InfoSteph - From Journalism to IT Support to Security Analyst

Steph is brand new to the infosec field! We go over her interesting and eventful path into Information Security, reflections on her role today, and some fascinating war stories!

BIO:

Steph is a Security Analyst for a retail company makes up the team of one. She has a background in journalism and web hosting. She is the creator and editor of StephAndSec.com, a blog focused on technology, inclusion, and lifetime learning. Stephanie's life work is to encourage and fight for more diversity and inclusion in tech spaces for more innovative and original collaboration. She spends her time mentoring high school students, hosting virtual labs via Women In Tech-a-thons, and learning as much as she can about anything and everything. Stephanie believes that giving back to the community at every stage is very important. In addition to technology, Stephanie has a secondary passion for Psychology, so don't be frightened if you hear her discuss cognitive distortions or attachment styles. She hopes to develop research that explores the dichotomy between human beings and technology. She is currently on a mission to speak at three events in 2019 and has already been booked for one event.

Notes:

Dreams of Creative Writing, but chose Journalism for practicality
Encouraged to Computer Science by her mom
Had her eye on Security, through IT or Web Hosting... eventually.
A story of being so close, yet so far
Was very close to giving up on the whole industry due to the difficulty and lack of encouragement... but was NOT comfortable with quitting.

Quotes:

"You have to talk to strangers about their story... you want me to walk up to a complete stranger as an introvert? Uh.. what?"
"The type of person I am, I can't fully commit to something without getting my hands dirty."
"The way that I learn is situational."
"We had a vulnerability scan tool and so I just tried to work with that."
"It's kind of like what doctors have to do before they [can] become a doctor."
"So many people are trying to get into the industry and facing the same issue. I've done all these things people have told me to and it hasn't gotten me anywhere."
"Just do a bunch of stuff until it sticks!"
"Twitter was one of the best... decision I made."
"Get a champion that is more senior than you."
"Don't count yourself out, before someone else has counted you out."
"The lessons that are best learned are the ones that resulted in catastrophic failure."
"When you want to be a lawyer, you go to law school, you sit for the bar. There ya go! There's a plan."