Career Notes

Lauren Van Wazer: You have to be your own North Star. [CISSP]

Lauren Van Wazer, Vice President, Global Public Policy and Regulatory Affairs for Akamai Technologies, shares her story as she followed her own North Star and landed where she is today. She describes her career path, highlighting how she went from working at AT&T to being able to work in the White House. She shares how she is a coach and a leader to the team she works with now, saying "my view is I've got their back, if they make a mistake, it's my mistake, and if they do well, they've done well." Lauren hopes she's made an impact in the world by making it a little bit better than before, and discusses how she doesn't let anyone stop her from her goals. Lauren shares her outlook on her experiences, calling attention to different roles in her life that made her journey all the better. We thank Lauren for sharing.

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Deepen Desai: A doctor in computer viruses. [CISO]

Deepen Desai, Global Chief Information Security Officer at Zscaler, shares his story as a doctor that treats computer viruses. He describes how he got into the security field and his work with Zscaler. He says what it's like learning and growing in this field and shares great advice for people who are up and coming in the field. Deepen describes working with an incredible team and how much joy it brings him to see his team learning and growing beyond their roles working with him. He says he want's to be remembered as a mentor among his colleagues. He says "I still remember my first team that I built, 15 years ago. Most of those guys are leading key technologies at many of the major security vendors, and some of them are still with me." We thank Deepen for sharing his story.

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Laura Hoffner: Setting your sights high. [Intelligence]

Laura Hoffner, Executive Vice President at Concentric, shares her story about her time working as a Naval Intelligence Officer and supporting special operations around the globe for 12 years, to now, where she transitioned to the Naval Reserves and joined the Concentric team. Laura has known since she was in the seventh grade that she wanted to work with SEALs and work in intelligence, so she set her goals high and achieved them shortly after graduating college. She credits being a Naval Intelligence Officer to helping her get to where she is today and says how much she is enjoying working with Concentric, saying she's "ultimately just incredibly benefiting from unbelievable mentors at the company itself." We thank Laura for sharing her story.

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Michael Scott: A team of humble intellects. [Information security]

Chief Information Security Officer at Immuta, Michael Scott shares his story from working at a forgotten internet service provider to leading the security fight for major food chain restaurants. Michael explains how the different roles at various companies he has worked with paved his way to where he is now at Immuta. He works with a group of colleagues and he leads in a different style, describing that "It really is just a collection of a lot of, we call humble intellects" working with him. Michael attributes adversity to being a cornerstone of existence in the security community, and explains how that helps him keep up the fight. We thank Michael for sharing his story with us.

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Charity Wright: Pursue what you love. [Threat intelligence]

Threat intelligence analyst at Recorded Future, Charity Wright, shares her story from the army to her career today. Transitioning from the army to cybersecurity was an exciting change for her. During college she was recruited by the U.S. army where she started her journey and learned new skills paving her pathway to threat intelligence where she is now. She shares that she works with a great team of junior analysts who are constantly checking each others' biases which helps keep Charity grounded in her work. Charity spends her days keeping an eye on threats around the world where she says there is never a dull day in her line of work. We thank Charity for sharing her story with us.

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