The basics of cybersecurity are founded on the same skills that malicious hackers have. A pen test, or penetration test, is how a cyber security professional, aka a white hat, will test a company’s cyber security and expose weak points. The goal is that a white hat will find your company’s cyber vulnerabilities before a malicious hacker, or black hat, does. The benefit of investing in a cybersecurity team before you get hacked can’t be overstated, especially for non-profits. They have become big targets for hackers who are stealing credit card info and testing if the card works by making small donations to nonprofits. Once those charges are reported as fraudulent to the bank and the funds are clawed back, the non-profit is up a creek for donations that they thought were legitimate.

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The main issues that WSC and BGH address are that there aren’t enough technical women in cybersecurity and that there aren’t enough women in leadership roles specifically. They are training women to be qualified in both of these areas. They give folks the opportunities to lead, plan events, speak, and be in the roles that will teach them those exact skills. The financial barriers to entry are also an area that these organizations are focused on. The tests and certifications required for working at a professional level in cybersecurity can cost hundreds or thousands of dollars. By getting deeply discounted vouchers for these certifications, they are lowering the barrier for more women to work in the field.

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When Mike asked Mari and Tennisha why they spend their energy and time working in their nonprofits when they could easily only work in the for profit sector of their industries, they told him that it matters more that they bring their people with them than that they succeed on their own. It feels well worth it to give back, even with just a small stipend as compensation. 

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“I don’t think it’s good enough that I take over the world myself. I think it’s a lot bigger flex that I not only take over the world but that I bring my closest thousand friends with me.”

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Even though working full time in the nonprofit sector is appealing to them, they want to keep their skills honed by working on for profit clients as well. They realize they are doing work for free that they would be ridiculously compensated for in the for profit sector. However, when they present their work as nonprofit work, it’s not respected for what it really entails.

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“Both of us do what we do because there were people who said that we couldn’t. There were people who thought that we weren’t qualified.”

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Both Mari and Tennisha noted the disparities in hiring women and people of color in the cyber sector. Unless it’s a PR issue, Black History Month, or some other kind of special occasion, there still isn’t a big demand for diversity, equity, and inclusion in the industry. This disparity fuels their missions even further. They have found that going through the side door, through their relationships, to secure jobs or donations is much more effective than going through the front door and being judged for their gender or race. To see a growing interest for women to work in STEM and cybersecurity is their motivation to keep going. It’s also motivating for them to become the best in their business because as they pointed out, most high profile Black Americans work in entertainment, not cybersecurity. They want to be the visible people in their space that show what is possible for their community.

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Tennisha grew up in DC and had access to books, only while at school, but no computers. She witnessed the income disparities in her school and when she got to college the computer systems available for learning were models now considered archaic. Tennisha has gone on to get 5 masters degrees, but she admits not all those grad schools wanted her to be there. Now she is working in the world of income disparity as a Black woman. Her parents instilled in her the value of being more qualified than everyone around her and that is what she respects in Mari’s credentials as well. Their shared vision of increasing representation for women and people of color in the cybersecurity industry is their version of world domination and they are making strong headway.

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