Brandon Gilmore and Marco Figueroa: Where are the Young Black and Brown Men in Cyberscurity?
Photo by F. Scott Schafer
Let us begin, what, where, why or when
Will all be explained like instructions to a game
See I'm not insane, in fact I'm kind of rational
When I be asking you, "Who is more dramatical?"
This one or that one, the white one or the black one
Pick the punk and I'll jump up to attack one
-- KRS One; My Philosophy, 1989
Want to have a fun and easy conversation? Let’s talk about race in the world if cybersecurity.
Let’s go with some numbers…
According to the International Consortium of Minority Cybersecurity Professionals, the cybersecurity workforce looks like this.
- 6% African American
- 7% Hispanic
The total U.S. workforce is 11% Black and 15% Latinx by comparison.
Who better to jump into this conversation than a right handed, blue-eyed, US born, white straight CIS-male… I don’t pretend know much about this… but I know people who do because they have fought the battles and are providing the opportunities.
On this episode of pm73media, Matt Stephenson welcomes in Brandon Gilmore and Marco Figueroa for a blunt conversation on opportunities in tech for young Black and Brown men. They are both going to be point blank honest on their experiences, opinions of the industry and what they have done and are doing to make our business look more like the rest of the world that surrounds it. Dig it
About Brandon Gilmore
Brandon Gilmore has been a noteworthy leader and talent in the public sector industry with experience in cybersecurity and intelligent automation. Led by three core values - faith, family, and collaboration - he regularly engages with decision-makers on initiatives that center around strengthening our nation against digital threats and preparing the 21st-century workforce.
You may know him from his work as Federal Marketing Manager at Alteryx, but Brandon is also the founder of Ready Rock Institute of Technology. This non-profit focuses on creating pathways for underprivileged youth through STEM. Creating diversity, shortening the income/wealth gap, and uplifting communities out of poverty.
Over the course of his career, Brandon has aided and mentored dozens of young men who have since gone on to college, entered the STEM field, become entrepreneurs, and gone on to play professional sports. He was born and raised in Mansfield Ohio and holds a degree from Ashland University.
About Marco Figueroa
Marco Figueroa is Head of Product at BreachQuest. His technical expertise includes reverse engineering of malware, incident handling, hacker attacks, tools, techniques, and defenses. Marco has performed numerous security assessments and responded to computer attacks for clients in various market verticals. He has been a speaker at Defcon, Hope, and other security and hacker conferences.
About Matt Stephenson
My name is Matt Stephenson (@packmatt73) and I have hosted podcasts, videos and live events all over the world which put me with experts on every corner of the cybersecurity landscape. pm73media is my first solo endeavor. On this platform and others to come, I will continue to expand upon the tradition we started with the Insecurity podcast as I seek out the leading minds in the tech industry and beyond. I am always looking for fun people who may break things every now and again.
In 20 years in the ecosystem of Data Protection and Cybersecurity I have toured the world extolling the virtues of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning and how, when applied to information security, these technologies can wrong-foot the bad guys.
Whether in person, live virtual events or podcasting, I get to interview interesting people doing interesting things all over the world of technology and the extended world of hacking. Sometimes, that means hacking elections or the coffee supply chain... other times that means social manipulation or the sovereign wealth fund of a national economy.
Wherever I go, my job is all about talking with the people who build, manage or wreck the systems that we have put in place to make the world go round...
If you tuned in to any of my previous podcasts, there’s great news… pm73media is here! I will be bringing the same kind of energy and array of guests you know and love. Best part? We’re still at the same spot. You can find it at Spotify, Apple, Amazon Music & Audible as well as GooglePlay, Gaana, Himalaya, I Heart Radio and wherever you get your podcasts!
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