Organised by Eskenzi PR in media partnership with the IT Security Guru, the Most Inspiring Women in Cyber Awards aim to shed light on the remarkable women in our industry. The following is a feature on one of 2024’s Ones to Watch winners selected by an esteemed panel of judges. Presented in a Q&A format, the nominee’s answers are written in their own words with minor edits made by the editor for readability and where relevant, supplemented with additional commentary by their nominator.
In 2024, the awards were sponsored by BT, Think Cybersecurity Ltd. and Plexal, with Eskenzi PR, Assured and Women in Cybersecurity UK & Ireland Affiliate as partners.
What does your role entail?
My role includes quite a varied range of things – it’s all about setting the company’s vision, crafting strategies, and steering the us towards our long-term goals, which include creating a more mindful, careful and secure workforce! I also handle relationships with investors, customers, and the media, while also ensuring everything runs smoothly and efficiently. Financial oversight is key too, managing our budgets and performance metrics as well as solving any problems as they come in and making sure the company stays compliant and on track. It’s a role that blends vision, leadership, and hands-on management.
What made you consider a career in cybersecurity? How did you end up in your current role?
I actually fell into cybersecurity accidentally. With The Zensory, our mission has always been about designing and creating tech for good – that has a positive impact and is accessible to all. What we saw in cyber security was a real need to open up the discourse about mental health, as that hasn’t been happening enough and it’s been normalised for people to suffer in silence. What’s been really amazing from the workshops we’ve been delivering, is watching the walls come down in the industry and a more vulnerable, compassionate and supportive culture forming. Also, we observed how mindfulness and the science backed techniques we use reduce amygdala hijacking in the brain (ultimately the fight or flight response) and this shuts down your clear thinking ability. This made us realise that there is a much needed urgency to teach this to people as well as offer people the tools to stay calm in the midst of growing social engineering and more sophisticated attacks. So long story short, we spotted a need and have really advocated to shift towards a more positive culture, education and tools to empower people.
What advice would you give to new starters?
Enjoy the journey – this is the best advice that one of my mentors gave me when starting up my own company. While there will be challenges, highs and lows with anything we do – the journey is really the fun part, and it’s not just about hitting that big goal – it’s about enjoying the learning and growth on the way to the summit.
What’s the biggest misconception about cybersecurity that you’ve found?
Some people imagine the cybersecurity industry to be one where everyone’s wearing hoodies, hidden behind their computers and working in the darkness. However, this is obviously not the case, cybersecurity is such an exciting and dynamic industry, filled with nuanced and thought-provoking challenges that require unity, innovation and creativity to find adequate solutions to the constantly changing threat landscape. I’ve found that so many amazing people I’ve met in the industry have inspiring stories, they are passionate about protecting people and it’s actually an incredible space to be in!
What do you wish you had know when you were starting out in cyber?
Join relevant cybersecurity community groups and find a great mentor! I am a big believer that we really do thrive when we’re around great people – so find others who are passionate about similar topic areas and you can all grow and support one another in your journeys.
