Fireside Chat w/Ryan Rene Rosado

[00:00:00] Thank you. [00:00:30] Sound check, sound check. [00:00:32] Who's that? [00:00:33] Is that you, Ryan? [00:00:35] Sorry, I'm not looking at my phone. [00:00:37] This is me. [00:00:39] I thought that was a joke. [00:00:40] I said sound check. [00:00:42] I didn't know if I should put my headphones in, but I know sometimes they're worse. [00:00:47] You sound fine. [00:00:48] Sound loud and clear. [00:00:49] Loud and clear on this end. [00:00:51] How do I sound? [00:00:52] Good? [00:00:53] Good. [00:00:54] Yep. [00:00:55] Okay. [00:00:56] Copy that. [00:00:57] Hang on. [00:00:57] I'm just trying to set up the room. [00:00:58] Let's get people to know who you are. [00:01:02] Here we go. [00:01:04] We had a link right there. [00:01:06] All right. [00:01:08] What are we going to talk about today? [00:01:11] What are the topics, Ryan? [00:01:12] What are we talking about today? [00:01:14] I'm going to keep it a surprise. [00:01:17] Surprise. [00:01:17] All right. [00:01:17] So we'll do some networking. [00:01:20] We will do some, let's see, some leadership maybe. [00:01:29] Maybe. [00:01:29] Oh, I just realized you put my LinkedIn profile up. [00:01:32] I was like, why is my face staring back at me? [00:01:35] Hmm. [00:01:36] Hmm. [00:01:36] I guess it's too late to ask if that's a good picture, if I should change it. [00:01:40] Kidding. [00:01:43] Kidding. [00:01:44] So. [00:01:44] Can't see it just yet, but it is what it is. [00:01:48] It's what you've got. [00:01:49] It is what it is. [00:01:50] True that. [00:01:52] Well, this is kind of funny. [00:01:53] I'm usually like making sure that I'm like on mute, but I guess this is going to be one [00:01:57] of those days I'm probably not going to be on mute too much. [00:02:00] No, not at all. [00:02:05] All right. [00:02:06] I think I got the room set up. [00:02:11] Who's on? [00:02:11] It's just you and I, just for the moment. [00:02:13] All right. [00:02:14] Well, hey, everybody. [00:02:16] If you're joining us, we will get started promptly at about six minutes. [00:02:23] I'm on the West Coast today, so I guess 5 p.m. Pacific time. [00:02:28] How's that feeling? [00:02:29] How's that going for you? [00:02:31] It's still sunny out here, so it's going really great. [00:02:36] Oh, yeah. [00:02:36] Yeah, same here. [00:02:37] It's sunny. [00:02:40] So, anyway, I wasn't sure if I should join late. [00:02:45] I was like, well, I shouldn't join late because time is of the essence. [00:02:48] There's no use making a fashionably late entrance, but anyway, here I am. [00:02:54] So, I have been meditating all day. [00:02:58] I'm just going to say that. [00:02:59] Okay. [00:03:02] Well, that is good. [00:03:03] That's a good thing. [00:03:04] It is, yeah. [00:03:06] I've been meditating on that. [00:03:07] That is my life. [00:03:08] So, here we go. [00:03:10] Awesome. [00:03:10] So, you're getting ready for today's discussion, which sounds great. [00:03:14] Where are the rest of the moderators? [00:03:17] It is time, right? [00:03:19] Yep. [00:03:20] It is almost time, I should say. [00:03:22] It's almost time. [00:03:23] Yeah. [00:03:24] We'll get the rest of the moderators in here. [00:03:27] I'm sure they're probably wrapping up some other calls. [00:03:32] So, look, if it's the first time you're joining us this evening, this is our weekly fireside chat. [00:03:39] There's Russell. [00:03:40] There's Octavia. [00:03:41] There's Katie. [00:03:42] There is David Cass. [00:03:44] So, let's start with Russell. [00:03:46] Russell, quick microphone check for you, sir. [00:03:49] Howdy, everybody. [00:03:50] So, great to be here with Tomas. [00:03:51] Ryan, I can't wait. [00:03:53] Thank you. [00:03:55] Octavia, quick microphone check for you. [00:03:59] Should I say 1212? [00:04:02] 1212. [00:04:04] Microphone check. [00:04:05] 1212. [00:04:06] Keep going, Octavia. [00:04:08] Sing it out. [00:04:09] You know, I guess that's about all I got in here. [00:04:13] All right. [00:04:13] All right. [00:04:14] All right. [00:04:16] Katie, quick microphone check for you. [00:04:18] Hi. [00:04:19] Yeah, I guess she already took 1212, so I'll take 3434. [00:04:23] Count off. [00:04:25] There we go. [00:04:26] There we go. [00:04:27] And David Cass, let's hear that 5-6. [00:04:30] Microphone check. [00:04:36] David Cass. [00:04:40] All right. [00:04:40] We'll get Mr. Cass. [00:04:42] We'll get him soon enough. [00:04:45] I see some familiar faces in the audience. [00:04:47] Again, if this is your first time joining us, this is our weekly fireside chat. [00:04:52] We do this every Wednesday between 8 p.m. Eastern time and 9.30 p.m. Eastern time. [00:04:59] So we're going to go for about, actually, we'll go for an hour and a half in total time. [00:05:04] But what we typically do is we'll ask our guests questions for about 30 to 40 minutes or so. [00:05:10] And then we'll open up for the audience for you to raise your hand and we'll bring you up on stage. [00:05:13] And you can ask a question. [00:05:15] This evening, we're joined by Ryan René Rosado. [00:05:21] Did I get it right, Ryan? [00:05:22] Did I say it? [00:05:23] Did I get it? [00:05:23] I can't roll my R's. [00:05:25] Even though I am Puerto Rican, I can't really roll my R's. [00:05:28] So hopefully I was close. [00:05:30] What do you think? [00:05:31] I think you did well. [00:05:32] And technically, you only roll your R's when there's two of them in a row. [00:05:34] So that is true. [00:05:36] And you got three. [00:05:37] So I don't know what to do when you got three R's in a row. [00:05:40] I meant in my name. [00:05:43] They're never like they're not together. [00:05:44] So I think you said it better than I say it. [00:05:48] So which is funny because I will be talking about that. [00:05:52] Well, that is funny. [00:05:53] That is a funny thing. [00:05:56] All right. [00:05:57] All right. [00:05:58] So look, why don't we why don't we start to start. [00:06:03] Why don't we start? [00:06:04] So just some quick guardrails. [00:06:06] So let's have fun. [00:06:07] Let's have a good time this evening. [00:06:09] I'm a little thrown off. [00:06:10] If you haven't been able to notice, I'm on the West Coast. [00:06:12] So it's still the kind of daylight. [00:06:14] Actually, it is daylight and it's sunny. [00:06:17] I'm in Vegas and it's nice and hot outside. [00:06:20] I'm actually not outside, but it is hot outside. [00:06:23] And so I'm used to being on the East Coast where it's usually dark around this time period. [00:06:28] So I'm a little thrown off. [00:06:29] But look, let's have a good evening. [00:06:31] It is the middle of the week. [00:06:32] Let's let our hair down, if you will. [00:06:35] Let's have a good sort of spirited conversation and get to know our guest this evening, who is Ryan. [00:06:40] Ezra Ezra Ezra Ezra Ezra Ezra Ezra Ezra Ezra Ezra Ezra Ezra Ezra Ezra Ezra Ezra Ezra Ezra Ezra Ezra Ezra Ezra Ezra Ezra Ezra Ezra Ezra Ezra Ezra Ezra Ezra Ezra Ezra Ezra Ezra Ezra Ezra Ezra Ezra Ezra Ezra Ezra Ezra Ezra Ezra Ezra Ezra Ezra Ezra Ezra Ezra Ezra Ezra Ezra Ezra Ezra Ezra Ezra Ezra Ezra Ezra Ezra Ezra Ezra Ezra Ezra Ezra Ezra Ezra Ezra Ezra Ezra Ezra Ezra Ez Ezra Ezra Ezra Ezra Ezra Ezra Ezra Ezra Ez Ezra Ezra Ez Ez Ez Ez Ez Ez Ez Ez Ez Ez Ez Ez Ez Ez Ez Ez Ez Ez Ez Ez Ez Ez Ez Ez Ez Ez Ez Ez Ez Ez Ez Ez Ez Ez Ez Ez Ez Ez Ez Ez Ez Ez Ez Ez Ez Ez Ez Ez Ez Ez Ez [00:07:10] So there's a little greenhouse on the top left of your screen right next to where it says Fireside Chat. [00:07:15] It looks like a little Monopoly house. [00:07:16] If you click that, you won't collect $200 in Pascoe, but you will be able to join our Fireside Chat group, [00:07:23] and you'll be able to see who's up next. [00:07:25] But today the focus is on Ryan. [00:07:28] So, Ryan, we're going to go around the room, introduce ourselves. [00:07:31] Ryan, we'll leave you for last. [00:07:32] So I'm going to start and introduce myself. [00:07:36] And hey, Lisa Beth, I see you joined us. [00:07:38] And hey, Anil, I see you joined us. [00:07:39] So I'm Tomas Maldonado. [00:07:41] I'm the CISO for the NFL. [00:07:43] Russell, over to you. [00:07:45] Thank you, Tomas. [00:07:46] Ryan, so excited for tonight. [00:07:48] Seems like we booked this like months ago, and here we are. [00:07:51] Russell Eubanks, former CISO and CEO for the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. [00:07:55] See some of my colleagues actually here in the room. [00:07:57] That's pretty cool to see you all here. [00:07:58] And for the last couple of years, been running my own company, Security Ever After. [00:08:01] Wow, people get their first job as a CISO. [00:08:04] But tonight, really looking forward to Ryan's conversation. [00:08:07] And let me hand it over to Octavia at this time. [00:08:16] It's hard to get off mute. [00:08:18] Hi, I'm Octavia Howland. [00:08:20] I'm the CISO of Equifax Canada. [00:08:21] I'm excited to talk to Ryan and hear her story. [00:08:25] And, you know, we've had a little bit, but I'm excited to kind of dig in. [00:08:30] And I'm happy to be here. [00:08:31] And I'll hand it over to Katie. [00:08:35] Hi, everybody. [00:08:36] Good evening. [00:08:36] I'm Katie Hanahan. [00:08:37] I am the Vice President of Cybersecurity Strategy for IT Savvy, a boutique SI in Chicago. [00:08:43] I'm also a VC. [00:08:45] So for a number of different companies in the health care space and financial space. [00:08:50] And yeah, really looking forward to this conversation tonight. [00:08:53] Ryan's been such a, you know, a great member of the community as a person who shows up almost every week and has contributed with some great questions. [00:09:02] So, yeah, really looking forward to this conversation and looking forward to, you know, hearing all the rest of the origin story that we haven't heard yet before. [00:09:11] So, Anil, over to you. [00:09:14] Thanks, Katie. [00:09:15] This is Anil Varghese, virtual CISO. [00:09:18] I also serve as a five-time CISO and co-author of the CISO Mentor. [00:09:22] Looking forward to a great conversation with Ryan here and her backstory. [00:09:26] On to you, Lisa. [00:09:28] Hi, everyone. [00:09:29] My name is Lisa Beth Lentini-Walker. [00:09:30] I am the CEO of Lumen Worldwide Endeavors, which is a compliance ethics and corporate governance consulting firm. [00:09:39] And Ryan, I am super stoked to have you with us tonight. [00:09:43] I can't wait to hear more about your story. [00:09:45] I'll turn it back over to Tomas. [00:09:48] Thanks, Lisa Beth. [00:09:49] Thanks, moderators. [00:09:50] And Ryan, look, we are very happy that you decided, one, to accept our invitation. [00:09:56] Join us in the hot seat this evening and share bits and pieces of your story. [00:10:02] So, Ryan, why don't you take a moment and introduce yourself? [00:10:05] And while you're going through that sort of introduction, why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself and tell us your origin story? [00:10:11] Who are you? [00:10:12] How did you get here? [00:10:14] What sort of motivated you and has driven you throughout your life? [00:10:17] And what are those key pieces of information that you would like to share with us this evening? [00:10:23] All right. [00:10:23] All right. [00:10:24] Well, thank you, everybody. [00:10:26] Yeah. [00:10:27] Let's jump into it. [00:10:29] So, I'm Ryan Renee Rosado. [00:10:31] I'm 29, almost 30. [00:10:34] I say that because I'm going to get to it. [00:10:36] But some spoilers. [00:10:37] I will say turn 30 this year. [00:10:39] I've been in Texas for 10 years. [00:10:41] I'm a third Texan. [00:10:42] But I was born and raised in New York, proud Long Islander from a place called Lindenhurst. [00:10:49] It's only claim to fame is that Pat Benatar graduated from high school there in the 70s. [00:10:53] And then it was hit pretty hard by Hurricane Sandy. [00:10:56] So, who am I? [00:10:58] What am I? [00:10:59] Let's see if I can answer that in the next few minutes. [00:11:03] Before I really dive into that, though, I really wanted to set, like, my intention or objective for being here. [00:11:09] As someone who's been coming to these for, I think, on and off the last five months or so, you know, I'm always curious how people, like, want to be in the hot seat. [00:11:18] And that's what I always appreciate when they do. [00:11:19] But I'm always curious, like, oh, I wonder what they get out of it. [00:11:22] And I will say that as much as I'm excited to share and hear questions and hopefully give something, there was a saying that I learned a few months ago. [00:11:32] And it was something along the lines of, you know, share your story. [00:11:36] You never know what anyone's going through. [00:11:39] And a piece of everyone's story might be a piece or, if not in its entirety, the survival guide for someone else. [00:11:46] And that really just stuck with me. [00:11:48] So happy to kind of share. [00:11:50] And at the end of the day, I really just hope that maybe, you know, we can inspire each other to be whoever it is that we're meant to be instead of influencing each other to be, you know, all the same. [00:12:00] So that said, I'm going to dive in here. [00:12:03] So growing up, my story is not the happiest, maybe. [00:12:09] And I will own that. [00:12:11] Growing up at a young age, my parents, honestly, were beating each other. [00:12:18] I know I asked my mom a few years ago, like, when did that start? [00:12:20] She said it started when my dad, when she was pregnant with me. [00:12:25] And they split when I was six. [00:12:27] So my father ended up going back to Puerto Rico. [00:12:29] And for the next five years, so between being six and 11, every time I have one younger brother, Riley's three years younger than me, light of my life, honestly. [00:12:41] We would be in Puerto Rico anytime we were off from school. [00:12:44] And I will say I love humor or gallows humor. [00:12:49] So I try to put that into my story. [00:12:52] And one of the things I really do find kind of funny when I look back at my life already is, you know, kids sometimes say really dumb or irrational things. [00:13:00] And you're just like, man, the kids, the things kids say. [00:13:02] And I will tell you my silly and irrational thing that I look back and I just I just am like, where did that come from? [00:13:10] Is I knowing that I was half Puerto Rican and spending all this time in Puerto Rico, but not really ever looking or sounding Puerto Rican. [00:13:19] And my father actually never spoke Spanish to my to my brother or I. [00:13:23] He only spoke English to us. [00:13:24] I felt that I needed to learn Spanish. [00:13:28] Otherwise, I thought the police were going to come and like confiscate my Puerto Rican card. [00:13:33] And so I say that because I do really feel like it's an important part of my foundation, both the fact that I got to spend essentially a huge chunk of my childhood in Puerto Rico and in New York. [00:13:44] But also then so in New York with my mom, a single mom kind of on the lower end of the middle class, I'd say, you know, I ended up getting into Spanish with the New York State requiring it. [00:13:57] And I ended up staying in it way past the two year requirement and getting into like college level honors. [00:14:02] And then even then when I was about 16, I got into a program to go study abroad in Spain for a few weeks and live with the host family. [00:14:11] That was that was kind of a little bit life changing. [00:14:15] Almost thought I was lost for forever because my American roommate and I one day decided to try to go shopping and everybody's worried we get lost in the subway. [00:14:23] But as a true New Yorker, that was the easy part. [00:14:25] We get out of the subway and it's one of those like every direction looks right. [00:14:29] We have no idea where to go. [00:14:30] And this is before phones are really a thing. [00:14:32] So that in itself was just a whole adventure and another story for another day. [00:14:37] But when I was 17, I got to go to Costa Rica for almost a month. [00:14:43] Similar concept, host family, studying Spanish, touring a country I'd never been to before. [00:14:50] And just loving that experience and getting to do some time volunteering and continue to learn Spanish. [00:14:57] So that's one part I think that is kind of important to me that continues to kind of motivate or lead me. [00:15:05] Because for a while, I think part of my imposter syndrome was I had trouble, trouble kind of owning up to being Puerto Rican. [00:15:13] And it's something I definitely have been definitely leaning into more now. [00:15:16] So that said, around the same time, some parallels. [00:15:19] I actually was severely bullied when you started off in a Catholic school wearing a dress or jumper uniform. [00:15:26] And from as far back as I can remember, the girls were like, you're not a girl. [00:15:30] Your name's Ryan. [00:15:30] And the boys were like, you're not a boy. [00:15:32] And it's pushed around literally. [00:15:33] And then when we did end up going into public school, I was around sixth grade. [00:15:40] You know, now I'm the new awkward kid who couldn't dress to save her life because she had had I had had uniforms. [00:15:47] Right. And so I got picked on even more. [00:15:49] But it was actually really bad. Right. [00:15:50] So AOL and AIM were kind of a thing. [00:15:53] And there were quite a few people that log on and actually like tell me to straight up kill myself. [00:15:59] You know, this isn't something I I love, but I also feel like, hey, it's something that I really went through. [00:16:03] Right. And and it was a tough time. [00:16:06] So between like the split family and that it was a rough time for sure. [00:16:12] But I feel like I also had some really cool blessings in a way. [00:16:17] Like I have a grandmother that's kind of hippie ish and traveled growing on my mother's side. [00:16:22] But growing up around the age of I was nine, 9-11 had happened. [00:16:30] And as any as some may remember, there were were some, you know, people didn't want to travel. [00:16:36] So travel was super cheap. [00:16:37] My grandmother, who's literally a Delta frequent flyer person, she she's like, I'm going to take Ryan to Europe. [00:16:44] It's cheap enough. It's super safe. [00:16:46] I know it's like a month and a half. [00:16:47] She homeschooled me and just going through Holocaust museums and art museums and traveling through Lithuania. [00:16:55] And then she also took me to Spain, France and Germany before I was actually 12. [00:17:00] So kind of interesting, kind of, you know, odd. [00:17:03] I think just kind of odd, varied experience growing up. [00:17:06] I don't think that's the most typical. [00:17:08] But let's see. [00:17:10] I want to say also, so in high school, and I find some of these like key moments when I look back is so I find this really funny. [00:17:22] But when I was in the 10th grade and I was making my schedule for the 11th grade, I remember being like, I should go and take this computer programming class. [00:17:31] Now, I don't know about anyone else, but me growing up, I was in a typing class, I think, by the time I was in kindergarten and then another one or two before I was 12. [00:17:39] And as you can imagine, I would do my homework assignments on computers and had a MySpace page. [00:17:44] So I got to grow up with a computer here in the house. [00:17:46] Kind of feel lucky for that. [00:17:47] But for some reason, 10th grade, I just felt like it was too late for me. [00:17:50] Like, it's too late. [00:17:52] I've missed my time. [00:17:53] I will never get into computers or cyber. [00:17:55] If I wanted to do it, I felt like I should have done it when I was like two years prior in like the ninth grade. [00:18:01] So I did not take this computer programming class. [00:18:04] That around that same time in my school, military recruiters could come to the cafeteria so that students in their free time would have an opportunity to potentially talk to recruiters about their future. [00:18:18] And it was the first time I think I considered going into the military. [00:18:20] Did not have a military family, did not really have any military anything, to be honest. [00:18:27] I mean, I knew we had a military. [00:18:29] But other than that, I think I was just kind of maybe as average as, I don't know, anyone else without any military awareness in their life. [00:18:36] And so I went up to a Marine recruiter. [00:18:39] And, you know, I had, I think, a flip phone. [00:18:42] It might have been a razor. [00:18:44] I don't really remember exactly what he said, but he totally convinced me to go into the military. [00:18:48] And it was the first time I really was like, maybe I will do that. [00:18:52] Like, heck yeah. [00:18:53] And so I actually took this picture with the recruiter, a selfie. [00:18:56] And I sent it to my mom and a few other friends and family. [00:19:00] And the response I got was unanimous across the board. [00:19:03] And it was like, no way. [00:19:05] You're not going to go in. [00:19:06] That's hilarious. [00:19:07] Like the fact that you'd even consider it because you're too independent. [00:19:10] And I don't think I realized it as much as the time. [00:19:14] But I do now look back and I kind of see this pattern of when people either doubted me or didn't agree. [00:19:21] I think people from the outside would think that I gave up. [00:19:24] But really what I realized I do is I just kind of go in my head and I just kind of think about it. [00:19:29] Because I don't want to be rejected, right? [00:19:31] So I can tell you that this thought really lived in my head for about the next two years. [00:19:37] And I knew that from a young age, I really wanted to go into politics, international relations. [00:19:43] And as high school graduation was getting closer and closer, I started to become very aware that I had been under some misguidance. [00:19:53] Or just totally was not aware that no one was going to sign student loans for me. [00:19:57] That like as much as my entire family and schools and everything had said like, hey, get good grades and you'll go to college. [00:20:03] And I thought so much about that. [00:20:04] I guess I never understood like the money piece. [00:20:07] And then all of a sudden, even though I had some scholarships, I didn't have a full ride. [00:20:11] And so that kind of became really loudly just apparent in my senior year. [00:20:16] And actually on my 18th birthday, I went and spoke to the Air Force recruiter in my cafeteria. [00:20:23] And I don't exactly remember what he said. [00:20:27] But he said enough to where, and I actually see him on the call. [00:20:32] So maybe he'll fill us in later. [00:20:34] He had said enough to where I remember specifically, I saved the recruiter number in my phone under period Air Force. [00:20:41] That way, you know, whatever phone I still had, it wasn't an iPhone yet. [00:20:46] Whenever I scrolled down through my contacts, I still had a go. [00:20:48] Like he would be the first one. [00:20:50] And I would think about that, right? [00:20:53] So my birthday is in December, by the way. [00:20:55] I'm a Christmas baby. [00:20:56] It's about six months till I graduate. [00:20:58] This is me like almost like planning ahead. [00:21:00] Like, okay, I'm going to have to think about this. [00:21:01] Like I have a decision coming up. [00:21:03] I'm going to put this at the top of my list. [00:21:05] And I don't remember the exact moment I decided to go in. [00:21:08] But I know that I called him. [00:21:10] And after graduation, we started that process. [00:21:14] Before I get to that, I will also add one more thing is in the beginning of the 12th grade, I was pretty involved in school. [00:21:22] Wasn't popular, but was kind of involved. [00:21:24] And I had gotten invited to join this robotics club, which I was kind of like, I always knew it was there. [00:21:32] But I just, I don't know. [00:21:32] I never thought it was something for me. [00:21:34] I grew up definitely getting told throughout my life that girls are better for art, history, English, that, you know, girls shouldn't do STEM or aren't built to do science and math. [00:21:44] And those were always the two areas, as much as I thought they were interesting, that I always struggled in and got the lowest grades. [00:21:48] And so I just was like, okay, I'm just going to avoid this. [00:21:51] But then I was asked to help with the fundraising because that was something that I guess I was kind of known for being good at at the time. [00:21:57] And I joined for the last year, this robotics club. [00:22:01] I will say that out of many things in my life, out of the few things in my life, excuse me, if I could do anything differently, I probably would have joined robotics like way younger. [00:22:11] So that said, I joined, I helped them fundraise. [00:22:14] By the way, I'm like 17. [00:22:16] There's a ton of cute boys on this. [00:22:18] Like that was awesome for about a minute. [00:22:20] And I kind of was like, hey, can I like learn about the robot? [00:22:22] And they're like, no, no, no, not going to happen. [00:22:24] Like you fundraise and watch and cheerlead and support us, but do not touch the robot, right? [00:22:30] This is something I'm still upset about. [00:22:32] I jokingly will tell you that out of everyone I knew who went through that club, I think I'm one of the few people that actually went into technology. [00:22:38] So I know looking back that I think I could have been taught some of the engineering chops. [00:22:43] But anyway, that was one of the second big STEM, I think, opportunities I had in my life to kind of realize that there was an opportunity maybe for me to do STEM. [00:22:54] And I, again, I was like, no, no, no, not built for this. [00:22:56] This isn't for me. [00:22:57] So anyway, I'm now I'm graduated. [00:22:59] I'm talking to my Air Force recruiter. [00:23:01] At the time, I think it was Staff Sergeant Pantoja. [00:23:03] I think he got promoted after I got in. [00:23:06] And my paperwork actually got lost after I think we put in my package. [00:23:11] If anyone knows what MEPS is, it lost my package for about four or five months, which essentially granted me this gap year by the time all was said and done. [00:23:19] And I ended up leaving right after Hurricane Sandy. [00:23:21] My friends and family were literally like, no, you should go. [00:23:24] Like, there's literally nothing for you here now. [00:23:27] And so I went when I was 19. [00:23:29] I turned 20 in basic training. [00:23:30] That's in San Antonio, Texas. [00:23:33] I also before I left, right, you get to kind of pick out your job. [00:23:36] I have no idea why I picked out this job, especially because once I get in with a top secret clearance, I can tell you that the job description I had read and versus what I was doing were two totally different things. [00:23:46] But I I kind of landed this jackpot. [00:23:49] I was I was an intelligence analyst with a top secret clearance. [00:23:52] And after basic, I went to Goodfellow Air Force Base, which is in the middle of nowhere, West Texas. [00:24:00] And I was pretty quickly, like, just super excited about the Air Force. [00:24:04] I don't know why or how, but man, I I was like the happiest person ever to be in the Air Force. [00:24:12] I was super blue. [00:24:14] I definitely believed. [00:24:15] I mean, I still do world's greatest Air Force. [00:24:17] And very quickly was like, you know what? [00:24:19] I thought I would do four years or six years and get out, but I'm going to do this for the rest of my life. [00:24:22] However, the minute I got to my tech school, I will tell you that I was told I think the day I arrived that because I was extroverted and as a woman, I was told that I should go into public health or public medicine. [00:24:39] And at the time, I wasn't married into cyber. [00:24:41] I literally hadn't even started my intel training yet. [00:24:44] And I just said, sure, like, OK, I'll go where the Air Force needs me. [00:24:47] But I already had been slated for training. [00:24:50] So I went into training and fortunately got started getting harassed by some some older and higher ranking individuals that were retraining. [00:25:01] And I already was definitely this outspoken kind of person where, like, you know, if you did wrong by me, I wasn't going to be hiding. [00:25:08] I was going to speak up and report it. [00:25:09] And I ended up getting in trouble really quickly reprisal for that and almost got kicked out, which was traumatizing, to be completely honest. [00:25:18] But I got put back into a different class. [00:25:22] I graduated from my training and I get put into a cybersecurity mission. [00:25:26] But unfortunately, when I went to my permanent duty station, which was back at Lackland, which, by the way, was not happy about at all. [00:25:35] But I will also say that's probably one of the best things that happened to me is I said genuinely I still love and live in Texas. [00:25:41] I had a lot of reprisal. [00:25:43] It was kind of seen as also as I was continuing to be told I couldn't do cyber as a woman. [00:25:48] And I was I was really mistreated by some of my leadership. [00:25:51] But I continue to love the Air Force. [00:25:53] But after four years, it kind of became apparent that it just wasn't I just wasn't I just wasn't given the right set of cards and that I would be better suited to get out. [00:26:05] I was kicked out, to be completely honest. [00:26:07] But at the same time, I actually in my last year had started getting published by an IT magazine on some thoughts I had. [00:26:15] Nothing, nothing, you know, world breaking, but just, you know, enough to put in. [00:26:20] And then I had been working with a nonprofit that worked with the government and the military and they had a local chapter and I'd been awarded at the national level on some things. [00:26:28] So that added to the reprisal, I think, because every time I got awarded or got published, I actually got in trouble for something that made no sense, if you know what I mean. [00:26:37] But at the same time, I look back and I'm kind of thankful, I guess, because I ended up getting out. [00:26:44] And when I got out, it's when this light bulb went off and I was like, oh, my gosh, I've never been in trouble for doing cyber, even though I've been told I can't be in cyber because I'm a woman. [00:26:54] No one's ever complained about my work. [00:26:57] And I had been in two or two different missions with this unit I was with. [00:27:00] And so I decided to go into cybersecurity as a degree, because how was I going to get a job and explain that as much as I decided I wanted to stay in cyber because it was the only skill I had, but not have a degree in it. [00:27:14] And but at the time, I already had started my degree in emergency management. [00:27:17] And I decided that I was going to do both, which at 24 years old, everyone's like, why are you doing that? [00:27:24] That's crazy. [00:27:25] That's silly. [00:27:26] And I just I don't exactly remember why or how, but I remember sticking to my gut and saying I had told a few people, I was like, you know, one day hospitals or the electric grid or something's going to get hit. [00:27:40] And it's not just going to be an IT tech problem. [00:27:42] It's going to be like people need additional life saving medicine or agencies are going to get involved. [00:27:48] And I don't know how many people speak both like FEMA and emergency management as well as cybersecurity. [00:27:54] And I just realized I was super passionate about both of them. [00:27:58] A mentor of mine had kind of told me something along the lines of, you know, if you have a newspaper, you know, like the Sunday Times as every every section, you know, travel, jokes, fashion, sports, etc. [00:28:10] Like, what do you go to first? [00:28:11] And I realized I kind of go to disasters. [00:28:14] And I'd been through a few growing up between my father eventually moving to Florida, New York, just various things. [00:28:20] And so anyway, I ended up going to work for EY for three years. [00:28:26] That was an amazing experience because I well, I went straight into the Intel team because that's what I did in the Air Force. [00:28:32] I quickly was able to say, like, hey, Intel is great. [00:28:35] It's needed. [00:28:36] I don't know if I want to do just cybersecurity, like threat intelligence for the next 30 years of my life. [00:28:41] Like, I want to figure out what's in cyber. [00:28:43] So I ended up getting to do assessments and incident response and just various security monitoring at work with the Dallas Cyber Center. [00:28:53] Just kind of hopping all over and kind of figure out what what I was good at, what I liked. [00:28:59] Looking back, I realized I probably could have stayed at EY forever and been happy. [00:29:02] But with some of the changes they had right before the pandemic and just where I was at, I kind of felt like I got stuck for a minute. [00:29:09] I didn't feel like I was getting much training. [00:29:11] And I ended up going to Avanade, which was also an amazing experience, especially during the pandemic. [00:29:16] And then I decided to try a few things. [00:29:18] And I went to actually two small companies. [00:29:22] I would call those probably failing forward. [00:29:24] They for various reasons, it wasn't the right environment. [00:29:27] But I feel like they helped me actually shed a lot of whatever was left of my imposter syndrome. [00:29:33] And so I'm looking at the time and I want to leave room for questions. [00:29:37] But that's kind of my like summarized story. [00:29:42] So I'll pause there. [00:29:46] That was an amazing origin story. [00:29:50] And I know we're just really scratching the surface, Ryan. [00:29:53] And Tomas had to jump off. [00:29:55] So I'll just reset the room really quick because I know we had a lot of people join the room after you started talking, I think, probably because they heard we had an amazing guest tonight on the Fireside Chat. [00:30:05] So we're tonight Fireside Chat. [00:30:07] Every single Wednesday, we're here at 8 o'clock Eastern Time. [00:30:10] Ryan Rosato is a really amazing woman that is, you know, it's a person in the cybersecurity industry that what I love about your story is that you have touched so many aspects of our lives. [00:30:23] Our industry, you've done it in such unique ways. [00:30:26] So really appreciate you being here, sharing your story with us tonight. [00:30:30] And I hope it's okay with you. [00:30:31] You know, at this point, we normally would open it up then to the mods to ask a few questions. [00:30:36] And so if that's okay with you, I'm going to pass the mic over to Russell to ask the first question. [00:30:43] All right, let's do it. [00:30:45] Hey, all right. [00:30:46] Thank you, Katie. [00:30:47] Ryan, I've been looking forward to tonight for months, like months ago. [00:30:50] We got you on the schedule. [00:30:51] So glad that you're here. [00:30:53] First of all, thank you for your service to our country. [00:30:56] Thank you for being a co-leader of the clubhouse room that I leave the last several months. [00:31:01] It's been amazing to have your perspective, your view of the things that you shared and things that, gosh, I've just learned tonight, like how you were literally severely bullied. [00:31:10] And I'm just like, my heart is sick because of that. [00:31:13] And it's just so much already that you covered that means so much. [00:31:17] But my question for you is, of all the things, the diverse background, diverse view, diverse experiences, so many things you've been through. [00:31:25] How do you think that that has helped you become an emerging leader in cybersecurity? [00:31:32] I would say the number one thing that probably took the longest for me to learn is that essentially, like, I am my best when I can be me. [00:31:44] And, you know, throughout different parts of my cybersecurity career alone, I feel that I've been told, especially when I haven't even asked, like unsolicited. [00:31:54] People have just various, you know, bosses or peers have kind of told me, like, hey, you shouldn't be, like I said, in the Air Force, a few people tried to tell me, you know, I shouldn't be in cyber at all because I was a woman or because I was an extrovert. [00:32:08] I've had some people say, you know, I shouldn't, you know, do this or I need to be. [00:32:13] One of the big things I've also heard probably since I got out was I needed to be more technical. [00:32:16] I needed to be more technical. [00:32:17] And I kind of feel like, you know, there are some people who are trying to start to shape a cybersecurity career more consistent because I think the beauty also of cybersecurity is everyone kind of found their way into this thing in their own way. [00:32:32] You know, there's not just one set road. [00:32:34] And even if, you know, people go to college, two people of cybersecurity might not have the same career path. [00:32:41] Again, love the variety and diversity. [00:32:43] So for me, I will just say that, you know, instead of kind of coming in and thinking, like, here I am, this damaged or discounted goods because of I'm a woman or I had a hard childhood or I didn't have a college degree up until last year. [00:32:58] You know, but that was something I decided I was going to really push myself hard for. [00:33:02] Instead of looking at, like, these ways that maybe I could have been disqualified by, you know, someone's opinion, I guess I just started finally realizing, like, well, this is who I am and I do add value. [00:33:14] And similar to some of the things we've talked about, Russell, I think, in our other clubhouse, right, is that, you know, just because I'm a person or I might add value doesn't mean I'll add value to everywhere. [00:33:26] And finding kind of place both my own awareness of who I am and what environments I succeed in. [00:33:33] I think I've said it quite a few times before, but I'll say it again, right? [00:33:36] When the flower isn't growing, you fix the environment, not the flower. [00:33:39] And I think accepting that for me was the biggest and hardest part because it came through a lot of rejection. [00:33:45] I feel like I got a lot of rejection early on, but in a way I'm kind of thankful I got it early on so that going forward, both the people I follow and the people I hopefully can lead or bring with me, I can be that much more accepting and graceful to, hey, you know, if someone's, you know, given you or hasn't accepted you, like, let me give you some insight into why you're still valuable just because you don't maybe mirror somebody else's career. [00:34:11] Okay. [00:34:15] Okay. [00:34:16] If there ever was a mic drop moment, it was when you said, I am my best when I can be me. [00:34:21] That was gold. [00:34:22] Thank you. [00:34:23] Octavia, I'm speechless. [00:34:24] Over to you, my friend. [00:34:26] Yeah. [00:34:27] Thanks, Russell. [00:34:29] I'm trying to figure out how to word this question because I'm curious, right? [00:34:34] One of the things that I know is that we learn through our adversity. [00:34:38] I have never been told that I cannot be cyber and I've been an extrovert my entire life. [00:34:46] And anyone who knows me personally knows that I walk in a room and I'm like, I'm here. [00:34:51] This is what it is. [00:34:52] So it's just interesting that, you know, you had so much rejection from that. [00:34:56] I would ask you, Ryan, what things would you, not necessarily would you have done differently, but what do you wish you would have had? [00:35:11] Or what do you think you would have been able to, if you would have had an environment? [00:35:16] Like you said, when you, when things don't, when you don't grow, you change the environment, right? [00:35:20] What, what environment would you wish you would have had that would have put you on a path? [00:35:26] Or what environment do you hope to create for those coming after you? [00:35:30] I think for me, it's the latter that you asked. [00:35:37] I think going forward, when I look at opportunities, both for cybersecurity and just, just in general, right? [00:35:44] I look for, so I have, I have core values, right? [00:35:48] I knew the Air Force had some core values. [00:35:50] I know companies are, you know, may have core values. [00:35:53] For me, I believe very highly in integrity. [00:35:56] That does come from the Air Force. [00:35:57] I believe in transparency. [00:36:00] I think that adds to that authenticity, right? [00:36:03] Because if we're hiding either who we are or what we're doing, I just don't, I think they go hand in hand. [00:36:09] And then actually, I don't, I don't know if I see her on here, but I'm going to give a shout out to Anne. [00:36:13] I actually got to meet her in person last December and she was telling me one of her core values is, is, is being grateful. [00:36:18] And I actually think that is a true core value of mine. [00:36:22] I just don't think I'd recognized it yet. [00:36:23] And so I added that one actually really recently, which is being grateful. [00:36:26] I'm, I'm really thankful even for, like you said, adversity and, and the, the things I've overcome and the struggles. [00:36:33] Um, and I think in the future, I hope to be, I'm a big believer in team culture. [00:36:39] I'm a big believer in, I, I would rather have an environment where people feel like they can collaborate and, and disagree respectfully to kind of, you know, challenge me or help me know if maybe, maybe I said something or I have an idea. [00:36:52] And it's a terrible idea and I want people to be able to tell me that because I can't be right all the time and I don't want to be right all the time. [00:36:58] Or maybe I have an idea that's, eh, but we can work on it and make it that much better. [00:37:03] Um, I think in general, those are the kinds of environments I look for. [00:37:08] And in a way I think they're hard in this world because I think so many people try to find where they conform to and where there's a lot of things in common. [00:37:18] Um, and so having a level where you can really be yourself and be, be accepted. [00:37:22] And then also have, I think the grace where, um, I tell my friends, family and coworkers, you know, like we're probably going to see each other at our worst one day. [00:37:31] You know, you know, if you're working somewhere long enough or close enough, you know, someone might come in and I, I, God forbid might one day come in and say, I have something wrong. [00:37:40] Like maybe I have cancer or maybe my, one of my family members has passed away or maybe, I don't know, like maybe I'm just having a really hard day. [00:37:48] And I think being able to, to have that grace of like, okay, you know, it's easy for everyone to, to, to like and work together when everyone's super happy and the client's happy. [00:37:59] And, but those are like such ideal conditions, right? [00:38:02] Like I want to work with the people I always say, or be friends with the people that will sit with me in the dark that know how to say, okay, I know you're struggling right now. [00:38:10] We got to get this done. [00:38:11] How can I help you? [00:38:12] Or how can we get it done together? [00:38:13] Or I got you. [00:38:15] And, and, you know, and that includes, I need to be that person too, for those people. [00:38:18] So that's, I think what I realized is, is kind of like what I, what I strive to both provide and be a part of. [00:38:28] Oh, that's really good. [00:38:29] Um, thanks for that. [00:38:30] I'll pass it over to Anil. [00:38:40] Hey Ryan, um, thanks for sharing and, you know, carving out the time. [00:38:44] One of the great things I know you touched upon was, you know, experiences, the Air Force, how that, you know, shaped and defined where you wanted to go, what you wanted to do. [00:38:54] Uh, tell us a little bit more about those experiences and those, those initial roles, whether it's E&Y or Vendee and how, you know, it shaped what you want to do in the future. [00:39:05] Well, I definitely love that EY. [00:39:09] I, I was there for just under three years and I think it almost breaks down evenly into like the first year I was mostly in Intel. [00:39:15] And then I got to the second year start kind of, I kind of got this like, okay, you know, as a staff consultant, I kind of can move around the cyber practice to figure out where my right place is. [00:39:25] Like I said, I had all sorts of projects in, in different industries. [00:39:30] And I actually think that I got to a point kind of quickly, I realized that if a project was behind or off track, like, and they needed to bring in more resources, I was typically one of those people. [00:39:40] Um, and that was really cool for me to realize, um, kind of add validation to, Hey, I, I do know what I'm, what I'm doing a little bit. [00:39:48] I am learning quickly and what maybe I don't know, I can make up in hard work. [00:39:53] Um, I kind of remember getting that kind of feedback and, um, another, another early experiences. [00:39:57] So I kind of brushed over it a little bit, but was, um, this nonprofit was in the air force was called the, it's called the armed forces, um, communications and electronics association. [00:40:06] And now it has a lot to do with cyber and other types of comms. [00:40:10] Um, and again, I got, I got involved in the local chapter. [00:40:14] I just wanted to get actually help fundraise, you know, that followed me from high school. [00:40:18] Actually, they were doing a local event and they were going to, you know, donate money to wounded warriors and stuff. [00:40:23] And they were doing this big gala event. [00:40:24] And I just was happy to help out. [00:40:26] And I ended up helping out with that event and then kind of staying in the local chapter. [00:40:31] And I remember one of the board members coming to me, probably, I think after a year and saying, you know, Ryan, I'm going to be a little bit more. [00:40:35] I know Ryan, I don't think you realize this, but one reason you're really, you're really great is because so many people will say, Hey, I'll volunteer and I'll help out. [00:40:43] Where do you want me? [00:40:44] He's like, you didn't do that. [00:40:45] You said, Hey, I'm here. [00:40:46] I see what you're doing. [00:40:48] I see what you're trying to achieve. [00:40:50] I think there's a better way. [00:40:51] And I'd like to be part of that solution. [00:40:53] He's like, you come with ideas and not too many people have those. [00:40:56] And that was one of those things. [00:40:58] I think for years, I also, I realized I'm a really creative person and I just felt like cyber wasn't, there wasn't really creativity unless you were a hacker. [00:41:05] I thought, and then any, why when I was in that second year, I actually got to be in some of the business developments. [00:41:12] I think being so open to just how and being happy to work. [00:41:15] I think it wasn't really common for a consultant, let alone even a manager sometimes to be as involved in the business development cycle. [00:41:24] And I, I did like a third of my time in that, which means my utilization tanked, but I felt like it just opened my eyes so much to that sales and really the like full picture of cybersecurity. [00:41:37] And I realized that some of the creativity comes in, in the solutions that we, whether it's technology or people or process, right. [00:41:43] To put into, into a, you know, a strategy or a solution for cybersecurity and that there really is no one size fits all. [00:41:53] Like there's no one tool that can be put in with the exact same measurements or settings and tuning that will fix everyone's problem. [00:42:01] Um, so I think that was a big part of my, when I think about like my cybersecurity foundation, that was like a combined experience. [00:42:09] Um, and the last thing I'll add is AFCEA is national practice. [00:42:12] I, when I went to get my award the first time they were the ones who said, Ryan, you know, we think you should write for our magazine. [00:42:18] And I remember almost laughing like, you're funny. [00:42:21] I don't even have my associates yet. [00:42:23] What is someone who's been in the cyber world for maybe a year or two going to tell people who've been in it for 30. [00:42:30] And I realized, again, I didn't really reinvent the wheel, but something that kind of came up for me was I was big on trying to kill two birds at one stone and just going to run the wheel. [00:42:38] And I'm just going to diligently try to say this, that my first article in May of 2016, it got published was about low voter turnout being a problem, you know, plaguing the U S with the presidential election coming up later that year. [00:42:51] And at the time, really well known voting machine vulnerabilities. [00:42:55] And I kind of tried to make this case for, you know, I wasn't saying this was the only way, but I thought, Hey, it's just an idea. [00:43:00] What if we could vote from our phones? [00:43:02] Now, all I'm going to say is, you know, we did the census on our phones and, and there was just, I was just, it was just an idea. [00:43:08] It's a 700 word ish article. [00:43:10] And I was shocked that it got published. [00:43:12] Um, but it was, it was one of those things that I think helped me start to realize like, Hey, I might not have the best idea, but I have an idea and I understand cyber. [00:43:20] I don't understand cyber and I don't need to know everything by day one of being in cyber. [00:43:26] Like I still don't know everything, but at least I'm willing to try. [00:43:30] I don't know if that answers that question. [00:43:33] I feel like that was a lot. [00:43:35] You know, I think you touched upon it, Ryan. [00:43:39] I think part of that is, you know, that commander personality traits, right? [00:43:43] That bodes well for you and having that empathetic mind, but also be able to think through things. [00:43:49] And options, but also I think, you know, you know, I just got back from an overseas flight. [00:43:55] I was sitting next to a CHRO and she, and we were talking about, you know, you know, the field in general, right? [00:44:02] As you conveyed, it doesn't have to be completely technical. [00:44:05] And again, going back to those other skill sets, the field of cyber is just like the field of medicine still being untapped. [00:44:12] So there's a place as a place for your skillset, say for your, your, your passions. [00:44:17] So I think there's that avenue still to be explored and defined. [00:44:22] Absolutely. [00:44:23] And I'll just add, I think, you know, SANS came out with a list in January of this year, and it basically said top 20 jobs in cybersecurity. [00:44:30] And they were all super technical and I am not anti-technical. [00:44:33] I have pushed myself and I've actually been, I'll be honest, humble brag. [00:44:36] I've been impressed at myself when I went through my college degree. [00:44:39] I intentionally picked a very technical one to challenge myself. [00:44:42] And at the beginning of every class, I said, why am I doing this? [00:44:44] I'm just going to fail. [00:44:45] And then somehow didn't. [00:44:46] I did the Linux command lines and used a lot of various tools. [00:44:50] So my point is technical parts are great, but it's not the only part. [00:44:54] And that SANS list did not have your sales execs or your recruiters or, you know, just your business execs and other roles. [00:45:03] And I think the difference between me now and even five years ago is five years ago, I really didn't understand. [00:45:09] I didn't think there was much of a place or a path forward for me. [00:45:13] But now I realize like, hey, you need someone non-technical to, you know, go with the technical people. [00:45:20] I mean, you don't need, need it, but it's helpful because in my experience, a lot of technical people are really happy to focus on the technical. [00:45:27] And, you know, they don't always want to go and communicate to the client challenges or questions and all of that. [00:45:34] And so I, that's the part that I love. [00:45:36] And I'm, I'd like to think I'm somewhat good at is talking to the client and being able to communicate things either at a very technical level or very high level and also understanding and discerning when to use which one. [00:45:50] Great point. [00:45:51] And again, I would add to the same, you know, I think even more so at the leadership level. [00:45:56] Some of those skill sets are lacking that are not that outside of the technical realm. [00:46:01] So great point. [00:46:03] Thank you. [00:46:05] Great. [00:46:10] So Ryan, I'm just so happy that you're here and I feel, you know, so many things when you talk about the importance of having both technical and non-technical skills. [00:46:25] And valuing the skills that people bring to the table. [00:46:30] This is a debate that I'm constantly having. [00:46:33] And I think there's room for everyone at the table. [00:46:37] We just need to make that room and make sure that all of those perspectives are heard. [00:46:41] So one of the things I wanted to ask you about, because it's something that I really care about deeply, is what role has mentoring played in your life? [00:46:52] Have you had any fantastic mentors or do you think that you have accomplished what you have without as many mentors as you would have liked? [00:47:03] I love that question. [00:47:05] So one, I will say I feel really lucky and blessed because I somehow figured out mentoring, I think, at one of the youngest ages. [00:47:16] Even in high school, I had some mentors. [00:47:18] I wasn't actually close to my parents. [00:47:19] My family wasn't close. [00:47:20] And I just the various clubs I had, whether I it wasn't as much of the official will you be my mentor? [00:47:28] But I definitely felt like I could go to certain individuals and ask for advice or vent. [00:47:34] And then in the Air Force, while I will say it was not, you know, it was a hard time in the cyber world, I still met amazing people and I had amazing mentors. [00:47:43] And I remember at the time, like there was this push, I think, both what I'd see like on LinkedIn and in the military, there's all this talk about get a mentor, get a mentor, get one mentor. [00:47:54] And I don't know, at the time I was like, that's silly, like, get more than one, like have one that has a job you want, get one that doesn't have a job like, you know, that that but has been successful and can give perspective. [00:48:07] And I and I at the same time, also remember kind of trying to engineer or not engineer, excuse me, pioneer this idea through that FC a part of what they would offer, especially at the local level was a mentorship night and mentoring. [00:48:18] And I kind of tried to like say, you know, yeah, it's great to have a general speak to young airmen or young military. [00:48:24] But, you know, is there maybe not a better way to have a little bit of peer mentoring even? [00:48:30] And by the way, Adam Grant talks a little bit about about peer to peer in his book, the originals. Right. [00:48:36] So for me, I feel like mentoring is is actually a really important part to me in my career. [00:48:42] And I did have some mentors in the military that I think tried to help shape, help protect, help guide me through all of the things I was going through. [00:48:51] And then kind of funny, actually. So I got out in a year or two after I got out of the military, some of like the most highest ranking people I knew were getting out and they came to me for mentoring. [00:49:01] And it was almost like, wait, what? Like never in a million years that I think a chief would come to me for something. [00:49:06] But here I was talking about resumes and interview skills. [00:49:10] And that was kind of a really, you know, on just kind of a just unknown organic. [00:49:17] It just happened kind of organic. And I felt really thankful that she actually had reached out to me. [00:49:21] I mean, I was much younger and and whatnot, but that was cool. [00:49:26] And then in when I got to when I was getting out of the military, I had quite a few mentors that were out, you know, very like they knew they were my mentor. [00:49:35] You know, we would sit down and talk. I love that I could ask them what I would consider maybe a stupid question, but they they let me ask them anything. [00:49:44] And they sometimes would really be they would tell me things even if I wasn't asking. [00:49:48] They kind of knew things to say that I might not have known the question to ask. [00:49:52] That said, you know, mentors, I don't want to say they come and go, but I think it's fair to say that, you know, depending on what we're doing, they sometimes grow or change. [00:50:01] And I have different mentors now. [00:50:05] And in a way, I feel like I'm always, you know, thinking about who are my mentors, but also where do I get mentorship? [00:50:12] And as you also asked, I do think I've been a mentor. [00:50:17] I know I've been asked for mentoring, whether whether it's kind of like a one off or someone to kind of grow with. [00:50:23] And I actually think that between I've supervised a few and then also mentored a few. [00:50:32] I think actually that process has mentored me in itself because I've realized the advice I gave or I looked at problems. [00:50:39] I didn't always have me personally, but I think it still made me better. [00:50:44] Like I thought about just some of the things someone else would be going through and for whatever reason, whether they have a different personality or a different skill set or whatever. [00:50:52] I just think that it still made me better in if I and just in that way. [00:50:58] I don't know if that makes sense, but I do believe. [00:51:03] And that's to be honest, it's why I'm here. Right. [00:51:05] I had reached out to Tomas in October and said, I just see what you're putting on LinkedIn. [00:51:11] And, you know, with the pandemic, I don't know if you remember, actually, it was my first fireside chat was was Philomen. [00:51:17] And I had asked a mentoring question. [00:51:19] I said, you know, with this pandemic, I feel like I've been so removed from people and networking opportunities. [00:51:24] And unless you kind of know somebody, like, how are we really meeting mentors? [00:51:29] And so I when he invited me here, I kind of feel like I kind of thought I'd come here and listen to see if I could get some of that mentoring or advice or guidance. [00:51:38] And and here we are. Here we are. [00:51:42] That's fantastic. Thank you for sharing that. Katie, I'm going to turn it back over to you. [00:51:49] Thank you. And I think the timing is perfect on that, too, because, you know, at the very beginning when we were doing intros, [00:51:57] one of the things that I freaking love about this room is that it really is a community that we've created here. [00:52:04] And when I say we I've joined, you know, the party later as well. [00:52:07] I became a mod, I think, I don't know, November or so of last year. [00:52:12] And, you know, and considered it, first of all, a privilege to listen in on this room, then was a guest. [00:52:17] And then when I was invited to become a mod and and be able to participate in this every single week and meet so many people at different phases of their career, [00:52:26] and I love Ryan, you're kind of this this full circle story. [00:52:30] Ryan and I have actually had, you know, an IRL. [00:52:32] He's one of my very few, you know, Facebook friends from this group that I've actually been able to meet in person. [00:52:39] And I can't wait for more and more, you know, from this community and our other cybersecurity rooms on Clubhouse to be able to meet in person. [00:52:47] But I love what you were saying about mentorship, Ryan. [00:52:50] And and I love that you're saying more than one mentor, too. [00:52:53] And and Clubhouse has been a great way for all of us to be able to connect with people who are maybe outside of the vertical that we're in. [00:53:02] If we're highly, highly technical or as a strategist to be able to, you know, understand a little bit more about, you know, for me, it's been, you know, really digging into risk and compliance in a way that I haven't before. [00:53:13] Or meeting my cybersecurity attorney friends like Jennifer in the audience or my, you know, red teamers like Tom, who's here as well. [00:53:20] And so I just love that you're really that, you know, personification of what we were trying to create. [00:53:26] And again, I say we Tomas and the mods on this stage have been a part of this a lot longer than than I have. [00:53:32] But, you know, really thankful that you were able to come and share that with us today. [00:53:36] Just, you know, as a quick reset, you know, we're moving into, you know, about quarter to the hour. [00:53:42] We're going to go until 930 Eastern and would love to hear from, you know, the audience as well with questions. [00:53:48] I do have to say just a couple of things, Ryan. [00:53:50] I did not know that when you joined the Robotics Club that they said, don't touch the robot, but you can raise money. [00:53:57] I find that fascinating. [00:53:59] Having been in a few different iterations of that in my career very, very early on where it was more like, well, you can't do the demo for our clients, but, you know, you need to stand at the booth and invite them or things like that. [00:54:14] And I'm just so it's just interesting to me that just that that happened to you even like that early on in high school. [00:54:20] And I'm sorry that happened to you. [00:54:21] But I love that, you know, it's something that now we're talking about, you know, and making sure that we're always very inclusive, you know, in the community and giving people opportunities. [00:54:31] And what I also said love that you said earlier. [00:54:34] And it's funny because we've had, you know, several conversations even outside of Clubhouse. [00:54:38] But when you said those, I don't know if this is a quote from you or what, when the flower isn't growing, we fix the environment, not the flower. [00:54:46] That's such a great statement. [00:54:49] I think that that's a great point, you know, and and when someone is trying to find their way in this industry, you know, potentially it's, you know, an environment or they need a better place. [00:55:00] And a community like this is something that someone can come to and get guidance and mentorship. [00:55:06] So just wanted to thank you again for sharing all of those tidbits with us tonight. [00:55:10] And I also would say, too, you always have a mentee, different kinds of mentees. [00:55:14] I always like to have my men. [00:55:16] I like a mentor who is also 10 years behind me in their career because they always bring stuff to me more so than sometimes the one 10 years ahead of me in my career, because a fresh perspective on, you know, this industry is just it's so valuable. [00:55:31] And we're just so thankful for that. [00:55:33] So with that, I just wanted to, you know, kind of do that reset. [00:55:38] I know that a few others had had some questions in the room, but feel free to raise your hand, folks in the audience. [00:55:45] And with that, I'll pass it back over to, you know, Russell or Octavia or Lisa, if you want to ask your secondary questions that you had for the group or for Ryan. [00:55:55] Yeah, Ryan, like I just think your story is very interesting and I'm always baffled. [00:56:04] Right. At least saying Katie will tell you this. [00:56:06] Anytime somebody tells me like another woman tells me that they were told no, it like just boggles my mind. [00:56:12] And so I'm sorry that I'm stuck on this because it's just this experience that maybe I had it. [00:56:19] I don't know. Maybe I'm just bullheaded and didn't pay attention. [00:56:22] But but I'm interested to know. Right. [00:56:27] What what what drives you to continue to move on even when you were told no? [00:56:35] And then and then I have a secondary kind of follow up for those in the room. [00:56:40] But just what's your what's your motivation? [00:56:44] So I think part of it is. [00:56:48] I know at the at the time when I was younger in the Air Force, right, it was kind of like I put all my eggs in one basket. [00:56:54] I didn't I said I didn't really tell like I had parents that I could go home and that would have paid for college or I was like kind of poor kid from New York. [00:57:02] So in a way, at first it was like, I need to make this work like whatever it is that means. [00:57:06] If that means I stay in the Air Force, I end up, you know, job changing, which was something I considered, you know, a few times when everyone kept telling me I'd be better at public health or public medicine. [00:57:15] I was like, I don't care if that's where, you know, kind of like I just said, right, with flowers and growing change environment, if I need to just get into public affairs like I'm OK with that. [00:57:25] I think that's a great profession. Same with public medicine, because this was this was literally my livelihood. [00:57:31] Like this was my income. This was my future. [00:57:35] And and I think that's, you know, almost like this need to survive. [00:57:41] But I also found that I kind of enjoyed the work like I I did. [00:57:47] You know, so I I don't want my Air Force career to be marred entirely by that. [00:57:52] But at the same time, I think it's important to talk about. [00:57:54] I did make friends and have experiences that were really great as well. [00:58:00] And so, you know, I I'm a I'm kind of a fit person. [00:58:03] I love the fitness aspect of the Air Force. [00:58:05] I, you know, got to live in Texas and that was not something I wanted originally. [00:58:10] But I think I kind of just embraced it and actually realized I kind of liked it for various reasons. [00:58:15] I don't know why I originally was so against the idea. [00:58:17] But like I said, I'm still here and I'm not in the Air Force. [00:58:20] I'm not in the Air Force. So I will tell you that once I probably got to EY and I just started seeing the projects, I just know for me, I really genuinely was driven by how much I just wanted to solve these problems. [00:58:38] And I think that goes back to the so when I was in high school, I was listening to the radio one morning and I heard about this degree that was apparently making this degree program that was making kind of like a reemergence. [00:58:48] And it was disaster management and that apparently for whatever reason, like this was popular maybe in the 80s, but and maybe the 90s, but then kind of went quiet. [00:58:55] And now there were like schools were coming back with disaster management. [00:58:59] And I don't know why, but that really that was like, OK, I need to put that on the list that once I get through the Air Force, I'm going to go to college for this. [00:59:07] But at the same time, I didn't really know. I was like wasn't dying to work for FEMA. [00:59:11] I think I just wanted to problem solve and fix problems and prevent whether it was at the military. [00:59:18] I joined genuinely because I was like, if I need to save lives or we need to fight the bad guy, like, let's do that. [00:59:24] And similarly, with the interest I had in disaster management, it was like, OK, well, we can't stop hurricanes. [00:59:29] We can't stop blizzards or earthquakes. So I just I wanted to help people, I think. [00:59:35] And I wanted to figure out the best way that I could do that. [00:59:38] And so once I figured out that I could do something in cybersecurity and add value, I think that's what kind of drove me. [00:59:48] And I will I'll just end with this and I see one of my friends is on and maybe he'll add to it. [00:59:53] But for my senior project from Utica College, now University, I was asked to write a 10 page paper on pretty much anything I wanted, which was like too good for me. [01:00:04] Right. And as someone who had been a cyber reporter for the military at one point reporting, it's where I think the English part came in really handy because I've always I was always, you know, reader or writer. [01:00:16] And I had to write a 10 page report, 5000 words. [01:00:20] And I decided to write about the vulnerabilities of the electric grid. [01:00:23] Well, that is not an easy topic. And even my teacher tried to be like, you need to water this down. [01:00:27] And I was like, no, no, no, no, I got this. I got this. [01:00:29] Ended up being a 70 page report with like 25000 words. [01:00:33] And it did have a little bit of a solution. [01:00:35] It had a lot of history. And it just was one of these rabbit holes. [01:00:39] I mean, if I had more time and energy, I'd probably still be digging this rabbit hole all the way to China. [01:00:43] And I just loved learning it. I couldn't stop. [01:00:47] It was, I don't know, like intellectual, like kryptonite or something. [01:00:51] So I know I genuinely love diving into the ones and zeros and and and learning and then hoping to come up with a solution. [01:01:01] Like I said, my solution might not be the thing that saves it, but I'm happy to try and have have like a seat at the table to hopefully give some something that can maybe be a part of it. [01:01:11] That that helps people at the end of the day, because it breaks my heart now to read the news where, you know, there's a hospital and a baby died because that hospital had ransomware or something, you know. [01:01:20] So I think that's what drives me now for sure. The complexity of it, but also the fact that at the end of the day, there's people there's people who are being affected. [01:01:29] Yeah, no, that's really good. And I would say like to everyone listening and even those who listen to the replay, right? [01:01:38] So not everyone in the world like sees, sees, you know, further over the cliff of like the baby in the hospital that may die because of ransomware. Right. [01:01:50] But like imagine I just we talk in my leadership team a lot about like psychological psychological safety and what like imagine what it would do to someone and how many people you're turning away. [01:02:04] If either one, you're not speaking up when someone's being a jerk to someone telling them they can't do something or to you the jerk yourself. [01:02:14] Right. And how many people how far would Ryan be right if if she didn't have to jump over those those jerks. [01:02:24] So I would just say, you know, bravo to you, Ryan, for continuing and kind of finding your heart and your passion. [01:02:31] And thankfully, you know, were a poor kid from New York that that had to struggle and had to make sure that you made it work. [01:02:38] But, you know, how many of you are we missing? And that makes me sad. [01:02:43] I appreciate that. And and that I think is kind of part of like this this calling. [01:02:50] I feel like I've started to have like I I want to speak up about these things, not because I want sympathy or attention. Right. [01:02:56] It's it's that I think that last year I was at a veterans actually really cool women's women's veterans panel, which they're so, you know, only one percent of Americans are actually even in the military. [01:03:10] So to have just a women's panel to me was like beyond my wildest dreams. [01:03:14] And I was the only one that had served within, let's say, a recent amount of time. [01:03:19] Most most people had actually they were retired. They got out maybe in the early 2000s or so. [01:03:24] Most of them had been in there since like the 80s and or so and had been in 20 or so years. [01:03:29] And we had done a dry run before we actually did this panel. [01:03:36] And everyone kind of I was actually one of the last to go. That wasn't planned. [01:03:39] It just kind of happened where I sat and everyone talked about their careers and everything was like all this cool stuff they got to do. [01:03:45] There was nurses and medics and a pilot even as a woman. And I kind of got to the point I was like, you know, I don't want to be the Debbie Downer, but I I actually had a really hard time as a woman. [01:04:00] And I remember after I kind of shared a little bit more with those women, I remember this one like I almost want to cry. [01:04:07] She just was like, you know, I went through so much stuff, especially in like the 80s and 90s. [01:04:12] And I thought that we had hopefully fixed it. You know, I thought that by whatever we had to go through and the ways that because she ended up getting into a leadership position in the army. [01:04:20] And she's like, you know, I tried to fix it for the women coming, you know, coming through after me. [01:04:24] She's like, it breaks my heart that, you know, I've been out for as long as I have and you're still dealing with this. [01:04:28] And it really was just this like incredible moment where I know that even when I've met other women in cyber or even just people like they don't have to be in cyber. [01:04:38] Like, you know, I think it's a weird world we live in. [01:04:41] I think I'm one and we want to bring light to this and we want to try to solve this problem. [01:04:46] But we don't want to be exploited or taken advantage for it, per se, or some people might think of it in one way. [01:04:52] I think, you know, not to toot my horn, but I think it takes strength from from some of the people that came before me that said their story. [01:04:58] Like I said, when I started this right, this could be someone's a piece of their survival guide. [01:05:03] And I know for the people that shared with me, it was a piece of my survival guide. [01:05:07] So I I'm trying to pass the baton and I I would do anything to prevent whether it's a woman or anybody for any reason getting told they couldn't do this. [01:05:14] But in case in case I can't do that, I know what I have control over and I can tell you that, hey, it gets better. [01:05:21] And in a way, I again, I'm I'm thankful for all the challenges I've been through because I just don't know where I would be if it wasn't for these. [01:05:30] You know, I'm not sure I'm not going to say I'd be worse for sure. [01:05:33] I'm not sure how much better I'd be. But I think one of the best things I've learned is a to just, you know, have no fear. [01:05:41] Right. Like I said, I think it's kind of funny. I wish he was still on the phone, but I reached out to Tomas like I just know, you know, I'm a big fan. [01:05:47] Like he could have never responded. He could have been like, don't bother me. I'm too cool. [01:05:51] I'm a CISO. And you're you're now you're here down there. You peasant. [01:05:54] I'm kidding. Of course, I didn't know him, but I just I wasn't afraid to reach out. [01:05:58] I just thought, hey, I don't know what will come of this. And now Tomas has given me some mentoring tips and I'm really thankful. [01:06:05] And he's also been invited. He invited me to this group. So, you know, that that all shapes us. [01:06:10] I think I think in a way, sometimes even the bad or the adversity in our lives may shape us more than sometimes the good. [01:06:23] Yeah, that's awesome. Katie, I'll pass it back over to you. I think Jennifer is on the stage. [01:06:29] I think I don't see Katie. She she just texted me saying and I actually got a text from quite a few people saying that there's a clubhouse issue. [01:06:36] Oh, yeah. [01:06:38] So, Jennifer, I see that John's on the stage with us. [01:06:44] I think John, can you unmute? [01:06:48] The unmute's on the lower right hand side. It's. [01:06:52] Can you hear me? [01:06:54] I can hear you. [01:06:55] Hey. [01:06:56] So I just wanted to say that I was one of the recruiters that Ryan had. [01:07:04] Well, the first Air Force recruit, I believe that she had been trying to get information about the Air Force. [01:07:11] But I also wanted to say that. [01:07:13] By Ryan's always been resilient. [01:07:17] It's just like the Batman movie that I am trying to quote. [01:07:22] Hopefully I'm quoting it correctly. [01:07:24] When you what do you do when you get knocked down? [01:07:27] You get back up. [01:07:29] And in the Air Force, Ryan's been knocked down a lot of times. [01:07:34] And she was resilient enough to keep getting back up and continue moving forward, not letting, not not letting those barriers hold her back. [01:07:45] And exactly what you said, Ryan, if it wasn't for those barriers, who would you be to? [01:07:52] You know, I am most proud of you for continue doing to continue to do what you are doing there. [01:08:01] And it is a pleasure and an honor to see that, to see what you're doing, especially when I see your stuff on Facebook and everything like that. [01:08:11] So, yeah, I just wanted to put my two big stuff in it. [01:08:14] So thank you. [01:08:15] And thank you for your service as well. [01:08:22] Aw, you can't hear up, but I appreciate that because, you know, I'm going to be 30 and I've known me almost half my life in a way. [01:08:29] Yeah. [01:08:30] So. [01:08:31] I'm kind of, I thought you were supposed to tell an embarrassing story, not make me cry. [01:08:36] You deserve everything that you've been doing and just keep it up. [01:08:43] Well, I appreciate that. [01:08:46] Thank you. [01:08:47] Yes, sir. [01:08:48] Well, it looks like Katie and Anil were able to join us. [01:08:57] Katie, are you able to unmute? [01:08:59] I am. [01:09:00] Can you hear me? [01:09:01] Sure can. [01:09:02] Okay. [01:09:03] Yeah. [01:09:04] I wanted to say too that I know that Jennifer Sanders was on stage earlier. [01:09:08] Tom Ryan was in the room and he and I, and I, they both were kicked out of the room and can't get back in either. [01:09:14] So just wanted to make sure they wanted to make sure that you knew Ryan, that they are trying to get back in as well. [01:09:20] So sorry. [01:09:21] I'll just go back and redo it. [01:09:23] We'll do another one. [01:09:24] Yeah. [01:09:25] This is so fun. [01:09:26] Exactly. [01:09:27] Yeah. [01:09:28] So what did I miss? [01:09:29] What did I miss? [01:09:30] Anything exciting? [01:09:31] Anything controversial? [01:09:33] I always feel like when I leave a room, it's like anything in life, you know, it's like I leave the room and all the cool stuff happened. [01:09:43] So I'm just, you know, assuming that happened in this case. [01:09:45] Yeah. [01:09:46] John has been telling us how amazing Ryan is and how resilient she is. [01:09:51] And that is a wonderful story. [01:09:53] Well, and that does not surprise me at all. [01:09:57] And I had heard a little bit what you were saying, Ryan, too, about in your answer about kind of building culture and stuff. [01:10:05] And I know you do the room with Russell. [01:10:07] I don't know if you covered that at all while I was out of the room. [01:10:10] But I'm really curious from your perspective where you are in the industry right now and where you're looking to go. [01:10:18] What are the things that for you is a good cybersecurity culture? [01:10:23] Like, what are the things that you would look for in an employer and as a founder of a company, perhaps, and the people that you would hire in the industry? [01:10:35] Oh, my gosh. [01:10:36] I thought after being on this long enough that I knew every question that you guys could ask. [01:10:40] And I feel like that one you just threw me was like, Katie, you should have texted me. [01:10:44] Oh, listen, I know you have an answer here. [01:10:48] So I will say a little bit of what I've echoed in the room with Russell, I think. [01:10:53] And Russell, you can hold me to this is one, right? [01:10:56] Like from what's what might be a good culture for me may or may not be the ideal culture for someone else. [01:11:02] And so I will say that I, you know, I've been in the Air Force. [01:11:06] I worked at EY. [01:11:07] I worked at Avanade for a year. [01:11:09] And then I went to two smaller companies that were each one was under a thousand. [01:11:12] One was under like 200. [01:11:14] And, you know, I'm not saying that small companies and I don't mix, but I do think that I really enjoy and like a bigger company. [01:11:22] You know, a little bit bigger at least and or at least that I did well or did better that I, you know, I'm a people person. [01:11:29] So maybe it's the more people, the better. [01:11:31] I don't know. [01:11:32] I also feel for me, I like change and variety. [01:11:36] So especially at EY, right, I got to do manufacturing clients. [01:11:40] I got to do work with the financial services. [01:11:43] I got to work with, excuse me, automotive and entertainment and telecom and similar experience with Avanade. [01:11:51] And I think for me, I thrive in a situation where I can have variety in people, right? [01:12:01] There was variety in my teams, the military, right? [01:12:04] There were people from all over. [01:12:05] I mean, I remember being in basic training and there was this girl who said she graduated a class of eight. [01:12:10] And I just was shocked. [01:12:12] Okay. [01:12:13] I mean, we were in a, our unit in basic training, our, you know, in our squadron, in our, in our flight, it was 60 something people that we had bunk beds and one, you know, in two, in these two rooms and a shared bathroom. [01:12:27] We had 60 people that we spent, you know, two months with. [01:12:30] So the fact that she came from a graduating class of eight, I mean, this must have been huge for her. [01:12:34] Uh oh. [01:12:39] Oh dear. [01:12:44] Clubhouse strikes again. [01:12:46] Clubhouse of all the people to knock off. [01:12:49] Wow. [01:12:50] Oh man. [01:12:52] Um, well, I was able to get back in up there. [01:12:56] She's back. [01:12:57] Oh, you're back. [01:12:58] All right. [01:12:59] Ryan. [01:13:00] We only were, we only missed one, like one or two seconds of that, uh, last sentence. [01:13:05] If you can hear us. [01:13:07] Okay. [01:13:08] Can you hear me? [01:13:09] Okay. [01:13:10] I knew instantly that I got kicked out, but, and I couldn't get back in, but I realized I had a notification. [01:13:14] Okay. [01:13:15] That, that was scary. [01:13:16] Um, what I was saying was, oh, in basic there was a girl, she only had graduated with eight people. [01:13:20] Um, and that was shocking because my, my lunch, like cafeteria time was, was 500 people high school. [01:13:26] Right. [01:13:27] So, um, the air force was diverse. [01:13:29] EY was super diverse and I got to travel so much and just continue to work with diverse clients, work with diverse team members. [01:13:35] Um, and then some North Avena and then, you know, I just, so I, I love the thought of diversity, women, men, brand new people that had a different career, maybe switched over. [01:13:45] Um, people that, you know, went to whether college or, or came in, you know, through their own way. [01:13:50] Um, so sorry, just to kind of reset myself. [01:13:52] Cause I really just had a heart attack. [01:13:54] Um, for me, I, and I actually am going to be joining a new firm soon. [01:13:59] I'm still keeping it hash to me, but keep an eye out on my LinkedIn for that announcement for next month. [01:14:04] Um, yeah, it's, you know, I, I also, for me want to be, I always, you know, I, I think we all want to be there, but how much we put ourselves there is a different story. [01:14:13] I want to be on the front lines of cyber. [01:14:15] So, you know, I don't want to be putting in a, putting in a solution that was good 10 years ago. [01:14:21] Like I want to have the ability to be a little bit innovative. [01:14:24] I want to see what's out there, what's new and upcoming and work with, you know, people that are really dedicated to cybersecurity. [01:14:31] Um, I, I've worked with some people that it was just a job for them. [01:14:35] And I understand that, Hey, we have other things outside of work. [01:14:38] But, um, when I've also worked with people that are just as, as passionate about this, that really want to, you know, help their clients or solve problems and not just, you know, at the end of the day get paid. [01:14:50] I mean, Hey, money's nice and I have expensive tastes from time to time now, but, um, yeah, that's my ideal, I think environment. [01:14:58] And, and again, one that where we can have open and honest collaboration where we can disagree with each other or, you know, something I've even seen in my 10 years is there are some teams that will do just about anything the client asks. [01:15:09] Um, and I think the ability to sometimes say like, Hey, to a client, like I understand what you want. [01:15:15] I understand what you, you know, you want to achieve, but I think there's a better way that I've, you know, from my experience, especially if you're a consultant, right. [01:15:20] When you're moving around often with different clients and you're kind of, I feel like a little bit sharper, maybe sometimes, um, having the ability. [01:15:27] And I'm just gonna say it, having the balls to say like, Hey client, like, I know that's what you want to do. [01:15:34] And I'm happy that you want to pay us to do that, but whether it costs more or less, or it's different or it might take longer, like this is what you really need to do. [01:15:41] And I, I want to work with those kinds of people. [01:15:44] Um, I'm really, I don't know, passionate about that kind of environment. [01:15:48] And I get that. [01:15:49] It's not always going to be like that. [01:15:51] But more days than not, that's what I hope to find. [01:15:54] No, I appreciate that. [01:15:55] And see, I knew you'd have a, an amazing answer to that question. [01:16:01] Um, so yeah, thank you, Ryan. [01:16:03] And, um, you know, real quickly, I, it looks like Jennifer was able to make it back into the room and onto the stage. [01:16:09] So before we lose anyone again, um, I'd love to hear from Jennifer this evening. [01:16:14] Hi, Jennifer. [01:16:15] Welcome to the stage. [01:16:16] Hey, thanks. [01:16:17] Sorry about that. [01:16:18] That was a mayhem. [01:16:19] Um, and Ryan, sorry about like pulling you out of the room, but, um, you're such a badass. [01:16:22] I love this whole story. [01:16:23] I love everything I'm hearing and I'm so glad to hear it. [01:16:26] Um, and you may have already asked this. [01:16:28] Um, I have kind of two different questions. [01:16:30] And so if you already answered this one, um, when Octavia asked, um, feel free to skip that part of it. [01:16:36] But I was going to say, what do you think makes, um, gives you that, um, it's not contrarian, but the ability to kind of stand up, to stand up for what you believe. [01:16:45] Like if somebody says you can't do something, you said you like, my initial reaction was, you tell me that and I'm going to, I'm going to do it possibly to my own detriment. [01:16:54] I have great stories about that, but, um, but you said, oh, you just go in your head. [01:16:57] It sounds like you've shut down, but you go in your head and kind of take that away. [01:17:01] Which is, I think a better approach, but you've done that and you've really stuck true to that. [01:17:06] It sounds like in, in a lot of interesting growth as well as challenging situations. [01:17:11] Um, and the other one would be on the, um, uh, this kind of ties together to things we're talking about, but the, um, imposter syndrome. [01:17:18] I think, you know, we all have that to, to a lot of extent and just, I think recognizing that we all have that helps and how much you still feel like you have that because you, you sound incredibly accomplished as well as, um, a really good, like I would say head on your shoulders, but it's the way you think, the way you think and approach things that you're not doing things just wrote like giving, you know, Hey, no, this is, this is a better way to do it. [01:17:38] Or it's not always going to come out that way or it, you know, a cyber issue. [01:17:42] Isn't just an it issues, obviously wherever that it is supporting. [01:17:45] So, um, one is how you keep to your guns with that sort of doing what's right to your, what you think is right. [01:17:55] Or what you think is the good approach, especially when you plug a lot of pushback and, or how you feel about imposter syndrome as you're growing through your career. [01:18:03] Um, I think those are great questions. [01:18:07] And yes, I think that I can build off of what Octavia said for, cause I think she asked a similar question, but I think yours a little bit different and I'll tell you first and foremost. [01:18:14] So one of the things that my mom taught me growing up, especially again, being bullied was being right can be a lonely place. [01:18:21] And I know when I was younger, obviously I think kids would do anything to just not be bullied. [01:18:26] And I think for a little while, I mean, as a kid, that was like, I would do anything, but trust me, you couldn't, I couldn't change my name. [01:18:33] And that for some reason was just out the door. [01:18:35] What one of they would pick on the most. [01:18:37] So I think I just started to focus on what I thought was right and do it at best. [01:18:44] And, you know, I will take a chance to just those out there. [01:18:46] I don't hear much about it in clubhouse, but for me, I'm also a really faithful person. [01:18:50] I, um, another story for another day. [01:18:53] But I actually got grounded for going to church too much as a kid. [01:18:56] I think I was a little bit of a place where I was like, I'm not a Christian, like what is this? [01:18:59] And it was just a place I felt really safe. [01:19:01] I can't tell you exactly what it was, but I remember again, one of those pivotal moments I think that stand out in my life. [01:19:06] I was in like the seventh grade or so and all my friends went on drugs. [01:19:09] And I remember being like, mom, all my friends are on drugs. [01:19:12] I need you to send me away for the summer. [01:19:13] And this was like the few friends I had as someone who'd been bullied most of my life. [01:19:17] Like I don't exactly know why I didn't just join them, but I just, I always had this, this, I knew that I was going to grow up one day. [01:19:25] And there were consequences to your actions. [01:19:27] And I think a lot of people are in the moment. [01:19:29] And so I always think I just kind of kept my eye on like, what can I do today? [01:19:35] That will be better for tomorrow. [01:19:37] And I think I said it before I'll say it again. [01:19:39] So I have planned my entire life and I will tell you, especially now, nothing has gone as planned. [01:19:45] I thought I'd be in the air force for 20 years and retired there at 40. [01:19:48] Didn't happen. [01:19:49] Thought I actually, before that was in a college for political science. [01:19:51] Didn't happen. [01:19:52] Thought I would, you know, would be married happily with maybe kids by now. [01:19:56] Didn't happen. [01:19:57] And what I've learned from that is I do believe in the importance of planning because it gives you a direction to move in. [01:20:02] But, you know, being open to the unexpected and the uncertainty or, you know, again, I believe in God, what maybe is meant for me. [01:20:10] Because if it was up to me in a way, the plan that I had at 18, I never would have went into cyber. [01:20:14] I just didn't think it was possible or I didn't have the biggest interest in it. [01:20:17] Right. [01:20:18] But I'm so thankful that I'm here and that I also can do it. [01:20:21] I think that that's kind of one of the things is, again, I mentioned before I have core values. [01:20:26] You know, I reflect a lot. [01:20:29] You mentioned again, right, when I first mentioned the military, I kind of went quiet because so many people, even friends of mine and family that cared, they were just like, no, you're just, you're not going to do it. [01:20:38] You're not going to like it. [01:20:39] Even my friends admitted to me, they made bets. [01:20:41] They're like, you're not going to even get through basic. [01:20:43] Like they told me this afterwards, but, and I did, I did get through basic. [01:20:48] Um, and I was happy to do it. [01:20:50] Um, I had a similar situation actually when I went to buy my house at 27. [01:20:54] Um, I had family members that just didn't think that I could afford it. [01:20:57] And I will just say that I was seeing a therapist at the time. [01:21:00] I still see a therapist. [01:21:01] I know a great one if anyone ever wants to ask me for, but she's also like a life coach. [01:21:05] And she realized that other people were kind of the people that were telling me I couldn't do this for projecting of themselves that at 27 years old, they could not afford a house. [01:21:16] And, you know, I knew objectively that I could afford this, that I could do this. [01:21:22] I was responsible enough. [01:21:23] And I knew that I wanted this and I knew where I wanted to do this. [01:21:26] And so I did it. [01:21:27] Um, and again, it was one of those things for years. [01:21:29] I was quiet about. [01:21:30] I had had friends that had maybe bought or sold a house and because they were in the military and they, you know, I was quiet about it. [01:21:34] And so I think that leads into this imposter syndrome part where I've had enough, you know, opportunities or instances now where I realized like, Hey, I trusted my gut. [01:21:48] And for the most part, it actually has, it's worked out. [01:21:52] Okay. [01:21:53] And I, again, I mentioned before, I had a lot of people earlier on tell me you can't do it or you can't do it this way. [01:22:00] And they were not people I was asking. [01:22:01] Those were not my mentors and they kind of filled my head with these lies. [01:22:05] And I kind of had to clear that clutter to where now I really try to focus on getting, you know, I know who I'll ask and who I trust. [01:22:15] And, and those people too, I can disagree with, or I can, Hey, I can ask them for advice. [01:22:19] I might not take it, but at least they can provide that insight. [01:22:23] And I guess, like I said, I, I've seen the value from my own decisions. [01:22:28] So I can't tell you that at 18, if I were to do it all over again, knowing what I know now that, Hey, I don't have, I won't have imposter syndrome. [01:22:35] I think I hope in a way that it's a natural process to kind of shed it. [01:22:40] I can't tell you that I won't have it again because maybe one day I will be see. [01:22:43] So I'll be like, what am I doing? [01:22:44] I can't do this. [01:22:45] This is, I'm a fraud. [01:22:47] I have, what am I doing? [01:22:48] I'm scared. [01:22:49] But as of right now, a lot of, a lot of just the doubt in me in general, I can tell you that I'm like, Nope, I know I'm going to get up again. [01:22:56] The sun's going to come up again. [01:22:57] I'm going to make the best of it. [01:22:59] Like it's going to happen. [01:23:01] And, and that's just where I'm at right now. [01:23:03] And, and honestly, it is a weirdly, but coolly empowering place because in a way the, the number one thing I finally did is I, instead of avoiding conflict or uncertainty, I started to embrace it. [01:23:17] it i said okay this uncertainty i'm gonna have to i'm gonna have to use it to my advantage and [01:23:22] whether it's the pandemic or a personal thing um i just use it and and try to try to make the best [01:23:29] of it and and similarly like i said i you know if i'm going through it someone else might be going [01:23:34] through it so there's power in numbers and and so instead of hiding it or having shame [01:23:38] i try to find the right platform to communicate those things and build strength in numbers [01:23:42] i'm sorry i'm very awesome so that's awesome everything you said there was awesome that's [01:23:49] super awesome you're just you're so young to have all this um insight it to me it sounds like [01:23:53] because you are you are really have really good insight in how you approach things and again [01:23:58] nothing in life is um certain except change nothing ever goes as we think i was similar to you with all [01:24:02] those beliefs and none of them turned out but here i am i love it but um and also to your um i heard the [01:24:09] best definition of imposter syndrome the only reason i'm throwing this out is because hopefully [01:24:12] as you grow and you do keep pushing yourself that will come back it's just we always feel a little [01:24:16] bit nervous and that's just because you're pushing yourself but it's um it's it's that we think others [01:24:21] can do it right so we think um other people can do it and that's really they can't and so to your point [01:24:26] of recognizing other people you were all going through stuff or we're all uncertain or we're all [01:24:31] whatever it is and we should share that um or it's a good share that but it's don't think other [01:24:36] people know what they're doing either and so anyways awesome just love love hearing your story [01:24:41] ryan you're awesome thanks and i'll add to that really quick that probably ready in this year one [01:24:46] of my biggest epiphanies was that in my life in the way that i thought my brain was wired so you know i [01:24:53] had some people early this year asked me um you know how much do you think you know about cyber [01:24:57] security and i thought you know i didn't realize it at the time but i think i would compare myself to [01:25:00] like for example tomas or octavia or you know someone who'd been a cso and was like on the brink [01:25:08] you know of retirement or had been doing this for longer like than i've even been alive and i'd be [01:25:13] like oh man compared to them i know nothing like i i need to learn so much and then i had um an [01:25:19] experience or two where i realized that again not to toot my own horn but just in a way of like some [01:25:26] just self-confidence building no do toot it thank you but i will say self-confidence building and [01:25:32] recognition and more so self-awareness and awareness of others you know when you take let's just say [01:25:37] cyber people as a whole everyone who's in cyber security i realized i actually probably know more [01:25:42] than average because i've not only done it for 10 years which you know that doesn't sound like a lot [01:25:47] compared to some people when you compare it see you know that so many people are still new to it or you [01:25:53] know the other part of it too is like i kind of think i'm a jane of all trades a jack of all trades [01:25:57] or a swiss army knife like i have a little bit in in you know i think i'm well-rounded and you know [01:26:02] i definitely have some experience in a few buckets but then i have some other um one of the cool things [01:26:06] i got to do at ey was even work with audit teams when as ey as an auditor had their audit clients [01:26:11] breached they couldn't respond to it you know hands on keyboard kind of thing but they would need [01:26:15] someone to assist and it was just such a rare team i don't even really heard of it it's called it's [01:26:21] it's something i could talk about you know another day all day i loved it because i got to work with [01:26:25] the company you know the client i got they would bring in someone like mandy or crowd strike i would [01:26:30] get to shadow them and follow and understand what they're doing to to eradicate and contain you know [01:26:35] the attack and then work with the the audit team to file a 10k and i remember the first time i heard [01:26:39] of a work paper i was like that's a silly thing to call a document who did that and then i find out [01:26:44] it's like this this huge audit you know jargon thing and i thought oh man i just thought like joe schmoe [01:26:49] named a document work paper but um i just know that for me that was probably the biggest realization [01:26:56] in shedding my imposter syndrome was realizing i would compare myself to the person i thought was [01:27:01] like the absolute smartest cyber person ever and i never would measure up but when i kind of started [01:27:07] to change my perspective and see everyone as a whole in cyber security i was like oh i know actually [01:27:13] a lot more than i give myself credit for it just might not be the same thing as everybody else [01:27:19] that's all ties back to your comment earlier on that and i'll relinquish but it's um your comment [01:27:24] earlier there's no one size fits all solution for everybody right everything's different and people [01:27:27] like that what people that have been in this field longer bring is um hopefully expertise but also [01:27:32] um a lot of you know experience having seen that you know having seen what what how might this play out [01:27:38] or what's important and as you say across um i think that going to the you know larger um big four [01:27:44] i started my career at a you know one of the top law firms um it gives you um exposure across a [01:27:51] a bunch of different companies and verticals and business models so it gives you that sort of depth [01:27:56] even though it you know you may not be there forever but um super great thanks so much thanks for uh [01:28:02] answering my questions and having me on stage everybody thank you [01:28:05] thanks and i would say ryan tomas is not on here and i will not be called the old person i am not [01:28:13] going to retire i am going to quit so thank you you know not old just you know talk about that i put my [01:28:24] no i'm just trying to say experienced and and you know i'm messing with you ryan [01:28:28] oh god oh god oh god here it comes it's all ending i thought i was doing so well i knew i was gonna [01:28:36] mess it up i had a tomas is not here and you just called me an old person so i had to jump in [01:28:45] you're not old no i'm just saying oh god no i'm just saying well no i'm saying you're a ciso [01:28:50] let me let me let me leave you alone oh goodness i think keep back how like ryan it's just getting [01:28:58] worse i mean i was offended that i wasn't given like a designation of having a good dad joke from [01:29:04] time to time you know i mean we're all feeling left out you guys gotta come with it i mean last week you [01:29:10] guys were firing out the dad jokes i don't know you guys are so angry ryan you have captivated them [01:29:17] hey i i um i actually feel like i love clean jokes by the way random fact i grew up i loved watching [01:29:24] i love lucy and i just love that kind of humor especially because it's like appropriate at work [01:29:30] and you know i can we can do sex jokes another day another place and those are kind of like i'm over [01:29:34] those and whatnot but man a good dad joke or a good cheesy joke um you know i'll just say [01:29:40] friday i'm just gonna just gonna hint at it that i i have a a man friend that i like a lot and i'm [01:29:47] just gonna leave it at that and i told him that um for earth day that he's so hot that he's the reason [01:29:53] for global warming oh my gosh um i like jokes like that and i will just say that you know if there's [01:30:03] anything i can tell anybody it's you know as awful as some of the things i've seen and experienced [01:30:09] and and i i don't want to you know be a debbie downer and there's a lot more to this story and [01:30:13] there's there's some worse parts about it you know um i just try to make the best of it and uh i i will [01:30:21] say you know i remember the day i learned what gallows humor was i was on lackland air force base the day [01:30:25] they had a shooting on bases is a pretty bad thing as a few years ago some people might have heard of [01:30:29] it it was really scary um and i remember i heard someone make a joke about it and i was almost like how the [01:30:35] hell are they making a joke about it like that was awful but i remember a mentor actually i called [01:30:39] he's like ryan that's what gallows humor is and i remember being like oh that's what that is okay [01:30:46] all right i'm not sure how i feel about it um and i just think that comedy and humor really [01:30:53] you know when appropriate and if done right can be such a just great way to connect i think laughter [01:31:00] is just one of the coolest best things that we as human beings can do and i just don't think we do [01:31:05] it enough um but that said there was something i wanted to share and i see and this is like the [01:31:11] last shocker or at least one of you know a few something that i also am and i learned about leaving [01:31:17] the air force that's kind of a blessing and a curse i guess i don't know because i actually am disabled [01:31:22] and it's something i've struggled with for a few years trying to figure out what this meant [01:31:24] um because i'm a very active i'm a very very outdoorsy person um and i found i was really [01:31:29] klutzy in high school and everyone started there was a point where people like you're just you know [01:31:33] overreacting or you're super klutzy and i found out i have this thing called ehlers-danlos syndrome now [01:31:38] for short it's eds i did have someone ask me if i had ed i do not have erectile dysfunction i have eds [01:31:44] um and what that means is i know you guys are laughing you're just on mute but um is i have collagen in [01:31:50] my joints and so i actually can dislocate really easily and my joints just like can come out now i [01:31:56] know they're probably weird and wild but i promise you if you met me you probably wouldn't know unless [01:32:01] i kind of showed you um but it's been kind of hard for me as someone in my 20s to kind of accept what [01:32:07] this means in a lot of ways and and how to deal with it i've actually had to go to physical therapy [01:32:13] sometimes up to like two or three times a week over the last few years um at the same time it was a [01:32:18] relief because i was having all these injuries that made no sense and i'm a very careful person like [01:32:23] running or working out whatever i'll have the best shoes and the best equipment [01:32:27] and i'll definitely stretch and do all the right form and so it just drove me nuts but it was kind [01:32:31] of like okay finally at least i know what what the name of this unknown thing was and so i i'm really [01:32:36] passionate too about bringing love to disabilities in the workplace because not to scare anyone but you [01:32:41] just never know when you might be that person right like we all might hopefully today think [01:32:46] we're really healthy and and enabled but we just never know what's gonna happen and i just feel [01:32:52] really led to share about that because it's a rare to rare uh genetic thing i actually have met someone [01:32:58] who was going through very similar issues and was kind of getting maybe dismissed by their doctor and [01:33:03] ended up going to the doctor and finding out that that's actually what they had and so i just just feel [01:33:08] really strongly about bringing light to these things that if i can make a change in one person's life [01:33:13] some way somehow for the better like i'm done like that's good that's how i'm happy like that's better [01:33:18] than any paycheck i could ever ever get so just wanted to share that well i'm really glad you did [01:33:26] ryan i mean it's really a perfect um kind of although i do have one last question to ask you i just wanted [01:33:33] to you know kind of rounding out what you what you talked about this evening um you know you really you [01:33:38] covered your amazing you know backstory um you know i love that you even said that you're a third [01:33:45] uh texan i thought that was funny you know with the living there for because a lot of us have lived [01:33:49] around the country around the world and you know it's you know how you identify with certain places [01:33:54] in your life and um getting to know you as a as a woman um coming up in through the military and and [01:34:00] you know working in various roles within the cyber security industry and really being a [01:34:05] um you know an inspiration for you know not just people who are you know up and coming and looking [01:34:10] to you as a mentor but also um you know teaching everyone you know who's been in the industry you [01:34:16] know the old people like tamas we can say that because he's not here but um you know but we're all [01:34:23] young okay just like for the record everyone else on the stage super young um but you know teaching [01:34:28] all of us you know and really becoming a part of this community you know not just you know not just this [01:34:33] fireside chat but this this community that we we roll in in the cyber security space before i ask my [01:34:38] last question though i wanted to just open it up to the mods for just a couple of last uh comments or [01:34:43] questions uh as we you know close out in a few minutes here at 9 30. i just wanted to thank you [01:34:52] ryan so many things that you said completely resonated with me and um i think that you are an absolute [01:34:59] inspiration to those around you i'm glad to know you and um really appreciate you sharing your time [01:35:05] and talent here with us well thank you i appreciate that and i i look forward to you know hopefully [01:35:13] going to keep asking questions and meeting hopefully all of you when the timing is right in person and [01:35:19] continue continuing this conversation that said i just want to say like tomas isn't here like i can [01:35:24] keep going on like we don't need to end guys like we can we can keep going just kidding [01:35:30] all the people have to go to bed ryan [01:35:37] oh oh now it's now it's okay okay well i'll i guess that's okay [01:35:45] any other last comments looks like russell and and they'll both had something to share [01:35:48] yeah oh and active ryan i would i would be failing you if i didn't thank you for your time this evening [01:35:54] sharing you your whole you how you showed up the good things the bad things the really bad things and [01:36:01] inspiring every one of us has just been such a treat so thank you for that we really appreciate [01:36:05] you sharing your story with us [01:36:09] yeah and ryan same sentiments as well um thanks for your sharing being so candid and [01:36:16] we we love your energy not just today but uh what you bring every week [01:36:22] well i appreciate it thank you and and yet russell thanks so much you have been like promoting you [01:36:27] know me on our on the other clubhouse and i've seen you know you put it on your discord server and [01:36:31] just to everybody and i know lisa beth you posted on your linkedin and just everybody i just thank you [01:36:36] for being a welcoming safe community right and a great club of you know it wasn't a place of like oh [01:36:43] you're not good enough you can't join us we're too cool for you right like it's just been i really i [01:36:49] think i was scared to join at first and i wasn't sure what to expect and um this is something i really [01:36:55] do look forward to and i i just encourage everyone to come and join and and thank you as well not just [01:37:00] for having me as as an audience member but now you know i i as a speaker i hope i you know made your [01:37:07] wednesday night somewhat worth it ryan you definitely made it worth it and i i will say [01:37:14] you are super cool like don't ever worry about you not being cool enough to be in a space where you [01:37:19] take up room and i will tell you like my grandmother told me when i was younger and for some reason i've [01:37:24] been invoking my grandmother a lot i might need to call her um but my grandmother told me whatever [01:37:30] whatever room you step in make sure you fill up the space because the space that you're in [01:37:36] is a space that belongs to you and so never never shy keep telling your story because there's so [01:37:43] many people that need to hear it and so never be ashamed shy or feel like you're not good enough [01:37:50] to play in the space that you that you belong well i appreciate that so much and you know one thing [01:37:58] that another day right another time i i had a nana she was a family friend who who essentially raised me [01:38:05] and and i met her when she was 79 years old and she was in my life till i was 18 and i think that's [01:38:10] some of the reason i might be an old soul but you are very lucky if you get to call your grandmother and [01:38:15] i really appreciate you for for sharing that because that is that is some advice that i don't know if i [01:38:21] understood or could have done younger but it's definitely something that i i appreciate now [01:38:27] because it's something that you do because it's something that you do because it's something that's [01:38:30] something that you do because it's something that you do because it's something that you do [01:38:32] because it's something that you do because it's something that you do because it's something that [01:38:34] you do because it's something that you do because it's something that you do because it's something that [01:38:35] you do because it's something that you do because it's something that you do because it's something that you do [01:38:38] for sharing your time and truly taking up the space here tonight. We appreciate you so much. [01:38:45] And every single week, Tomas asks a question, what advice you would give to your younger self? [01:38:52] A couple of weeks ago, though, you came on stage and you threw us all for a loop and you reversed [01:38:57] it and you said, what advice would you give to your future self? I loved it. So I thought, [01:39:03] you know, just in the spirit of that, I'd love to ask you that question as our final question. And [01:39:09] with your final thoughts this evening, you know, what advice would you give to your future self? [01:39:15] Well, first off, I just got to say that I have to give my book list. Okay, guys, [01:39:19] I'm expecting someone to ask me for my favorite book. So I need to tell you guys first. [01:39:23] Tomas just came on. I'm pretty sure he came on specifically to ask you that. [01:39:29] That's really sweet. But I still, I'm going to put my book list in the chat later then, [01:39:32] because that is like the first thing I started doing when I prepped for this guy. [01:39:37] I tried to put that in. I really did. But we had so many other good questions. I swear. Yeah, [01:39:43] please put it in the chat. Or if you can rattle them off really fast, I would love to know. Yeah, [01:39:47] please. They're written down. So, so Obstacle of the Way by Ryan Holiday, [01:39:52] The Looming Tower by Lawrence Wright. That book was really special to me just as a kid. He was nine, [01:39:56] when 9-11 happened. There were a lot of people who said I didn't know what happened and they [01:39:59] wouldn't tell me what questions to ask. So that book was amazing. The Leadership Challenge, [01:40:05] which is in its sixth edition. I can't remember the authors at the moment. Attached by Amir [01:40:09] Levine. While it's more of like a love and self-awareness book. I read it in two days. I [01:40:13] try to reread it often. It just was life changing. Hiroshima Diary. Another one I got on my emergency [01:40:18] management degree just because I didn't realize anyone survived Hiroshima. And to hear if someone [01:40:22] survived that, that makes everything I've gone through look like nothing. [01:40:26] And, and I just thought it was an amazing book, although challenging because he wanted Japan to [01:40:31] beat the U.S. in the war. Still a good book. And then I just would put The Alchemist by Paolo [01:40:39] Coelho. And then if anyone just wants a good, feel good fiction book where it's like everything in [01:40:44] life is going wrong, but it's kind of a cute, fun, easy to read book. I recently read All Adults Here [01:40:50] by Emma Schraub. And I just really felt strongly. I went through my books like many times for that. [01:40:56] So had to get that out there. Oh, and last one, sorry. The Grid by Gretchen Bach. Anyone who uses [01:41:01] electricity, highly recommend it. It's just an amazingly written book and it will blow your mind. [01:41:06] That said, the advice I would give my younger self, and I think about this often, [01:41:11] is, is I would just ask that I loved myself more. I think I tried so hard and even punished myself [01:41:19] for so long for not being whatever the heck it was supposed to be. And, and I get, I wasn't supposed [01:41:26] to be anybody. I was being me and whoever I was at that time, but there was so much rejection or [01:41:31] bullying or family drama and abuse. And, and I just, I just think I punished myself. I don't think [01:41:40] I, for a while, I'll be honest, I didn't think I was lovable. I didn't think I was smart enough. I [01:41:43] didn't, I don't know what I thought, but, but if I could go back, the one thing I would ask is that I [01:41:48] loved myself just to figure it out and, and, and give myself grace to be like, I don't know why I [01:41:53] thought I had to have it all figured out by 18 or even before or after that. But, you know, to give [01:41:59] myself that grace, like, okay, you're going to fall, you're going to fail. It's going to be okay. [01:42:03] You're still worthy of love. You're still worthy of people being kind to you. Don't settle for, [01:42:08] for the, the mean bad parts of this world. On the flip side, you know, the place I'm out with my life [01:42:15] and just the progress I've made, I would just hope that I wouldn't settle, um, as, as strong and as, [01:42:23] as resilient as I might be. I think that sometimes I give people the benefit of the doubt or, [01:42:29] I sometimes feel like I know I'm strong enough, so I will let certain people walk over me or dismiss [01:42:36] me. Um, or even every now and then I, I might, you know, I get afraid too of various things and [01:42:43] I just hope that I can just continue to stick up for myself and, and stick to my goals. Um, [01:42:53] because I realized I'm growing up quick, actually, you know, I'm going to be 30 and all of a sudden I'm [01:42:57] like, Oh, there are things I, um, you know, not so much 30, but there are things I want to have done [01:43:03] by 40. And I feel very, very aware that 40 is 10 and 10 and a half years away. And, and I kind of [01:43:11] got to figure out what I'm going to do, you know, like I got to figure out how and what I'm going to [01:43:14] do, you know, time is, is important. Um, but I also, like I said before, I'm, I'm trying to make [01:43:20] sure I leave room to be okay for the uncertainty because, you know, the things I want to do, [01:43:25] there might be something even better out there. And, and the one thing, especially cybersecurity [01:43:29] related, I'll say is, you know, I used to be the person, as I've said, who would plan [01:43:32] incredibly detailed plans. I thought I knew I was going to go to college, what I was going to study [01:43:37] everything. Uh, and, and in various ways, so many other ways that I planned. And now, you know, [01:43:43] especially in cybersecurity, I say, I don't even know exactly what I want to do or where, what I want to, [01:43:47] where I want to be, because I want to leave room to not cut myself off because we might in five years [01:43:54] from now have something totally new and different and better than who knows the cloud or AI, or, [01:44:00] you know, there might be something totally new and I want to leave room and allow myself to [01:44:05] potentially go into that. I might fail at it, but it might also be something I'm really good at that. [01:44:11] I didn't even know was possible because it doesn't even exist right now. And, and that would be my [01:44:16] advice for my future self was, you know, be open-minded, you know, trust your gut, don't settle, but, [01:44:21] but embrace all that life has to give you. [01:44:28] Well, I think we all just dropped the mic now, Ryan, that was amazing. Uh, and thank you for [01:44:33] answering both. Um, as, as we close out this evening, it's just such a great advice for us [01:44:37] all to think about, you know, and going into, you know, the rest of our week. Um, uh, just want to [01:44:43] thank everyone, uh, you know, who joined us this evening and thank you for sharing this space with us, [01:44:47] um, this evening. And, you know, we'll look forward to continuing to stay in touch with you just as we [01:44:52] close out though, just one last question. If people would like to stay in touch with you, we've, we put [01:44:55] your LinkedIn in profile at the top of the, um, uh, on the banner here, but do you, is there anywhere [01:45:01] else that people should follow you on, on Twitter or any other, um, podcasts or anything that you're [01:45:07] doing that you'd like to, to announce before we close the room? Um, yeah, so I definitely love, [01:45:13] um, my LinkedIn and I think actually use out of all of my social media, I use that probably the most [01:45:19] because I find it to be honestly the most positive and, and stimulating, but I will say that I also [01:45:26] enjoy sharing a little bit more on the personal side on my Instagram. And if you want to join me [01:45:33] there, then that I'm putting my name in the chat, making sure I spelled it right. Cause I'd be [01:45:38] embarrassing, but it's a force to be Ryan with it's a, it's a plan word for a force to be reckoned with. [01:45:44] And, uh, you know, as always, I'll also say the best way I think of connecting is in person. So, [01:45:49] Hey, if you're ever in Austin, Texas, or, um, you know, if our, if we're ever in the same place or [01:45:55] not, I just hope that, you know, message me or let me know. And, and let's try to, let's try to just [01:46:01] cross paths. You know, that's what I did with Katie. I was going to be in Chicago and she was around that [01:46:05] day. And, um, yeah, you know, I, I never know where exactly I'm going to be. And I I'm waiting for the [01:46:11] day that we all really can start traveling with work again. So, um, I, I would like to do that. [01:46:16] If, if anyone is interested, let me know. And Hey, first drinks on me. [01:46:21] Well, thank you again, Ryan. Hey, and wait a minute. I don't think I got that drink voucher. [01:46:26] I think you owe me a drink. I will gladly buy. [01:46:31] No, it really was great meeting in your life. Yeah. And, and, and again, thank you everyone for [01:46:35] your time. Thank you so much again, Ryan. Um, we are a little bit over, but I don't think anyone [01:46:39] was disappointed in spending a little more time tonight in, in this session. So with that, [01:46:43] we will see you all again next Wednesday night at eight o'clock Eastern. Look forward to the next [01:46:49] discussion. Have a great rest of the week, everyone. [01:46:51] Thanks everybody. Have a good night. And thanks to my friends for coming on and everybody for [01:46:56] asking your questions. Good night. Buenas noches. Have a great night, everyone. [01:47:02] Bye.