20:01] Serving inside of an enterprise is great. [01:20:05] But what I'm learning is at the board level, just like if you were in different levels of legislative service, [01:20:16] whether it's your state or local or federal government at the White House, that's where change really happens. [01:20:22] And that's where you really get to influence change and let it trickle down when we're talking about a manufacturing company or a banking company. [01:20:33] And we won't say who, who may be doing things that's not considered equitable. [01:20:37] When you're sitting on the board, you really influence that change and you do it a lot sooner than if you wasn't at the top of these organizations [01:20:48] that run our nation and run companies across the globe. [01:20:53] And so PDA is one of them. [01:20:56] Women corporate directors is another. [01:20:59] High Tech for My Familia is a great two pillar. [01:21:05] And I owe you some information, Octavia. [01:21:07] It's a two-prong approach. [01:21:10] Not only are they focused on Latinas getting the executive training they need to go up the ladder, [01:21:18] but also putting them in boards. [01:21:23] So to that point where Octavia was mentioning there's a gap at that senior level or that mid-squeeze, [01:21:30] I call it squeeze-squeeze, but it's the C-level and executive level. [01:21:33] There are organizations and platforms who have acknowledged that. [01:21:40] I've aligned with those because together we can do more than me on my alone journey to get that to happen. [01:21:49] But I'll take it a step further. [01:21:50] It's great that Latinas were doing it in our space. [01:21:56] I'll say Latinx include everyone. [01:21:58] And African Americans or people of color are doing it in their space and Asian on. [01:22:03] But if we could align and share resources and networks together, imagine what we can do when we cross-pollinate. [01:22:14] Right? [01:22:14] Because as long as we stay siloed, okay, I'm doing this for that and I understand my family, I get it. [01:22:21] And as long as we do this here, we really miss the opportunity to do greater good. [01:22:27] Because what I will share is that in my high-tech family and I've had this conversation, [01:22:35] there's a lot of Latin folks, but what happens to the Afro-Latinx folks, [01:22:41] what happens to the LGBT, the intersectionality of all those folks. [01:22:46] And that's what you miss when you silo your efforts. [01:22:51] That's my humble opinion just from my experiences and my passion of how I'm driving board service change behind the scenes. [01:23:01] I love and appreciate your opinion, especially from so many views, [01:23:06] from helping folks serving, co-founding the PDA and working in high-tech as well. [01:23:12] I really appreciate that view. [01:23:13] I know that's a topic that many of us, if we're not already, need to be tracking, [01:23:18] need to be watching and seeing what the impact will be, [01:23:21] whether we work for publicly traded companies or not. [01:23:24] I see Rosalio, I hope I said your name correctly. [01:23:27] If I did not, please correct me so I can say it correctly. [01:23:29] I'd love to have you ask your question as well. [01:23:32] And also, welcome to Clubhouse. [01:23:34] I see your little party hat. [01:23:35] So glad that you joined us. [01:23:38] Yeah, Rosalio is spot on with the pronunciation. [01:23:40] I love it. [01:23:42] Tahar, just like everybody else, thanks for your service. [01:23:44] So my question to you is, how would you advise somebody, and I'll position my question with a little bit of background. [01:23:52] So I'm 30 years of IT experience, transitioned, retooled myself into cyber. [01:23:57] And I, you know, to try to catch up in this space, you know, people don't really, you have to earn that respect, right, really know what you're talking about. [01:24:04] So how do you guide people to get to that certification and really make sure they can be a trusted partner or someone they can trust in the space of security? [01:24:13] So if you can guide folks, what would you say people should focus on? [01:24:16] So cybersecurity has several tracks. [01:24:21] You can be one who's hands-on, you know, a penetration tester, the techie boo. [01:24:28] There's another part that's compliance and governance. [01:24:30] So you're going to go more of, for example, CISSP, you're going to probably be a CISM, CISM, where you're more managing oversight compliance. [01:24:44] And then there's a third leg for those who really want to be in the legal, legality side of it. [01:24:51] I do have some attorneys that have been niched, and they're focused on cybersecurity when it comes to policy only. [01:24:57] So depending on where you are, I would start there and say identifying where you want to be niched because you cannot be everything to everyone. [01:25:09] You have to be a mile deep and three inches wide. [01:25:15] That's how you become differentiated, for my take. [01:25:20] And where do you get that knowledge starting? [01:25:22] You get your credibility by certification. [01:25:24] In six months, I tell folks, and I'm working with kids in the community who college may not be their path. [01:25:34] Three certifications in six months, you have a six-figure career. [01:25:40] Three certifications, six months commitment, and you can get yourself in the low, just a little bit above $100,000 in salary as far as your earning potential. [01:25:52] So without the college debt behind it. [01:25:55] But I still incur, I still, I'm an education I love, so I will never steer someone from formal education. [01:26:03] But it's another option. [01:26:05] The second place is joining companies who may be not as large, a smaller, mid to small, small to mid-sized companies, where the credentials may not be as long, and that way use an entry point. [01:26:28] That can also happen at universities, where you start, it's an easier entry than working at a bank, for example, or a big Fortune 500 or 100 company. [01:26:41] Also, what you're doing now, putting out in the universe, this is who I am, getting it out there, having your resume always ready for opportunities. [01:26:51] But at the same time, while you, I say stay ready, don't get ready. [01:26:55] Be on your path to continuing your knowledge base. [01:26:59] There's going to, there's a lot of conferences, and in those conferences, they have hiring conferences, where folks will hire you on the spot. [01:27:11] You may have Microsoft. [01:27:12] So go to those job fairs, where they're looking for your talent. [01:27:17] If you are a veteran or a, one of our emergency help, EMS, police force, they are geared to hiring those folks just as paying back. [01:27:32] That's just, before I flood you with any more, those are the quick steps you can take. [01:27:38] No, thank you for that. [01:27:39] That was, that was, that was perfect. [01:27:41] Yes. [01:27:42] Cool. [01:27:42] Thank you. [01:27:45] Awesome. [01:27:45] Awesome. [01:27:46] Love the question. [01:27:47] And wow, what a rich listing of things to do and that time frame and that salary. [01:27:53] That's a thing. [01:27:54] Hmm. [01:27:54] That's really cool. [01:27:55] Bob, always great to see you here. [01:27:57] Make a smile every time. [01:27:59] And I'd love to go to you for your question this evening. [01:28:02] Oh, appreciate it. [01:28:03] Thanks, Russell. [01:28:05] Judge Harra, first, thank you for your service. [01:28:08] Great conversation. [01:28:09] Great to hear your story. [01:28:10] I'm curious what you think. [01:28:12] I think the military veterans or whatever have two great traits and assets that I don't hear enough about that I think are so important. [01:28:20] And that situational awareness and communications. [01:28:23] And I'm curious how you think about those two traits, which I believe, again, veterans have a lot of that and how they can apply that in cybersecurity. [01:28:33] I'm curious about your thoughts on those two traits and how important they are. [01:28:38] Absolutely. [01:28:39] When we go back to leadership in the Marines, for example, my son is now serving in Japan, URA. [01:28:49] And the first thing, even from him being a new Marine under two years serving this great nation, the first thing you learn of leadership is effective communication. [01:29:00] So you can't lead if you don't have effective communication. [01:29:03] And that's in any situation. [01:29:04] I'm going back to your word, situational awareness. [01:29:06] If you don't have effective communication, you can't move. [01:29:10] You can't plan. [01:29:13] You can't mitigate or de-escalate a situation or a risk. [01:29:20] So effective communication is key to the value that we bring. [01:29:25] And the first thing you learn in your journey in any military service across branches is effective communication. [01:29:36] And that's communication around your character, your integrity. [01:29:39] And that's verbal and nonverbal communication. [01:29:41] So where you mentioned being aware to be able to communicate, we communicate our culture and the way we look and the way we walk and the cadence, the way we talk. [01:29:56] That's all situation awareness. [01:29:57] Be aware of your surroundings. [01:29:59] And with that level of awareness, you will understand what social norms are of an organization, a company, or even a client or customer. [01:30:10] And you'd like to mirror where they are. [01:30:13] If it's aligned, you want to mirror when it's appropriate. [01:30:15] Another way that situation awareness helps you, if you have a company or an organization or entity that is not aligned with your character and your ethos, that's somewhere where you know, oh, that's not for me. [01:30:28] And you get to disqualify that situation sooner than later. [01:30:32] That's just two ways of how we are keenly sharp in those areas and how we can serve you in your organization, your company by hiring a veteran, for example. [01:30:46] Yeah, I think that's so important. [01:30:48] That message needs to get out there more because I don't hear enough discussion about it. [01:30:53] But that's two big things that veterans bring to the cybersecurity space, which are extremely important. [01:30:59] So thank you for that. [01:31:00] And that would be in that integrity, doing the right thing when no one's watching. [01:31:06] That's back to that ethos, those seven lines of what it means to be a selfless service, discipline, integrity, duty, honor. [01:31:16] All those attributes are deeply, deeply rooted in even the most average soldier. [01:31:25] I'm not even talking about the high-performing ones. [01:31:26] It's an average soldier. [01:31:30] Absolutely right. [01:31:31] So thank you so much. [01:31:33] Thank you for your acknowledgement, all of you. [01:31:34] Wow, what an amazing conversation we've had for almost an hour and a half this evening. [01:31:41] And just to let you know, next week's guest, we're going to have Jeremy coming to the Global CISO Hub International. [01:31:48] Same time, same place. [01:31:50] If you've not already, mark your calendar for 8 p.m. as a recurring reminder, 8 p.m. till 9.30 p.m. Eastern time. [01:31:56] Please do so that you don't miss out. [01:31:57] If you've not already done so, and many of you I know you have, click the green Monopoly House. [01:32:02] It doesn't cost you anything so that you can be notified of the future rooms that Tomas puts out there [01:32:07] and lets us participate in and learn from folks as well. [01:32:13] I see Bez is going to ask. [01:32:15] Bez has got a question. [01:32:16] Bez, I'd love to bring you up and ask you or have you to ask that question. [01:32:19] And then, Maude, as we're starting to wind down, any final comments? [01:32:24] And then we'll reserve Tahar just a moment for you to tell us a couple of closing comments as we wind down the room. [01:32:33] But, Bez, always great to see you. [01:32:34] Great to see you join. [01:32:35] And can't wait to hear your question this evening. [01:32:38] No, you know what, Tahar? [01:32:40] My apologies. [01:32:41] I came in late, so I don't know if my question is going to be redundant. [01:32:46] But I love what I'm hearing. [01:32:49] The saying you say, you know, do the right thing when no one's looking. [01:32:53] It's something I've always told my kids, you know. [01:32:56] And so, you know, hearing it again, I'm like, yeah, that lines up with my ethos. [01:33:04] My question, and like I said, I don't know if it's going to be redundant. [01:33:07] But cybersecurity is something I'm noticing that the Department of Defense is going around and dropping, you know, substantial money at universities. [01:33:19] How do we, you know, how do we raise awareness in underrepresented communities about these opportunities that exist out there? [01:33:36] Or like you said that, hey, even if you didn't go to a university that, you know, three certificates later, you could make a quite substantial income. [01:33:48] What's a way we can raise awareness for these underrepresented groups? [01:33:54] Well, I'll share with you how I spread the message, and I try to get it out there quickly, through community. [01:34:03] And when I'm saying community, your barbers, your churches, your, if you're aligned with the Scouts, I'm very involved with the Girl Scouts and now the Scouts. [01:34:13] Getting them young, getting them early, definitely the school system. [01:34:18] Not only at the higher education level, I sit there as a board of trustees because I'm so committed to knowing, feeding that pipeline. [01:34:24] But also through platforms like this here at Clubhouse and supporting your Clubhouse peers when they're all doing great stuff to address the same thing you're saying. [01:34:41] And so it starts with saying, I want to get aligned. [01:34:44] And when you put that out in the universe and you take action and follow up, you get to align so you're not doing it from scratch alone. [01:34:50] There are folks who already, you don't have to reinvent the wheel, and you can just add to what folks are doing as well. [01:34:58] And just leveraging not only nonprofits, but different organizations through also sororities, fraternities, churches, the Scouts, institutions, education, veterans. [01:35:12] And I'll just stop there. [01:35:13] But that's how you get it out there. [01:35:17] Those are all wonderful ideas. [01:35:19] Thank you so much for the share. [01:35:24] I love the question. [01:35:25] Vijay, please. [01:35:27] Tahar, I mean, I'm loving what I've been hearing so far. [01:35:29] Thank you for joining us tonight. [01:35:31] If money was or time was not an issue for you, right? [01:35:42] Like blank check. [01:35:43] And you got to do anything. [01:35:45] What would be your mission or thoughts or plans for the next 12 months? [01:35:51] If money was not an issue and a plan for me, [01:35:55] the next 12 months would be, well, the first 60 days would be about me getting still and getting quiet and plugging in to my purpose. [01:36:09] Because each year, each day, I'm sure your purpose on this planet, it changes. [01:36:15] It evolves as you evolve. [01:36:16] And getting real in tune and intentional about my purpose and how I can make the greatest impact, [01:36:23] not only to this great nation that I love, but I see it's losing its grasp and its global positioning. [01:36:29] The second thing would be for the generations behind me, not just my kids, but the generations, your kids and everyone else's kids. [01:36:40] What can I do to make the greatest impact to the quality of life? [01:36:45] That's kind of why I'm so passionate about life sciences and supporting and helping life sciences through technology, [01:36:52] but improving the quality and the length of life on this journey beyond my existence. [01:37:00] That's what I would do with those 12 months. [01:37:06] That's awesome. [01:37:07] Russell. [01:37:10] Thanks, BJ. [01:37:11] I love that. [01:37:11] Mauds, any final remarks, comments before we turn over just our final standing last question and let Tahar have the last word for this evening? [01:37:22] Other than it was great to have you here, Tahar, you are very much Texas. [01:37:27] I always hear it when you say this great nation. [01:37:29] I imagine you can't say Texas without saying the great state of Texas. [01:37:33] So it's been a pleasure. [01:37:36] And thank you for that. [01:37:37] That's it for me. [01:37:38] Charging to my head, not my heart. [01:37:40] I've been in Texas for 22 years and now I'm in California, so I'm in opposite Polars. [01:37:45] And I'm trying to balance both worlds and saying I can hug a tree and love Texas, love this. [01:37:51] But I'm a patriot first. [01:37:54] It just has to be a really big tree, right, Tahar? [01:37:57] It has to be a really big tree. [01:38:00] It does. [01:38:01] It does. [01:38:02] I need to be hugging a Redwood or something. [01:38:05] I'm so grateful to this nation for what it has done in my family, being first generation here. [01:38:10] So I really see the fruits of what it can be. [01:38:14] And so I hold and hope to that. [01:38:17] Not for what it is right now, but what I feel it can be. [01:38:19] And rolling up my sleeves to make it my part to make it better. [01:38:23] Part of that was serving this great nation and so on and so forth. [01:38:25] But if I had two parting words, being conscious of everyone's time, being the stewards of everyone's time, [01:38:31] the two words I'd like to leave you with is sponsorship and champion. [01:38:36] And all of us being the benefactors of that, who can we sponsor and champion? [01:38:42] You know, be intentional and be open to folks who may not reach their hand out to you. [01:38:48] But where can you be an olive branch to sponsor and champion the great next? [01:38:55] CEO, executive, cyber, STEM, whoever. [01:39:05] Wow, just simply amazing. [01:39:07] And just as it started our time together, it ends with those two words that you said early on. [01:39:14] The value. [01:39:15] Matter of fact, you turned that question on us for the mods who were here at that time. [01:39:19] How has sponsorship and champions helped in your role? [01:39:23] And I think that's just an amazing call to action. [01:39:25] Not just taking in information and being entertained, and we all were, but being motivated and inspired to actually take action and do so in those simple two words of sponsorship and champion. [01:39:36] So, Tahar, thank you so much. [01:39:38] It was a great privilege and honor to be able to spend the last hour and a half with you. [01:39:42] We hope many of us get to meet in person at some point. [01:39:44] Love to say hey and just really show the respect for you for what you have done serving our country and what you are doing now in your company and getting more awareness of the opportunity in cyber firm. [01:39:59] It's a very diverse and inclusive manner to get people into the field that we know and love at this time to hopefully solve some real and pressing problems. [01:40:08] So, thank you so much. [01:40:09] We appreciate you. [01:40:10] And everyone, we'll see you back all here next Wednesday, 8 p.m. Eastern time for another round of Fireside Chat. [01:40:19] Thank you, everyone. [01:40:20] Thanks, everyone. [01:40:21] Thanks, Tahar. [01:40:22] Maybe, Stephen, maybe we'll be able to get into high tech now with Tahar, right? [01:40:26] Just might. [01:40:27] Just might. [01:40:27] Let's see. [01:40:28] I'm trying to. [01:40:29] I don't know why. [01:40:32] I'm going to tell you, Tomas. [01:40:33] You know that I was talking bad about you. [01:40:35] And I was like, Tahar, you got to get Tomas, Stephen, Yonese, like all y'all. [01:40:40] Like I was talking, I'm going to tell you in your face. [01:40:43] Well, to you, to your ear. [01:40:46] You know. [01:40:47] No, look, I'm with it. [01:40:49] You know, Yonese dropped off. [01:40:51] But I don't know how Stephen and myself are not part of high tech. [01:40:55] So, Tahar. [01:40:56] Consider it done, brother. [01:40:57] I have a follow-up meeting with the vice chair and the chair. [01:41:01] So, high tech. [01:41:02] We just had a high tech summit last week. [01:41:06] So, everyone was so busy with that. [01:41:08] And everyone should be getting back in their groove later this week, next week. [01:41:12] I could not go there physically. [01:41:14] But consider it done, buddy. [01:41:16] All right. [01:41:17] And ITSMF was on high tech. [01:41:19] So, you know, I'm trying to pull all y'all back in. [01:41:24] All right. [01:41:25] Awesome. [01:41:25] Thanks, Tahar. [01:41:27] Yes, I owe you some follow-up, Octavia, for that. [01:41:30] But I need your, send me your personal email unless you want me to use your email. [01:41:34] We'll talk offline. [01:41:35] I'll text you. [01:41:36] Thank you so much for being here. [01:41:38] Take care, guys. [01:41:39] Absolutely. [01:41:43] Yes. [01:41:45] All right. [01:41:46] Well, thanks, everybody. [01:41:47] And we'll see you all again next time, Tahar, again. [01:41:49] Thank you very much. [01:41:50] And be safe out there. [01:41:52] Thank you. [01:41:53] Safe travels, everyone. [01:41:54] Bye-bye. [01:41:54] Thank you.