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One intern who I met on the Girls in Cybersecurity Convention (WiCyS) will all the time stand out to me as a result of I had a entrance row seat to her profession journey from Cisco intern to an incredible workforce member: Anthea Gonzalez. I’ll admit to the bias of getting #latina, #latinaintech delight, however I even have nostalgia and immense delight for the brand new rent program I helped construct for the Cisco Safety & Belief Group. Through the years it has remained one of many applications the place I get to indicate up probably the most authentically, and it’s typically a reminder that that is the simplest technique to affect change. Being genuine about our id and private dedication can type a robust bridge to serving to us join with others.
Why WiCyS?
I join with the WiCyS mission on a deeply private stage. I contemplate myself many issues: a girl, Latina, immigrant, and extra. WiCyS’ mission to construct a powerful cybersecurity workforce with gender fairness offers me the area to indicate up as a extra genuine and more true model of myself. Balancing identities round being a girl and a girl of colour in a male-dominated subject lends itself to forcing you to choose and select which components of your self to focus on. WiCyS encourages us to interrupt these limiting boundaries and is the safety trade occasion the place I’m most real, and I merely take pleasure in being there.
What’s your largest takeaway from the Girls in Cybersecurity Convention?
My largest takeaway from WiCyS isn’t an merchandise of branded swag or a profound piece of trade knowledge; it’s a individual, Anthea Gonzalez. On the convention you meet and join with all types of girls and allies, however Anthea stands out. With little introduction, she approached me and easily and earnestly said “thanks for present.” In that second, she vocalized one thing I had not completely understood earlier than how essential it’s to seek out one other Latina in cybersecurity and the way essential it’s to undertake the mission of recruitment, retention, and development as a private endeavor.
As our dialog continued, Anthea displayed:
- A drive for cybersecurity – particularly the best way to higher defend the world and the folks round her via forensics and superior safety tooling.
- The power to advocate for her ardour effectively, explaining the complexity of her pursuits in an interesting method.
- Her willingness to discover modern concepts and applied sciences and settle for the position of life-long learner.
From our first dialog on the Girls in Cybersecurity Convention, it was clear to me that Anthea had the talents wanted to tackle the vastness of at present’s menace panorama. I dedicated to advocating for her wherever I may, and in return she offered a perspective that impressed me to place a pointy concentrate on the significance of constructing advocacy and development a private and ongoing endeavor for me.
What impression did which have?
The easy reply? After that WiCyS Convention, we employed her. Anthea joined Cisco as an intern in Cisco’s Safety & Belief Group the summer time after we met. Over the summer time, she was capable of study, work with some extremely clever folks, and make many new pals. Her time at Cisco was so impactful that she was prolonged a proposal and joined us as a full-time worker in 2022. Anthea’s journey in cybersecurity is simply starting, and I’m glad to focus on her worth and empower her at each alternative that I get.
Past Anthea’s success, the expertise actually cemented for me the significance that I present up greatest because the intersection of all my identities. I realized that the simplest method for me to affect change is thru authenticity and private dedication. Making it private is how we bridge alternatives from at present to tomorrow, on the WiCyS Convention and past.
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