Real Technologists

My friend and mentor, Mark Miller, tagged me on a LinkedIn post.  Then he  shot me a link on Slack a few months ago.  His words?  “This is someone you have to talk to, Trac”  That person?  Lani Rosales.

Mark was right.  I navigated to her LinkedIn profile and found myself laughing aloud.  Here is the wildly smart and tech savvy Chief Operating Officer for The American Genius being unapologetically authentic.  You can’t help but chuckle when someone uses phrases like “turd waffle” , “entitled potato” or straight up swear.  I followed her instantly.  Over the coming days and weeks, I saw a steady stream of honesty born of passion.  

So many of her LinkedIn messages seem as though she is grabbing you by the shoulders, shaking you, and saying “what the hell are you thinking?” Some of those posts, I could not help but to pile on with her common sense messages, advice, and integrity.

Scrolling through her feed, you will see she lives her life transparently and truly cares about people.  She is larger than life with a keen understanding of the intersection of humans and technology.  Lani is a talented and prolific writer often varying her style from editorial to Op Ed. 

I suppose I  could sum it up by saying a big heart, a big mouth,  from a big state: Texas.

Being a part of a community means investing time to grow the community. You've got to keep a pulse on the voices, ideas, and themes, and look for way to continuously contribute. Sometimes, it could be a blog post, other times, maybe an open dialogue. I was organizing a panel on DevSecOps and CyberSecurity in government and looking for a well balanced set of experts. The panel's list was shaping up though I noticed a trend of going to the same old folks. Reaching out to a colleague for ideas, we realized the community had some early warning signs of stagnation. We need to have a constant influx of new ideas and perspectives. 

My colleague said, "I have someone you must meet! Her name is Lonye Ford and she's gonna blow your mind." 

A few clicks later I had a facilitated intro. Email led the way to a Zoom call. My colleague was right... Lonye joined the call and immediately, we could simply feel her presence. She's a mix of grit and grace. Articulate with an accent hailing from Chicago, Lonye experienced, level headed and determined.

Lonye grew up in Chicago's south side. Her predominantly all black community was underserved, surrounded by high crime rates and limited opportunities.

My first exposure to Caroline Wong was in 2021. It was the height of the pandemic lockdowns, and we were brought together virtually, to discuss mentoring in technology. I was instantly drawn to her focus on happiness and on avoiding toxicity. 

She's wicked smart, having received a degree in electrical engineering and computer science from UC Berkeley. When you meet her, when you hear her, it's no wonder she is currently the Chief Strategy Officer at Cobalt, a firm focused on PenTesting as a service. 

While all this sounds like a natural fit, Caroline's journey is filled with twists, turns, courage, and fate. 

Caroline was born and raised in San Francisco, the daughter of Chinese immigrants. Her mother was a trained biologist turned a stay-at-home mom. 

Her parents wanted only the best for their daughter. They taught her from an early age that college was not a choice. It was a natural next step. Expectations were set including her father insisting on her taking the most difficult engineering program available.

When I met Katy Craig in 2017, it was in her role as a cyber security pro. She was working for Deloitte focusing on DoD and more specifically, the Navy. 

Given her cool and matter of fact countenance, she struck me as a natural for identifying and mitigating risk. More importantly was her handling of issues that struck. She is level headed and her delivery is often as even and level as her opinion and common sense. 

So it was no stretch to find out over dinner one evening in San Diego that she also taught college courses on cyber security and ethical hacking. I found myself thinking, wow, this is a badass. 

According to a research study of 30 million cyber security analysts profiled by Zipplia, nearly 79% of cybersecurity professionals are male. That's the current state of the industry. Imagine what it was like in 1989 when Katy first got started in security.

Full transcript and resources for this episode: https://realtechnologists.org/

Jennifer Leggio is a fixture in the Cybersecurity industry. She's a no-nonsense communicator and that makes her perfect for her role in marketing, security solutions, and building communities. 

Jennifer has an honest approach to discussing security which has become her trademark. Jennifer is legendary in her push for accountability and security marketing. Building on principles of disclosing with integrity and honesty in content. It's no surprise that she's a Chief Marketing Officer for Netography, a startup Cybersecurity platform addressing the complex networks we use now... different devices, remote and hybrid operations.

In her own words, "we must truly care in our bones about helping others protect their companies." This is the type of empathy that Jennifer brings to Cybersecurity domain. 

When she started her career, Jennifer was focused on writing; not technology. Her journey from writer to well known voice for Cybersecurity is filled with discovery.

Full transcript and resources for this episode: https://realtechnologists.org/

I first met Rosalind Radcliffe during the early days of the pandemic. We were both invited guests on a technical panel called DevOps Unbound. Our topic? Exploring the reality of DevOps and compliance. Following usual protocol, the moderator shared the names of the other panelists. Time for a little Googling.

Rosalind's experience in education pops off the page at you: an IBM distinguished engineer recently elevated and celebrated as a prestigious IBM fellow. Much of her focus appeared to be on z/OS. z/OS is a 64-bit operating system for IBM z/Architecture mainframes. It's been around since the early 2000's. Being on a panel with Rosalind discussing and debating DevOps was going to be interesting. 

Our panel discussion was meaty diving into the fallacy that you can buy agile and do DevOps. Where Rosalind and I found we were squarely aligned is on the core challenge: the real meaning of modernization and the curse of buzzwords.

In our world today, technology plays an increasingly significant role in shaping our lives. The way we communicate, work, and even entertain ourselves is being revolutionized by tech. Behind every innovation, there's a person, a human being with unique experiences, perspectives and challenges. Understanding what shaped their perspective is a real goal. 

From The Sourced Network remote offices in Camp Hill, Pennsylvania, welcome to Real Technologists. Each week we explore the genuine stories and true journeys of folks shaping our digital future. How did they navigate this complex world of ours? What challenges did they face? What are the innovative ideas that continue to propel them forward? 

Each episode is crafted to broaden your perspective, spark innovation, and help you make better decisions by showcasing the diversity of thought and experiences within the tech industry. 

Today, we've included some short excerpts to give you a taste of what's to come.

Let's start out with Jennifer Leggio, Chief Marketing Officer for Netography and cybersecurity strategist. She's also a luminary for the accountability and responsibility and security marketing. Just who helped her along the way?

"He would push me and say, ‘I see more in you. I see more in you.’ Because of that, Cisco wasn't enough for me anymore, and it wasn't Cisco. It was the role because it's such a huge org. My role was very finite there, focusing on security strategy and communications and messaging and such. I'm like, you know what? I'm gonna quit."

Caroline Wong, Chief Strategy Officer at Cobalt got her start with eBay as an intern. Her experience and exposure to eBay said in motion a series of domino events transforming her into a leading voice in cybersecurity. Funny to think it all started with dating a Stanford student.

" For my summer internship between my junior and senior year, I wanted to live at his house with his parents in Silicon Valley and not my house with my parents in San Francisco. And so when I applied to internships that summer, and I must have applied to 50 different internships, I only applied to companies located in Silicon Valley. And I got an internship in IT at eBay."

Katy Craig is a cybersecurity expert who has spent her career focused on the US Navy. She's a retired veteran, educating the next generation of ethical hackers.

" It's very special to build a ship, to be part of the pre-com crew, to be a quote unquote plank owner is a very special privilege. I am a plank owner of Bonhomme Richard. We went through a lot on that ship. I was there on 9-11 when the planes hit the towers. we deployed early to go hunt for Osama Bin Laden."

Lonya Ford grew up on the south side of Chicago and joined the military as a way to put a roof over her head and maybe give her an education. When she started out, she found herself believing that she could not be her authentic self. 

" It was scary joining the military because I was transported to a land where no one spoke like me. No one really looked like me. And so that was a tough environment for me. And, you know, for a while I think what I started to do was conform a little, right?” 

Rosalind Radcliffe is an esteemed IBM fellow driving big blue to drink their own champagne, so to speak, in their adoption of modern software practices and DevSecOps. As a self-proclaimed high school dropout, she is leading the way for the DevOps-ing of IBM's z/OS.

" So I went to school in Wisconsin for two years and then my dad was moving to Florida to teach at the University of Florida via England for a year. And so they sent me to the university and the university said, would you like to show up in August? I said, no, I'm going to England for a year. So let me go to England for a year and I'll come back and then I'll go to the university. And so technically I'm a high school dropout." 

That's what Real Technologist is all about. I delve into the lives of innovators to discover their journeys, their passions, and their motivations. 

This is Trac Bannon, the host and storyteller for the Real Technologist Podcast. I've been in the tech industry since the 1990s. Along the way, I've worked with scientists, researchers, consultants, educators, military and hardcore technologists driving digital innovation.

I'm an active member in many technical communities ranging from digital transformation to software architecture, to DevSecOps. With a vibrant network of professionals who are constantly monitoring what's going on, I've developed a passion for uncovering unique stories and perspectives.

I believe that behind every technological innovation, there's a unique individual with a captivating story to tell. Our goal, my goal, is to bring you face-to-face with the real technologists behind the latest tech trends, and to give you a glimpse into their lives, their passions, their motivations. 

Real technologists is more than a podcast about diversity. It's about amplifying the goodness that comes from our diverse spectrum of voices and experiences. It's about genuine stories, true journeys, our complex world. Whether you're a tech enthusiast, an entrepreneur, or just curious about the world of technology insights, the interviews are sure to inspire and educate. Consider joining me weekly at Real Technologists. Each episode will leave you with something to noodle on.