Fireside Chat w/Ashley Korte, Sr. Director, Global Crisis Management at Equifax

[00:00:00] Let you know this is a Fireside Chat. [00:00:03] We're going to be joined today with Ashley Cortez. [00:00:05] And we're just waiting for the rest of the Mots to join. [00:00:08] And then at 8, we will go ahead and get started. [00:00:12] I do see some new joiners today. [00:00:14] So I'm excited to have Ashley. [00:00:20] I'm excited to be here. [00:00:30] Hey, Katie, how are you? [00:00:44] I'm good. [00:00:45] I'm out of breath. [00:00:47] I just ran up my stairs. [00:00:49] And I always realize how out of shape I am when I get on a call immediately after doing that. [00:00:57] No, it was funny. [00:00:58] I took my daughter to the park, my daughter and my son, and she met friends. [00:01:04] And it was like 7.40. [00:01:05] And I was like, we have to go. [00:01:07] She's like, no, tell daddy to come get me. [00:01:10] I'm like, go. [00:01:10] I have to go now. [00:01:13] That's right. [00:01:14] We have a very, very important guest tonight. [00:01:18] Have to start on time. [00:01:19] Hi, Ashley. [00:01:20] It's so great to meet you. [00:01:21] Hi, how are you? [00:01:23] I'm good. [00:01:24] I'm looking forward to this conversation. [00:01:25] The whole idea of crisis communications and management is a little overwhelming for many of us. [00:01:33] So I'm really excited to pick your brain a little and hear your story of how you ended up in this position. [00:01:41] Hot topic right now for sure. [00:01:43] Yeah, certainly. [00:01:44] So it is right at the top of the hour. [00:01:49] It's 8 o'clock. [00:01:50] And so we're going to go ahead and get started. [00:01:53] And as we progress, we'll have more to join us. [00:01:56] But it is a fireside chat. [00:01:59] I am our host, Octavia Howell. [00:02:01] Right now, I am the CISO for Equifax Canada. [00:02:04] And I'm happy to be here. [00:02:07] Our guest today is Ashley Forte. [00:02:10] Ashley is a senior director and head of crisis management at Equifax. [00:02:15] She's a global crisis management leader. [00:02:18] And she is one of my colleagues and someone who I confide in. [00:02:24] And I call on her to run through a lot of our crisis management exercises. [00:02:31] So we have Ashley and I will. [00:02:34] So what we'll do is we will go ahead and get Katie and the other moderators join. [00:02:41] We'll get them to introduce themselves. [00:02:43] And then we'll have you introduce yourself, Ashley. [00:02:46] And so I just wanted to kind of give you guys a set and just how we how we're going to do things. [00:02:52] Anything and everything we say is of our own opinion and does not represent the opinions of our of our employers, past, present or future. [00:03:03] Everything that we say is is something that we we believe in. [00:03:09] And we're just here to have fun and help the cyber community. [00:03:13] Anything else left out, Katie? [00:03:16] No, I think that's the thing. [00:03:18] And then also, if anyone is interested in joining us every single week, you click on the little greenhouse at the top of the top left. [00:03:27] And then you'll be able to be alerted to when we have these. [00:03:30] And by the way, we have them every single week. [00:03:31] Did you you might have said that already? [00:03:33] But just sometimes I was actually on a call today and somebody was like, how do I find this live podcast thing you do? [00:03:40] What is this clubhouse thing? [00:03:42] So, yeah. [00:03:43] So if you follow that, if you click on the little greenhouse, that means you'll be alerted to any of the rooms that we host here in the fireside chat. [00:03:54] Awesome. [00:03:55] As Katie said, we do this every Wednesday, 8 o'clock to 930. [00:03:59] So I will introduce myself. [00:04:02] I will go ahead and shoot it over to Katie. [00:04:04] Well, thank you, Octavia. [00:04:06] Yeah, I'm Katie Hanahan. [00:04:08] I am a vice president of cybersecurity strategy for IT Savvy, which is a boutique cybersecurity firm and also a traditional bar out of Chicago. [00:04:19] And then I also lead their VC so practice. [00:04:22] So I'm a practitioner as well. [00:04:23] And that's newer for me. [00:04:25] So I've learned so much from being a part of this room and working with, you know, the rest of the moderators and putting together these incredible rooms. [00:04:34] So I am super excited to hear about Ashley's origin story tonight and just, you know, really happy to be a part of this community here in the fireside chat. [00:04:46] Awesome. [00:04:47] Thank you, Katie. [00:04:48] Actually, we're going to ask you to introduce yourself, if you don't mind. [00:04:52] And as you're introducing yourself, tell us a little bit about yourself and just what drives you and maybe give us a little bit of your origin story. [00:05:00] Sure thing. [00:05:03] So my name is Ashley Corte. [00:05:05] As Octavia said, I am the senior director over global crisis management at Equifax. [00:05:13] I've been at Equifax almost three years now. [00:05:16] So I spent the bulk of my career at Equifax dealing with the pandemic. [00:05:20] So it's been fun. [00:05:22] But a little background on me. [00:05:25] I'm actually, I reside in Atlanta, Georgia currently. [00:05:28] But I'm from Washington State, born and raised, small country town. [00:05:34] So grew up in a very small town. [00:05:37] Just to paint the picture, it is known for their rodeo. [00:05:41] I think they're actually one of the top 10 rodeos in the nation. [00:05:45] So I was eager, just based on my personality, to get out of that world. [00:05:51] And I moved to Seattle when I graduated from high school. [00:05:55] Lived there for several years before deciding that I was going to go to school in New York. [00:06:01] So I left, went to St. John's University. [00:06:04] I had a partial academic scholarship to go there. [00:06:08] I studied marketing and advertising. [00:06:10] And then that's actually when the recession hit. [00:06:13] So I was like, oh, nine, oh, eight, oh, nine. [00:06:16] I ended up leaving, going back home. [00:06:19] And then I ended up in Georgia about 12 years ago. [00:06:23] So from there, I've worked for the most of my career. [00:06:27] It's actually been in relationship management and project implementation. [00:06:32] Those are the two areas I have historically thrived in. [00:06:36] So that's on the professional side. [00:06:38] On the personal side, I am a mother to the most unique and amazing little girl. [00:06:48] She's five years old. [00:06:49] Her name is Giovanni. [00:06:51] She is my motivation for absolutely everything that I do. [00:06:56] She keeps me on my toes for sure. [00:06:59] Octavia, I think you might have met her. [00:07:01] You've definitely seen her jump in on some meetings. [00:07:04] It's kind of what she does. [00:07:05] She makes herself known. [00:07:06] But that being said, it makes up a lot of who I am today and what drives me. [00:07:15] So I am very, very passionate just about people rights and human rights and equality and women [00:07:25] and making sure that we create space within every place, whether personally, professionally, what I do within Equifax. [00:07:35] I'm always looking for a way to make sure that we create opportunity and help people. [00:07:41] And so I think that kind of goes hand in hand with the role that I have in the oversee crisis management as well as emergency response for 48 different facilities that we have on a global scale. [00:07:54] So it's a big role. [00:07:56] So it's a big role. [00:07:57] It's a busy role. [00:07:58] But I have a lot of fun doing that. [00:08:00] And because it goes hand in hand with being able to help others and really engage and interact with other people. [00:08:09] Ten years of my life I spent as a relationship manager. [00:08:12] So I really enjoy that aspect of that. [00:08:15] I've been able to continue on with that through my work at Equifax. [00:08:18] So I'm an open book. [00:08:22] Anything you ask me for the most part is not off limits. [00:08:26] But I'm happy to be here. [00:08:28] I'm excited. [00:08:28] I love having these types of conversations. [00:08:30] I think that, you know, I can definitely share my story and my experience and the things that I'm still continuing to learn today. [00:08:39] But I also have the opportunity through this conversation to learn from you all. [00:08:43] So I will kick it back to you, Octavia. [00:08:47] Awesome. [00:08:48] That's awesome, Ashley. [00:08:50] You know, one of the things that I know the story, but I really want you to tell our audience about, like, just how you got into security and, like, the relationships and what networking means to you and to progress your career. [00:09:05] Sure. [00:09:06] So I was actually recruited to get over to Equifax. [00:09:13] I had absolutely zero background in crisis management, emergency response, security in general. [00:09:21] It just was not where I had focused my career. [00:09:24] However, at the time, my predecessor, she was looking to expand her team. [00:09:32] And I actually worked with her husband at another office. [00:09:36] And when she was describing to him what she was looking for, the words that she actually used was, I'm looking for a bulldog. [00:09:44] Somebody that can come in, help revamp this program and really get it to the next level that we're trying to go as an organization. [00:09:52] And so with that, they reached out to me, asked me if I was interested. [00:09:57] It sounded really challenging, which is something that I enjoy within every position. [00:10:03] If I'm not being challenged, I will lose interest pretty quickly. [00:10:06] So I interviewed, ended up getting the job, and then was just kind of thrown into crisis management. [00:10:14] And I had to learn all things crisis, all things cyber, very quickly. [00:10:20] Within my first six months of being at Equifax, one of our team members decided that she wanted to go be a teacher. [00:10:28] So she just went on a completely different career path. [00:10:31] And then the other was promoted. [00:10:33] And so she took another role. [00:10:35] And two weeks later, COVID-19 hit. [00:10:38] So I was initiated very quickly into crisis management. [00:10:44] But as stressful as it was during those first few months of 2020, I wouldn't trade it for the world. [00:10:54] We have such an amazing team. [00:10:57] And there was a lot of times where I felt like the, you know, it was the imposter syndrome, where I was surrounded by. [00:11:04] And I sit within our cybersecurity room. [00:11:06] So just surrounded by these brilliant minds. [00:11:10] And I was just like, I don't know what I'm doing. [00:11:13] But they never made me feel out of place. [00:11:16] It was really just my own insecurities in that moment. [00:11:19] And through, you know, my time over the last three years, just the collaboration and the teamwork and the culture that we have, I have grown tremendously. [00:11:30] My technical skills have grown. [00:11:32] I can actually keep up with conversations at this point. [00:11:35] So it's been a really good experience for me over the last three years. [00:11:40] Thanks for sharing, Ashley. [00:11:44] Katie, over to you. [00:11:47] Yeah, sure. [00:11:47] I mean, so many questions. [00:11:48] And I really appreciate what you're saying. [00:11:50] I'm a foreign aid worker, a former foreign aid worker who ended up in cybersecurity. [00:11:54] And I tell that story on a regular basis because I think a lot of people don't really get the connection, you know, people who aren't in our industry, between wanting to truly help people and how that actually correlates to this industry. [00:12:10] Curious, during your time during COVID, one of the things that I'm learning right now and have had a few conversations with on this and other podcasts recently is just around leadership. [00:12:22] And focusing on the human being. [00:12:25] So how have you managed from an individual perspective? [00:12:30] How are you leading people through their own crisis while working for you in this crisis management group? [00:12:39] That's a great question. [00:12:43] It is just focus. [00:12:45] It is just that you focus on the people. [00:12:48] And, you know, I'm very procedure driven in the world that we live in. [00:12:51] Right. [00:12:51] It relies on structure and having a procedure. [00:12:54] But once we got that piece under control, it really was stepping back and just taking a moment. [00:13:03] I remember one of our former colleagues had said that at one point, you know, it's okay not to be okay. [00:13:09] And that really resonated with me because I think a lot of people were putting on this really brave face as we're trying to get through. [00:13:21] You know, and we had no idea what was next to come. [00:13:23] Nobody, you know, at least within our lifetime had been through this. [00:13:26] So from a leadership perspective, I felt that I had to put on that brave face. [00:13:32] But at the same time, could be open and transparent and vulnerable with my team. [00:13:37] And as you showed a little bit more of that vulnerability, people opened up to you. [00:13:44] And it actually helped me just expand my network within Equifax. [00:13:49] Right. [00:13:49] Because you see that human aspect and you build these relationships that I don't think we normally would have built had it not been for COVID. [00:13:58] I mean, I think it's been a horrible, horrible situation. [00:14:03] It's been very difficult for people and families. [00:14:06] But there is some good to that, right? [00:14:10] And at least that's how I try and look at it is it made me shift my focus and reprioritize what is important. [00:14:18] Is it coming to work and doing the task and getting that and going home? [00:14:21] Or is it really taking the time to know the people that I'm working with and understanding what they're going through and letting them know that it's okay. [00:14:32] If you need a moment, take that moment because that's so important. [00:14:36] And I think a lot of people have kind of started to take that mindset of I need to take some time for me. [00:14:43] And so with that, I feel like we've developed some really, really strong relationships. [00:14:47] And I think that's really just by being vulnerable with each other and not being afraid to let that guard down, letting people know when, you know, you are a little bit stressed out. [00:14:57] I know I definitely let people know. [00:15:00] So I think that was my stance. [00:15:03] Accept people for who they are. [00:15:05] Give them grace and be vulnerable. [00:15:08] And you'll build these really amazing relationships. [00:15:13] I liked what you said at the beginning there. [00:15:14] It's okay to be okay. [00:15:15] And actually, I appreciated that when I made the joke about being a little out of shape and out of breath that you and Octavia both embraced me. [00:15:22] You're like, yes, it's okay. [00:15:23] It's okay to not be 100% in shape. [00:15:27] You're doing your best. [00:15:29] No, I do appreciate that. [00:15:30] And you also said something that struck me. [00:15:33] And since it's a smaller moderator stage today, I'm imagining we'll just run this more like a conversation for a little while. [00:15:40] If that's okay with you, Octavia. [00:15:42] Oh, absolutely. [00:15:43] Thank you. [00:15:44] Cool. [00:15:44] And I'm newer to you guys. [00:15:47] I've known each other a long time. [00:15:48] So one of the things you said, too, about imposter syndrome was interesting to me because I noticed myself doing it at the beginning. [00:15:56] I said, well, I'm kind of a new VC so person. [00:15:59] But I always fail to tell, like, to really say, like, I have 18 years of cybersecurity experience and multiple, you know, verticals and types of experiences. [00:16:09] And I tend to still have that to this day. [00:16:14] And I have a mentor in the audience. [00:16:16] And I have a mentor in the audience, Nate Smolenski, who has always been really helpful in saying and reminding me, like, this is. [00:16:21] Oh, I love Nate. [00:16:22] We can work together. [00:16:23] Oh, you did? [00:16:24] I love it. [00:16:25] I love the small world. [00:16:26] Oh, I thought he was showing up to hear me here today. [00:16:29] It's all you. [00:16:29] You know, I see you, Nate. [00:16:31] But no, but back to that point, though, Ashley, what I really appreciated, though, is that when you were in a position where you had to really take take charge and move forward, that has to come from somewhere to in the fireside chat. [00:16:44] And I think that one of the things we like to do is just kind of dig into where did that really come from, because the other thing that in our industry we talk about a lot and in this room a lot is how do we get the next generation of cybersecurity professionals to not leave our industry and not only that, to recruit really talented people into this industry. [00:17:05] So how do we make them feel welcome here from your perspective? [00:17:10] I think a lot of it has to do with the culture of an organization. [00:17:15] My, you know, I think what helped me overcome that was I was never made to feel, you know, less than. [00:17:27] It was never anything that anybody within my immediate circle had had done or said that they were. [00:17:34] If I didn't understand and I asked the question, they would turn to me and take the time to explain it. [00:17:43] And that has continued. [00:17:44] That's never stopped. [00:17:45] It's such a great team to be on. [00:17:48] So I think really it's number one, just being aware that everybody is coming in at different levels. [00:17:54] Also just as the person that was, you know, on the outside, if you will, don't be afraid to say that. [00:18:02] And I, you know, ended up making a lot of jokes about it as we were, you know, getting into like the nitty gritty of things that if I didn't understand something, I would just keep on saying, ah, control, alt, delete. [00:18:12] Like that was my joke on, I don't know what you're talking about right now. [00:18:16] And with that, it just turned into them. [00:18:19] Essentially I had a room full of mentors. [00:18:22] And so it was just this, I think that came from top down with, this is how we operate. [00:18:28] You know, we are one team here. [00:18:30] And if somebody needs help, then you help them. [00:18:34] And I think it was done just completely subconsciously. [00:18:37] It wasn't a second thought from anybody. [00:18:39] So I think to answer that, it's just knowing that you may have a skillset that somebody else could benefit from and being willing to share that. [00:18:51] And then at the same time, also being receptive to that, not only can you share with them, but what can you learn from them? [00:18:56] Right. [00:18:57] I come with a completely different skillset where I build programs. [00:19:00] As far as, you know, like the crisis management program and having to revamp that. [00:19:04] So what can you learn from me when it comes to professional? [00:19:08] And what not. [00:19:09] So it really just was a partnership, but just being open and receptive and acknowledging that. [00:19:13] And then of course, you know, not making somebody don't ever, I guess, purposely make somebody feel as if they are less than, but I never experienced that. [00:19:27] So that's what I think got me to come out of my shell. [00:19:30] And I've learned a lot since then. [00:19:32] I appreciate your candor. [00:19:35] Yeah. [00:19:36] No, back to you, Octavia. [00:19:37] Yeah. [00:19:38] No, it's, it's funny. [00:19:39] Cause like, as you were talking, actually, I thought about some conversations that we've had on the Fireside Chat in the past about, you know, some women being told that they can't do things. [00:19:52] And I, like, I always tell people, it's like, I'm pretty sure someone probably said it in a room where I wasn't in the room that they said, I can't do it. [00:20:02] But no one was ever bold enough to say it to my face. [00:20:05] And like, I just know actually your personality. [00:20:08] And like, I just wonder, have you ever been approached that way? [00:20:13] Or like, how did you handle if someone did, or you felt like someone doubted your capabilities? [00:20:19] Yeah. [00:20:20] I mean, I think that's a really good call out. [00:20:23] I definitely have been, I mean, it's just been said straight to my face. [00:20:30] Um, so for me, it was actually not with, with leadership skills or my actual professional skill set. [00:20:39] It was, unfortunately, it was said to me by another female. [00:20:43] Um, but when I was at a, another company, I had applied for leadership role. [00:20:49] And during the interview process, what was said to me was I have every quality that they're looking for in being a leader. [00:20:57] And they had, without a doubt knew that I could manage that program and build it and take that to the next level. [00:21:04] Um, we had no single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single single [00:21:34] you're no longer deserving of my time i actually left and went to equifax um but with that it did [00:21:41] impact me so i did not share with anybody at equifax for the first year almost um that i was [00:21:49] a single mom because i was so driven to get to that next level i started equifax as an analyst [00:21:55] in 2019 and i was promoted to senior director in 2020 so i moved up very quickly um but i did not [00:22:02] i had this fear that that was going to prevent me from being able to do the job that i knew i was [00:22:08] capable of doing so i didn't actually share that information until i had to because covid was full [00:22:14] blown we were all at home we were talking about child care situations but i just had to kind of [00:22:19] come out and say i don't have anybody to watch my daughter so that's why i was at home um so [00:22:26] i don't know i guess octavia to answer your question i've definitely been told that before [00:22:31] every time that i have been challenged or it's been implied that i'm not capable of doing something [00:22:41] it has come from other women and to me i take that as in a weird way right because i'm very competitive [00:22:48] that's just a compliment because to me you see me as a threat i think that's unfortunate because i am [00:22:54] all about partnership and how we can lift each other up um but you know and i think hopefully [00:23:01] as i move throughout my career one of the things that i would love to do is just model that for other [00:23:05] women i think octavia you do a really great job at that as well is we're not here to break each other [00:23:10] down let's lift each other up and move forward because we can do so much more good um you know [00:23:17] as we go through our careers and our personal lives um and i've been super super grateful to have [00:23:24] an overwhelming amount of support from leadership both male and female within equifax so they've helped [00:23:32] me really just thrive to where i'm at today [00:23:35] um [00:23:38] well i'm uh holding myself back a little bit i'm a single mom [00:23:44] so single moms unite [00:23:46] it is it is and it's interesting because it is um there are there are others who simply don't [00:23:54] understand that we can absolutely have a very uh fulfilling life and be great moms and also be [00:24:02] amazing at work and do an amazing job and contribute more than than anyone else right so [00:24:08] it's it's one of those things where um i i took a very deep breath when when you said that because [00:24:14] it's there were so many stories and i what i've been trying to do in recent years um is just really [00:24:19] start to focus on okay how do i drive that change and one of those things that i would do in this [00:24:25] case is just bring it back to you're here because you are really great at your your job you have [00:24:32] amazing relationships you have amazing accomplishments and i have a bunch of questions for you about your [00:24:37] work and uh so rather than spend time on that you know it's one of those things where it's like we [00:24:42] are single mothers we are women um but we are cyber security leaders and and thought leaders and [00:24:49] doing really neat things so it's um i if i could i'd like to to bring it bring it back to that because [00:24:57] um i think that what you're doing is is so interesting and i was wondering how much can you [00:25:02] share about do you have anything from a what is the most dramatic or what is the a day in the life of [00:25:08] your your position look like do you have a three o'clock in the morning kind of bat phone situation [00:25:14] or are you are you um do you have a how big is the team of people that are working for you um what is [00:25:20] the day in the life and working for an organization so large with you know 48 you know uh locations that [00:25:26] you're you're managing etc i'm just really curious about um how that actually works yeah so i mean i think [00:25:35] the the most hectic thing i've ever been through at least within equifax is is the pandemic um i mean [00:25:41] at the time it was you know it happened so quickly when it really hit the united states but we're a global [00:25:49] organization and we at i think what the at the time it was like 11 11 or 12 000 employees um and trying to [00:26:00] figure out how to keep them all safe right that was the the first thing that went through everybody's mind [00:26:08] is what do we need to do how do we get them remote um and yes there were definitely some crazy hours during [00:26:18] that time i i think on average throughout 2020 because at the time i was a team of one um because as i shared earlier [00:26:27] somebody else had left the team and another person had been promoted so it was just me from january of [00:26:35] 2020 through june of 2020 um a lot of long nights you know having to jump on the phone with people in [00:26:45] india or australia the uk just you know crazy different time zones because those cities were were [00:26:53] shutting down and having to coordinate that so i think that was probably the biggest crisis i have faced while at [00:27:05] equifax um and fingers crossed we are you know almost at the end here um but [00:27:14] i think that's for me it's managing my time very well very well very very well i so in total on my [00:27:26] direct team we are a team of two we are a very small team um however we have 13 crisis teams globally and [00:27:35] with on the within those crisis teams our baby actually sits on one of them with us um but i'd say there's any [00:27:43] anywhere from 20 to 50 members per team so those are my the other side is i have i have emergency [00:27:52] response and they have to manage 48 different teams um so it's just a lot of coordination making [00:28:00] sure we stay on task but a day in the life for me you know it's there's really not crises on a regular [00:28:06] basis um which is a great thing but there's a lot of planning and one of the biggest things that i always [00:28:13] talk about is just this element of preparedness so there's three key things within my role one of [00:28:21] which is very strategic so i am responsible for developing all of the plans um for all of our [00:28:28] crisis teams making sure that you know we have incident response capabilities in place and supporting [00:28:35] those teams i also train all of those teams through tabletop exercises as well as real-time [00:28:41] simulations they're all hypothetical scenarios but they go through these pressure tests if you will [00:28:47] at least once a year with every single team um and that includes our senior leadership team here in [00:28:53] atlanta as well as our board of directors so nobody's safe from participating in those we are adamant that [00:29:00] being prepared is going to be your key to success in your response and recovery in the event something [00:29:07] happens um and then the last piece of what i do is the emergency response as well as responding to [00:29:14] live incidents so if there is a live incident which may be in a crisis i would respond and support that [00:29:25] yeah that's awesome i so one of the things that i know so you talked about being in crisis management for [00:29:31] um for um for the last um a little like four years and kind of not being in security before then but [00:29:38] one thing i know is that you dug in right do you mind kind of sharing like what you do in the industry [00:29:46] what you um what what your goals are when it comes to like yours you know when you do i think it's like [00:29:54] the global crisis management organization that you participate in is that what are what drives you to [00:29:59] continue to kind of be an advocate for crisis management um i'm very just driven number one by [00:30:10] by who i am i you know of course i spoke on it earlier my daughter she motivates me i am everything to [00:30:16] her and so i have to succeed it's kind of the way that i that i think but i'm also a workaholic so with [00:30:23] that was brand new to global security was brand new to cyber security crisis management i wanted to [00:30:31] learn absolutely everything i could about that um so i actually purchased crisis management books and [00:30:38] emergency response books like textbooks that you would see you know through a university um because [00:30:44] i wanted to understand the foundation of it the same thing with cyber security you know right now i'm [00:30:49] studying for comptia um i enjoy understanding the history where did it come from and then that way i [00:30:57] can apply that to my daily life and through that i've just any opportunity that has presented itself [00:31:04] whether it's within equifax or externally um i've jumped on if it's a networking opportunity [00:31:13] it is a chance to learn or you know acknowledging this person right here is really good in this area [00:31:21] i'm going to make sure that we connect so that i can learn from them it's just a constant learning [00:31:27] for me i love to learn i'm kind of you know self-proclaimed nerd in that sense i read all the time [00:31:35] but it was just a matter of i didn't feel like i fit in but i was really really intrigued by it [00:31:42] i found it to be so fascinating on every different element you know my team reports [00:31:48] directly in their physical security but we also have investigations and we have cyber security and [00:31:54] intel and so there's just so many different areas within global security that i find interesting that [00:32:01] i kind of just want to learn about each one so with that any opportunity that i have to learn from [00:32:07] others i will do um and i you know you spoke on octave just recently started branching out and doing some [00:32:15] external speaking about our program um i'll be speaking again in canada in a few months so [00:32:22] it's been a lot of fun for me in that aspect and that's pretty much how i'm i'm learning i'm just [00:32:27] learning as i go [00:32:27] yeah i think that's that's something that we have to always do and always keep in mind like [00:32:36] even though like we know one of the things on our global cso says like it's not you know it's this [00:32:42] there's a never-ending journey like it's just it's never ending and so um some people say it's a [00:32:47] marathon it's not a sprint but it's like there's no finish line right we just continue and i think in [00:32:52] learning we have to continue as well katie i'll pass it back over to you you want to do a quick reset [00:32:59] yeah sure um so hello everyone thank you for listening it's fireside chat with ashley court [00:33:04] um this happens every single wednesday night at 7 p.m central eight o'clock eastern um we run for [00:33:10] about an hour and a half um this evening we have you know a couple of mods here that are on stage we [00:33:16] usually at about 40 minutes into the program we open it up to the audience so i hope that um [00:33:21] especially a couple of the people here in the audience i hope that you'll come up on stage [00:33:24] raise your hand i'll invite you up and um and ask a couple of questions of ashley this evening and [00:33:29] continue the conversation um before we do that though i could just a couple of more uh little [00:33:35] things ashley um you know what i find really interesting too is that um although we're you know [00:33:43] i'm a woman in in chicago you're a woman living in atlanta uh you're working in crisis management i'm [00:33:49] working in more of a cyber strategy role um there are a lot of there's such so many things that are [00:33:55] in common we're both single moms i mean i will say that again because i do i do actually do think that [00:33:59] what you said earlier i wanted to go back to it for one second because i think you're right i think [00:34:03] that it is so hard that when someone can't do it they might be a little jealous i'm not i don't know [00:34:09] ashley i i think it it might be true because it's what we do is hard and if other times if we get a [00:34:16] little bit of shade sometimes i think it is because and i you know i've gotten my own and i [00:34:20] just think well i don't think they really think they could do it and they're just throwing that [00:34:24] shade over there because because of that but um there are so many things that we have in common and so [00:34:30] as you're rolling out these programs and it sounds like you're hitting the speaking circuit a little [00:34:35] bit more and you're um you're going to be up in canada speaking i'm assuming to another group within [00:34:40] equifax maybe octavia's group or something but um you know as you're preparing for that i mean again [00:34:46] i'm getting back to the um how do you um outside of the procedure and getting back to the human element [00:34:53] um how do you look at what could happen is there an imagining of what could happen and is there [00:35:00] preparation around that within your position as well yeah i do a lot of market research i look at [00:35:08] what's going on within the industry um you know what is a potential threat to equifax and then [00:35:17] because we're a global organization i also have to look at every country that we operate in and what is [00:35:25] the biggest threat to those teams um and then from there i begin to build out exercises or speaking [00:35:34] materials preparation materials it's really understanding what their needs are as a team [00:35:42] um you know because at the end of the day we have so many different cultures and we have to be you know [00:35:49] we have to respect that and then businesses operate differently in different countries and so making sure [00:35:56] that we tailor our response or we tailor our training to meet the needs of them is is really key to what i [00:36:04] do so i spend a lot of time reading online um having conversations as well with those teams [00:36:12] what's going on locally that you know i need to better understand and then from there i can take [00:36:18] away and just do my own research but it helps me understand that you know what may be an impact or a [00:36:23] potential risk within the united states is not the same risk in australia um or india or chile right so [00:36:34] i have to really wrap my brain around while we are based in the u.s we are global and we have [00:36:42] multiple risks that we face on a daily basis um and that's essentially where i start and then i build in there [00:36:53] yeah i want to build on that um ashley if you can because i know we had to kind of break this down within um [00:36:59] within my leadership team could you explain to everyone on the call like what exactly is a crisis [00:37:06] and what do you define in your scope of work yep so a crisis to equifax and i always like to [00:37:16] clarify that because i think it's different to a lot of different organizations but in the space that we [00:37:22] are building on the building it is it is a situation that is highly disruptive and that sits outside the [00:37:30] scope of your business continuity plans so we have an insane amount of business continuity plans and [00:37:36] disaster recovery plans at equifax but something may happen to where operationally you're not going to be [00:37:44] able to recover or you may have an impact or an outage right that impacts x number of customers [00:37:52] um that needs more oversight so for us it's highly disruptive it interrupts your operations [00:38:01] and you cannot recover you don't think you're going to be able to recover within that established [00:38:07] rto that you have set within your bcp at that point in time that's typically when we would deem that this [00:38:15] is a potential or a crisis or has the potential to reach that crisis level um and what i mean by that [00:38:23] is not all incidents right that's where most everything starts it's an incident they don't [00:38:29] lead to crises but i firmly believe that if you mishandle an incident and you don't have the [00:38:36] proper procedures in place from that base level you will 100 go into a crisis uh place or place [00:38:45] of crises and you know from there we have to step in did that answer your question my favorite [00:38:53] yeah it did i wanted to kind of double click in like types of crises right like when would [00:38:59] be impacted just in general not necessarily the way that aquifax um functions but just like you know [00:39:07] if we have a cso or someone um or someone who's looking to get into crisis management or maybe [00:39:13] you know even thinks like on the on the edge of like hey i'm i need to actually know when to engage [00:39:19] like at what points like outside the bcp plans but like i know there's you know a crisis where it may be [00:39:26] environmental or active god there may be a cyber crisis like could you go a little bit and click [00:39:32] down a little bit more yeah so natural disasters very very common probably the most common crises [00:39:40] you'll face whether it's hurricanes tornadoes earthquakes um from there it's anything that [00:39:47] could potentially tarnish your brand so that could be you know people within your organization that are [00:39:54] higher up and within the public eye or a m a that's gone wrong or gone sideways you have whistleblowers [00:40:04] um inside inside threats um that may be exposing an organization to something so and of course there's [00:40:12] always that element of of cyber which will forever i think in my opinion remain a potential crisis it's also [00:40:19] a human element and we've talked about that a little bit but people people can be unpredictable and [00:40:26] that's a big piece of what i do especially where i sit within physical security um and responding to [00:40:34] making sure your building is secure or what to do in the situation where you may have you know workplace [00:40:41] violence or a hostile intruder um so there's so many different ways it could go um financial you name [00:40:50] it i think there's nothing off limits when it comes to what could potentially be a crisis [00:40:58] thank you for going into that uh we have ryan on the stage and if anyone wants to ask [00:41:02] ashley uh a question just kind of reset one more time we have ashley cortay senior director of global [00:41:09] crisis management at equifax and if you want to come on stage ask ask your question feel free to do [00:41:15] that ryan go ahead over to you hi thank you um hi ashley nice to meet you um man i just love hearing [00:41:24] all this like this different perspective that you have um i i've shared this group before that i um [00:41:30] actually started my degree in disaster management before really getting into cyber so i feel like it's [00:41:36] very similar but it's in time very different um i know that kind of falling off octavia's question [00:41:41] one of the questions i had for you was along the lines of how do you do you do anything specific for [00:41:48] cyber security incidents um do you treat them differently i know you kind of just started to go [00:41:53] into that but we're just obviously being a very cyber minded group i know i'm curious to know maybe even [00:41:59] what you do very differently for non-cyber related events um i had another question but i was just kind [00:42:05] of like just like kind of you know itching to ask that after after octavia kind of started going down [00:42:10] that path sure nice to meet you as well um yes so i do i do handle cyber incidents differently um [00:42:23] we have a completely separate plan so i have my regional plans but i also have a separate plan [00:42:29] that's tailored to cyber and incident response i would say [00:42:35] the biggest difference with with the cyber team is how important it is to be accurate um very very [00:42:53] detailed in the response um and then ensuring that i have every key stakeholder that i need involved [00:43:05] so it's knowing everybody you know that networking piece really comes into play at that point on knowing [00:43:12] who is who within what organization obviously we have rosters available at all times but um it's just [00:43:19] the biggest structure accuracy and very very timely responses uh is essentially the biggest difference [00:43:29] with cyber because most times when it's you know natural disaster or something of that nature it's [00:43:35] more it happens and then it's let's fix it and make sure we remain operational whether that's moving [00:43:41] somebody to a different site going you're executing your remote strategies etc um cyber is obviously much [00:43:47] different so i would say that's the biggest difference that i have there between the two teams [00:43:55] that's interesting because on one end while from my 10 years in cyber i wouldn't be surprised [00:44:01] um you were just saying things obviously like the pandemic and workplace violence so like it's [00:44:06] sometimes i think i forget how important what we do is or what we do is how important it can be but [00:44:12] that totally makes sense um i had one other question which just again based on your story and everything [00:44:18] you shared um if you had to do it all over again is there anything you would have done differently um [00:44:25] and maybe why within my professional career personal you know what i'm gonna you ask that question i'll let you [00:44:34] answer that how you feel it could best be of uh entertainment or of value to all of us um but no [00:44:45] pressure so but clearly um you know if you feel like you would do anything different you know you're more [00:44:52] two things i mean i think we all can look back at life that with experienced eyes and say oh i had only [00:44:57] done this right so yeah no worries um yeah i probably could have done a lot of things different in my [00:45:05] personal life but you know i i think it's a really good question and it's not the first time i've had [00:45:16] this question and i'm pausing a little bit because i don't think my answer has changed um although i got [00:45:23] into global security later within my career i think that everything that i did leading up to that [00:45:32] prepared me to be successful within my role here so i i if i had to do it all over again i don't think [00:45:40] i would change anything i think that if you make the best of every opportunity that you have and you [00:45:50] take something away from it even if it's not a you know ends up being the right place or corporation or [00:45:56] whatever for you if you can take something from that and apply that in that next step within your [00:46:03] career path i think at the end of the day it's it's worth it so try to do it all over again i would do it [00:46:09] all over again same way i love that um and just maybe i'll just just admit so richard when you were [00:46:16] telling your story you shared how you went to school in new york and i don't think you did say [00:46:21] what you majored in and so me being the curious cat i almost asked you that but then with your [00:46:25] linkedin profile um at the top i kind of kind of looked and i was just curious because i know quite [00:46:31] a few people who've come into cyber it wasn't really their first thought and they went to school [00:46:36] for something different so on one end i was curious if you would have gotten your degree in [00:46:40] something different but on the second end i will share that since you did get your degree [00:46:44] in psychology um i feel like you've obviously had a lot of time to probably analyze and reanalyze [00:46:50] your psyche here and your thoughts on this i just find that to be really cool that you have this [00:46:55] psychology degree i can't say that at my time in clubhouse that uh anyone else has had that so kudos to [00:47:02] that and i will also add i was raised by a single mother to kudos to you both ashley katie and anyone else [00:47:08] um and that said uh oh ashley i don't know i think haiti was just um you hit the mic button like [00:47:16] like fast it's kind of like applauding i was applauding oh ashley if you're new to clubhouse yeah [00:47:22] that's what applaud that that's applaud club so i could probably ask you questions all day but i will [00:47:27] stop there thank you you're welcome thank you my pleasure of course oh that's funny so it's interesting [00:47:36] that you guys keep bringing up the single mothers thing because like and i tell ashley like we'll [00:47:40] have these meetings because we sometimes sometimes it's good especially we started in a pandemic [00:47:48] sometimes it's like hey want to jump on a call real quick like i just need to like [00:47:52] uh right and it's funny because i everyone who knows me especially at work knows that i am not a single [00:47:59] mother and i uh and i think that i would like crawl under something if i were because i you guys are [00:48:09] like superheroes like i have no idea how in the world you do in a safe saying because i think i probably [00:48:16] would be like i i'm out but my mother was a single mother and i still think that i would be out so kudos [00:48:22] to you and if anybody ever says a single mother can't do anything clearly they've never really met a [00:48:27] single mother like because these these people lift houses with like pinkies so okay a mother regardless [00:48:35] of a single mother or not i think just has the power to do anything especially for her kids and on that [00:48:41] note i just realized you know the timing but um happy belated mother's day thank you yeah thanks ryan [00:48:49] of course how like great of timing to have ashley here and to bring [00:48:53] not only emphasis but but appreciation and the story of strength and and one to admire so just [00:49:03] calling out because like i was like wait was mother's day last weekend like [00:49:08] only wednesday no we do appreciate that yeah it is funny and it's we talked about it earlier you know [00:49:16] ashley and um you said something too where you said you didn't tell anyone well very very early on in my [00:49:21] career i had just gotten my very first job out of college and i was 25 i went until i was about [00:49:29] eight months pregnant and i just i didn't say anything about it i just got walking around they just [00:49:36] nobody i just if if someone said something i just didn't i had just started my first real job out of [00:49:42] college wow and i just yeah and at that time there wasn't even like paid maternity leave and so then [00:49:50] at the time i was in a consulting role where you know they were like well we're gonna we're assuming [00:49:55] you know you won't come back and all these things that just are ridiculous and i i think oh gosh you [00:50:00] know and that 17 year old right now is over at his um lacrosse practice but i think that things have [00:50:08] changed so much and and the thing that i'm trying to be cognizant now of when i'm in an executive leadership [00:50:13] role is that there are still sometimes these biases that you alluded to earlier ashley where someone says [00:50:20] oh well because of your life or your life situation you can't do a job well certainly that doesn't seem [00:50:27] you know fair i mean i don't know that you know anyone would go into anyone's personal life and say [00:50:32] just because of one significant thing it could be caring for a a family member who's ill or something [00:50:38] else like that and it just it should never be looked at as a uh an uh you know an impotent or a [00:50:45] impediment what did i just say an impediment wow i clearly wow there's a lot there let's unpack that [00:50:52] with the psychology degree actually wow okay uh that was fun though i really enjoyed that um you know [00:50:59] who's going to save the day though right now is my friend matthew who just joined the stage because [00:51:04] saved by the bell of the physical security expert and i i pinged matthew uh earlier because i wanted [00:51:11] to see what his perspective was as well because he's very interesting i actually ran a physical [00:51:17] security room with him where we talked about the convergence of physical security and cyber [00:51:21] security so i'm really glad that matthew was able to come back on stage and save me from that [00:51:26] but then also ask some questions because i'm sure you have a few for ashley so over to you matthew [00:51:30] yeah so thanks thanks for having me up katie and ashley octavia ryan and jennifer nice to meet [00:51:37] everybody or say hello again um i apologize for the communications issues katie that was what uh [00:51:44] what happened there you invited me and i i wound up uh not in clubhouse but you know how that works [00:51:50] my own little crisis so um ashley if you answered this question already um i apologize for missing it but [00:51:58] just a little bit of background um i actually did emergency readiness for one of the world's largest [00:52:05] insurers for about four years um and i ran a global security compliance program for them so i had um about [00:52:14] 1500 locations and it was it was kind of a nightmare to uh to sleep so i wanted to give you kudos for being [00:52:23] a single mom and being able to pull off a a global program and i was just wondering how it is that um [00:52:33] that you manage the responsibilities of incident response and being a single mother because i know [00:52:41] that's an extremely difficult thing to do so i was wondering if you can maybe get into that just a little [00:52:47] bit sure well first thank you for it yeah i joke a lot when people asking that question like why just cry a [00:52:57] lot when i get home but in all seriousness um it's just been it's been learning to to manage my time and [00:53:09] and in a way over the last couple weeks because it happened definitely in 2020 [00:53:20] i think we might be losing you a little bit ashley acknowledging is that oh can you hear me we missed [00:53:27] the last yeah 10 seconds yeah you were cutting out a tiny bit i just i wasn't sure if it was just me [00:53:32] um but if you might want to start okay is that better now i can hear you now yep it's much better [00:53:37] now yeah okay so yeah essentially it was it's just a matter of of managing my time and drawing a fine [00:53:48] line between what needs to be done now and what i can handle tomorrow or the next day and sticking to [00:53:57] that um because what started to happen was my daughter i think the first time she said it she [00:54:05] was three but she said you know you always work all the time and that to me was a big red flag right [00:54:12] it's one thing for her to see that i'm driven and that you can be successful that you're nobody can stop [00:54:18] you it's another for her to feel the impact of me constantly working so because it's a global program [00:54:26] it was just a matter of finding time you know at five o'clock unless i have to be in a meeting that's [00:54:33] my stop time and from 5 7 30 that is my time with her and i devote that time to her until she goes to [00:54:40] bed and then from there if i have to work or these other things i want to get done i'll flip back to that [00:54:46] but it was just a matter of reorganizing and reprioritizing um as much as i love my job at the end [00:54:53] of the day she's always going to come first so it's uh just a matter of time management and making [00:55:00] my child a priority that's that's really awesome that's great and and very good to hear um i don't [00:55:09] think that i did as well in my early career with uh with managing the family and and the work so it's [00:55:16] it's good to hear that that work-life balance is there um so i guess another question is how much [00:55:23] do you promote individual resilience with your employees and how important do you think individual [00:55:29] resilience is to overall company resilience um [00:55:39] that's a really good question it's honestly not something that i've [00:55:42] you know being fully transparent here i've put too much thought into other than um [00:55:52] i think my biggest thing that i i push to people that i that we either work on my team or that i work [00:55:59] with is you know you have to go after what drives you and if you are passionate about something and you [00:56:11] find that this is your niche go for that and develop yourself within that area um but at the same time [00:56:21] i'm also you're not happy you're not happy right and there's no point in in pushing forward and [00:56:29] attempting to prove i guess that that resilience within a role or career path that you have absolutely [00:56:37] no interest in so i don't know if that answers your question but that's kind of where my mindset has [00:56:43] has been with that oh if you don't mind actually being that we work in the same company i kind of [00:56:50] want to like just say like i know within our global security we don't believe in being resilient to the [00:56:55] point where you're like you're burying and you're trying to like persevere like if you need a break you need [00:57:00] a break and and that space is made for you to take that free so i guess that's why you were struggling [00:57:07] a little bit it might be because it was just a to me it's if you're not passionate if you don't like [00:57:13] it and then back off right and find what you what you want to do or or take that like you said step away [00:57:19] and take a break from it but we do have i think a really good work-life balance and there's you know [00:57:26] we're encouraged to take a break um so it's never we don't have that work work work or that work hard [00:57:33] play hard mentality i guess it's a good catch yeah so part of part of the question was about um [00:57:41] you know the importance of personal preparedness to um work with utilities and one of the things i [00:57:48] recommend is to have you know 72 hours worth of food and water and and be able to sustain [00:57:56] your home um you know for a period of time which obviously supports work from home [00:58:04] so that was kind of my more than the emotional resilience portion it was also [00:58:09] the overall physical resilience um i just have one more question for you um and it's really [00:58:18] left of boom you are a total stage hog that's all i am i am question three here we go [00:58:23] you know how you know how little i get to talk to other physical security and crisis management [00:58:29] people in this world so um so the question is left of boom or right of boom which do you enjoy more [00:58:40] i thought what do you mean by that so left of boom preparing for the incident all of the [00:58:47] um all the mitigation all of the preparedness the planning the exercises or when the incident occurs [00:58:57] the response and getting the company back on the right path and doing doing the things to get [00:59:04] business back up and running oh it's definitely the latter um i love the preparedness element of it i i [00:59:13] i really enjoy building and developing and working with different people in that creative process but [00:59:19] there's something about the adrenaline that comes with the moment something happens right and of course [00:59:26] the space that we sit in it's always something different um and i would i would be lying if i said [00:59:33] i did not enjoy that to some extent so that's probably where i sit [00:59:41] thank you i'll i'll yield to jennifer i know she's excited to ask some questions [00:59:47] and stop harassing me matthew ashley nice to meet you um yeah well super great thank you and um i was [00:59:53] also raised by a single mom so i feel like i'm part of the the crew up here that was either raised by a [00:59:58] single mom or was a single mom um so super interesting and uh the first question i was going [01:00:04] to ask you you guys actually just got into which was how your daughter um you perceived your long hours [01:00:09] and as you said those nights so you got into that my second one was i didn't necessarily hear it from [01:00:15] the start was how you made it um the transition from psychology to degree or you know what was that path [01:00:21] from psychology to security yeah so if i'm just being super super honest um after i got my psychology [01:00:32] degree i was you know you're faced with a couple of options you can continue on and really at this [01:00:37] point you need a phd to get the jobs that i wanted um and that's a lot more schooling that i just [01:00:45] was not interested in um and so i was already working at the time i was actually going to school [01:00:52] um while i was working full-time so i stayed within that role of relationship management and then [01:00:59] just by being recruited over to equifax is really kind of just kind of fell into my lap so it wasn't [01:01:04] intentional by any means but i do think having a background in psychology has helped me because i [01:01:12] i obviously am into how the mind works and how people think and why they do what they do and [01:01:20] understanding different relationships um but i also think that's helped me from a leadership perspective [01:01:25] because i i get there's just this huge human element to that and um i you know i pride myself on being [01:01:34] really empathetic within my role and i think making sure that whoever works with me knows that you know [01:01:41] you're going to always get the authentic version of me um and i will support you through whatever so [01:01:46] you can be open and transparent that psychology background i think has helped me be an empathetic [01:01:53] leader um but as far as how it got me into global security it was really just by luck and i'm super super [01:02:01] happy that it happened that way yeah it's amazing how many of our careers um you know people can say in [01:02:09] hindsight they had a path or they had a track and a goal and it went straight there but usually it's [01:02:13] these you know zigs and zags and um by chance and i love the um i think everything is human human in [01:02:20] psychology i was just listening to somebody talk about even ai it'll just it's always gonna have that [01:02:25] human component to it so to your point security is highly especially under stress when um matthew and [01:02:30] again i had no idea what he's talking about with the boom i thought he's talking about sailing i was like [01:02:34] what is he talking about but um because that's where my mind went but it was like but you're right and i was like oh [01:02:38] i was like well god you know you know all those the prep preparation would be the less stressful [01:02:43] part and i was like but god i'd probably kill myself with boredom so to your point the um the adrenaline [01:02:48] i would weigh you know i agree with you and and understanding that in people as you just said [01:02:52] everything's people right so how do you think this person's going to react why is this person reacting [01:02:57] this way like what what's their perception or their you know role so that i i i knew would be very [01:03:04] helpful in that area i was just curious how you did that so that's thanks for sharing that that's great [01:03:09] yeah no problem i have to jump in and just ask with that psychology degree do you feel like you also [01:03:16] understand the mind of the hacker like is this adding to your cyber security team's resilience [01:03:24] that's somewhat of that's somewhat of a joke but if you really want to answer that i would say [01:03:29] probably not but i think the people that i work with have helped me understand the mind of a hacker [01:03:35] i mean maybe that's the way to solve the skills gap in cyber security is [01:03:41] psychology um graduates i feel like we're on right yeah you're you're not you're not far off right you're [01:03:49] not far off i feel like we do there is a psychological perspective and there's definitely a [01:03:56] a discipline that that's there so you're not far off i think you should speak more about that [01:04:02] 100 because don't you say ryan you can go in there but 100 when you talk to the hackers that were ex [01:04:07] i guess black hat guys that are now they're like look you have to have that mindset to know what [01:04:12] they're doing and if you look just the rest of society with different people's things that they do [01:04:17] um that are pushing boundaries or outside of boundaries is are they doing it for nefarious reasons [01:04:22] are they doing it for sport are they doing it because they're bored like or a show they can do [01:04:26] it like there's a lot of different reasons so yeah huh no i just i just love that question jennifer [01:04:33] that you asked and the way that ashley was taking it i was like please say that she's thinking like [01:04:38] a hacker and then i just started like [01:04:43] that's a good idea actually like maybe and what i really was kind of taken by was how ashley [01:04:49] sort of split under the radar and was like oh well i got out um with my degree and the path i wanted [01:04:56] to take would have required more schooling and so of course i'm like what's the path that you wanted to [01:05:00] take so i i wanted to be a forensic psychologist um oh yeah oh my god serial killers is that what [01:05:10] like yeah if you if you know me i don't constantly that there's serial killers everywhere so um yeah [01:05:22] that was that was really where i wanted to go with it but then when i realized it was like another [01:05:26] six years of school i was like oh yeah you need to get out of washington i feel like there's a [01:05:32] connection to where you're from there there is definitely a connection okay well i'm probably [01:05:38] over analyzing but i'm very happy i'm sure you are where you're meant to be and in a way you are kind [01:05:45] of you know it sounds like in a similar ish field sorry i just had to ask this has been really interesting [01:05:52] so thank you uh to everybody because i and i agree i don't know what matthew was saying before at the boom [01:05:56] i was like maybe i don't know so just thanks you know it's it's just it's standard incident response [01:06:04] and incident response stuff it's a uh i don't know i wouldn't don't feel don't you're talking to a guy [01:06:10] who was a bomb dog handler for 20 years no i thought you were talking about like generational like boomers [01:06:17] like do you like it before the digital age now i know my kids always say that i'm like i'm not a boomer [01:06:24] i am a gen x slash millennial like you leave me alone yeah yeah i thought it might be that too [01:06:35] we have i was gonna oh yeah i was gonna say i actually i wanted to introduce her if i could [01:06:41] that's what i was pausing for um so i'm always recruiting and to the point where i think sometimes [01:06:46] we're like do you work for clubhouse um but i really do love this community so much so jackie and i work [01:06:52] together she works with one of the partners that we go to market together with um to our clients so [01:06:56] jackie it's your first day on clubhouse i am so thankful you joined us today i i what do you have [01:07:03] a question for ashley um yeah so this is my first time using the app everyone give me grace i'm hoping [01:07:11] i'm clicking the right button yes i'm applauding you right now four hours ago oh that's what that means [01:07:16] i love that um yeah so i did have a quick question for you first of all thank you for speaking ashley [01:07:24] you've been wonderful to listen to i find that you know in working in the industry we talk to a lot of [01:07:30] professionals that sometimes can have a sort of ego they bring to the table and i find that you have no [01:07:37] ego and you're so transparent and so approachable and i find that um very refreshing so how do you [01:07:42] remain that way in such a big global position thank you that's actually a huge compliment um so when i be [01:07:52] moved into leadership one of the there's two things that i set out to do one was do everything that i [01:08:00] love from every great leader i've ever been under and the second was to never be that leader that i that [01:08:07] made me hate my jobs um because i i think that there are people unfortunately there sit within [01:08:15] those roles that have that ego and they don't realize that there's a human right and you take [01:08:22] the title away there is a person who outside of that job has other things that could be going on [01:08:29] and to be in you know to to be that person creating such a toxic environment it's just a [01:08:35] horrible experience so for me it was don't ever be condescending don't ever be belittling you know [01:08:41] there's a right time and a right way to have a conversation but i think humility goes a very [01:08:47] long way regardless of what your position is and um that's really something that i've just tried to [01:08:54] instill in everything that i do so i'm excited that it's coming off that way [01:08:58] well thank you it is definitely coming off that way um i'm sure others can speak to this but um [01:09:08] you know it's a big position to be not only protecting such a big company but having so [01:09:14] many people that report to you and work to you and i think that finding somebody that can have humility [01:09:19] and remember at the end of the day that even if there is a breach you know sometimes people can make [01:09:24] mistakes and it's a human being is is wonderful so that's awesome thanks ashley yeah awesome [01:09:32] can i ask a quick question can you hear me yeah hey so earlier when you were talking about people [01:09:38] telling you you can't do something and you said it was actually more women that said this [01:09:42] um this just reminds me of coming up in my career which is um which was also the case women can be [01:09:47] really harsh um but it's the queen bee syndrome so instead of being arrogant it's more of an [01:09:52] insecurity that you got there you got to the limited top and there's not a lot of pie so you don't you [01:09:58] know if you bring somebody else up you're now sharing the pie versus increasing the pie right so [01:10:06] do you think that that could be part of the um equation versus just um arrogance that it's actually [01:10:12] an insecurity or seeing it their role is limited or threatened oh 100 i think one 100 you know women [01:10:21] um we've we've made a lot of headway right but we still have a long way to go within corporate america [01:10:28] and i think there's definitely this element of of being threatened um because they also [01:10:35] have have fought to get into that position and they don't want to lose that [01:10:39] um so that limited space i think they just react almost impulsively instead of looking at the bigger [01:10:48] picture right we can kind of start to break down those walls together versus fighting against each [01:10:54] other and that will help you know solve the problem but i i get where people are coming from on that [01:11:01] um i think i'm just more of the mindset of let's figure this out together and i don't want to be a [01:11:08] part of that problem [01:11:09] yeah i want to kind of jump in and do a mix it really quickly before i kind of double click on that [01:11:17] um because i think this is i love the way this where this conversation is going we are on the fireside [01:11:22] chat with ashley corte the global uh senior director and global head of crisis management for amplifax [01:11:29] uh we do this every wednesday from 8 p.m to 9 30 p.m eastern time um and if you are not a member of [01:11:39] buff house you know fireside chat click on that green uh house at the top to get alerted when we do things [01:11:46] again we do this every wednesday and you know as we kind of said our opinions are our own and not [01:11:52] representative of our companies um i want to double click on that because uh on the conversation just [01:11:58] because you know i think all of us have been in situations where we've had um either people have [01:12:05] tried to put us against other women or women have seen us as a threat and i think it's so important [01:12:13] to what you said actually that when we actually go together and we're actually doing good and we're [01:12:19] breaking down barriers together we can go so much further right and i want like i want to um just [01:12:27] actually like where do you see that and how do you see that manifesting in your day-to-day just because [01:12:32] i love the women of equifax you know yes no we have some really amazing women at equifax and i think that [01:12:41] once again i i've spoken on it a couple of times with culture and i think that comes from top down [01:12:47] is that that type of behavior of right of working against each other really isn't tolerated um and [01:12:57] so where i see us going at least within equifax is we're making amazing strides to ensure that we [01:13:06] are inclusive and that we create space for women um you know okay that you and i are working on a program [01:13:15] now to to do just that but giving women within security a voice and giving them that space to [01:13:24] grow whatever that is that they desire if it's leadership or if it's developing you know better [01:13:31] technical skill sets how can we help you and mentoring each other um and what we have seen through [01:13:39] that is this really cool reception um but surprisingly a lot of you know men are applauding that effort [01:13:49] um because they're acknowledging and and through that women working together and empowering each other [01:13:55] i think it's slowly changing the view of other women and um men and how they you know they're starting to [01:14:02] see that we are a force to be reckoned with and you know when we band together we can create some really amazing [01:14:10] things and a lot of women within our organization especially within security um are starting to move up [01:14:15] into more of those senior leadership type positions which i think is really awesome to see [01:14:23] if i could ask a quick question on that one actually ashley and um you know i've gotten to know octavia just by [01:14:29] as most of us and hanging out together every single wednesday night it's amazing uh spending time with [01:14:35] you octavia and i feel like i know you uh being able to you're like my my date my every my wednesday [01:14:41] night date is with octavia and tomas and the rest of the group and i love it um and one of the things [01:14:46] that's really come through though is that equifax has created this amazing culture and um you just said [01:14:52] ashley created space for women to achieve the goals that they are trying to achieve that will [01:14:59] benefit you know the company and then and themselves as well and um you know i have to say we talked [01:15:04] about how other women can help empower we talked about how other how men can as well you know i've [01:15:09] mentioned i've had a number of male mentors as well as a number of female mentors that have helped me [01:15:14] along in my career and have given me opportunities and seats at the table can you go back to one thing [01:15:20] though because there's one thing that i i wanted to understand because i really do respect [01:15:25] your your what you guys are doing how are you guys getting rid of and i guess it's not necessarily to [01:15:32] your company but in your experience in your career how do you get rid of the toxic person in that um [01:15:39] work chart though the the person who is creating conflict or is trying to exclude someone based on [01:15:48] their um you know socioeconomic neurodiverse or gender or ethnic background you know how do [01:15:56] how does that work within a large organization and what are the like what are the procedures and methods [01:16:02] you can do that i could i could say that might be a crisis it definitely could be um from my experience [01:16:09] what you know what equifax has done is equifax invests in their their teams and they embrace [01:16:19] inclusion and diversity um but not only do they embrace it they promote it on so many different [01:16:25] levels and we just i mean just what last month i think we are maybe the month prior we had a really [01:16:34] cool women's forum and having you know so many people turn out just to listen to women within [01:16:42] equifax speak um but when you have that i guess you know somebody who might be noticeably kind of [01:16:49] not really you know buying what equifax is selling um when it comes to how our culture operates i think [01:16:57] it's just having those candid conversations it's it doesn't have to be confrontational at least that's [01:17:03] been my experience is just finding ways to to casually sneak in you know um an example of how that [01:17:12] could impact and and for me it's always because there have been a couple of times and not at equifax [01:17:18] just in general where i've had to kind of pull somebody aside and i think one of the things that [01:17:24] i've always taken away from one of my professors in college was um sometimes doing the right thing is [01:17:32] uncomfortable and when you hear somebody say something that you know is wrong you have to [01:17:39] have that uncomfortable conversation um and it's not going to be easy so for me it's always prefacing [01:17:44] like hey this is kind of an uncomfortable conversation but something you just said impacted me or i or i saw [01:17:50] it impact another um and and here's why and just kind of trying to you know without making them feel guilty [01:17:58] because i think when you make somebody feel guilty they're not receptive they become very defensive [01:18:02] and they put that wall back up versus i'm not here to embarrass you i'm not here to shame you so i think [01:18:08] with equifax it's just the number of opportunities they provide for us you know subconscious bias [01:18:13] training that we get to participate in um giving space to people that is known that we are a diverse [01:18:22] company and not only are we diverse but we embrace it and we support it um i think it's how they have [01:18:28] driven this culture yeah and i don't know if this was an equifax phrase or one of yours but i what [01:18:34] really struck me and i wrote it down and circled it was just creating space they created space for you [01:18:40] um so yeah i appreciate that feedback and and it sounds like if you fundamentally do those things [01:18:46] um you will you know continue to do all the things that we want to do from a cyber security [01:18:50] perspective and in creating these teams that we um are all talking about every day on and all these [01:18:56] different rooms on clubhouse like how do we recruit all this talent how do we retain talent well it [01:19:01] sounds like you create space for somebody to actually be able to to tune in to their um acumen and uh [01:19:10] achieve their objectives and oh by the way do a great thing for your company so yeah it's amazing [01:19:15] and thank you ashley yeah and i want to actually say and i know i want to say something i'm gonna let [01:19:21] you all really just i wanted to comment right and it's something that i learned early on in my career [01:19:27] um when we compete against other people and other women especially um those who are not like those that [01:19:36] are not in that conversation it's just kind of like a fight when you're in high school [01:19:40] right everybody's looking at the person who fought like the people who are fighting [01:19:45] and they're like oh my god like why are they like nobody really wants to be around [01:19:50] the people who are fighting so it limits the ability for you to actually move up and and move [01:19:56] because you're just seen as a toxic person so if we can kind of take away like and to start supporting [01:20:02] women and take away that competition then everyone else around sees that we're collaborative or team [01:20:08] players and everybody rises instead of it only being a one seat at the table for women [01:20:22] for all of you matthew i know you had something to say [01:20:26] yeah i mean that that's hard to follow but my question was pretty simple um ashley mentioned early [01:20:32] on that you know when she got interested in crisis management and everything else she read a ton of [01:20:37] books and i was wondering you know for the group that's here what book would she recommend if they [01:20:44] wanted to know more about crisis management and why oh gosh uh what is sticking off the top of my head [01:20:52] is a book called crisis ready i think that was one of the first books that i read um and really kind of [01:20:59] changed my mindset on this element of being prepared so crisis ready stands up there's another one i i [01:21:09] also would have to post the post it in the chat later but there's an emergency response book that was [01:21:14] really really good as well because it gave the history of where emergency response came from and why it [01:21:25] is where it is today so understanding you know even just how fema originated and just the different [01:21:32] policy changes year over year and it was all from the lessons learned and actioning those lessons learned [01:21:40] um so there's probably those two books crisis ready and i would love to give you the name of the [01:21:46] emergency response book but i don't have it off the top of my head but it was a really good read and it [01:21:51] really helped me reframe our entire program i would definitely love to like post our chat or [01:22:02] something on linkedin now i'm super curious yeah for sure [01:22:12] thank you and thank you for sharing the space welcome [01:22:21] um octavia were you going to go into because we're winding down a little bit right so we have about [01:22:28] nine minutes left and so can i can i would you like to ask the question or do you want to no i want to [01:22:35] go kind of my distance no kind of go into the reset and then also just kind of uh wind down but you can go [01:22:42] ahead katie that was it i just wanted to um make sure that everyone knew we had about nine minutes left [01:22:48] and um we're you know here in the fireside chat with ashley corte and really appreciating the [01:22:53] conversation and if anyone has any last minute uh questions as we wind down into the half hour we [01:22:59] want to be respectful of ashley's time um and again thank you ashley for spending this time with us [01:23:05] just uh you know if go ahead and flash your mic if you have another question jennifer ryan [01:23:09] jackie oh looks like ryan has one go ahead ryan i would just love to know like what are your goals [01:23:16] what's next personal or you know where does someone who's the in charge of uh crisis management at [01:23:23] equifax like what what do you work towards or what's your goal [01:23:30] that's a really good question um [01:23:34] i really would like to watch our our program continue to grow and flourish we've come a long way over the [01:23:43] last few years um and i think it would be amazing to get into the space where we can actually do [01:23:51] peer-to-peer and partner with other organizations we as a as a company have learned a lot i have learned [01:23:58] a lot and um you know we believe in being transparent so i would love to start to be able to work with other [01:24:06] organizations and share what we have done so that they can do the same because at the end of the day [01:24:13] you know competitors are not we're all in this together when it comes to what we're protecting [01:24:19] and what our roles are within our business um so that's really where my vision is right now is how [01:24:25] can i get our program to the next level to where we can really start to collaborate with other businesses [01:24:30] that's amazing i really was not sure what to expect and sometimes i'm like oh so and so's in this [01:24:37] position maybe they want this one and i was like oh i wonder what she's gonna say um so that's really [01:24:43] i actually think that's to be honest brilliant um but that said i think i realized almost like almost a [01:24:49] second delayed you know i know we talked about the single mom thing and all but in a way it sounds [01:24:53] like this program's like your baby like you literally said you started someone i think you said left [01:24:59] and someone got promoted to another team or something like that and so this program has been [01:25:04] sounds like like your your your next child or your your other baby so that's that's really great and i [01:25:10] hope to uh i just wish you all the best and and all the success it sounds honestly just like an amazing [01:25:17] uh vision to be completely honest not only for from a security perspective but also from a proactive [01:25:24] like company standpoint i i would love to work for company that hopefully thinks like that if that [01:25:30] makes sense so thank you thank you thank you awesome and do we have so we're about five minutes do we have [01:25:41] anyone who has any last minute questions for ashley if not i will turn it over to ashley for uh for last words um so [01:25:57] we don't necessarily have to go all the way to 9 30. um but i wanted you know actually if you have any [01:26:03] closing thoughts or anything to share with with the audience [01:26:06] yeah this has been for me just uh a great experience i've truly enjoyed this this dialogue [01:26:17] and having the opportunity to meet you all um it's just been a great conversation it's already got my [01:26:23] mind thinking about so many other different things so this was also my first house experience thoroughly enjoyed it [01:26:30] we'll definitely be back um like there's probably popping in from you know time and time again as i'm able to but i just appreciate all of your [01:26:40] your questions and thought-provoking ideas and [01:26:44] such so thank you for having me and it's been an absolute pleasure [01:26:51] awesome thank you ashley thank you everyone for your participation i hope you again to all the mothers happy mother's day and i hope you all have a great week [01:27:00] thank you everybody have a good night bye bye [01:27:30] we are [01:27:39] Thank you. [01:28:09] Thank you. [01:28:39] Thank you. [01:29:09] Thank you. [01:29:39] Thank you. [01:30:09] Thank you. [01:30:39] Thank you. [01:31:09] Thank you. [01:31:39] Thank you. [01:32:09] Thank you. [01:32:39] Thank you. [01:33:09] Thank you. [01:33:39] Thank you. [01:34:09] Thank you. [01:34:39] Thank you. [01:35:09] Thank you. [01:35:39] Thank you.