CyberWayFinder Stories

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 cohort and is currently specializing in Cyber Strategy & Risk, being a certified CISSP, SSCP & CCSK.  Sonia has experience with clients across different industries such as : Finance, Energy all the way to Pharmaceutical sector and is always up for a nice challenge whether it is related to Access Control, Business Continuity or Vulnerability Management. Starting her career in cybersecurity in a major consultancy firm, Sonia described herself as a sponge - using active listening skills and observing her colleagues and mentors - absorb and learn as much as she could. She tells us how she overcame impostor syndrome and why life-long learning is necessary for anyone wanting to succeed in the cybersecurity field Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode #9 : Ghariba - 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 focus on her dreams and plans on how to turn them into reality. Being in such an important role as the right-hand of the CISO - she tells us that compassion, curiosity and understanding the needs of others is very important in the practice of cybersecurity.   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode #8 : CWF Founder Series with Jessica Ramos

"Crossing the Globe and Thriving in Europe: A tradition of Strength and Drive in a Male-Dominated World "  This is the third and last part of our CWF Founder Series - featuring one of the mostardent ambassadors of CyberWayFinder's mission - Jessica Ramos, Head ofRegulatory and Oversight Affairs at a major financial market infrastructure inEurope.    Jess has held a number of positions at the Society for Worldwide Interbank FinancialTelecommunication (SWIFT) namely in Oversight Affairs, Legal & Compliance,Finance and as Chief of Staff to the global CEO. At SWIFT she was alsoresponsible for diversity and inclusion initiatives for the business. Shestarted her career as an Associate in Consortium Central America in 2006,focusing on banking, finance and corporate law.    She is a member of the Belgian Company Lawyers Bar, the New York Bar, the HonduranBar and the In-house Competition Lawyers Association. In addition to her LawDegree, Jessica holds an MBA in Finance, an LL.M. in Corporate Law from NewYork University (NYU) and an LL.M. in Competition Law and Economics from theBrussels School of Competition. She has recently been certified in Governance,Risk and Compliance (GRC), Cyber Security for Business Leaders and Social MediaMarketing.    Jessicafounded Mizbiz in 2016, an organisation aiming to connect, inspire and empowerwomen in Belgium. She is a Board Advisor to CyberWayFinder, The Nine and amentor for ConceptionX.  NOTE: Our next "Foundation of Security" career transition cohort starts inMarch 2022. For more info, check out our website at https://www.cyberwayfinder.com/  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode #7 : CWF Founder Series with Rosanna Kurrer

"Finding Meaning and Joy in a New Career: Reinventing Yourself after a long CV Gap"This is the second episode of our 3-part Founder Series, where CWF cofounder Patrick Wheeler interviews Rosanna Kurrer - cofounder and managing director of CyberWayFinder.   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 cities such as Brussels and Luxembourg 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 while at the same time comes with a "market demand" and opportunities, and how she bounced back after a long gap in her CV while creating opportunities for others. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode #6 : CWF Founder Series with Patrick Wheeler

"Scaling Lightning Strikes In Cybersecurity Career Pivots"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.But years before all that - before he made the pivot into security - he was working in the construction and environmental services in California - and was well-known among colleagues as the "alpha-geek" ready to troubleshoot all their IT woes. He points out that at that time everything was a greenfield - having a computer science or STEM background was not a requirement to get into a career in technology.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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.