I originally am from the Philippines and started my career there, working with the biggest telecommunications company in the country. Then I was given a chance to be part of a team of seven Filipinos who were sent to the State of Qatar to build the first certified commercial Security Operations Center (SOC) there. After five years, I decided to move to New Zealand with my growing family, and I am now working with the biggest life insurance company in the world.
It has all been quite an adventure, and ISACA has played a key part. My CISM and CRISC certifications have provided a major boost in my career. Being an ISACA member also is a blessing because I can update myself with current trends and apply them to to my role to be more effective. My career journey is not yet complete. With my years of experience and verifiable knowledge, my next goal is to become a CISO.
Along the way, the opportunity to work in three different countries has allowed me to learn three very important principles about diversity that have helped me in my career:
1. Respect. You need to show respect to earn respect. Working as an ex-pat for the first time is a challenge. You need to respect the unique individual differences of the people around you and in your workplace. While working in the State of Qatar, I worked with very talented individuals who have different age, religion, beliefs, values and approaches to work. Regardless of everyone’s origin, everyone is respectful of each other’s capabilities and appearance. Everyone has the right to speak up and be heard. As a Filipino leading the corporate security back there, this is very helpful for me as I aim to raise the security maturity of the organization.
2. Equality. Moving to New Zealand as an immigrant, I was given the opportunity to be part of a highly diverse organization for a company that accepts and values people in the workplace regardless of their identity. This is also the first time that I became a manager. My experience in Qatar and exposure in my working environment in New Zealand have reinforced that there must be no room for discrimination regardless of your background. As I did in Qatar, I am now immersing myself in the culture of New Zealand to understand cultural differences, and taking time to ensure I get to know the people around me.
3. Doing the right thing at work. A commitment to diversity means providing opportunity to your team and coworkers to collaborate freely and be more productive. Hiring people regardless of their gender, religion or race is also an opportunity because you are not limiting the talented people who will help you work toward your goal.
My experience living in multiple countries and connecting with different cultures gave me the idea and opportunity to create a brand that appeals to a diverse audience. Last year, I thought of developing a “side hustle,” but I did not know of a product to build or to sell that would not take a lot of my time. While watching an entrepreneur video, the recommendation was “Know your passion and profit from it.” I then thought about developing my “Human Firewall, A Cyber Security Awareness Lifestyle Store,” and I was able to launch my store in February of this year. I have used “Cyber Security is a Lifestyle” as the store’s tagline. I thought of a brand that can be part of people’s lifestyle by creating custom-designed products like T-shirts, pillows, mugs and more.
One thing that motivated me in creating this lifestyle store is to share what I know about how to protect people online. I thought of doing this by creating “call-to-action” products and what I call #humanfirewalltips that I have been sharing over social media. Building a business and trusted brand for the first time was not easy. It felt like I was cracking a code to make it more profitable and be embraced by people.
Cybersecurity is a common language that everyone can understand. I envision this brand becoming a cybersecurity awareness service that will help people across the world.