I took up belly dancing at the same time I started preparing for my CISA exam 16 years ago. It is great exercise, and concentrating on the music and the movements takes my mind completely off the problems and stressful decisions that I face in my daily work as the leader of a big team of highly skilled IT auditors.
During the day, I’m professional and knowledgeable, but on my dancing nights, I need to express emotions in a totally different way. For me, it is extremely important to know and let others know that I can be an IT security and audit professional – which often is perceived as masculine – and a gorgeous belly dancer, the essence of femininity, at the same time.
I have always wanted to work in IT. Ever since I could speak, I would tell anyone that I wanted to be an IT professional like my father, László Biró, who is also an ISACA member. I’m not exactly sure why; as a kid, I used to watch my father write code, and I just wanted to be like him. So, I earned my MSc in computer science, and after university, I decided to follow my father in earning a CISA. At that time he was serving on the board of the ISACA Budapest Chapter, and we did not tell anyone that we were related, because I did not want the then not-so-large professional community to have any preconceived notions about me. I remember when I passed the CISA exam and we finally told the others at the annual meeting that we were related, the president of the chapter told us that we could be equally proud of each other’s professional merits.
Currently, I work as the Head of IT Supervision at the Central Bank of Hungary, which means that my team is responsible for the IT supervision of all the financial entities (banks, insurance companies, investment firms, etc.) in Hungary. A large part of our work is performing onsite regulatory audits, but we also issue regulations and guidance on IT-related topics like electronic banking or cloud service usage.
It took a long time for me to come to terms with the fact that I’m not just one of the guys, but a grown woman working in the IT field. My belly dance classes and the group of women I met there helped me to find the right balance. Most of my professional colleagues know about my dancing talent and have been very supportive. I have come to appreciate that I can be a technically minded IT professional and still look and act feminine.
I am proud to share my story so others, especially young girls, can find their way and see that they do not have to choose between being “an IT guy” and a woman.