A letter to WiCys, Women in Cybersecurity

Dear Lynn,

I was delighted to be chosen to present at the recent National Conference for Women in Cybersecurity and be given the opportunity to present my methodology, a woman’s methodology, for Integrated Risk Management. The icing on the cake for me was to be presenting alongside Tauna WIlliams and have more than 160 attendees at my session. This was my first time attending this event and I was certainly curious and excited to attend an event focused on women, leadership and cybersecurity. It was so much more than I expected, so I wanted to share this open-letter to thank and congratulate the entire WiCys team for an invaluable experience.. I was thrilled to discover that the conference was sold out. It was also immediately obvious how well supported the event was with major sponsors - an aside “thank you” here for the amazing “swag bag” we received for attending the conference! I am so used to working in an entirely male environment, so this was demonstrative, for me, of how the GRC/Cybersecurity industry is changing. I am proud to be a female CEO and Founder of a GRC SaaS company, and I am so excited to see so many women and minorities joining me in the field, and supported by groups like WiCys. This was a content rich, education-focused conference, chock-full of subject matter experts and experienced practitioners. Sales certainly had its place in other conferences, but at this WiCys event, the bent was towards Education, knowledge sharing and partnerships in both the human and professional sense. Everyone had a smile on their face and it was clear they really enjoyed being in the beautiful Gaylord Rockies location - hailing from Houston and now based in Silicon Valley, I don’t get to see the snow that often, so an added bonus for me! The vibe and energy was unlike any other conference I've ever been to before. This was refreshingly not the typical chest-beaters and “booth babes” experience (not the 1980s anymore!)! This was a nurturing, inclusive, supportive environment, where women were excited to seek out each other, have conversations, share knowledge, career support, and bring forward ideas to foster growth of the individual, people partnerships, business partnerships and mutual success. In conclusion, it is so clear that WiCys celebrates a culture of inclusivity and empowerment. I say this from a cultural diversity standpoint, from an industry standpoint, and, from a professional standpoint, with every role and responsibility represented from CEO’s product experts like me, to professional service providers like Tauna, amazingly talented engineers, risk and compliance practitioners, GRC experts, and women just beginning the GRC journey. I hope everyone came away feeling like me, that I made an impact at the conference. Thank you WiCys and I am already looking forward to next year! 

Sincerely,

Lily