Keynote: It Takes Two to Tango (If You Want to Tango Exceptionally Well)

In a break from the norm when it comes to diversity events, ‘Grab the Mic’ is inviting a female-male duo to open our Women in Cyber event. Because this might historically have been a man’s world, but it’s certainly nothing without women or girls!

Steve Moran and Sarah Barclay have worked in cybersecurity teams together at three different companies, including Jaguar Land Rover and Next. With 22 years experience in the military, Steve now champions diversity in the cyber world – NOT to tick boxes, but because he believes in the power of diverse teams.

This session is designed to be an honest take on both the challenges and advantages of gender-balanced teams. Sarah and Steve will openly talk about any hurdles they’ve encountered, and challenges with conflicting communication, management styles or external factors. They will also discuss the ways in which they’ve found success and wins thanks to gender balance and diversity.

Sometimes candid, sometimes fun, always authentic, this session will uniquely identify how men and women can build high-performance teams, even if men are from Mars and women are from Venus….

Speakers:

• Sarah Barclay, Head of Cyber Security Operations, Sodexo UK&I
• Steve Moran, CISO, Sodexo

Lightning Talk: From 20,000ft summits to the Amazon! Starring Lisa Forte!

Lisa Forte owns and runs her own cybersecurity consultancy, but that didn’t stop her from taking the summer to work away and climb high altitude peaks and have adventures around Peru and the Amazon. Lisa will deliver a whistlestop tour of her adventures, inspiring the bejeezus out of us as we learn how one woman can overcome fears, work/life balance challenges, and adverse weather conditions including some frostbite to tick off a bucket-list challenge of a lifetime.

Speakers:

• Lisa Forte, Co-Founder, Red Goat Cyber Security

Panel: How to Land The Job of Your Dreams 

Despite the ever-bemoaned cybersecurity skills gap and the diversity drive in many organisations, many women struggle to land their dream cyber job. So what’s the disconnect?

Uniquely, this panel will be audience-led. There will be no pre-arranged questions asked to each panellist in turn. In this session, the audience will be in charge and invited to ask the diverse panel the questions they want answered.

We’ll have panellists representing the various perspectives of all stakeholders in that mission to match the right people with the right jobs. We’ll hear from a cybersecurity recruiter, a female founder, a hiring manager, a senior industry professional that made it to the Boardroom, and a cybersecurity noobie navigating the first rungs of her career ladder.

Considering that success and dream jobs are very much subjective, this panel can also consider outside factors at play when women design their career paths. Panellists will be willing to discuss how employers can do more to attract incredible female talent that is so often lacking into roles.

Moderator: Eleanor Dallaway

Panelists:

• Anne Woodley, Senior Security Specialist, Microsoft 
• Natasha Harley, Cyber Recruitment Specialist, Cyber Talent Partners
• Palvi Sharma, CAPSLOCK trainee
• Shelley Langan-Newton, CEO SQR Group
• Sunaina Ayatn, Cyber Security Consultant, AIRBUS
   

Networking: You Asked, We Deliver 

We’re fully aware that one of (if not THE) driving factor for women in cybersecurity events is the opportunity to make new friends, build your networks and perhaps even learn of new job opportunities. So we’re building in a very hearty networking session to allow attendees to do just that. Oh, and we’re inviting a load of recruiter friends so that those wishing to heed the advice from the event’s panel can make moves to secure that dream job.