To any young woman that is considering a job in information security, but is unsure if she'll be able to succeed in this field because it is primarily dominated by men. I would just challenge you to not let that hold you back. Because there are a lot of other fields that are dominated by men, and you will have to face this problem in other areas of expertise. So don't let other people scare you from pursuing something that you're interested in because you feel like you won't fit in. 

2016 NSF
Worked at SunTrust when interviewed

Check out schools that offer information security programs. Explore the classes they offer and try to decide if they seem like classes you'd be interested in. Not all programs are the same—some could be heavy in coding while others are heavy in business. It's important to try to evaluate if you want to pursue more on the technical side or the business side and then look into the schools with programs that align with your interests and values.

I came from a broken home in a struggling community that didn't really see its members go to college and succeed. It instilled a fear of failure in me, but I always used that as motivation to succeed.

I work in a field that is dominated by men. Society also portrays women in this field as awkward and undesirable, but I have first-hand knowledge that that is a myth. I strive to prove people wrong.

I didn't have the financial ability to afford college after high school. I ended up joining the military, which not only gave me a paycheck, but it also gave me the time to figure out what I wanted to do in life.

After becoming disabled in the military, I was honorably discharged and had to transition back into regular life. The transition took some time and could get difficult as I essentially learned how to be me again.

I suffer from a few disabilities and was honorably discharged from the military. One that still affects my current work life is migraines. I sometimes have to struggle through meetings with one. Fortunately, my work teams have all been accommodating.

Senior Cybersecurity Assurance Analyst

Information security is for men and all of the women who work in the field are nerdy and awkward.

Confidence

Societal Pressures

Support & Encouragement

Being A Woman In A Male-Dominated Field

What did you tell yourself when people would like to tell you that you can't do it, or something like how would you deal with that so you didn't believe them so that you kept going and trying to achieve it? &gt;&gt; I mean, I think one of my superpowers is kind of seeing something that I wanna make happen and holding on to it even when it feels big and pretty hard to make happen. And there's something about that that I think is really motivating for me. The way my brain is wired, I'm kind of like, you're telling me I can't do it? I'm doing it, that is just how I respond to that kind of feedback- &gt;&gt; It's like kinda wanna prove them wrong. &gt;&gt; Exactly, exactly, I remember I'm not like a super athlete. And a friend of mine asked me if I would do this bike ride in Massachusetts. It's like a two-day bike ride, it goes about 180 miles. It's a huge physical challenge for me, it's called the Pan-Mass Challenge. And so this friend of mine asked me to do it, and I was like thinking about it. I talked to my husband and I was like, I think I'm gonna do the Pan-Mass Challenge this August. And he was like, this August? You could tell he was thinking like there's no way you can get in shape to do the Pan-Mass Challenge by August. And I was like, yes, this August, I'm doing the Pan-Mass Challenge. &gt;&gt; [LAUGH] &gt;&gt; So it's just something like that triggers for me like I'm actually, yeah, I'm gonna do it. 

Put effort into building your interpersonal, critical thinking, and communication skills while in college. You'll need those skills to navigate the world successfully. As far as majors go, my law degree has given me a lot of opportunities and extra knowledge, but it's not necessary to go to law school to make positive change in the world.

It was a huge expectation in my family that I would go to college and use my education to do something to make the world better. It was never just an option or even a conversation in my family.

I wanted to be a doctor but was discouraged by the difficulty of O-chem. I was taking history at the same time and loved it, so I took that path instead. It worked out because I gained valuable critical thinking skills that have helped a lot.

After law school, I worked at a big law firm but hated it. I felt like I was always on the wrong side of every issue I was working on. When I moved onto a smaller consulting firm, I saw that there are other ways to create change outside of law.

I'm the principal of an organization that works with companies to change their talent practices to be more inclusive of young people who might not have finished college or have gone through other hardships in life. We work to make sure companies aren't overlooking people who could be great employees but don't fit the company's traditional employee profile.

Principal

Negativity

Responding To Negative Feedback With Confidence

Every move I've made, I've always leveraged mentors and coaches. And you get formally assigned mentors and coaches in our environment, but you build relationships outside of that. So I leveraged both, and it was different people probably for every move to a certain extent. And they can't make a decision for you, and that's not what you want them to do. But to help you think through why you're might make that decision, what are the pros or the cons, what are you trying to accomplish. And then there is a little bit of gut and saying, I might not know exactly what the future holds if I go down this path, but I'm interested enough to figure it out. And I'm confident enough to know that if it doesn't work, it's not the end of the world, right? You can make a change and you don't have all of the answers right now and you don't have to unlike where your career is gonna go and what you're gonna be and what you're gonna do. This is not what I would have ever envisioned when I started with the firm, so you just don't know what's gonna come up and what you're gonna end up enjoying in my first move. I thought it back in my mind, I'd go back to client service. I knew that would be an option for me if I needed to pull that trigger. And so understanding and being comfortable with the fact that none of the decisions you made have to be lifelong decisions, it might be. It might be what you decide to do for the remainder of your career, but they don't have to be that. 

Network and get to know people at all levels in this field.

Working in corporate America and balancing my family responsibilities can get hard, but communication is key. I make an effort to really explain to my daughters if I can't be there and try to commit myself fully to them when I am able to be present.

I'm at the head of PwC's hiring across the U.S. and Mexico, from intern to director. That's about 15,000 people per year! I lead a team of about 400 people doing on-the-ground recruitment. I work closely with U.S. firm leadership, faculty relationship partners, market leaders, and recruitment teams to design and execute our recruitment strategy. I build sustainable competitive advantage in attracting top talent through recruiting programs, social and digital media, and brand-setting activities.

U.S. Recruitment Leader

Work should be your main priority if you want to be successful.

Choices

Talk To Mentors And Trust Your Gut

Every milestone, take a step back and live in that moment. No matter how big or how small it maybe, but every win is still a win. So when you reach a new milestone, take it in and recognize that means that you are better than you were. Like you have something to offer, you are a value. You are there for a reason, they hired you for a reason so you have something to offer. And just standing in there confidence and realizing like you bring something to the table just like everyone else does. As long as you're working hard for it, continue to do your research to stay on top of things, like I know. You can find yourself in so many different industries. I've worked with not just the banking and capital markets industry, but I've worked with our wealth and asset management industry and our insurance industry. I was only able to work in those different industries because I continue to learn, I continue to grow. I continue to be a sponge. Whatever learning opportunities came up in the firm, I was jumping on it to learn something new. So from there I had something to offer, to bring to the table. And I continue to make myself an invaluable asset. And so once you do that, just stand in that confidence and know that all the preparations that you've done and everything that you've done to get here, it's gonna pay off and as long as you prepare for it you will be okay. 

Network, network, network! Talk to as many people as possible in the field to get an idea of whether or not this is really something you want to do for a living. Also, by networking, you may meet someone who can help you get into a company you are interested in working for.

I grew up in foster care and moved from house to house since age four. It was challenging but I was determined to work towards my goals and not become another statistic.

Growing up in foster care, money was always an issue. One reason I chose to pursue accounting is because it will always lead to stable jobs no matter how bad the economy is. I practice financial discipline so I’m never struggling financially again.

It's easy to fall into the mindset that I'm going to fail because of my past and the nature of my industry, but I work hard to maintain positive self talk. I also go to therapy to help me deal with my past in a healthy way.

A typical day for me means meeting with my clients for updates on how the projects are going and evaluating if there is anything we could do better. I work with my team to figure out how to meet clients' needs. Some days, I'll take a call internally to learn something new at work.

FSO Financial and Accounting Advisory Services Senior

You're not good enough and you should give up on your dreams.

Pride

Be Confident In Your Accomplishments And Keep Learning

You jump from one industry to another. Has there ever been a time in your career where you were afraid to make that jump? And if you were, how did you manage that? &gt;&gt; Yeah, every time. Every time you're afraid until you gain some critical mass and you kind of show yourself, well, I've took this step, and I went from auditing a higher education client to auditing some manufacturing company. I took that step, so, if I can take that step, then I can take this other step. So it's, kind of, building that critical mass and building that confidence in yourself. And the AICPA, The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, they have really good resources by industry in their industry manuals. If you're hopping into a different industry, whether it be an audit or whether you're looking at it from a career perspective, read that manual cover to cover and you'll gain a lot of insight into the kind of the key things in those industries. Another thing that's very important is you need to start building your library. If you are thinking about an industry, get the AICPA guide on it. Buy a legal book on it, and then any economic reports you can get on it. So a lot of those are free. If you kind of look at those three things, you understand how the legal framework works, how they recognize revenue, and then what's going on in the industry. Pretty good step ahead. 

The best way to pursue a career in accounting is to get a degree in accounting from an AACSB accredited university.

My dad worked in maintenance and repaired appliances on the side. He taught me how to work and I didn't really have an urgency to go to college beyond getting my AA. I received advice later on that pushed me to go to college for accounting.

I got my HVAC certification and was working in that field. I went to college for accounting and thought I'd get my degree and go back to HVAC until I got an offer from a Big Four company that set me on the corporate accounting path.

On most days, my typical responsibilities include coaching and cheering for my team, interfacing with other teams and leaders, and reviewing and interpreting accounting guidance and financial information.

Vice President, Finance & Corporate Controller

You shouldn't leave home to go away for school.

Fear

Gaining Knowledge In A New Industry As An Accountant

How did you I guess determine like, okay I'm ready to jump back into the accounting, like going back from [INAUDIBLE] Jumping back &gt;&gt; Yeah. &gt;&gt; Into the accounting field. &gt;&gt; I think of all the transitions I've had that was the hardest thing, because we spent so many sleepless nights working on prototypes and meeting with people and that it doesn't work out. But, I think I spent a month just trying to figure out what next. I knew some of the things I loved, right? I could either go back and work in accounting or finance or I could try to continue working in fashion. And so at the time when we realized for sure that Neiman Marcus or whoever was not gonna buy our brand, I had to kinda gain my own confidence back, I had to tell myself almost daily, you're not a failure, you're not, and it took some time. It took me reminding myself of all the things that I was doing right on a daily basis, to have the confidence to even trust myself to make big decisions, cuz I felt like, I left a pretty nice big four job to go do this and it didn't work out. People thought I was crazy, cuz I had tons of friends who wanted the same opportunities that I had but I wanted to do something different. So I came here and all of these was brand new to me, I had no idea what happens with artists and tickets and I'd been to a few concerts, I love music. But the back end of it, the accounting and the finance of it, I had no clue. And so, me coming in here knowing that I have nothing to lose but to just keep trying every day. My first year I just said, you can do this, like yeah, every day just learn more, try more, ask more questions. My career has been kind of like a lot of movement, but I learned so much from that. I learned that failing is not the end of you, look at me today like I, it's almost like we talk about it and we laugh now. But it taught me that you can always try again, you can always re-invent, you can always go for the next thing that you want. 

Networking is everything. Once you know what niche you want to work in, figure out where that industry is booming. Then reach out, make connections, and network to make sure people know your name, talent, and experience. If you’re applying for a job and you’ve made a connection with someone at the company who can vouch for your ability to get the job done well, it’s a lot easier for the hiring manager to pull your application out of the hundreds of others they receive.

I grew up in Ghana and came to the U.S. when I was 16 as part of an exchange program. It was a huge culture shock and I got homesick often. I felt a lot better when I moved to Houston because of the diversity.

I left accounting to start a clothing line but it didn't work out. I was also working at Nordstrom as a manager at the time. Even though the career change didn't work out, I gained analysis skills as a manager that I use as an internal auditor today.

I’m assigned specific projects and lead a team to audit those projects. I set up meetings with the companies I’m working with to understand their processes and perform tests on those processes. When I’m done testing, I’ll issue a report to the company and then discuss improvements with them. Sometimes, that means traveling to festivals and shows to make sure they’re compliant.

Internal Audit Manager

Failure

Regaining Confidence After Experiencing Failure

What was your support system throughout all of your high school, elementary school and then college and then now your career? &gt;&gt; People often telling me that you seem so confident and I've been reflecting on that recently. And I had a grandmother who, and yey for the grandmothers who are like speaking power into you. And leaning in and whispering in your ear you're amazing, you're exceptional, you're fantastic. And when you have that, it does give you a level of confidence that everything is possible and available to you, and so I did have that level of support. 

Dispense with the notion of the dream school and start thinking about the dream experience. If you think about it that way, then you can't fail. Not getting into a particular program is no longer a failure. You've actually opened up a broader set of options for yourself that way.

I put a lot of pressure on myself to achieve success for my whole family. The best advice I've received is to run your own race and find success for yourself because your idea of success will be different than the ideas of others.

I internalized pressure from my family about what I should do regarding college. I was over-engineering my life to be perfect. If I had realized earlier that that's what was happening, I might have pivoted to something I was passionate about earlier.

I'm in charge of strategic partnerships and external engagement, so my days involve a lot of meetings, partnership pitches, and communications. I manage whatever strategic initiatives we have going on, which also involves a lot of communications through email, phone calls, meetings, and the like. I may also be working on an upcoming motivational speech or scheduling a public speaking event.

Senior Vice President

You have to do things a certain way and there's no room for risk.

My Support System

As a black woman, certainly, the typical answers would vary. Have you faced obstacles related to race or gender or both or as a person who grew up with less. I don't consider myself who haven't grown up poor, cuz I know what poverty looks like. But we certainly grew up with less and I don't think that those things were necessarily obstacles. I think of them as inconveniences sometimes. It can be inconvenient and challenging, but they're not necessarily. I didn't look at them as obstacles. Rather, I think they gave me a level of comfort with myself, a level of feeling empowered, to advocate for myself, to push in, where I needed to push in, a comfort level of being the only one sometimes. And there are gonna be times and instances where you're the only one. You're the only person of color. You're the only woman. You're the youngest in the group, right? Because my career moved at a pretty quick pace by virtue of the company that I was working for at the time. They would give you a lot of responsibility. You would move really quickly, so it was not uncommon that I would be the youngest in the group. So I think that having that inside or outsider status actually made me a bit tougher and gave me a perseverance and a grit that actually continues to serve me today 

Confidence

Being A Woman In A Male-Dominated Field

Diana Graham Dudas

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