CyberWire Daily - Get your foot in the door and prove your worth. [Career Notes]

Episode Date: June 28, 2020

Vice President of Marketing, Kathleen Booth, shares her career path from political science and international development to marketing for a cybersecurity company. Early dreams of acting morphed into goals of making the world a better place. Chief marketer and podcaster Kathleen is doing just that. She shares how proving your worth can lead to success. Listen for Kathleen's advice on getting your foot in the door. Our thanks to Kathleen for sharing her story with us.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You're listening to the Cyber Wire Network, powered by N2K. and VPNs, yet breaches continue to rise by an 18% year-over-year increase in ransomware attacks and a $75 million record payout in 2024. These traditional security tools expand your attack surface with public-facing IPs that are exploited by bad actors more easily than ever with AI tools. It's time to rethink your security. Thank you. My name is Kathleen Booth, and I'm the Vice President of Marketing for Attila Security. When I was younger, I wanted to be an actress when I grew up. But then I think I started realizing that that might not be the most secure career path. I actually kind of went to college

to study political science and really was interested in going into politics. I had, you know, very lofty goals of changing the world, making it a better place. And so I did. I spent four years studying political science. I then went on and got a graduate degree in international politics. I have kind of a funny career story. I used to do a lot of work for the World Bank, USAID, etc. And I specialized in water utility, public-private partnerships in the developing world. But what happened was some of the projects I worked on

really were frustrating. And I'll give you an example. I think the turning point for me was around 1996. I was spending a lot of time in Ghana, in Africa. And I was working on a project to bring the private sector in to manage water throughout the whole country. It was a really large project, very, very needed, because as is the case throughout much of Africa, there are many people who don't have either any access to water, or if they have it, it's unreliable. And that has a cascading effect across their lives and across the economy.

So, you know, I was very passionate about these projects. And what happened was we did a lot of work. I think we put together a prospectus for a really great project that would deliver water to a lot of people who really needed it. for a really great project that would deliver water to a lot of people who really needed it. But because of poor communication on the part of the government, that project got derailed for a variety of reasons. And it wound up taking a decade

for the country to move forward with it. I am somebody who likes to see the product of her work. And so I think that was really the moment in time for me where I realized I needed to do something differently. And so for about five years after that, I shifted a little bit. I still worked in the same field, but I started focusing on how governments could use strategic communications to start out really early in the process and build consensus with key stakeholders for large public sector reform projects. And really what that was, was that was just using my marketing degree and applying it to the field of international

development. So that was what led me back into marketing initially. At the end of the day, my personal belief is that nothing trumps experience. Honestly, if there's something you're passionate about doing and you want to get started, the best thing to do is to figure out a way to get your foot in the door. And the story I always share about this is a woman who used to work for me at my marketing agency, who was just one of those people, sort of like I described. She hadn't finished college. She didn't have a marketing degree. She applied for a job with me.

And I said, you know, you don't have the qualifications I'm looking for. And I was thinking that would be that. And she wrote me back and she said, I really want to go into a career in marketing. I will take any position in your company. You just tell me what you need. And that really made an impact on

me. And I hired her at first. She was came in as an assistant, a personal assistant to my husband, but she was amazing. She was a hard worker. She learned so fast and she quickly transitioned and became one of our best marketing strategists. And today she has a very successful career in marketing. So whether it's marketing or cybersecurity or whatever it is, if you're just getting started and you want to pursue it, don't take no for an answer and be willing to do anything that gets you in. And then once you're in, that's your opportunity to prove your worth. I hope that I'm remembered as someone who helped other people, who lifted others up. You know, I have a long running podcast that's all about education.

I mentor a lot of startups. I've mentored a lot of younger marketers. You know, I love what I do, but I think the part of it that I love the most is when I'm able to help someone else, whether that's an entrepreneur who's trying to grow their business or a young marketer just starting out or, you know, somebody who's listening to the podcast.

I just really hope that people look back and say, boy, I learned a lot from her and I was able to be more successful because of it. Hey everybody, Dave here. Have you ever wondered where your personal information is lurking online? Like many of you, I was concerned about my data being sold by data brokers. So I decided to try Delete.me. I have to say, Delete.me is a game changer. Within days of signing up, they started removing my personal information from hundreds of data brokers. I finally have peace of mind knowing my data privacy is protected.

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