EPISODE #10
OVERCOMING IMPOSTOR SYNDROME & HARNESSING MULTIPLE SKILL SETS
Sonia Rosu is a cybersecurity consultant, born in Romania, who moved to Belgium 7 years ago to pursue her studies in Business Management. She was part of the CyberWayFinder Program in 2018 and is currently specializing in Cyber Strategy & Risk, being already a certified, CISSP, SSCP & CCSK. Sonia has experience with clients across different industries such as : finance, energy all the way to the pharmaceutical sector and is always up for a nice challenge whether it is related to Access Control, Business Continuity or Vulnerability Management.
EPISODE #8
CWF FOUNDER SERIES WITH JESSICA RAMOS
This is the third and last part of our CWF Founder Series - featuring one of the most ardent ambassadors of CyberWayFinder's mission - Jessica Ramos, Head of Regulatory and Oversight Affairs at a major financial market infrastructure in Europe. Jess has held a number of positions at the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) namely in Oversight Affairs, Legal & Compliance, Finance and as Chief of Staff to the global CEO.
At SWIFT she was also responsible for diversity and inclusion initiatives for the business. She is a Board Advisor to CyberWayFinder.
EPISODE #9
COMPASSION AND CURIOSITY IN CYBERSECURITY
Ghariba has a lot of plans for the future! Coming from a business management background, she engineered a career transition into cybersecurity by sheer force of will, courage and compassion.
If you really want something - you can do it! This is her mantra - in spite of what people might say about the hurdles and challenges - Ghariba remains focused on her dreams and plans, and on how to turn them into reality. Being in such an important role as the right-hand of a CISO - she tells us that compassion, curiosity and understanding the needs of others is very important in the practice of cybersecurity.
EPISODE #7
CWF FOUNDER SERIES WITH ROSANNA KURRER
Rosanna talks about her journey from being an architect, studying engineering, loving tech, and deciding to make a career in tech education and cybersecurity. She talks about a common thread she sees in communities in big cities where there is a large concentration of international organizations attracting professionals from all over the world, with their partners as "trailing spouses" who then have to adapt their careers to fit into a new context. Rosanna shares the challenges she encountered in reinventing herself in a new career - trying out different activities to find out what brings her joy and how she bounced back after a long gap in her CV while creating opportunities for others.
EPISODE #11
COMING SOON!!! COMING SOON!!! COMING SOON!!!
Marie is one of the most popular CWF trainers! She has very versatile skills - great in explaining security concepts to beginners, but also a great mentor as well as trainer of would-be mentors! She is currently a Director at EY Norway. In her own words: “A confident senior expert in cyber security who comes with common sense and a no nonsense attitude. Loves her job and jumps out of bed in the morning carrying a positive attitude and excitement to go to work. Thinks she has a great sense of humor, and most are too polite to disagree.”
https://www.linkedin.com/in/marijkevinck/
Coming in November - watch out for the episode with Marie Vinck! ‘How to succeed and have a fulfilling career in the field of cybersecurity’
EPISODE #6
CWF FOUNDER SERIES WITH PATRICK WHEELER
Patrick describes his career pivot into cybersecurity as a typically atypical story. He came to Brussels, Belgium from Silicon Valley in 2005 as he was working for a well-known American clothing company based in San Francisco. A few years later he became CISO (Chief Information Security Officer) of a Luxembourg-based bank and is now working as a cybersecurity architect for one of the major banks in Europe.
Find out what Patrick calls "lightning strikes" that converge to make a successful career pivot into cybersecurity. And why the call for more STEM profiles is an incorrect systemic disqualifier that keeps minority groups out of the security field and consequently hinders innovation.
EPISODE #5 Part 1
CWF FORUM ON: GAMIFICATION - A BOOST FOR CYBERSECURITY AWARENESS CAMPAIGNS
How can we level-up cybersecurity awareness campaigns? Could incorporating gaming elements increase their effectiveness and retention? Gamification is a learning technique that uses gaming elements to create a more effective learning experience leading to better understanding and retention. Using these techniques in a corporate context is increasing in popularity-especially for its potential use in preventing cybersecurity incidents. How is it done and what is the most effective way to do it? Could gamification techniques really boost the effectiveness of cybersecurity campaigns? Can using them increase an organisation’s security campaigns?
EPISODE #3
CREATING YOUR PATH AS YOU GO WITH CARMEN CASTELLAR
This is Carmen's story, who was working in accounting and budget control in a major bank in Luxembourg and then pivoted into IT Security Audit without any previous work experience in IT. Her biggest challenge was overcoming her fears of not being taken seriously because of her lack of an IT background. Pivoting into a cybersecurity career is not a bed of roses, she says - but she finds joy and fulfilment in what she does while enjoying working in a dynamic tech field where she finds a lot of opportunity to be creative. She also says career opportunities sometimes appear in forms that might not be what you expected - but her passion for cybersecurity made her try everything that came her way - creating movement and energy through constructive activity.
EPISODE #5 Part 2
CWF FORUM ON: GAMIFICATION - A BOOST FOR CYBERSECURITY AWARENESS CAMPAIGNS
How can we level-up cybersecurity awareness campaigns? Could incorporating gaming elements increase their effectiveness and retention? Gamification is a learning technique that uses gaming elements to create a more effective learning experience leading to better understanding and retention. Using these techniques in a corporate context is increasing in popularity-especially for its potential use in preventing cybersecurity incidents. How is it done and what is the most effective way to do it? Could gamification techniques really boost the effectiveness of cybersecurity campaigns? Can using them increase an organisation’s security campaigns?.
EPISODE #2
USING UNCERTAINTY TO FUEL CHANGE WITH LISSET DIAZ
Change of any kind can be a scary thing. Deciding to make a change requires courage to face uncertainty from so many sides.
Our guest for this podcast episode is no stranger to change. She grew up in Peru, and moved to Barcelona to study Telecommunications Engineering. She moved even further away from home when she accepted an opportunity to work in the Netherlands for a financial-sector organisation. In this episode, she tells us about her current challenge, what kind of advice she would give anyone contemplating a career pivot to cybersecurity, and how the skills she honed in her previous job has helped her add value to her security team.
EPISODE #4
COMPLEXITY, UNIQUE SKILLS AND LEARNING THE LANGUAGE OF TECH WITH CLAUDIA MACEDO
A major cybersecurity incident that happened in 2010 - called Stuxnet, a sophisticated malware, was what kick-started a change in Claudia Macedo’s career path. For Claudia, cybersecurity is a continuous process, not a project. Having an analytical mind, organisational skills, understanding the business, communicating well and learning the language of tech, while staying curious because it is an unending learning process - these are what you need to pivot into cybersecurity. Listen to Claudia’s inspiring story of transitioning into cybersecurity and being passionate about facing the complex challenge of protecting critical infrastructure.
EPISODE #1
EXCELLING AND BREAKING STEREOTYPES WITH AMA SARPONG
After several years of learning and doing, Ama shares with us her experiences, the surprising hurdles, and how she has made this a success. All our experiences are unique, but if you’ve been thinking of changing your career into something completely different but cannot see how it could be made to happen, our premier podcast-guest, Ama Sarpong, has some interesting ideas to share. She graduated from KU Leuven in Cultural Studies, but pivoted professionally and is now working in Cybersecurity as an IAM consultant at a major financial corporation in Brussels. In this episode, she is going to share how it wasn't easy (obviously), some different and unexpected obstacles, but also how the rewards of her hard work and risk were definitely worth it!