 and the Think Tech Hawaii studios for another exciting episode of Security Matters. This is one I've been waiting to get out to you for a little while. I'm very happy to have a bunch of axioms with me today from Access Communications. We've got a couple of our Women in Security Forum Scholarship Award winners with us today. We've got Elaine Palome who was instrumental in helping us drive the scholarship program this year. And really before we get started, want to give a big shout out to Access for being the lead sponsor of this program. It was a brand new program. It came up very quickly. And we are all very happy with the success of it this year and looking forward to greater and greater things next year. So I'll do some intro's real quick, real quickly, Elaine Palome is with us today. Antoinette King is with us today and Carrie Severlin is with us today. And Antoinette and King are our awardees. So I'll go there first. And Carrie, you've not been on yet. So we'll start with you today. I'll put you right on the spot. Just give us your history, a little bit about how long you've been in the industry. You know, what you care to share. Don't give everything away on social media these days. You know, we've got to protect ourselves a little bit. But whatever you care to share, let our audience get to know you. Thank you. Yeah, of course. Thank you, Andrew, for having me on the show. I'm really excited to be here. Even though Antoinette and Elaine has been here multiple times, it seems like. It's my first. So really glad to be here. So I am Carrie Severlin. I am the HR business partner for Access Communications. I actually work on Elaine Palome's team. So she is my boss. She is fantastic, as everybody I'm sure already knows. I've been with Access since 2017. And it was my first entry, if you will, into the security industry. Kind of fell into the company after looking for an organization that does align with my values that does offer different types of benefits to their employees as far as learning and development and really extending more than just your basic HR role. And that's what Elaine has brought me and Access overall. Previous to that, I did work for a few tech companies, but nothing specific, security. So I feel like it's time to be here. Awesome, thank you. Yeah, I love it that you chased down the values that you had. That's a super important piece of the Access community, I know. Antoinette, you've been on, but give us your... What's going on with you and a little bit of your history for whoever may have missed you. You've blown up in social media this year. So share a little bit out there anyway for us. Thank you. Thank you so much, Andrew. It's always a pleasure and a joy to be with you and have conversation. I'm Antoinette King. I am a key account manager with Access Communications based out of the Northeast. I've been in the security industry for 21 years already and I started out in the integration side as a technician, believe it or not. So I kind of went through the ranks of all different roles within the integration side. And three and a half years ago, Access knocked on my door and of course you have to answer when Access knocks, but it's kind of the pinnacle of your career, right? So here I am. I started out as a regional sales manager and RSM and then moved over to key accounts and it's an amazing place to work for. And again, as Carrie mentioned, the culture here is not something that you can replicate or emulate by reading a book, right? It's something that's visceral and it's just an amazing company to be a part of. Awesome. Maybe Elaine created it all. Let's see. We'll hear from Elaine next. So Elaine, there's a lot of pressure here for this culture that's so amazing that everyone's sought out. Anyway, give us a little bit of your viola for those who may not know you and bring us up to speed with Access. Andrew, thank you again for asking us to be a part of your program today. And yes, I did want to speak just for a few minutes about the Access culture. Before the show began, we talked a little bit about the fact that my team covers everybody from Canada to Argentina and all of the countries in between being the head of human resources. What's interesting is that no matter where you are in the world and we have many, many locations throughout the world, you can always tell that you're in an Access office, even if you close your eyes and just listen, because the culture is that strong within our offices. So yes, it is an important aspect of who we are and what we do and is Antoinette measured. It's our competitive advantage and certainly not anything anybody else can copy. One thing that is important about our culture and it sort of relates to our topic today and that is that we believe in being a diverse organization and have worked very hard over the last couple of years to increase the number of women in our ranks. And I was very thrilled to be asked to help form the Women in Security Committee through SEA and even more so thrilled that we were able to launch this very important scholarship program this year. So thank you. No worries. Was the diversity program as pronounced? I mean, Access has always been big. So you came there 12 years ago. Was it, I mean, with a global company, I think they were global even then, right? So how's that mix up? I mean, has it always been fairly diverse? I would just think so just from being global. Well, it's certainly been diverse in terms of the number of countries that people that we have and the number of countries that we represent. But if you look at any one Access office, that particular office has not always been the most diverse and where we've really struggled is having an equal balance between men and women. So there are approximately 50% men in the world and 50% women and logic would tell you that your organization should be representative of that fact. And in reality, we are largely in a male dominated industry, which is no news for anybody. When I joined Access five years ago, we were 75% men and 25% women. And it really felt that we needed to do something about that. Access has been incredibly good to me as a human, as a person. And for me, the way to give back to Access was to have some efforts and have some focus and be involved in making us a more diverse organization. It takes years and years to make change. But I'm happy to say that over 33% of the women that we've hired this year and promoted this year have been women. So we are moving the needle in the right direction, I guess. That's awesome. And Carrie, you mentioned that when you came to Access, you found a home, a company that sort of represented the values that you were seeking to work for. And obviously, you had probably interviewed with Elaine, so you could tell she was amazing right off the bat. Talk just a little bit about what you saw there compared to what else maybe you were looking at out in the market at the time. Yeah, absolutely. So one of the things that was really important to me was really following through on your promises during that recruitment candidate half cycle. And what was important for me a lot of the time was the team environment, that teamwork, but also your own individual growth and learning and development. And Access is really amazing because they offer so many opportunities outside of just your one role, your one project. You're able to do endless things and you can stop me if I get way too off topic, but they offer wish and reimbursement is one thing. They offer exchange programs. So you can literally join another team for a short period of time or a long period of time, travel to another country pre-COVID and spend some time working in a new environment and culture in a different role or even a similar role, depending on what that exchange actually is. They offer professional membership reimbursements. They offer 24 hours really of any type of development that you want to work on. And you can always of course work with your amazing managers that Access has and really put a path in place for you to be the best that you can be. So that was really, really important to me. And Elaine and I had talked during my recruitment process about what this position was and what I really wanted to get out of it. And it has held up so far and I don't see it going anywhere anytime soon. That's really great. That's awesome. I think I see a Hawaii office for Access in the future. Maybe you know that. You're more welcome. Fred Rico will probably kill me for bringing that up. That's a, we have a rep that comes always from the usually Southern California, I think from Access is how we get handled in Hawaii. But when they find out how much of a market is actually here, you know, we can maybe influence that a little bit. But you got three volunteers to staff your office, right? Yeah, right. Absolutely. And Antoinette, so you've been there, I moved around a little bit, I know that the field, there's oftentimes a lot of men in the field, a lot of men in the sales area. And what you're feeling about the diversity, the effort that Elaine brought up, is it changing? Are you seeing change? Are you working with more women out there in the field in our industry specifically? Yeah, so this year has been a year of change for me in terms of my network. And it really has blown up. I feel like there's a fundamental shift in our industry right now. And it's being driven a lot by men like you that support what we're doing and support the initiative. Absolutely, I'm seeing more and more women having the courage, especially young professionals, I'm just so enamored by this younger generation. They have a drive and they have just a courage to step out and do things that are new and step out of their comfort zone. When I was younger and I was in the field and I was a technician, I kind of wanted to blend in, right? I didn't want to stand out. I just wanted to do my job. And it was a big deal that a woman was on, with work boots and a ladder and a tool belt. I didn't have women to look to. I didn't have role models. And I'm just seeing more and more now that there's an increase in younger women in our industry. I'm super excited to be able to talk to them about my experience, but learn from them and learn the courage and the things that they're doing in order to drive these changes. It's super, super exciting. I really hope that the role that the Women's Security Forum can play in helping those discussions, help the companies that don't really necessarily know how, maybe they're male-led, male-owned, and they don't know how to start these conversations to diversify their work force. I'm hoping we can be sort of a lead with our organization in that way. Elaine, what do you think, maybe one of the more impactful things that our Women's Treaty Forum can do for those organizations that are struggling to build a diversity program? Well, that's a really good question. And I get asked that question a lot. And a lot of the literature that you read will tell you that diversity needs to come from the top down. And I can see the utility of that, but I also can tell you that it can grow from the bottom up as well. It can start even within your own function or your own department, looking across your own sphere of influence and saying, okay, what is the balance I have now between ethnic minorities and white people or between men and women? And what can I personally do to better balance out my department? And it isn't just a nice to have anymore. It's a business imperative for us to have more diverse organizations. The talent pool, as I'm sure anybody will tell you, is really small right now. And we need to be able to attract any and all people to be able to have the right people and the right jobs at the right time. So I guess my advice is don't worry about getting started or having executive support. Just get started. Get started with your own organization and make it a grassroots effort. Yeah, Hawaii doesn't sort of have that problem. It's a super diverse culture here. And so our hires are multi-ethnic, you know, and we have, I think our lead engineers are women. Our, obviously our presidents are women, my boss. And our lead technician is a woman. We have our service desk, our service manager is a woman. So it's, and I don't know if that's because of Christine's leadership per se, but these were just the people that were excel, excellent at the top in Hawaii where we don't have a large really pool of people to pick from. Do you- Can I give you a hint as to why this is true? So you have a woman who's the head of your organization. That means a lot right there. It makes a very strong statement up front when you have more women in leadership positions. And it gives other women in your organization more courage to apply to move up into those leadership roles. So I would, you know, I'm not saying that's the answer for everybody, but if we can get more women in leadership positions, it encourages other women to stretch for those positions as well. Yeah, it's interesting how few security organizations, rather it's the manufacturers, you know, there's Eddie, there's a few manufacturers that are owned by women. There's a couple of integration firms, I know of that are woman owned, but there's just not that many. And so that's a thing we've got to work on. Maybe we need this next generation to start some of these companies, right? If there's not a friendlier organization to, or industry to get started in. There's a lot of room, I think, within the security industry to grow and to learn and to build a company of your own. Maybe that's what it's gonna take in some of these cases. A lot of these other firms are sort of entrenched in their ways. They've been around, you know, 100 years or whatever. So I'm not sure what it's gonna take for them to learn. But I sure hope our women's security forum can be a big piece of that. Kerry, from your perspective, what you've seen in the industry, I'm not sure if you've been after a lot of the trade shows or how you've interacted with the other elements of the industry. But what's your take on our trending? Is it reflecting what Antoinette's saying? Are you seeing more women and more diversity? And are the younger people, are they pleased with what they're seeing or do we need to do more? Yeah, and I think overall there has been a major shift in discussing and seeing more women. I'm not sure if the diversity is actually there. I think it's gonna take quite some time to get to that 50-50 that Elaine had mentioned earlier. But I think that the discussions are there. The conversations are happening. People are becoming more aware, gaining more knowledge of the benefits of having that diverse group of that 50-50 split that it's gonna happen. It's slowly happening. So I'm not sure the numbers are there quite yet, but the conversations are. I'll also make a point that diversity is really important in the numbers and that representation piece. But inclusion is a whole other topic. Just going back to some of those values that I had mentioned before. I mean, Axis does an amazing job making sure that inclusion piece is happening in that teamwork, that team orientation, making sure everyone is failing a part of the group. So inclusion is more of that sense of belonging. And you really can't have diversity if you don't have that inclusion piece. I know Antoinette mentioned she started, she was the only female with the tool belt and that she probably was hiding in the corner because she didn't necessarily feel belonging. Antoinette, I don't wanna speak for you by any means. Since I don't belong here, I'm different. Why, what am I doing? I'm gonna go hide and do my job and go home. Whereas if you have that inclusion piece, you have that feeling of belonging, you're more apt to speak up, show what you're worth. And I think that's why Elaine had also mentioned that having that female woman CEO opens up doors because you have that sense of, oh, I can do that too, I can get there. Awesome, I love that comment. So Antoinette has access worked on any of some like virtual inclusivity things. I know a lot of companies have had happy hours and things like that. Have you been a part of that? Is that, has access reached out virtually to its members, or to its- Oh yeah, yeah, I mean- Yeah, it's, go ahead. Access is one big love fest. I think, when all of this happened and our entire world turned upside down, the priority and what I felt, this is my experience, but the priority from our management team was, is everybody okay? Like they wanted to make sure that the employees were feeling okay mentally, right? Physically, emotionally, there were the virtual Avengers, like we literally have an entire team channel just to talk about different things, having nothing to do with your job, right? Having nothing to do with how many widgets did you sell today? It's show me something that you did today to make yourself feel good. Talk about what you're cooking. Everybody's cooking at home now. There's a channel for that. So I think that, again, going back to that culture and I keep beating a dead horse, but it truly speaks to the importance of the human element of business, right? And if we continue to go down this path, we're only going to get better and we're only going to attract more talent. And I think what Elaine said was so poignant about the fact that you're attracted to things that are like you, right? If I see a woman in a particular environment that's maybe something I want to aspire to, absolutely I'm going to work a little bit harder because I'm going to feel like, well, she did it, I did it. And that's another reason why I've been really vocal on social media lately and putting my face out there. I reach out to younger women in the industry, let's get together, let's have coffee, let's do, it's so important for me to have younger people be attracted to our industry because it's exciting and fun and we want them to be here. And that's the key, attracting talent from other industries because we're a cool industry, we're still a tech industry and we are inclusive and Axis does a tremendous job at that. And in terms of the virtual things, we didn't skip a beat as an organization at making sure that we're keeping that diversity and inclusion messaging going. Regardless of whether or not we're gathering in groups, there are constant perpetual online trainings and calls and whatever, just all around this diversity and inclusion messaging. Cool, so have you met new people because of the virtual forums that happened internally? Did you find, like I saw some groups were doing like musical things and some were doing artistic things and showing off their balancing skills or whatever. Have you learned some new things about people that you didn't know that were, made the light shine brighter on them? Absolutely, I'm part of the CAM organization. We're a global organization with an Axis and we do a CAMtastic happy hour and we do an AMIA version and an APAC version. So one of them, when it's APAC, they drink coffee, we're drinking booze, but we still, I've never had the opportunity. And Elaine, I mean, I don't even think that we would have thought to do stuff like that, right? Like the company's been in business since 84, but we've never, and the technology's always been there but we just never thought to do that. And that's exciting to me. Just being able to connect with my colleagues across the globe, it just makes it feel more like a family. That's awesome. Yeah, the, I know last year in New York at S&G, Chelsea Render told me that diversity is getting invited to the dance hall and inclusivity is getting invited onto the floor. It sounds like at Axis, everybody's out on the dance floor having a coffee party, let's just call it that. Depends on what country and what time. So, Jeremy, have you been able to participate in some of that as well? Yeah, you know, probably not as involved as Antoinette has been in the past, but solely getting myself out there. I've recently done some virtual events, webinars for SIA, just to educate some of our industry folks on bias training and different barriers to diversity and inclusion, but I'm not definitely out there quite yet as much as Antoinette. Awesome. Elaine, what do you see that these platforms have given us that we, you know, to Antoinette's point, we didn't even think about maybe a year ago? Yeah, so, you know, it's funny, I was talking with my team, I think a lot of the practices that we've adopted to help us get through COVID are gonna live on. If there's one, you know, silver cloud to the COVID, we're civil lining to the COVID cloud, it's that we have found better ways and frankly, deeper, more meaningful ways to communicate. So as an example, I meet with my team twice a week in the morning for a half hour coffee, a very traditional Swedish coffee break, it's called a Fika, where you have a coffee and a sweet roll and you get together and you talk about everything other than business. And I've learned more about the people on my team during the period of COVID than I have known in the previous four years and shame on me for not having recognized that sooner. If there's anything that I can say that the COVID has taught me, it is to manage it with the heart and with the head and that in times of strife and difficulty, managing with the heart is actually more important many times than managing with the head. We can always create schedules and parse out work and keep tabs on employees, that stuff is easy. But when you really spend time with people and get to know how they're feeling and what they're suffering with and their anxiety and their fears and the uncertainty and just being with them when they're going through that, that means so much more. And that's what keeps employees at companies these days. It's not the other stuff, it's the caring part. 100%. So let's talk a little bit about that anxiety just a minute. I wanna talk about this application process for the scholarship. I have brought this up. I've had nearly half of our awardees on yet. Carrie, from your perspective, when you thought about, hey, I'm gonna apply and maybe you've applied for other scholarships. I don't know, how was that experience for you? Yeah, no, it was an interesting experience because I don't know if I think there's a lot of other people that would probably follow in my shoes where you have a little bit of that imposter syndrome where you start to read the application and all the requirements and you're like, ooh, I don't know if I have all of the competencies that they're looking for in the background or I'm an HR, I'm not sure this applies to folks in HR. So definitely had that moment of pause where I'm not sure if I should even bother, am I really good enough to receive it? Obviously, I'm putting in the effort. Really glad I did. Really honored to be one of the recipients but there's always that moment of pause and I think that's somewhat typical of females and women in general. They actually say even when applying for a job, you won't if you don't meet 90% of the qualifications give or take whereas males on the other hand meet 60% male like okay, we'll give it a try. So even not only for a job but even on these different types of scholarship and applications, I think as females we face a little bit of that barriers that we create for ourselves. So really glad that I obviously moved forward and moved through a little bit of my anxiety and questions that I've received. That is awesome, me too. Answer that for yourself. I happen to know you're buttoning up a master's degree so and we were able to give scholarships to help cover existing school loans as well. So that was a nice feature I thought of our program this year. For yourself, the application process, how was that I'm sure you're writing all the time if you're doing master's work. So, but tell us what it was like for you to go through that experience. Yeah, so I love to write and anybody who knows me knows that. What I loved about this process was the questions that were asked on the application process were very difficult questions that really made me sit and think about what I can do with the education that I have to contribute back to this industry. And I loved the idea that they were challenging questions because it wasn't a check the box process. You really had to think about what it was that the scholarship meant and what you're going to do to try to contribute and give back, right? And I loved that kind of that recycling of the kindness. We're gonna give this to you to help you do better. What are you gonna do to give back to the community and specifically to women in our community? And that was amazing. And it made me want it even more because it makes me wanna drive and be better and be a good example. And this scholarship has provided an opportunity for women in our industry to better themselves so that they can take those other job, like Carrie was saying, the job description where you don't think that you meet the qualifications. It's giving women the opportunity to meet those expectations and to feel accomplished. And it was an amazing experience. Awesome, yeah. And it's open to men, although none applied. You know what I mean? So Elaine wasn't allowed to grade these two because they're in the same company. So she got to grade other awardee applications. But Elaine, how was that grading process? I think some of the interviews I've had with some of the awardees, they really put a lot into it. So I imagine it was difficult to split hairs. It was difficult, but I have to tell you it was fun and it was rewarding. So I set aside a whole Sunday afternoon to review the applications. And I have to say I really, really enjoyed reading them. It was clear that a lot of effort had been put into it. I love the question about who's your role model and reading different people's answers. People that I would not have necessarily thought of as role models. So it was really gratifying. I loved being a part of the process and I look forward to doing it again next year. Awesome, but we're getting down close. What, let's go around for final advice for women, anyone in the industry that you wanna give some advice to about our Women in Security Forum. Apply, go for it, put yourself out there. It, it can hurt. Awesome, Carrie? Yeah, she stole what I was gonna say. Absolutely, go for it. Even if you're questioning or have any doubt, self-doubt. And also reach out to other folks and really build your network and ask questions to help yourself grow and help get over any concerns or questions that you might have to move forward or that you're maybe doubting yourself. Really give them a little, they can give you a little push rather. So any benefit moving forward with these different scholarships, different events, it's worth it, go for it. Awesome, Elaine, final thoughts? Yeah, one final thought. So a lot of people come to me and say, hey Elaine, how can I get management experience when I don't have the management role? Well, this is a way to get management experiences to join an industry association group, network with others, possibly serve in an officer or a board level position. That's a great way to beef up your resume when you don't have any job-related management experience. So come join us. Yes, join us, the Women in Security Forum, join Axis, join our industry. Come and check us out, everybody. I really appreciate all three of you being on the show today. It was fun. I love this program and the success that we've had. And we'll talk about it some more in some future episodes. Everybody take care out there. Go Ro! Aloha. Thank you. Bye.