 I'm Paul Butler, I'm the President and Chief Transformation Officer here at New America. I wanted to say good morning to those of you who are here in the room, thanks for coming. And to those of you who are joining online, thank you for joining us. For those of you who are online, just a little housekeeping note, just refresh your browser. That will make sure you're up to date and up to speed where exactly we are in this room. I'm going to do a little bit of a welcome and talk a little bit about some of the work at New America and how this event and this program and this fellowship fits into that work. And then we're going to jump right in and do the thing that we all came to do. So as we were preparing for this event, I was wondering what I would tell you about the work that we do here at New America, particularly the work that we do around equity and how we're thinking about equity in the context of our work here at New America. I thought I might tell you about how we think about the three key changes that are really shaping society. And we talk about borderless global threats that are affecting all of us. We talk about technological change that's reshaping our lives. And we're talking about demographic change that is really reshaping the culture, the norms and the systems that we experience here in our society and really globally. And I thought I might tell you about that demographic change, but many of you already know that we are moving to a point in our society that we've never been before, where there will be no white majority and we will be the first time in our nation a plurality. And that has radical implications for the work that we all do. But you all know that. I thought I might talk then about our equity transformation at New America. This is a journey that we've been on really for the last two years, like many organizations and like the work that many of you are doing and like the work that this program and this fellowship will be doing. To put equity at the center of our work. And I would tell you about how our approach is really to transform New America for the New America on three levels. The individual level, so our own personal biases, how we see the world, what we know about the world. The organizational transformation, the policies and systems that operate within this organization. And then the societal transformation, how the individual and the organizational work can impact what happens out there in the world. And then I would tell you about equity in the center of five clusters of work that we do here at New America. And in five words, it's democracy, technology, education, family, and global. And in all of those clusters, we think about four commitments that run across all of that work. The first one is equity. The second one, very appropriate today, is field building. And those two commitments run across all of the work that we do here at New America and is in part why we're here today. And then I would tell you, not about the programs, but I would want to tell you about the people. And there are many people here at New America who are doing the important work of transforming this organization, transforming themselves, and transforming the world outside of New America. And so here we are today to welcome a group of people who are going to continue, extend, expand, take us into new territories for how that work will continue in a very particular space. That is important to all of us and ties back to those three changes that I talked about in the very beginning. So I wanted to first ask the new class of the Share the Mic Fellows just to stand. Stand where you are. Be recognized so we can welcome you and recognize you. I wanted to thank all of you for coming. I wanted to thank you, the fellows, for the work that you've already been doing, and thank you in advance for the work that you will be doing. You can take a seat. We will meet them more later. And finally, as I leave the stage and pass the mic and share the mic in a different way, I wanted to thank Peter Singer, our fellow at New America who is leading the effort from inside. He has been talking about this for a while with such passion and such commitment that this is something that we need to support at New American. So we are happy to follow his lead. I wanted to thank Bridget Chan, who's out there somewhere making sure that this is happening and this is all connecting. And I wanted to thank Camille Stewart and Lauren Zabrick for their vision to actually bring us to this moment. And with that, I am going to bring up a co-founder of Share the Mic, Lauren Zabrick, and the advisor to share the mic, Christina Marillo. Thank you all. I'm just looking out at you all and I'm just reminded and really blown away by how everyone is here right now for this one purpose. I mean, this is truly amazing. But before we get into that, I first want to say thank you to Paul for really just allowing us to create this here and for your support. So thank you so much. I want to thank Peter Singer for your leadership, your advice, your sort of vision here. I'll just say real quick, last year we kind of went after some money and then it didn't come through. And then we're like, well, wait, why don't we just put together a fellowship? Like, let's actually build something. And that was really thanks to Peter. So I just want to thank him for leaning forward and for your vision and making this really happen. And I want to thank Bridget too. I know she's, as Paul said, running around trying to get a few things set. But we hired Bridget this past summer. And it was funny because I was talking, I think we were having a meeting. And I was like, you've been here for a year, right? I was like, no, it's only been a couple of months. But she really hit the ground running. She just believed in this program so much and she did so much to lay the groundwork for this fellowship. And I'm just so appreciative of her skills and her motivation and excitement in doing this. So I just want to thank them. I also want to thank the sponsors for Share the Mike and Cyber for the fellowship. We couldn't be here without their support. So Google, Twitter, the Hewlett Foundation, and especially Craig Newmark Philanthropies. So their generosity really, again, has made this happen. So as I said on Twitter, with the creation of this fellowship, this vision is realized. And so let's go back a little bit to that vision. If you have been here from the start of Share the Mike and Cyber, which Christina has, you may know that it happened with really a DM. So I had seen the campaign Share the Mike Now on Instagram that where prominent figures in entertainment and politics, white women, shared their platforms with black women in those industries. And I just got this idea. This could really be good in cyber and national security. Randomly, I saw Camille's tweet about this. Camille and I did not know each other. I was not following her. We didn't know who each other were. Different states too, right? Different states, exactly. And I just DM'd her. And then literally, within weeks of just calls and texts and emails and things like that, we put this, the first one together. And Peter was one of those early allies. So he's been there from the beginning. Caitlin, you were kind of, I think, observing, right? And then kind of came in. But we just kind of put it together and thought, all right, let's just try this. And we were so blown away by the response. And I think it really validated this idea and the fact that this was actually really needed in the industry. And then we kept going. I sat out the second one because I had a baby. But Caitlin came in and just hit the ground running and just made it even bigger and better. So thank you, Caitlin, for everything that you've done. She'll never say, oh, I'm a part, no. She'll be like, I'm a host. But no, I always say, Caitlin, you are the wing beneath Sharon, the Mike and Cybers wing. So, yeah. So, you know, and we've had, gosh, we just had our fifth Sarah, the Mike and Cyber campaign. At our biggest campaign, we had had over 100 million impressions on Twitter, which is unimaginable, again, for just sort of this idea that happened. We've had national leaders participate. So especially the last one, we had a national cyber director, Chris Inglis. We had CISA director, Jen Easterly. And we had NSA cyber director, Rob Joyce, participate, in addition to all the amazing allies. And of course, all the amazing black practitioners that participated. So, fast forward to this vision, right? Creating this fellowship, we've talked about the problem, especially over the last share of the Mike and Cyber campaigns, we've talked about the issue and why diversity is so important for cybersecurity and national security. In the last one, we started to get to how. How we can start to create belonging. But really with this fellowship, I think that idea of how is starting to be crystallized, right? We are moving from talking about it to actually taking action and creating change in the industry. And so I'm so excited for this fellowship and the fellows here to actually start doing the work, right? The theme of this day is doing the work. And it's not just you that's doing the work, we're all doing the work alongside you. And we're here to support you and really excited for where you take it. And so I just, I wanted to, I know you stood up before, but I wanted to say your names too. So Stephanie, Roshan, Michael, Thomas, Lily, Safi, and Sarah, thank you so much for being here. So I did want to kind of kick it over to Christina for a second as a Share the Mike and Cyber alum, many time alum, and of course now an advisor at the fellowship. Yeah, I mean, I think one of the most important things that Lauren did mention is that the tweet impressions are impressive. But I think the most important thing is what has come out of the Share the Mike and Cyber campaign, and that has been the relationships, the mentorships, the support, the opportunities. I mean, even using me as an example, I was part of the first and I think the second. And I developed a relationship with Camille and Lauren. And because of that, I became an advisor. So it was because Camille shared the Mike. So that's just one example, but there are hundreds. It's important to tweet someone, but it's more important to take that offline as well and share the opportunities, including financial opportunities, right, because that's what we all want. So yeah, I mean, I'm super excited to meet all of you. I will tell you that I don't get up at 4 o'clock in the morning for just anyone and take the Ocella in at 4 o'clock in the morning from New York City. So I'm super happy to be here. I do need some coffee, but I can't wait to speak to all of you on a month and I can't wait to see what you build. I'm super excited. I think, you know, cyber really needs your creativity, your innovation. There's a dearth of innovation in cybersecurity, despite what people say online. Folks are not innovating, right? It's the same old same. And so I'm super excited. We need fresh blood. We need that inspiration, creativity. We need your work, whatever you put out there. And so I'm super excited to see that as well. So welcome and I hope you have a great time. Feel free to stop us, ask any questions. And yeah, thanks to Lauren Bridget, Peter, New America, Caitlin, everyone who has contributed to make this all possible. Yeah, absolutely. I'm Kimba Walden. I'm the principal deputy national cyber director in the White House. We are the newest kids on the block in the White House. So I'm here to talk a little bit about cyber security, a little bit about me, but mostly about you and your role in it. And I wanted to give you some framing comments. Nothing I'm gonna say right now is new to you, but this will give you the perspective from which I speak. So what is ONCD? We were created by statute, by Congress. It was passed in January of 2021. Our director, Chris Inglis, was nominated by President Biden in April of 2021. He was confirmed by the Senate in June or July, walked into the White House, and we were not appropriated then until November of last year. So we've been running at a full sprint for a year since November. We are at initial operating capacity now. So that's how we got into the office. So what do we do? We have four strategic objectives that we are focused on, federal cohesion, actual public-private collaboration, which is another way of saying information sharing, but information sharing that's souped up. We are focused on current and future resilience, and then the least sexy, but the most powerful thing we have is making sure that we have performance metrics in place that's aligning resources with aspirations. So those are our four strategic objectives. And then now what is, so that's kind of who we are, and I'll get to what we've done, but so what is cyberspace? Just to step back for a moment. Cyberspace is all the technology that we all've come to know and love, right? The tablets, the hardware, the software, the phones, the watches, all of that, the refrigerators, all of that. But most importantly, cyberspace is people. People are not under cyber, over cyber, around cyber, next to it, they're in it. We've developed cyberspace. We use cyberspace. So in addition to technology, cyberspace is people. And then finally, and arguably the most important, cyberspace is process, right? Doctrine. We need to know who's accountable for what and who's responsible for what. Cyberspace is all three of those elements, and we have to care for all the vulnerabilities associated in all three of those elements. In the process, in the doctrine section, if we don't know who's guarding the gates, the transgressor is going to walk right through. It's the easiest thing to do. It's the choice that makes sense, right? They'll walk right through an open gate. If they can't, if we close that vulnerability and they can't walk through the open gate, the next thing they're gonna go to are the people. That's you, that's my mom, that's my kids. They're gonna, the simplest way to see it is in the phishing attacks that happen every day. They're going to find people. They're gonna help people lose confidence in their systems. That's where the transgressor's gonna go next. The hardest thing for the transgressor to do, in fact, is to go for a zero-day vulnerability in the technology, right? But if we get our house in order, in that order, process, people, and technology, then we've gotten to a better place. We can buy down risk going through the vulnerabilities there. Okay, so that's the next principle I wanna describe to you. The final principle I wanna describe to you before I get into the DEIA conversation is what we are seeking to achieve. The reason I do cyberspace, the reason why anyone in my office does cyberspace, I suspect, or cybersecurity, I suspect the reason why most of you do cybersecurity is to make sure that our communities, our individuals, can thrive and prosper in the internet, full stop. We just want them to thrive and prosper. Our communities, our individuals, small and medium businesses, customers, we want them to thrive and prosper in a space that is secure, that is resilient, and that is equitable. That's how I imagine the internet, and that's my opportunity, that's my North Star. That's what I do, that's why I do it. I don't do cybersecurity just for the sake of it. I'm not an engineer, I don't do the tech stuff. It is important, but that's not why I do cybersecurity. So those are the big picture framing opportunities for me. So I wanna focus primarily on the people part, right? And that's where DEIA is important. America's superpower is our diversity. There's no country like ours, or very few countries like ours, maybe there's one or two, but there are very few countries like ours. Our superpower is that we have people that don't all think alike, that don't all do alike, that don't have all the same abilities, that don't all look alike. And so we bring the complexity of cybersecurity, we have the complexity of our society to be able to bring to bear to solve that problem, right? That is our superpower. We need to lean into that. It is not only a national security imperative, but it's an economic opportunity. It develops our economy, it develops our technology, we can be innovative because we're diverse, because we're creative, right? It's not an add-on, it's our power. That's what we need to use. We haven't been fully realizing our power in this space, and my opportunity is to do that now. So what are we doing about it? So the Office of National Cyber Director has been doing a number of things, the one that I wanna talk about mostly, but then we'll talk about other things too, is our National Workforce and Education Strategy. In the summer, this past summer, we had a National Workforce and Education Summit that kicked off our work in this space. We started to take a look at what do we wanna focus on? We noticed that there were over 700,000 jobs or so that were left unfilled with the word cyber or IT in them, right? That's a national security problem. From my perspective, I'm a national security lawyer by training, but it's also an economic opportunity. It's just, I mean, obviously we can fill those jobs. So what do we need to do to fill those jobs? What's our strategy? How are we thinking? What are the barriers? How do we pull those down? What do we do for those jobs that are right now unfilled? But then we started to think a little further when we started thinking about pulling down challenges and barriers. We started to think about, I think I'm a visual person, so I have pictures in my mind, so excuse my hands. These are concentric circles. But what do we do about those that implicate cyber? People like me, I'm a lawyer, or a policy person, or an assembly line worker, or the CEO of a company, or the accountant, those that implicate cyber. What is their cyber awareness? What do we need to do to raise their awareness so that they support those 700,000 or so empty jobs? Filling those jobs. But then, and in the National Cyber Director's Office, we're strategic in thinking. What's our strategy for filling that pipeline? What's the all proposition? What are we doing about cyber education in K through 12 for grandparents, for those that need to be reskilled or upskilled? How are we thinking about the pipeline, cyber education? What's being taught in school, right? So there are a number of things that we've come up with. We're looking at best practices at this point. We've kicked off at the White House Summit. We kicked off with the Secretary of Labor, excuse me. There are my hands again, the Secretary of Labor, the Secretary of Commerce, the Secretary of Homeland Security, one of the undersecretaries of education. Why were they important to be there? Because when we start thinking about filling those jobs and finding opportunities so that anybody that wants a job can have it, we need to not only think about the education system, but about the labor system, and then we need a job at the end of that stream, commerce, right? This is a three-legged stool. There are equal parts there. So we had all three departments and agencies recognized at the summit, including the Department of Homeland Security because this is a national security concern. So we had 19 companies make commitments. The departments and agencies committed to including cybersecurity in the registered apprenticeship program, thinking about apprenticeships in the space as an opportunity, as a pipeline, as a pathway to filling those jobs. So we executed a 120-day sprint to do that. We went, the capstone program at the end of the sprint was a trip with the First Lady, the Secretary of Commerce, the Secretary of Education, the Secretary of Labor to Chicago to have the final several companies sign up for the registered apprenticeship program. I had an opportunity to meet students who were part of that program in the cybersecurity space. And we were able to announce at that time that we had 194 companies have registered apprenticeships. That represents about 120 occupations, represents over 7,000 apprenticeships filled, right? It's a dent, it's a great start. Companies are continuing to sign up for these registered apprenticeship programs in partnership with the Department of Labor, Commerce and Education. So we're not done, it's just the beginning. But that is one pathway, one opportunity. Another opportunity that we've leaned into is looking at HBCUs. We kicked off a cybersecurity workshop at Hampton University at one of the HBCUs to really lean in and talk about opportunities for education, curriculum development, employment afterwards. Do you really need all of these certifications or do you need these skills, right? What is it you need in order to succeed in this space? Do you have to be a technologist? Clearly I'm not. Do you have to be a technologist? No, you don't. You have to be creative, you have to be innovative, but you don't have to be a technologist. We have, most of our team are in Washington at Wacom Community College to talk about the same things. Are we using our community colleges to our full advantage? Are we using vocational programs to our full advantage? Do we really need college degrees to fill these jobs? What are the barriers that we are imposing? These are the things that we're trying to answer. We've collected best practices. We issued an RFI that's now closed, but we're still having listening sessions. I think we had about 150 or so responses. We've hired a whole team to go through, call through, really pull out best practices. In some of my travels, I've heard of a company that is re-skilling using paid internship programs for mothers returning to work, for example. Particularly those of us, I'm one of them, that were sort of being school teachers to our children at home. And how do you get back into the workforce and how do you re-skill and up-skill? I mean, we're finding these opportunities. We wanna leverage them and bring them to bear. So that's our workforce strategy. Our workforce strategy hangs off of our national cybersecurity strategy, which will hopefully come out at some point. But one of the themes, the themes that you'll find in the national cyber strategy that we'll carry through in the workforce strategy is not only that cyber is technology, people and doctrine, but also that we're looking at shifting the balance of risk, right? Right now, risk is borne by those that use the internet, that use the space. Our mothers, our fathers, our kids, our grandparents, that are doing online banking, that are hooking up the refrigerator to the internet, for God knows what reason, for whatever it is, right? All of it is being used. Everybody is in this space, but they bear the risk. Like, God forbid, my seven-year-old son plays Minecraft on my computer and downloads some sort of malware on my computer, which could have national security consequences when I come in and VPN for my own router, right? Like, that is not okay. So we need to figure out what our strategic investments are to shift the balance of risk to those that can bear it and buy it down. The large enterprises, federal government is included in that large, so from small to big, from customer to provider. How do we, what are the investments that we need to make to shift the balance of risk? So to those that can bear it and afford to buy it down. You all know, I don't have to tell you that you never get to zero risk. Cybersecurity is an exercise in risk mitigation. You're not gonna get to zero. But what you wanna do is what you have, make what you have defensible, and then with that residual risk, really hone in on resilience, right? Resilience in cyberspace, the technology, the people, the doctrine. What are the strategic investments that we need to make in order to buy down that residual risk? And that's where I proffer that we need to lean into America's superpower, which is diversity, right? This all feeds in also to the Biden-Harris administration's serious contention with cybersecurity. They've done some remarkable work. So for example, the bipartisan infrastructure law will have, again, shifting that balance of risk doing grants to 355 local municipalities and communities to rebuild America. Our infrastructure, our broadband is included in that. Cyber plans are required for those grants, right? ONCD is there to help with that planning. The electric vehicle systems are getting an influx of funding through the Inflation Reduction Act and through the, what's the other law, that we just, Chips and Science Act, right? So what are we doing there? So we, for example, had the electric vehicle market come to the White House. We gave them a threat briefing and a vulnerability briefing because, in the classified space, because you all know that risk is a result of threat, vulnerability and consequence, right? So we gave these executives, everybody has a role to play, we're working on that process, who's accountable for what, who's responsible for what. So we gave the C-suite in that market a threat briefing and a vulnerability briefing and then we had the consequence conversation outside of the room in the public space with the government, with the labor, with energy, with our climate office in the White House to figure out what are the strategic investments that that community needs to make as they have the influx of cash from the Inflation Reduction Act to develop the market, right? Cybersecurity is an opportunity for technical innovation, right? It's not one or the other, it's not national security at the expense of innovation, it's both and, right? So cybersecurity in our view is about national security, economic opportunity, technical innovation. There's the marriage of all three of those that we need to lead into in order to progress, in order to make the North Star happen, make sure that our communities are able to thrive and prosper on the internet, we'll stop. That is what, that's what we're here doing, that's what we're working on. I read all the fellows, I read your research ideas, I'm excited about them, I've talked quite a bit and I know I have a hard stop, but after reading your backgrounds, I am super interested in, I think we have time for a question or two, super interested in your feedback, your questions, any opportunities that you think that I should lean into, I would love to hear that. I'll say while you're thinking about it, I was one of the first, and I think I was in one of the first cohorts, share the mic in 20, 19 maybe? Yeah, absolutely, yeah. And now I'm in the White House, so look at what share the mic does. And Camille too, now she's in the White House, I mean, she's incredible. Hi, my name is Stephanie Schilling and part of my research project is trying to baseline the cyber knowledge and the digital resiliency of the American people, in part because I strongly believe that cyber, a lot of it is people and I think that people wanted to do the right thing but not knowing how. That's right. What are we doing to try to pull this training information outside behind the corporate paywalls because we have some of our most vulnerable communities who desperately need this information, who just don't have access to it? So when I talk about our workforce strategy and what our strategic intentions are, one of the things that the team is charged to do is to figure out what the barriers are, what the challenges are and remove them, right? Make investments to remove them. We're not going to necessarily be able to regulate the companies that have data that's behind the paywall. But what we have to do is influence them to understand their role in this space, right? It's that shifting the burden of risk. When our national cyber strategy comes out and I can't tell you many details but we've concluded there and we've said before in public that market forces aren't working in the way that we need to have them work. So we need to do something a little bit beyond the voluntary notion, sort of the goodwill notion. The internet's public good and it's owned by the private sector at this point. We need to be able to influence them if that's a carrot, if that's a stick. I don't know, I view some sticks as carrots sometimes. But we need to be a little bit more forceful and find other innovative ways other than market forces to encourage that kind of behavior. But yes, we're figuring out how to pull down the barriers. If you have any ideas through your research, I would welcome that. Okay. Okay. Yeah. Oh, that's absolutely right. Yeah, that's absolutely right. I look forward to that conversation. Thank you. Safi, come on up. I think, you know, this is very timely for a bunch of us met up last night and we're talking about this type of thing. But specifically, my comment question is, you know, I hear a lot about making sure we have the workforce development and we have a lot of the pieces that are working together from the private public space. But I think at some point, we kind of maybe need to take a pause and look at like access, right? Like how are people who are most disadvantaged accessing the internet and kind of maybe taking a look at how we can either get better regulation around, you know, private, excuse me, public internet, like places where people who, you know, are living in the digital divide don't have access to a laptop at home. So now they're going to Starbucks to pay their bills on a public Wi-Fi, right? Like those are the types of situations that I think we really need to take a look at, you know, if we're trying to solve a problem, we have to figure out why it's a problem for some people and without the understanding of, you know, where there's some of the shortcomings in terms of access for people across the nation, right? Like rural areas, you know, to mention, not to mention, you know, like inner cities, right? And you mentioned a lot about the, you know, K through 12 education and improving that. You know, I think at a certain point, I would love to see in this country for the internet to be a utility, right? It's something that everyone, it's their right, right? You have gas, you have water, it's a public good, right? And so some of, you know, at a certain point where, you know, where's their room or area for growth, for subsidizing a lot of that stuff for members who are not fortunate enough to, you know, be able to pay those bills themselves. And as a result, you mentioned, you know, you might have your kid or, you know, someone else getting onto your laptop, doing things that you wouldn't necessarily want them to do, but the alternative for some of those people are doing those things in public on a mobile phone, right? So long story to say, like part of my research in my dissertation is really talking about how the increase in advancement of technology is really leaving behind people in terms of like entire communities from being able to protect themselves in their privacy online. So I think one of the things we should really, as a group, and I know it's one of the things that a few of us are focusing on is just really how to make that right become, you know, or the right to having access to secure internet and, you know, all the things that come along with the opportunity, you know, job and remote work, how do we make sure those things translate into, you know, a dollar that someone now doesn't have to spend on the internet and now can, you know, buy food for their family. So. Yeah, I don't know if I have anything to say because you've said it all. Yes. So a few things come to mind as you're talking. So the bipartisan infrastructure law, the reason why I mentioned that is because part of that law is to bring broadband to rural areas to expand internet accessibility into not just urban centers, but way out there in rural areas. We need to build resilience into that, right? We need to build in, you remember the commercial with the red easy button? I don't remember what that was. Staples. The easy button, right? We don't need people, we need to talk to providers too about this. We don't need people to try to figure out whether to turn on their logging or how to turn on multi-factor or not. It just needs to be an easy button and that's what it is. It's built in. By default. And so as the Department of Commerce who has jurisdiction over that part of the bipartisan infrastructure law and the grants that are associated with that build out of broadband, we are integrated with them. I've met with my counterpart at Commerce. I keep, you know, like as you deliver these grants you have to have certain cybersecurity measures built in in order to win the grant, right? So that's the work that we do. We're that cartilage that makes the fingers work, right? But that's what we do. That's how we are thinking. The other thing that came to mind when you were talking in Texas, I think it was Austin. We went and visited a high school. It's called ICSI. This high school figured out how to develop an after-school program for students in a disadvantaged area or a disinvested area of Austin. To allow these students to be able to come in, they learn how to run a sock. They understand the OSI stack. They can put together a router. I mean, it's, I want to, it is beautiful space. They have become accredited now to offer certification testing in their facility. So these students, by the time they graduate, they might have a CISSP, they might have a CEH, they might have a CISM, but they are not required then to take a bus to some testing center in a little slightly scary space, right? So we gotta be innovative and thoughtful and lean in to these opportunities. Reach people where they are. Reach people where they are, and figure out how to break down those barriers. We need to find those best practices, highlight them, and then scale them up. There are other opportunities where industry is pairing with at that level, that high school level, to feed a pipeline, right? Because you need a job at the end of it. Right, a lot of those kids, their parents don't understand what cybersecurity is. They understand you're gonna go to school, you're gonna be a doctor or a lawyer, right? That's why I'm a lawyer, right? But educating the parents about what it is and what it's about, what cybersecurity is about and how it is a viable economic opportunity for their kids, right? So all these pieces play together. There's something for everybody to touch, but remember the North Star, the power that you have right now is not about the cybersecurity, it's about making communities thrive. That's it, full stop. That's what I believe you're called to do in your research and whatever it is you're working on. That's what it is at the end of the day. At that time, so I wanna thank you. I know you have a place you need to be, so I just wanna thank you so much for being here. You're amazing, we're so excited, thank you. Thank you, I appreciate it. I'm Peter Singer and I just wanted to add three things. One is my excitement at this event, both the panel but also the overall launch as was said earlier, this really is the culmination of something that went from idea to reality and there's excitement in that, there's pride that something actually really happened. In many ways, this is like a startup that it's the unicorn that made it, but there's also a sense of anticipation in what comes next and this is where I put my wonk hat on. There is anticipation for me in what comes next in the projects that you're going to do. I've actually read the project proposals. I know the kind of research and the interesting questions and I'm personally and professionally excited to really see them develop and see the fruits of it come out over the next couple of months. The second reason that I'm excited by this goes to the topic but also the approach in terms of this idea of doing the work. I know personally I've been writing on, we called them workforce questions and cybersecurity since 2014. I see Laura Bade in the background and old Un-New America alum. This is not a new topic. It's been with us for a long while and it's really cool to see it move to the next level from treating it as something that you have to make the case for to now actually again doing the work and that leads to the third reason of excitement is we've got a really great group here to explore what this all means to do the work. So we have Joreena Thomas who's director of professional advancement at a really cool organization. And I'm gonna add, I'm gonna say this twice, a really awesome named organization. We were talking about this in the back about branding girl security. Then we have Tyrants Billingsley. He's founder and CEO of another awesomely named organization, Black Tech Street. And then Kaitlyn Ring Rose who is lead for global law enforcement and government access at, it is a cool name. It's just been with us for a long time, which is Google. And so with that, let's jump right in. Can you tell us all about the work that your organizations are currently doing to advance DEIA in the cybersecurity workforce? And I'm just gonna, we'll just keep, we'll go in order through. Okay, sure, nice to be here. Hi everyone, my name is Joreena. So thanks for that intro, Peter. So I would say to start girl security, our mission is to work with girls in high school and up into about 26 years old to expose them to national security and help them to get into the field and then also to thrive while they're there. So of course national security covers a range of professions but also cyber security. So the main thing that we do is try to bring them and expose them to the different facets of cyber security and kind of demystify it too because a lot of times I think when people hear cyber security, their eyes glaze over, they don't really know what it is and they think it's just something technical and they don't wanna be bothered but we really try to help them to understand and expose them to different professionals and potential mentors that cyber security is a range of things. It could be trust and safety. It could be the technical stuff. It could be many different things, policy, things like that. So we try to expose them and then help them to find where their niche is and then give them mentors to help them on their way. Can you give a specific example when you say expose? Like what does that mean? What does that look like in the real? So what that looks like as a practical matter is those that are a part of our program, we bring them in and we do very practical workshops. So we say here's an issue. Let's talk about it and let's talk about it from all different sides. So we do scenario based training and scenario based workshops so they can kinda get their hands dirty a little bit. That's one and then the other thing I'd say is the mentorship piece. That's a huge piece of what we do and so we pair them with professionals in the field, professional women in the field to help them learn more, help them to have someone to bounce their questions off of and expose them in that way. So those are two major ways that we expose them because I'm a big believer in exposure. Like you're really limited by what you're exposed to. You know I know a lot of people, I'm from Chicago and I know a lot of people that I grew up with kinda just stopped at the borders of Illinois because they weren't exposed to other things and other types of jobs and other things that they could do. Everything else was kind of mystified. So I think that our ability to expose girls and young women to what's available in national security broadly but also in the very complex realm of cybersecurity is very useful. So I could probably start with a little background. How many of you have heard of Black Wall Street? Raise your hand. Well that's really, I'm glad to see that. Couple years ago that wouldn't have been the case. So Black Wall Street, I'm just going into the origin to kind of explain how we do our work. So you have the most affluent community of African-Americans in the history of the country at the time, destroyed in the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre. That's kinda defined the narrative ever since. So a hundred years later, I kinda began to ask myself the question, what could Black Wall Street have been had it been supported and not destroyed? And when I thought about the level of tenacity that it took for these entrepreneurs to build incredible businesses during Jim Crow, the smashing through walls and the out-of-the-box thinking reminded me a lot of the tech industry. And that kinda led me to a three-prong epiphany. One, tech is one of the only industries in which you can build intergenerational wealth in seven to 10 years via successful company exit. Two, tech is the core medium through which all global innovation and the creation of new wealth-generating markets takes place pretty consistently. And three, by the year 2030, they're projected to be as many as 4.3 million high-paying vacant tech jobs due to a tech talent shortage. So when I put those three things together, I not only saw an incredible wealth-building opportunity for Black people, I saw the Black Wall Street vision kinda pushed to a new horizon. So I surmised that had Black Wall Street been supported and not destroyed, it would be nothing other than the nation's premier Black Tech ecosystem. So that's where the name Black Tech Street comes from and our mission is to rebirth Black Wall Street as a Black Tech capital but also catalyze a movement that sees Black people embrace tech as a means to build wealth and impact the world. So when the day-to-day we serve, we kinda serve as a facilitator and liaison between the Tulsa ecosystem and Black Tech opportunities. So we partner with different organizations and companies to secure opportunities that will help Black people either break into the tech workforce or become tech entrepreneurs. Recently, we actually hosted Microsoft and Tulsa for an initiative, to preview an initiative that we're calling the Digital Transformation of Black Wall Street to Black Tech Street. Those two individuals are high up in the cybersecurity area of Microsoft and one of the things that we'll actually be doing is creating different programs and supporting programs to train African-Americans in cybersecurity. In Microsoft, it's actually really given a commitment that if we can train a certain amount of Black individuals, they'll build a facility in Tulsa. So I mean, it's, yeah, don't quote that yet. That's still coming down the line, but that's what it says. He said, don't quote where your head's up, we're online. That's what they're, I'm kidding. They've given that commitment, that's far off, but yes, in short, we're engaging with Microsoft because cybersecurity and AI are two verticals that are gonna have universal penetration with all the others. So the wealth-generating potential and the impact potential is massive there. So changing the narrative of what a person in tech looks like and creating the right pathways is kind of what Black Tech Street's core work is. Well, don't just work with Microsoft, work with Google, you know. First off, it's so good to see everyone here. I feel like we've seen each other virtually and emails and it's just really good to be here in person. I feel like I've just been smiling so much today. My face is like hurting already and I can't wait to see you after this too. I feel like I'm here wearing kind of two hats, right? First, I'm here to represent Google and our work on cyber and DEI and also to ensure the mic and cyber co-host. And so I wanna speak to both. First, at Google, we recently created something called the Cybersecurity Action Team and the whole point of that team is to be flexible and plug into other teams and functions to make sure that our security team, our security comms folks, our policy leads, our engineers are all really focused on inclusive hiring, representation and making sure that folks when they're at Google feel and are accepted and understood and have a very valuable voice at all of these tables. So I think that's important to flag first off. And secondly, that we're also putting our money where our mouth is. So last year we pledged $10 billion to cybersecurity over the next three years. And what that looks like is it's a big pot of money. It's really going to change the face of cybersecurity. And part of that is we're pledging to train 100,000 Americans with Google cybersecurity skills. So that's our certificates in IT, data analytics, et cetera. So far, over half of our applicants to that program and everyone can apply have been from the lowest one-third of the economic bracket in the US and over half have been from diverse backgrounds too. So black people, women, veterans, et cetera. And I wanna say, there's something in a certificate, that it's not just about the learning you get but the outcomes that you receive after. So it could be something like you get a promotion at work, you get a new job offer, you're able to pivot careers. Maybe you're a nurse and you care about cybersecurity and how it impacts hospitals. And so you start to pivot your job. And that's what we've been really focused on. So we've done some statistic gathering and 86% of graduates from this early certificate programs have gone on to report like a positive career impact in one of those areas. And speaking from share the mic in cyber, I wanna say you all know about the mission, you know why it's important. We talked a lot today about hiring and getting folks into the field but there's something really critical to say about supporting people who are in it already, who are doing the work of securing our data, our people in our country every single day and that aren't being celebrated and aren't being affirmed at work. And so it's our place too as share the mic in cyber and as colleagues and as friends to affirm one another. So I think that's something that's really important about share the mic in cyber's work and something that we should all be bringing to our own goals. So I wanna take the conversation into a bit of a tougher part, which is as I referenced in my opening, we've been talking about these issues for a while. What part of the conversation around diversity in the cybersecurity field has been helpful and are there parts of it that have not been helpful or not been valuable or maybe even been harmful? So I'm just gonna go in the same order again to give people a chance to explore that. Okay, I think that's a good question. I think on the harmful and not helpful side, and this goes in any conversation about diversity. I think the tropes that are pulled out are unhelpful. And what I mean by that is when we talk about certain groups of people or we conflate being a minority with being poor, for example. So those things are pulled out and I don't think that they're done maliciously or intentionally, but they come out. And so I think that's not helpful because it's stereotypes people. So that's the negative with the positive, I think, is that we're having these conversations. And there have been a lot of studies done on the cybersecurity workforce. I just read one recently that ISC squared put out. And it was really interesting and it actually said that the percentage of minorities in the cybersecurity workforce is actually not as dire as we kind of make it same. I think it was like 20 something percent. Which is still not great, but it's not as bad as we made it seem. So my point is I think the positive is that we're having these conversations. People are doing studies on the topic and pulling out truths as opposed to the stereotypes or the things that we generally talk about that may or may not be true. Yeah, this can be, there's a lot of different facets to this and you do see this in a lot of different areas of DEI work. The reason why people will often scout or want more diversity, sometimes when it's presented in a way that it's solely because we just want more talent to hit benchmarks or it's solely because we wanna look good, that narrative can be damaging. I mean, yes, I'm all for mutual benefit, but I mean, sometimes that can be damaging. I think it's more important to have narratives that actually show the positive impacts of people of color and diverse background being in cybersecurity. I mean, thinking about some of the national security issues that we're gonna be facing as like things like quantum computing advance and how different perspectives and people from diverse backgrounds will actually be key to helping secure the nation if we mobilize into it. Like I think the reasoning behind why black people or other minorities should get into cyber, that narrative from the beginning is one that they're gonna pick up when they go into it. And if it's more kind of like we just want you to serve us, sometimes it can be harmful. But on the other end, I would say, I mean, the harmful part of the conversation is that a lot of it just stays conversation. I would say that's a pretty big thing. Yeah, and I agree with Jordan. And you said something earlier, which is like there are so many ways to be in this field and you don't have to be hyper technical. You don't have to come in and have like, you know, a massive love of coding, et cetera. I was an English major for undergrad. I'm a lawyer, I work in cyber and tech now. And I think that that's really powerful to be able to say like, hey, this is a career field that embraces diversity and diversity of thought and background in that way. But it is something that holds us back when we also use acronyms and terms that people don't understand. And we create this insular community that seems very difficult to join and be part of. And so I would say that that's maybe like something we need to do a little bit less of in terms of embracing folks who are coming at this, especially from a non-technical background. If I may add something to what Caitlin just shared. I also think just the language that we use. So I mentioned earlier, like the term cybersecurity can be, can turn people off right off the bat. So I think as part of the discussion of bringing different types of people in, especially younger people, is making it very accessible and explaining what we mean when we say cybersecurity. So are you interested in misinformation? Are you interested in whatever? And then just pull that out a little bit more. Because I think a lot of times we use the term and we don't understand how that falls on people, so. It's interesting. I was at a corporate event last week of CISOs who are gathering acronym exclusionary. And one of the issues, one of them talked about their sense that 20 years from now, that term chief information security officer will be gone, that it will be redefined as something else. Because it's, and this actually links back to what Kemba was talking about as well, is that it's not just information security, it's bringing in other issues of privacy and risk and policy, there's some insurance elements to it, and that if you framed it that way, you also have very different backgrounds of people coming in. Yeah. Yeah, and I was gonna say, this is something that we're exploring as we think about how to communicate cybersecurity to the black community in Tulsa, like asking about protective instincts versus making them wonder about, do you have certain technical backgrounds? I mean, a large percentage of the reason why many of the verticals intake look the way they do is because of how we talk about them. So that's 100%, like you made it, I mean some of this stuff is I'm reading it, I'm like, I do this for a living? Like wait a minute, like wait a minute, like is this, and it's how you communicate things matter because it dictates how a person is going to be able to plug into a framework. And if the way you plug into that framework looks or sounds a certain way, you're gonna discourage a lot of people from even touching it to begin with. So these are all aspects of a topic that people who know me as very near and dear to me is around that idea of narrative and the power of narrative. But there's also potentially other things going on here. So what are other barriers that may be systemic when we talk about building more diversity in cybersecurity? I'll let you go first, Tara. I mean, I think we hit on the biggest ones, some of the biggest ones to be honest. I mean, it's, I think the narrative is a big one. I mean, other barriers are some of the same systemic barriers that you will see across different verticals. But I mean, are there targeted campaigns to get people who don't typically look like the typical cybersecurity person that we have put forward as the archetype? Are there targeted campaigns to get them involved? Are there different ways that we're work shopping, how we talk about it, not just generally, but in different specific communities? Do you have people who look like the communities you're trying to recruit actually talking about this to them? Again, are there examples? The biggest way to get people to try something new is to see somebody who they can equate with doing it. Is that happening? Are we being intentional about that? Or are we just saying we need diverse talent and we're putting ads out and we're looking for certain networks to try to just source it from afar? Or are we just saying we need diverse talent for the sake of saying it because we know it's what's in right now? I think the barriers are numerous and if you wanna get super specific, we can, but it's like, it's levels to it. It's levels to it and I think it's not necessarily, we don't know what to do. Are we committed to doing what's necessary to make it? I'm getting a pressure on that. You said we can get super specific. Go for it. Well, I think that was it. I mean, again, I think, again, as I'm learned, people keep trying to make it seem like this is some complex equation that we need to crack, but no, it goes back to the things that we just said. It's that simple. Do I see somebody who looks like me from a community like mine doing the same thing and telling me I can do it too? Sometimes it's that simple. The human ingenuity, it's, I'm not saying I will solve all the problem, but I think a lot of people would be shocked by how much of the problem could be solved just by things like that. So I mean, I don't have a quantum encrypted big big answer. It's that, it's not as complicated as some people make it to be. It's just a matter of the effort. I'm sorry? So I'm gonna pause the sec. I'm gonna repeat that because we may have people online who didn't hear you with the mic. So for those that are online, the question was, what about racism? And in particular, when job candidates are looked at who are diverse, is it perceived as lowering the bar? Did I get that right? Okay. So anyone can weigh in on that. Well, I think that is a good point. And I think that that is still something that happens. I don't have any numbers or percentages, but just from living life and working for a couple of decades, I know that that's true. And so I think that at least for girl security, we're playing the long game with that. So we wanna start with young folks, get them in, get them in the pipeline and get them in so that they're gonna be in 10, 15 years, the ones that are gonna be looking at those resumes and the ones that are going to be deciding on the candidates that are coming in and stuff. So I think that that is, that racism issue is there. It's like the dirty little secret in the room, but it is something that I think we have to play the long game on. It just, I think over time, and as the director mentioned in his opening statements, the United States is changing demographically. So at some point, you know, the people on the other side of the table doing the interviews and reviewing the resumes are gonna be the ones making those decisions. And by default, that racism issue will hopefully be minimized a bit more. Yeah, and when I speak to systemic issues, sometimes I have to clarify that I mean racism because I talk about it so much. I mean, I live in a community that was burned down because of it. A lot of times it's like, when it comes to racism, it's like, I understand that's the thing, but at this point, I'm trying to focus on what I can do for my people, how we can help because I can't change anybody's hearts. I love DEI training. I think everybody should learn about it, but it's like, look, man, I can't, if you're gonna do that, my focus is going to be to figure out how to circumnavigate you and build resources around it. I'm not trying to evangelize you. That's who you are. You wanna storm the Capitol, you can do what you wanna do. But I'm gonna work to make the country better the way I know I can, but all right. I shouldn't let you do that, but okay. I'm gonna disagree with you. If you wanna storm the Capitol, you can't do that. You can't do that, but I can't. I don't know if I can stop you. Not again. You do what you wanna do. Okay. Caitlin, you wanna join me? Well, I think, you know, when we talk about systemic racism, I'm like, wow, this is a really big problem and it's very multifaceted and it's true, but there are low hanging fruit. There's things that we could do now and we should have been doing. And that part of it is, in recruitment, a person like me looking at applications, why are you putting forward a job application that you say you want diverse professionals to apply and diverse talent to apply? But the very qualifications you have are painting a picture of the applicant you're truly looking for. And it's a person who has a certain number of years of experience, who is able to afford to go to a certain school, who probably has the connections because they're white and straight and they know certain people that are also white and straight. And I think that's really difficult. I think you can't go forward and say, oh, this is such a difficult problem. I have no means of solving it at all. I'm gonna throw my hands up and be concerned about why folks aren't applying or taking these jobs. I think that that's ridiculous. And I think, too, there's this, let's put forward unpaid internships. Who's taking those? It's people whose parents can afford to put their bill, et cetera. And I mean, I've taken a lot of unpaid internships and had to live off credit cards. It's horrible, it sucks. And so I think that we need to really put our focus, you know, we say this is our focus in terms of hiring, but we don't actually do it. We don't even take the five minutes it would take to tailor our work and make a targeted approach. You're right. I think, too, we don't focus on retention nearly enough. Right? We talk about systemic racism in terms of hiring and in terms of inclusive hiring in particular, but we don't talk about the people we hire, how we structure layoffs, for example. We don't talk about how we care about people in their work, support them when they're in their jobs, especially during the pandemic. Are we reaching out to people and making sure that they are seen and heard? Do we have tools in place to make sure that their voices are respected and something as simple as a Zoom call? So I think all of that is important and it's something that can change very, very quickly to adapt and something we already should have changed. If we're doing that work today, that's great, but it should have been built into our processes from the start. So in his opening remarks, Paul painted a picture of a new America that demographics mean definitely will happen, a more diverse America. Can you paint a picture of the cybersecurity field moving forward? And in particular, are there key gaps in DEI efforts that need to be filled to achieve that vision? Yes. So I'm gonna tell you guys a little anecdote. So a couple of semesters ago, I taught a class with a colleague who's a cybersecurity expert at American University. It was about disinformation. And we had some interesting conversations with our students about if the course was a cybersecurity course or if it was something else. And someone told me, oh yeah, great, you know so much about cybersecurity. And I said, no I don't. I'm an intelligence person. Like I don't know much about this. And they said, yeah but we're talking about disinformation. That's a cybersecurity issue. And I said, no it's not, it's a sociological issue. And then someone else said, it's actually both. And so my point is in the future, I think that cybersecurity is gonna be a mishmash of people with tech backgrounds and legal backgrounds and humanities backgrounds and communications backgrounds because cybersecurity is all of that. And I think the better we do at explaining that it's not just this silo thing. It's an art and a science and it mixes in so many different things. You know CISA, the Cybersecurity Infrastructure Security Agency, on their website, defined cybersecurity as the art. The art of protecting networks and information. I thought that was beautiful because it is an art and it's art and a science. But I think that in the future we're gonna have, we're gonna move away from that CISA framework that you were talking about. And we're gonna have people that define cybersecurity as all of the above. And it's not a siloed approach. It's very, very integrated. So that's my first answer to your first question. And the second one about the gaps I think is related. It is those gaps in DEI when it comes to cybersecurity is making sure that people know they can get in where they fit in. If you're interested in this, you can do this and be in the cybersecurity realm. If you're interested in this, you can do this and be in the cybersecurity realm. So it really is about the narratives and the words that we use that we talked about earlier that I think that's a gap we can fill and that will bring in, if the more you diversify what cybersecurity means, the more diverse types of people you're gonna be able to bring in. I'm not just saying racial diversity. I'm talking about neurodiversity. I'm talking about differently abled. There's so many different types of abilities and definitions of diversity that we can bring in if we diversify the meaning of cybersecurity. There speaks to the overall trend of what we kind of push at Black Tech Street and the overall trend in tech. Tech is being redefined as not just the technology but the ecosystem around it. And once you broaden that definition to the ecosystem around it, you have exponentially more pathways to interact with something. So I think that the diversification of and the expansion of how you define it will probably be what is going to get the most diverse perspectives. I would really just co-sign that. But again, when it comes to the gaps in the efforts, like continuing to go back to what was said earlier, I think share the micro-cyber was an incredible, like I think this is like, you know, go ahead. Like that's an incredible pathway that needed to exist that hadn't. And I think the more you see things like that, that's how we'll make progress. Yeah, I love that. I think that's all incredibly important. And something I hear really often in the queer community too is like nothing about us without us. And so it's not just, you know, building this ecosystem, all being part of it, but also who has the power, right? Who has the power to create rules, set norms. It's just so important to make sure that we're not only there, but we're representative. And we're speaking out and we have the ability to make change. So I hope that that's part of our shared future. Yeah, that's actually interesting. My community has a different take on the same. It's what you do for me without me, you do to me. So when it comes to you building out what the future of cybersecurity looks like, if we're sitting like here in ivory towers with other people saying, what does it look like? You've already failed. You got to get out there and say, what does this look like? You know, how does this, how do you see a pathway into this? How does what you already have, the skills you already have, translate to one of the base skills that is crucial to cybersecurity or any other vertical? That's the starting point. If I can add one other thing, Sathi, we were listening in the back and I heard your question to Kenbo, which I thought was great. And it was about making it real. Like someone who has to go to Starbucks on an open wifi and pay their bills, that's a huge vulnerability. So I think part of our future too is making cybersecurity really relevant and practical. This is why this is important to you. And I think it's really relevant when it comes to digital rights and privacy and stuff. That's just real stuff. And if we put it in those terms to help your everything, if we put it in those terms, cybersecurity isn't just this thing over here. This is real stuff involved in your life. If we figure out a way to do that collectively, I think that we really encourage people to want to be interested in the field. Because one of the things I've seen in girl security, some girls and young people like to come to the field because of a personal experience they had as a child. And I think that's true for a lot of us. We end up where we end up because of something that happened to us as a child or some experience we had, something that caught our attention and that drives our interest. So I think the same with this field. People really realize how it impacts them on a day to day basis. They might be more interested to coming in and participating. So I'm gonna end with one last question before we turn it over to the audience, but it's about the audience. So we have this new group of fellows who are kicking off a year's worth of research and project building, but they're also in a certain way, they're representative of a broader set of people that are either at the start or in the middle of their careers in this space. So what's one bit of advice that you would give either to our fellows and or someone working in the field? I would say with your work, and I applaud you all for being fellows, I think that's so awesome, is challenge your assumptions. So as you do your research, as you talk to people, as you approach the work, challenge your assumptions along the way and think about is this relevant? Is this applicable to a wide range of people? So that's what I would say. I think a lot of times when we do our work and we talk and we make comments, we work from preconceived ideas about whatever and they're not all bad, but I think sometimes it's good as we move along with projects and stuff to challenge whatever assumptions we're making along the way to make sure your work is as solid as it can be. So that's my humble advice. Yeah, I mean, to riff off that, it would be root the things that you research in some of the most real problems you can imagine because when things are rooted in real problems that touch people immediately and tangibly, that's a phrase I often use. Immediately and tangibly, those are the things that get picked up the quickest. Those are the things that scale the quickest. Those are the things that are gonna have the most long lasting change. So yeah. Absolutely, I do wanna hear about the human experiences you're exploring when it comes to cyber, whether that's getting folks the resources they need in order to have access or protecting them while they're online. I think too, this is a unique opportunity you're surrounded by people who support you and are just so excited to learn about you and your work. And so I think just reach out, use folks as resources, understand that institutions are here too and those often have ties to others in the community. And so leverage those. Make sure that you're using all the tools in your toolbox. And if you have questions, reach out. Everyone here in this room, I'm sure, would love to get an email or be on the phone with you or text and make sure that they're supporting. And I think it's a unique opportunity. It doesn't always happen that way in DC. There are a lot of closed doors here. And so I would just say leverage the ones that are open to you. Great ideas. So let's turn it over to the audience. And I believe, actually, Lauren's gonna run the mic to folks. Is that the question? No, you're going to the mic, okay? I have a question. She's gonna roast it. Can I start with a question? Absolutely. Okay. And actually, sorry to interrupt. For people online who may be just joining in or watching on tape, if you could introduce yourself before the question. Absolutely. Hi, everyone, I'm Lauren Zabrick, co-founder of Share the Mic in Cyber and one of the advisors on the actual fellowship program. So I have a policy question, but first I just want to show, like throw you all some love. Darina, amazing work. I love girl security. I'm a mentor and I just, everything that you're doing is incredible. Tyrants, I'm such a fan of yours. I think Black Textury is just so innovative and incredible and I'm so glad you're here. And, you know, Caitlyn is such a great example of someone, you know, you're talking about these like micro actions to make people feel valued and appreciate and belong. She is a perfect example of someone who does that. So I just want to throw you all that love. Okay. So, I was on a panel the other day where we were talking about banning TikTok, right? And I, I'm not going to ask you your opinions on it because I know it's, you know, there might be controversy there. And, you know, I acknowledge there are enormous national security concerns, right? But there are so many people who, and businesses who depend on that particular lifeline. And I think banning it outright without, you know, a communication strategy without maybe like an off ramping or, you know, an alternative or anything like that. I think it can be really damaging to, you know, a lot of different people, you know, different communities, you know, especially when we're thinking about equity, right? And something that really changed my thinking on this, I was actually speaking with a formally incarcerated black man about cryptocurrencies. And I was like, oh, we should like regulate, you know, all the stuff. And he really, you know, made me understand that for him, and of course at the time, you know, cryptocurrency was a way towards building wealth for, you know, him and for people like him who really have been cut off from accessing those pathways towards wealth. And it just really changed my thinking on that. And so Tyrants, you said, what you do without me is what you do to me. And so I was really thinking about that in terms of this question. And so I just wanted to throw to, you know, how would you create a policy around, you know, the use of, you know, potentially harmful, you know, social media to national security while taking into account, you know, this equity issue? So that's really interesting because the governor of Oklahoma just signed an executive order to Dan TikTok, you know, in, but specifically on like government channels. And I mean, that's interesting, but if you're talking about balancing, I mean, maybe it is just not using it on government channels, I mean, but banning it all outright. Clearly that could have some issues, but at the same, in the same breadth, there are also plenty of other social media platforms that businesses can leverage to, you know, use to do well, but the cryptocurrency thing is an interesting conversation, simply because cryptocurrency and Web3 has been built as one of the main ways that like people who typically don't get a good, a fair shake at the typical financial system can, you know, use it to build wealth. And I think, but like everything in life, I think there's a happy medium. You can't have something without regulation. I mean, the recent headlines have really shown us what can happen when that happens, but there's a way to think about things and systems differently without throwing them entirely and completely away. And I think that that's kind of the medium in the line that we have to walk. Full disclosure, I'm not a policy expert, I'm probably not the best person you could ask that question to, but if you wanted my opinion, that's probably what I would say. I definitely can't say to ban TikTok. I don't think that would be good. But I don't want to have to like come out on either side. Just, you know, policies around that and thinking about, you know, equity and inclusion and, you know, just policies, I think should serve its constituents, right? So how do we best serve, basically? I mean, you mentioned formerly incarcerated or currently incarcerated population. I think we drive a lot of resources to what information people get and trying to limit that information. That's a population who struggles with access. More so than I think any of us, you know, really contemplate enough. And it's a population that maybe when you're in prison or jail, you're not allowed to access the internet. You're not allowed to be on a platform. You're expected to exit those institutions and be able to operate in a setting where everything is digital now, right? I think that's really difficult. When we're talking about prisons or jails, we're also thinking about access to information that's off of platforms too, right? Books in prisons are highly regulated. Queer books in particular, books about the LGBT experience or romances, et cetera, are disallowed at many, many prisons across the US. If you look at the banned books list in these jails, they often target books that speak to people's experiences and sexuality. And so I think it's really important when we're thinking about policy, we often focus on like, how do we protect people from bad information? Whatever we can through is bad information, but we're not thinking about these very fundamental access questions, which aren't even about like, how to access TikTok maybe in prison or jail or after. It's about like, how do I even like, read a book when I'm in jail about something I care about? And so that's critical, right? We need to drive more attention to things like that, that just feel like they're not being focused on general discourse. And just another full disclosure, I don't even have TikTok downloaded because the moment it came out, I have refused to engage, not because even before the social, even before the security issues came out. So no, I'm not saying abandoned, but I think that the conversation about access, I think it's broader than TikTok and I don't know if it should start there. I don't have it either, I will never, but. I have to write a lot so I keep my thoughts in track. So I'm Michael, I'm actually work for CISA and I have to say personal capacity, not the government's view. With that being said, I don't have TikTok on my phone. I also be fired. So, but as a government employee, I have one of the highest clearances you can get in government. I love my job. I think I do a lot of cool things because of the clearance. That said, when I'm in these classified meetings, I look around and like, I'm the only person of color in this room and also there's probably maybe one other woman in the room and it's interesting because I know people of color or if you're part of the marginalized community or disenfranchised community, I think we all do the same thing of look around the room like, okay, cool. And, but part of it too is, and this hasn't come up in the conversation yet and if there's more time, I was going to ask Kemba this about how we're trying to be more inclusive in the federal government space because it is very scary to try to work for federal government, not at least which because federal government had a huge role in disenfranchising marginalized communities and we don't necessarily do a good job of being a Sherpa and helping those who want to get national security in federal government because the format to fill out is extremely lengthy. It takes several months if you're lucky, sometimes it's years to get part of this clearance process and you need to know people. I mean, I think you mentioned earlier about internships, especially in DC, it is such a closed community that if you don't know somebody, it is really impossible, near impossible to get part in the policy space. It's a tight knit community, especially trying to work on the hill and honestly why I was able to work in the Senate was because I had a network that I was able to leverage and it felt weird that I had to like reach into that versus just my own qualifications and so I say all that and it's even worse at the state and local level. I used to do work at the state and local level and people always talk about how private sector approaches people from developed governments and salaries and we do the same thing at the state and local level and so it's just, it gets worse and worse as you go down to government chain and the government does so much, right? I mean, you're talking about how Oklahoma just banned TikTok, how many people in the diverse community work for Oklahoma State and even at the local community and it's just, it's a problem. So I'm curious for any of y'all, what are you trying to do in terms of for those who are interested in trying to work government, how are you engaging with local, state, federal level and what are some of the ways we can start breaking down those barriers? Well, I'll start, thank you for that. Very, very good question. So I'll start by sharing just real quick as you did. So I've worked at the federal level too, looked around the room like, hmm, okay and I worked at the local level too and I remember trying to build a team of analysts at the local level, the fusion center and we would get some applications, maybe a couple of people of color but mostly not and it was very difficult to build a very diverse looking team because of the people who would apply, who knew about the position, who were interested in it and it was very difficult for me as a black woman to not be able to facilitate that even though I wanted to. So I, sorry, I forgot. What was the last part of your question? Just how we could start breaking down some of the barriers and entry into government and make it more appealing really. Absolutely, so I think that that's a big part of what we're trying to do at girl security. So not only are we exposing them, generating interest and training them to know how to navigate themselves in the field, particularly for those who wanna go into federal government, be that military, intel, community, whatever, getting those skills for them and then also because of the way we're structured with our mentorship program, connecting them with people who can be their sponsors, who can be allies and help them. I think you're right and I thought your point was well taken when you said you were able to leverage your network but it felt kinda weird to have to do that but that's just the way the game is played right now. So we are trying to help people to be able to have their own skills and own qualifications but also have their network of people and sponsors who can help them because that's just the way the game is played right now and hopefully one day it doesn't have to be that way. People can get in on their own qualifications and but that's an idealized world. I think there's a, so there's a conversation about how the network works but then there's also a conversation about trust. It goes back to what you said earlier. Every minority group, the most heinous thing that's been perpetrated on them has been by the government almost in some way, shape, or form. So I mean, when it comes to the trust factor, how do you initiate a culture shift that is going to allow minorities to more so funnel into the government understanding that that is the best mechanism that we have for change but that's, I'm just taking the other side. I think the network side is spoken to, I mean, culture is developed around that, the closed door culture, that's one conversation but I do think this other conversation that is pretty crucial is for us to reshape how we see the government, not just, also not just in terms of trust but also in terms of the role it plays in innovation. I mean, I worked for the mayor of Tulsa before I jumped into tech and part of why I left was because I realized that some of the most crucial innovations that are gonna solve the problems in the 21st century aren't gonna come out of policy in the government. They're gonna come from the private sector. So how do you make a government more innovative and B, build a better cultural trust between the government and minorities that make it a more appealing option? And that's interesting because that's one of those sort of second order systemic issues because one of the things that's slightly different about the cybersecurity industry is that ex-government job often is what gets you into a more senior leader role. There's only a couple of industries like the defense contractor role but if you look at the background of executives or managers in the cybersecurity industry, it's often so-and-so used to be assistant secretary of acts or so-and-so used to be an FBI agent for Y and yet they're moving into either laterally or high up in cybersecurity either companies or a non-cyber company but they're in that information security role within it because of ex-government service which is not the case in a lot of other realms. So it has sort of a double effect that you talk about. It's not just, oh, looking around the room in government, if you're pulling from government for leader roles, it continues on. So how do you break that down? Did you want to get on this question? No, I mean, I think that was all exactly right. I'm thinking now about judges and the same thing with judges, right? They're coming from big law firms, they're coming from government and it does create those knock-on effects and I do want to say it is odd that we have this discomfort about using our network. I had the same feelings even when you apply to join a state bar, you have to put down every address you've ever lived and someone who still lives in that city. I was like, oh my gosh, I don't know all these people and it's hard when you've moved around a lot, et cetera. And something that I'm working through right now is the Supreme Court, the US Supreme Court bar. You have to have two recommendations from current US state, US Supreme Court barred attorneys. Who are those people? I don't know those people, right? And so I think it's interesting when you don't have the network to leverage and you have to start making connections, but I just think that's why it's so important for us to create our own networks and create those now in anticipation of next generations because I don't want it to be this difficult for those coming next. And that's one of the ideas I've shared. So we've got time for one last question in the back there. Great, I'll make it quick. First, my name's Connor Godfrey and I work for the George Kaiser Family Foundation, which is the biggest place-based philanthropy in the world for the best of our knowledge. And I introduce it like that because my question's actually about geography. I would love to hear the panel riff a little bit on the intersection between kind of racial and community diversity and geographic diversity. I think it's almost axiomatic at this point that cyber is a team sport. I'll put you on the spot where Google's biggest data center in North America is. Oh, I have no idea. I'll give you a hint. There are two Tulsons in the room. Sorry, so I actually, George Kaiser Family Foundation is based in Tulsa. So I have the privilege of working with Tyrants on a number of projects, but it's right outside of Tulsa, but whether it's critical infrastructure and energy and aerospace manufacturing, right? So we have different regional flavors that require cyber talent and technology. I certainly don't want it all going to Fort Mead, right? Like, I think we need to look to our own backyard first. So we'd love to hear a bit of a riff on the intersection of talent, recruitment, geography, et cetera. I'm looking at you. We have this conversation over the top, so I was actually gonna, you and I, okay. Okay, well, okay. Sorry. You know, Connor, when I got put on the spot, I realized how, get a little more concise. You wanted the, so the intersection between geography and, you know, in race, so when it comes to attracting talent specifically. So this is a nut that Tulsa really tries to crack. A lot of money gets poured into it because, you know, the diversity of the talent pool of a geography, you know, plays heavily. If not, isn't the single biggest determining factor of where that geography is gonna go economically, what kind of society it's gonna build, things like that. So when it comes to the interplay of those two, I mean, people wanna come and live in communities where they have a flourishing ecosystem, where there's an abundance of opportunities and where they feel like they have access to the things that are most crucial for them to build what they feel will be a good life. And when I say build a good life, I don't just mean economics. I'm talking about have certain impacts. Is this city connected in a way that's gonna allow me to have a highway to impacting other places as well? So to specifically anchor that in cybersecurity, as Connor and I talked about a lot, the University of Tulsa actually has one of the best cybersecurity programs in the country. I think it was ranked number two at one point, correct? I wish, number 25. 25, I thought. It was high up there, you know, there's relationships with government agencies. And I was actually having this conversation yesterday when I first got in DC, I linked up with a friend of mine and he was talking about how different geographies have these things called endowments. Here, DC's based endowment is the federal government. We were actually talking about how Prince George and Charles County are the two wealthiest black counties in the entire country because so many of them, people work for the government and they can stay there for years, they get good jobs and all of that. So when it comes to geography and like in racing, things like that, I would say it's really about thinking about what are the endowments of a geography and how can those be leveraged to make it a more inclusive or vibrant and inclusive environment. So we are both running out of time for this panel but actually at the start of a marathon for the fellows. And I wanna end by thanking you all for sharing your insights with us but also invite you to stay linked and run that marathon with us in the year ahead. So please join me in a round of applause. And with that, we're going to exit the stage and I'm gonna hand it over to my colleague, Christina, to close us out with some remarks. Thanks to the panel again and thanks to Peter. So a couple of things that I learned today, actually I'm here for my learnings too, right? And this panel was excellent, by the way. Challenging your assumptions, that's super important and I didn't realize how much we do this. So I'm gonna challenge the fellows to challenge their assumptions as they go through some of the research. What you start with or the idea that you started with may not be that output or the outcome that you end up with and that's okay, right? Be flexible, because you don't know what you're gonna create. So that was gold, I love that and I'm gonna continue to use that. Leveraging open doors, I love that because I too do not like reaching out to my network. It's so uncomfortable. It's like one of the most challenging things but I think it's important to get comfortable with doing that, right? Be okay with saying what you want because as they say, a closed mouth doesn't get fed, right? Focus on incremental changes. So like doing the work, I think that's critical. I think a lot of times, I know myself I sometimes get overwhelmed because it feels like I'm trying to climb a mountain and can't do it all in one afternoon, one day. And so I think that it's important that if we do want to change the face of cyber security, national security, that we have to do it incrementally. It's not going to be done overnight. So thank you for that reminder. I thought that was really good. And lastly, just the takeaway of building your network and walking through these open doors, another gold nugget. I mean, we did gold nuggets today. I'm like, I'm glad I woke up at four in the morning. Just, you know, open the door, like the door was already open for you, especially in an environment with so many closed doors. So walk in, walk in. Don't have a seat, but walk in. And again, just remember all these, there's gonna be a lot of information today, but if you remember nothing else, just remember that there's so much opportunity and that it's just here for the taking, right? So get warmed up and definitely reach out to us if there are any issues and questions. We don't always have all the answers, but I think together we can figure it out. And yeah, I'm super excited for what's to come. I'm more excited for lunch because I didn't have breakfast. And yeah, in closing, I think that's about it. I'm super excited to meet you all and for those folks online, hello and goodbye. And yeah, I hope you have a fantastic day and a fantastic journey. Thank you.