Given that barriers to entry and advancement in the cybersecurity industry often include the lack of role models, challenges related to work-life balance, unconscious bias and inadequate support, out-of-the-box solutions are needed.

Having been launched in 2018 by Mandiant, Elevate is an initiative that tackles these challenges by accelerating diversity in cybersecurity, because the best minds are required in this field, according to Erin Joe (pictured, right), senior executive for cybersecurity/readiness in the office of the chief information security officer at Mandiant, a Google LLC company.

“Elevate is an initiative that started with Mandiant, now a Google Cloud company, and the idea was to support and promote diversity in leader positions across our cybersecurity industry,” Joe said. “Our roots were in supporting women, and it started with us recognizing that not only did Mandiant have a good number of women who were in this career field who were excelling and successful, and we wanted to really showcase that people could see people like themselves and aspire to be in those positions.”

Joe and Caroline Wong (left), chief strategy officer at Cobalt Labs Inc., spoke with theCUBE industry analysts Rebecca Knight and John Furrier at the mWISE Conference, during an exclusive broadcast on theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s livestreaming studio. They discussed how diversity sets the ball rolling in the cybersecurity industry, and how Elevate fits into the picture. (* Disclosure below.)

The need for an open mindset in cybersecurity

To bridge the gap between talent and open opportunities in cybersecurity, having an open mind and being ready to learn is of the essence, according to Joe. This plays an instrumental role in gravitating toward the skills needed in this field.

“I took a non-traditional route,” she explained. “I was an English major, I’m an attorney by background. I was an FBI agent. I mean, there’s just nothing about that screams cybersecurity, but it really was about taking my skills and abilities all along the way, being surrounded with the threats that were happening and evolving. You do have to at least spend some time learning about the direction that the world is going, and I think that having applied myself in that way helped put me into a better position now for sustaining a career in cybersecurity.”

Seizing opportunities is crucial when entering any field, and cybersecurity is not an exception. As a result, one should be ready to grab such a chance whenever it arises for enhanced growth in this sector, according to Wong.

“I studied electrical engineering at UC Berkeley, and when I graduated, I looked around for a job,” she stated. “I had an internship in IT at eBay, and there was a hiring freeze in that department, but the hiring manager said, ‘There are some entry-level positions in information security … they’re looking for a smart college grad to train up.’ I led security teams at eBay and Zynga. I led a product management team at Symantec, and I’ve been with Cobalt for the past seven years.”

Here’s the complete video interview, part of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of the mWISE Conference:

(* Disclosure: Google Cloud sponsored this segment of theCUBE. Neither Google Cloud nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE