027: From Chef to Cybersecurity: Kevin J. Foster's Journey

Summary: In this episode of Them Tech Folks, Rico Randall and Ebonyy engage with Kevin J. Foster Sr., a cybersecurity operations coordinator, as he shares his journey from restaurant management to a successful career in cybersecurity. Kevin discusses his early interest in technology, the pivotal moments that shaped his career, and the importance of mentorship in helping others achieve their dreams. He also highlights the significance of certifications in the field and shares insights on teaching cybersecurity principles. In this engaging conversation, Rico Randall and Kevin J. Foster Sr. explore the dynamic field of cybersecurity, discussing the importance of continuous training, the core responsibilities of security professionals, and the challenges faced when transitioning between roles. They delve into the significance of personality alignment in professional settings and share insights on staying current in the ever-evolving tech landscape. The discussion emphasizes the importance of mindset and personal development, highlighting how a proactive approach can lead to significant career advancements.

Takeaways:

• Kevin J. Foster Sr. is a cybersecurity operations coordinator.
• He transitioned from restaurant management to cybersecurity.
• His journey began with a tech school for certifications.
• Mentorship played a crucial role in his career.
• He emphasizes the importance of telling others your career aspirations.
• Certifications like Security Plus and GSEC are vital in cybersecurity.
• Kevin advocates for work-study programs to reduce certification costs.
• He finds gratification in helping others realize their career dreams.
• Teaching foundational courses is his favorite part of the job.
• Cybersecurity has many fields, and it's important to find your niche. Training is essential for growth in cybersecurity.
• Data protection is a universal goal across industries.
• Transitioning roles can be stressful but rewarding.
• Understanding personality traits can enhance team dynamics.
• Staying current in tech requires continuous learning.
• Mindset is crucial for career success.
• Taking breaks can prevent burnout in demanding fields.
• Engaging teaching methods can make learning enjoyable.
• Networking and mentorship are vital for career development.
• Personal development should be a continuous journey.

Find Us:

• Rico Randall
• Ebony Pierce
• Kevin J. Foster Sr.

Keywords: cybersecurity, career journey, mentorship, certifications, teaching, IT, professional development, Security Plus, GSEC, SANS, cybersecurity, training, data protection, career transition, personality tests, professional development, staying current, mindset, personal growth, GRC

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/dem-tech-folks--5753456/support.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hey, what's up everybody. Welcome back to another episode of
Them Take Folks Podcasts, and this is episode twenty seven
Me and Ebany. Tonight we interview a guy by the
name of Kevin J. Foster Senior, and this is a
good episode. Me and Kevin been kind of, you know,
going back and forth over over a year. At this

(00:22):
point we met on clubhouse. Actually, Kevin's got a wealth
of knowledge with twenty five years of experience in the industry,
and now he's spending his time the same as me,
sharing and helping people get into the space. It was
a very fun episode to record. He's a funny guy.

(00:43):
I mean, if you're watching it, you can see he
showed up with a Shade song and everything. So yeah,
thank he's cool, but he ain't cool to me.

Speaker 2 (00:51):
But yeah.

Speaker 1 (00:52):
As always, if you enjoyed the show, like sharing, subscribe.
If you want to support there's definitely ways of supporting
us further, so you know, reach out check out our
website developerymind dot com where you can find those different
ways to support us. You can find our show. You
can find coaching opportunities. If you find you may need

(01:14):
some coaching or some mental shift, you can reach out
to us. We'll have quite a few people reach out
to us to ask questions and it's always welcome. So
without further ado, sit back, relaxed, grab your favorite beverage.
That's a podcorn in Georgia.

Speaker 2 (01:27):
Show we'll keep in touch. So he was a person
that basically changed my life, right because the shot that
he gave me set me on a course to put
me in where I am today. And then a point
in time came when you have to make what I
call the leap. You gotta take the jump, right. That's

(01:51):
when I won't see the certifications don't matter now, but
it mattered more so in my mind, I was the
most qualified person in the whole company because no one
else in the company had those sort of I took
something and and didn't didn't didn't pass you know, so
that you know it's not all roses. Who gets access
to certain things who doesn't? So I always try to

(02:16):
stay active in the game, right, so you know how
to push my buttons, don't you. I wanted a job
and I had the skill. They just said I'm too old.
You may not get along with that person. As far
as a working relationship, I'll let you run with that
you can change your life with this this uh, this career.

Speaker 3 (02:40):
I can't take no loss. I don't even know what
They hit the ground in to go off.

Speaker 2 (02:45):
Ye hit the ground in to go off.

Speaker 1 (02:47):
Yah.

Speaker 2 (02:47):
I can't take no loss. Y, I don't even know
what hit the ground in. Right, all right? What's going
on everybody? Kevin J. Foster Senior. Here, I am a
cybersecurity operations coordinator for a major law from here.

Speaker 1 (03:00):
In Philadelphia, madeor law firm.

Speaker 2 (03:03):
Cool cool, cool.

Speaker 1 (03:04):
So you got all the colodes, all the keys, you
know where the cash is?

Speaker 2 (03:07):
A few, A few keys. I'm trying to get more
keys right now. I just got a few.

Speaker 1 (03:12):
Keys, all right, all right, don't let too much out
because we live and we're going to leave the secrets
for when.

Speaker 2 (03:17):
You go off there, that's for sure.

Speaker 1 (03:20):
So as usual, if you've been following to show anybody
out there, make sure you like, share, subscribe, if you
enjoy the content, or if you just want to support
what we're doing. You enjoy what we're doing, that's always welcome.
And Kevin, you've seen a few of the shows, so
you already know how we roll it. We want to
be talking about what you do and not only what

(03:44):
you do, but where you came from. So if you
don't mind, give us a little bit just to kind
of an elevator pitch about where you came up from,
you know, like where you grew up, you know in
some of your first work history, like that, how that
played out?

Speaker 2 (03:58):
Gotcha? Gotcha? So to not be too cliche, but in
North Philadelphia, born and raised. Right, I'm not West Philadelphia's
that's real. He on the other side over there. But yeah,
but I grew up in North Philadelphia. I attended public
schools there, and i've been Around nineteen ninety nine, I

(04:24):
decided I want to do something a little different, and
I wanted something. Up until that point, since I was
graduating school, I was like working in like restaurant management.
I had done a whole food and beversing. I've been
a chef, a baker, a Sioux chef. I did all
that stuff, and I contemplated a career going into being
an executive chef. But as I was going that route,

(04:48):
I kind of wanted something that I didn't have to
come home and sell on like food all the time. Right,
And I said, you know what, I always liked tech.
I've always been a techie type person. I would take
things apart and find out how they work and things
like that. So around the year two thousand, I decided

(05:08):
to go to school. It was a tech school and
I went to tech school for m c uh D
b A and m C s C and because that
was the hot thing at the time.

Speaker 1 (05:20):
When you say, when you say tech school, bro, are
you saying like Georgia Tech or Virginia Tech.

Speaker 2 (05:28):
Based. Yeah, it was a cert based school. They did teach,
they did have you know, full courses. You know, I
don't know if you want me to say the name,
but yeah, it's it's cool. But I mean they're good school,
you know, I take nothing away from that, but yeah,
they they did their thing. And about a year after that,
I actually took a security plus course and that was

(05:51):
the start. That was like the seed that was planning.
I was intrigued by it. And at the time I
was working for a restaurant and the owner had a
one of the owners of this franchise, they had a
tech outfit in New York and ironically enough, this is
where you know this these times in history. Ironically enough,

(06:14):
I was supposed to go to visit him on September eleventh, right,
And I remember it well. It was a Tuesday, and
I was on my I was headed up that way
and then you know, turned on the news and then
everything happened. But that was that. But I did go
back and visit him a month later, and and you know,

(06:38):
he took me around about what he did. He basically
was like a break fixed person. And we went all
around New York, you know, the walking tour, and he
visited clients and solved their issues. And I saw how
he solve problems and and how you know, users reacted
to him and everything like that, and I said, this
is pretty cool. This is kind of what I want
to do. I mean, they reacted well because this was

(07:01):
during the age when you know, most of the times
your your issues with computers were I need a mouse,
I need a keyboard, or you know, my driver isn't working.
More hands on break fixed kind of thing.

Speaker 1 (07:13):
Get me slow my stuff. It is slow, exactly exactly.
And that was it, right, That was all God, there was.
There was there was you know, you know, it was
coming to Americathor and Rose.

Speaker 2 (07:27):
Right, and I'm like, you know, this is pretty cool.
Like everybody came in like Hey, Alvin, what's going on?
And it was like, oh man, I'm like all right,
I like that, you know, I like this kind of accolades,
you know. So I went, I came back, and I
mean that whole visit is a whole nother story, you know,
because I actually went to visit the site where everything

(07:48):
happened that and you know, that was a whole big thing.
But but I came down zero. Yeah, actually went to
the ground zero was still like you know, watery and dusty,
and you know I was you couldn't get close obviously,
but I was like a block away, you know, you
could see everything. And to see it at one time
for what it was and then see it actually for

(08:08):
what it was afterwards, that was a whole different you know,
it's a whole different mind game. You know, you see
it on TV is one thing, but they're looking at
it live. Is it's a whole different thing.

Speaker 1 (08:18):
And throw a reality into like some kind of weird place.

Speaker 2 (08:21):
Right, Absolutely, absolutely it does. You just look at it,
You're like, wow, I'm not I can't believe it. I'm
looking at you know what I mean. So but you know,
I took that and I said, you know what, I
think this is what I want to do, and so
I started applying to some companies that were hiring or
in my area. But I was, I mean at that

(08:43):
time this remember this is the year two thousand, two
thousand and one, and I'm like, well would I even
apply for?

Speaker 1 (08:51):
What?

Speaker 2 (08:51):
Could I even do? You know? And it was a
small nonprofit that gave me a shot, brought me in,
had a fantastic interview. That was my first director, I
guess you could say. And I still talk with him.
I had lunch with him about two or three months ago.
I had lunch with him, and you know, we still
keep in touch. So he was a person that basically

(09:14):
changed my life, right because the shot that he gave
me set me on a course to put me in
where I am today. So I always liked to, you know,
shout him out and give him props, just say, mister Ken,
Ken can change my life, so you know, and that
kind of taught me the value of giving people a chance, right,

(09:35):
giving people a shot. And I've always taken that with
me because I know how I felt when I got
that first chance, when I got that first shot, right,
and you know, from there, that's what I've been all about,
you know, and so that was my first job, was
an mis tech assistant or mis assistant for a nonprofit

(09:56):
and I did that for a few years and then
from there, I like moved on. That's from there was
when I first got my first corporate gig. I was
a contractor for an insurance company, and you know, from
there I went to a hospital. I did that for
twelve years, and then a point in time came when

(10:16):
you have to make what I call the leap. You
got to take the jump. It was a jump. The
jump was so I had a job that I was
well and I had moved twice in that job. I
had moved from a service desk analyst to a systems
admin and then I moved from a system admin to

(10:37):
a security administrator. And so it was over the course
of twelve years.

Speaker 1 (10:44):
Over the course of twelve years, so you was in
these roles for a few years, yep, at a time,
not you know, in this role three months, you know,
moving around.

Speaker 2 (10:54):
I think I was a service desk I spent like
six years there, and then I spent no, yeah, five yeah,
five years, there's six years there, and then cis admin.
I spent two or three years there. And then the
last three years I spent as a security.

Speaker 4 (11:13):
First, were these promotions or were you just applying for
other jobs within the organization.

Speaker 2 (11:20):
Well that's another issue, right I was, I was. There
were more or less lateral moves. And the thing about
the the last move from CIS admin to security admin,
there was a gentleman who was working on the CIS
admin team who wanted to who was working on the
security team, who wanted to be in the CIS admin team.

(11:42):
And at the time, everybody knew that I wanted to
be in security, so it was like, well, this is
just math, right, Well just put him here and put
him here, and that's basically what happened. This is why
I'm always an advocate of you got to tell people,
you know, what you want to do, what your dreams

(12:02):
and aspirations are, and then you got to work and
move toward those things. Because I was doing security related
things and sharing information, sending out emails to my group,
you know, about things that were happening, and then I
was just a service des scanlets at that time, so
everyone knew what I wanted to do. I got my
first certification that was Security Plus back in two thousand

(12:26):
and seven, right, so I wasn't even working in security
at that time, right, so everyone knew, but I want
to be in security. So when the opportunity came, you know,
I interviewed and I had to go through the whole process.
But that's eventually what happened. I interviewed and I got
to be ASSIS admin. And then after that interview, I

(12:50):
worked there for a couple of years and then that's
when the transition happened and I actually moved on to
the security team.

Speaker 1 (12:57):
Do your remember of those interviews, like all your emotional
your state of mind was was were you nervous? And
how do you feel? How do you feel about your performance?
You feel like you were like extra, you know, prepared
or over prepared or.

Speaker 2 (13:12):
Not prepared enough. I think it's different now. Right now
you have so many resources. You have you know, YouTube
and you have all kinds of resources that you can
use to prepare for interviews. Back then, this is like
twenty twelve something like that. Twenty fifteen, it was more

(13:33):
or less. It was more technical, right That's when I
won't see the certifications don't matter now, but it mattered
more then because a certification meant that you had knowledge
of something and you could do something right. So I
relied on and I just basically leaned on the certifications

(13:54):
that I had gotten at that point. I had too.
I had a G set from Sands and I had
Security Plus from CompTIA. So in my mind, I was
the most qualified person in the whole company, because no
one else in the company had those certifications. So I'm like, well,
we're talking about me being on the security team. I mean,
you know, I've got two of the foundational CERTs right

(14:14):
in the industry. G second was strong one, bro. So
I I took.

Speaker 1 (14:22):
I took the first one because it's a two part exam.
Is it still a two part example? No, it's one
part now you used to be two parts.

Speaker 2 (14:29):
Yeh.

Speaker 1 (14:29):
Yeah. So we had a boot camp when I was
in the Marine Corps and they give you the clash
and they let you sit for the exam like right after,
and then it gave me some time to you know,
to reschedule or schedule for the second one if you
pass the first one, right, and it's open book, right, yes,
And so I managed to weasele through and pass like

(14:49):
badly by the skin of my tick. And I was
so intimidated by the exam. Bro, I never went and
took the second one. But it's a it's a tough
one though, Bro.

Speaker 2 (14:58):
It is tough. It is a tough it is. I
think it's one hundred and eighty questions and it's five hours,
I believe.

Speaker 3 (15:08):
Yeah, what does G six and four.

Speaker 2 (15:11):
For GC for sans oh security security? It's like a
security fundamentals.

Speaker 4 (15:16):
Well, I see, I know when we use these acronyms
and people are listening, they don't know what that is.

Speaker 2 (15:22):
So it's Security Essential certification is what it is. And
it's one of the premier certifications for the security industry.
It's I would say it's it's probably less or known
than CompTIA, but only because you know, it does take
a lot to get to it. You know, it's it's
you know, for some folks, it's pretty expensive, right, but

(15:46):
in a lot of companies, you know, they still frown
upon trying to pay for that for you to go
to that. I mean, it's still relatively expensive, but I
always say it's worth the money you pay to take
it because it does make a difference. It does. Right now,
it's about like eighty seven hundred per class.

Speaker 1 (16:05):
OH for the for the class not the actual exam.

Speaker 2 (16:08):
The example is an additional I think additional six or
seven hundred. Yeah, and then you put on top of
that hotel if you're if you're traveling, and then travel
of course food. You know, it's like two mortgage exactly.

Speaker 3 (16:23):
That's a full investment.

Speaker 2 (16:25):
You know.

Speaker 1 (16:26):
You know I'm tripping. I'm tripping. You said, g sick. Yeah,
g SEC, Yeah is it that's the same thing.

Speaker 2 (16:35):
Well, GAK is the is the is the certification body.
G SEC is the name of the course that I
took Security Essentialation. Okay, okay, yeah, but it's yeah, I
like I like saying sirs man. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (16:49):
I always told people, man, if you got a saying sir,
you know your stuff. I got a good feeling that
you know your stuff.

Speaker 2 (16:55):
You know, I took something and then didn't didn't didn't pass,
you know, so that you know it's not all roses,
you know, it's there's some thigns in those roses.

Speaker 4 (17:04):
Right, So sans sorts are expensive, but like they really
validate your skill sets. I think I read somewhere last week.
Maybe they have a few scholarships, yes, and they have
a few programs that you can take where it discounted
rates for the classes.

Speaker 2 (17:23):
Yes, you can, you can get discounted rates. There's also
a work study program, which is a lot of the
ways that I lately anyway have taken advantage of, you know,
going to get the certification and at the same time
helping out right, So the work scans work study program
and you can like Google, this's not a it's not
a secret or anything like that.

Speaker 3 (17:46):
Top secret. Everybody lean it.

Speaker 1 (17:49):
Lean it everybody, all right, right, So the work the
work study program works. You know, basically, you come in
a day before and you helped set up the the event.
You know, you may load books into bags, help set
up classrooms, do things like that, and for that, you know,
you're given a steep discount on the actual course. But

(18:13):
what you're really meant to do is you're meant to
sit in the class and be a facilitator to the instructor.
So if the instructor needs something they need to go
grab something that you would be the.

Speaker 2 (18:23):
Person that does that. If they need water, if they
need a certain something, or if they having problems in
the classroom, you would communicate that to the staff that
is on site. And basically, I mean I've I've done
work study like four or five times so far, and
every time I've done it, I've always sat in the
class for the entire time with no issues. Right, But

(18:46):
what you get for that when you when you when
you pay that that discounted price, you actually get the
to sit in on the class. Of course, like everyone else,
you participate in all the labs and things like that,
but then you also get the threes. You get that,
you get a certification attempt, you get that, and then
you get four months of on demand access, so you

(19:09):
basically can take the class again right for four months
after you actually sat in the class, you know, at
the event. So that's why I was tell folks, you know,
there's ways that you can, you know, get around paying
the hefty price. I mean, if you can just go
and be a student and your company's willing to do that,

(19:29):
that's fantastic. But if you can't and you're looking for
a way in, I recommended several people do work study.
It's not tremendously hard. You show up a day before,
you do like some of the prep work and help
get everything set up, and then the next day you're
like in the class, right, and then at the end
of the conference, you may help break down some signage

(19:51):
or maybe breakdown well, not the tables because that's the
hotel's responsibility, but maybe you help bag things up, you know,
because you know SANDS is an organization to itself and
not just the instructors, so you help with that part
of it. But it's really it's not like you're going
to be in there sweating, working eight hours a day,
right You're you're probably pretty much done when the when
the class is done. So I always tell folks, definitely

(20:13):
check out the work study program.

Speaker 1 (20:17):
And then as soon as you as soon as you
pass as sayings certification, somebody's gonna put six figures in
your pocket.

Speaker 2 (20:25):
You to push my buttons, don't I know?

Speaker 1 (20:28):
Yeah, So me and me and Kevin for anybody that
doesn't know Me and Kevin, we met on social media
on this app called Clubhouse, where you know, I was
in one of his rooms. He hosts several rooms throughout
the week helping people pivot into pivot into cyber and
you guys also filled a lot of questions that people

(20:49):
have a lot of interesting questions and will I think
that'll be a good idea to kind of talk about
some of those burning questions that you find them are
most you know, prominent. But before we do that.

Speaker 2 (21:03):
Yet, oh you know what? So yeah, I heard that. Yes, No,
it's I'm good over here. Actually it's like almost sixty degrees.

Speaker 1 (21:11):
But you're at You're not in Tampa, are you. I'm
in Tampa. There's a lot of thunder over here.

Speaker 2 (21:19):
Okay, but I.

Speaker 1 (21:20):
Don't think that's Yeah, it's thunding, but that ain't what
that is. That is a telltale sign that we've moved
into a segment of the show called dim Lightning Lessons.
All right, so what Lightning Lessons is and you can
thank miss Ebony for being the you know, the inventor

(21:42):
or the you know, she's the brains behind this.

Speaker 2 (21:44):
Oh yeah, okay.

Speaker 1 (21:46):
So what we're proposing is that during this time in
the show, you have to deliver a period of instruction
that cannot exceed sixty seconds. We'll give you some time
to think about the topic that you can squeeze into
that micro time, but you're gonna be imagining that you're
trying to give a class before the elevator stops.

Speaker 2 (22:07):
Gotcha, all right, gotcha.

Speaker 1 (22:09):
So whenever you're ready announce what you're going to be
you know, instructive in us on and I'll get the time.

Speaker 2 (22:16):
Ready, Okay, ready, give me one second. Let's see. Let
me take a sip.

Speaker 1 (22:23):
You gotta take a silver of thedds.

Speaker 3 (22:24):
You gotta get ready.

Speaker 2 (22:30):
Shout out. Everybody says security plus in shades, so you
know me, that's that's the whole shades thing.

Speaker 1 (22:36):
So just man too cool, it's cool. Fine, what I mean?

Speaker 4 (22:43):
Now, Kevin, before you start, you gotta tell us what
you're gonna teach us. Then you have sixty seconds.

Speaker 3 (22:49):
To teach you to us.

Speaker 2 (22:50):
Sure, sure, absolutely.

Speaker 4 (22:53):
Figure out this time. All good, We're gonna get reco.
One minute to figure out the time.

Speaker 2 (23:00):
Another minute to say what's going on? Okay, give Kevin one.

Speaker 3 (23:06):
Two seconds?

Speaker 2 (23:07):
What he teach you? Okay?

Speaker 1 (23:08):
All right, I got it, Yeah, I got it?

Speaker 2 (23:10):
You got were ready? All right?

Speaker 3 (23:16):
Maybe maybe we're ready. We're close to being ready, so Kevin.

Speaker 2 (23:20):
Ready, allright, here we go? You ready? All right? So
what I'm going to talk about today is the three
core principles of cybersecurity, and that's confidentiality, integrity, and availability.

(23:41):
So confidentiality, integrity, and availability is the three core pillars
of cybersecurity. And what does that stand for yes, it
basically says CI A. But this is referred to as
the CIA triad. And what that CIA triad is there
are three things that that are the core funded foundation

(24:02):
of cybersecurity. First is confidentiality. Confidentiality is protecting the data,
keeping secrets. Secret Integrity is actually making sure that data
is not changed or altered. And then, of course, availability
is making sure that data is available in a timely
fashion to those who need access to it. Those are

(24:24):
the three core pillars of cybersecurity and they're they formed
the foundation of cybersecurity and security in any technology that
you may work or any vertical that you may work
in in this field. Dang, it's a great job right
down to the second I can see it. Let me

(24:51):
draw it down because I was going to the opposite
side of c I A.

Speaker 1 (24:55):
But yeah, that's that's a professional bro for you to
be able to like, yeah, because some people, even if
they're seeing it, they can't like really you know, chop
it down to where it like hits right where it
needs to be. So you it's evident that you do
this quite a bit.

Speaker 2 (25:14):
It's been this will be my twenty fifth year, twenty
fifth year, twenty fifth year it and cybersecurity started in
December of two thousand and one. Yeah, so it was
just it. There wasn't even a thing.

Speaker 1 (25:29):
Yeah, that's what. And that's what a late start.

Speaker 2 (25:32):
Yeah, that's that's a late start, right, career already.

Speaker 4 (25:35):
You know, I want to be real Clear's no such
thing as late in a career.

Speaker 2 (25:40):
Okay, you know what's funny you said such thing.

Speaker 3 (25:44):
No such thing as late. Every day is a new day.

Speaker 2 (25:48):
It's timing, right, timing, that's your timing.

Speaker 3 (25:51):
Is perfect for you.

Speaker 4 (25:52):
But the implication of late means that someone else who
hasn't started already is going to have a much more
difficult time.

Speaker 2 (25:58):
And that's not the case. No, No, Now, that's the
one thing I will say about this industry. There there's
always been the talk of agism, and I can't say
with certainty that agism does not exist. But I also
can say that I've seen folks who have years of
experience and age in this industry not get a job either. Right.

(26:19):
I have not heard of somebody saying, you know what,
I wanted a job and I had the skills, They
just said I'm too old. I haven't heard that.

Speaker 3 (26:26):
Yeah, say it like that.

Speaker 2 (26:29):
That's true. But you know how that is right? You know,
things are changing, right, times are changing.

Speaker 3 (26:38):
I get it. I had to stop putting my name
on my resume because they knew I was a lady.

Speaker 2 (26:43):
Yeah see that's the thing, right, Yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely
absolutely So.

Speaker 1 (26:50):
In all the years of you've been you know, helping people, right,
what's been the most gratifying experience for you?

Speaker 2 (27:01):
I think the most gratifying thing all the time is
how folks can realize their dream right. I mean I've
talked to a lot of people I've even helped, Like
in the last job, the last corporate job I had,
there was a gentleman who wanted to get into cybersecurity.

(27:21):
So I started prepping him from my job that I had,
and when I left, I campaigned very strongly for him
to get the job, and he got it, right, So
that's what he wanted to do. He also, you know,
he followed pretty much the roadmap that I laid out
for him. I said, hey, you know, go to Sands,
take these classes, you know, study for this particular thing,

(27:45):
get this certification, start building your tech stack of skills.
And he got the job, and then he's moved on
since to do other things. But that's with anybody that
I talked to, right, it's part of finding out what
they want to do, right, That's the key because most
folks say, I want to be in cybersecurity, but cybersecurity

(28:06):
has twenty different.

Speaker 1 (28:07):
Fields, right, helping them figure out what he wanted to
do exactly.

Speaker 2 (28:13):
That's we talked.

Speaker 1 (28:15):
We talked about this on Clubhouse right quite a few times,
and we definitely talked about this on the show like
a number of times as well about you know, because
this is a prime example of one person, you know,
holding out the roles of mentor right, helping someone chart
a path and then advocate. You know what I'm saying,
your campaigning for this person to get in a role,

(28:37):
you know, and those are very important parts. The only
thing you know that might not have you know that
you might not have. You know you might have might
not have, but it wasn't mentioned was like the coaching piece,
which is once he's gotten a path, now you're helping him.
But that's that's incredible, bro.

Speaker 2 (28:53):
Absolutely, Yeah. I do coaching as well. I mean I
probably do more teaching and things than I do on
the coaching side, but I definitely coach folks as well.
I've gotten calls, emails. Can we do a fifteen minute
zoom call. I've gotten those kind of calls before, and
it's just basically just helping someone. It's almost like when
you help someone finally see the light and they're like, oh, okay,

(29:14):
now I get it. Right now, I understand why things
the way they are the way they are. It helps
a lot, right because out here there's a lot of misinformation.

Speaker 3 (29:22):
So yeah, so Kevin, we know why you teach, But
what is your favorite thing to teach?

Speaker 2 (29:31):
My favorite thing to teach right now, it's two actually
two classes we do Professor Rogers Cyber Lounge. So if
you haven't tapped in on that, tapped in LinkedIn Professor
Rogers Cyber Lounge ISC SQUARED Certified in Cybersecurity Certification. It's
the Foundational Security Certification and then of course Security Plus

(29:53):
by CompTIA those.

Speaker 3 (29:55):
Are Security Plus.

Speaker 1 (29:57):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (29:58):
I like to teach the cg RC, the Governance Appliance.
I was looking at that, oh my gosh, and the
iss EP Information System Security Professional because it just because
it sounds like you are a fan of fundamental and
I love that because that's a really like foundational piece.

(30:19):
As you continue through your thirty Avenues of cyber exactly.
But for me, I like to make sure things are
efficiently done, correct, I got it. That process, there's an organization.
These are pieces that you need build Kevin's foundations. Bring
that in here, you're going to right, You're going to
build on that, and we're going to expand it.

Speaker 3 (30:41):
Oh gosh.

Speaker 2 (30:42):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (30:42):
So you teach for ic Square, you teach ic Square courses,
come to your courses and sans courses.

Speaker 2 (30:49):
I don't teach sans courses yet. I'm working towards that.
That's just advertise. Yeah, yeah, well, yeah, you forgot. I
had the shirt on. Yeah, actually advertising in that regard
stress this whole thing. I only have about twelve of them, anybody.

Speaker 1 (31:06):
John is absolutely I'm a saying fan.

Speaker 2 (31:11):
I'll tell you in the second, you know. So, yeah,
I mean it's been a journey. It's what I would
have ended up doing, right if I had my dream life.
I always tell folks, imagine your dream life and what
would you do if you if money were no object
but you had to do something, what would you do?
And for me that would be I would teach for

(31:31):
six months of the year and I would consult for
the other six months of the year. That's my ideal
life mine too. Yeah, I see.

Speaker 1 (31:40):
Actually, who's who did a show? I'm not sure if
you might have been on you might have been with
us what might have been Reggie Ebney, But we had
an interview with the he does like databases. He does
consulting on a sequel databases for organizations. But I told

(32:00):
them about being reached out to buy besides Tampa, you know,
to put my hat in the ring for like, you know,
some training, So I put I put in an application,
you know, see if it will get approved, and a
few days ago I actually got approved to do a
you know, do a training before the conference this year.
Nice right, Besides Tampa twenty twenty five, I'll be doing

(32:22):
a course called Deploying and Configuring Kopernetti's Clusters DOT for beginners.
So I'm in the I'm in the middle of still
you know, finalizing that Thursday nights, I do demos as
you as you know, so I'll be hashing it out
during that time. But if you're in the area, if
you in the Tampa Bay area, around May sixteen, yeah,

(32:44):
May sixteens, when the class is going. That's the day
before the conference. The conference is going to be that weekend,
so if you're going to be in the Tampa Bay area,
definitely look up you know. Besides and lock in, I'd
love to see you at a at a class so
we can chop it up.

Speaker 2 (32:58):
Absolutely. I just did the B sides up here in
Philly a few months back, you know. Actually, Professor Roger
and myself we did B sides here and we did
as volunteers and such, so we were helping with that.
So yeah, and I've I've done the B sides for
Philly a couple of years back, like before COVID, Right,
So I always try to stay active in the game, right,

(33:19):
And I always tell folks, you know, you can say
you want to do this, but this is not a
nine to five type of career. You're almost always doing
something else. You're always doing like the next thing. I'll
say it's five and maybe my job is done, but
I have to do research on this or I have
to look up that, right, So you're never going to
be quote unquote done with it, right, But it can

(33:42):
take yeah exactly exactly. You can do that, you know,
but you may get replaced by AI in that regard.
But yeah, definitely got to keep moving. It's definitely an
exciting field to be in.

Speaker 4 (33:56):
So so Kevin, right now, you work at a law firm,
and you held a couple of other security roles in
other places. I think you said you worked at the
hospital previously. What are two consistent things that you find
always have to be addressed as a security professional, regardless
of industry.

Speaker 2 (34:20):
I guess the obvious answer, I guess the simplistic answer
is protecting data. Right, whether it's patient records for a hospital,
or client matter files for a law firm, or it's
manufacturing and its trade secrets for for for an outfit,

(34:45):
that's always the goal, right, And this this is why
the foundational elements when I talk about c I A
the reason why that was so easy because that applies
to every company you go to. Right. So, hospital will
do things differently than a law firm, obviously, and they're
to do different things than a manufacturing plant would do,
but they all have one thing in common, and that

(35:05):
is the protection of their data, right, and the integrity
of their data and the availability of their data. That's
going to apply no matter where you work, right. So
that's why I always stress that you know that is
one of the fundamental things that you have to learn
and you should know it hands down, right. We take

(35:28):
our time teaching is Squared and CompTIA because we want
folks to understand it. It may be forty hours of content,
but we break it down once a week for like
ten weeks for isc Square and like twenty four weeks
for CompTIA, And we do that because we try to,

(35:49):
you know, get people engaged, because I cybersecurity can be boring, right,
the concepts that you have to learn, like encryption and
things like that, it can put you to sleep. So
we try to keep it engaging.

Speaker 1 (36:02):
You know.

Speaker 2 (36:02):
We do YouTube videos, song parodies, we play Jeopardy right,
and we use all kinds of real life examples to
keep folks engaged to help them get it right. So
it's not merely just me standing in front of the
room and just talking talking, talking, No, we're going to
get you engaged. We get folks to come off mic

(36:23):
We get folks that come on camera and talk about
their questions, what kind of issues they're having, How do
you understand it. Let me give you an example of that.
That's my like nickname is kind of like mister Examples
Professor Roger is mister fundamentals right, And but we use
that approach because it's so important to get this stage
of your career right right. It's like if you like,

(36:45):
break your finger, and if you don't straighten it out
properly the first time, after it's after it sets, it's
going to be like that forever, right, and it's going
to take you know, hell in high water to fix
it right. So we want we try to make sure
that folks get the fundamentals right the first time, so
that way you will you will you can always you know,

(37:06):
vary from whatever you want. If you want a GRC
or you want to do blue teaming, red teaming, you
can do all those things. But if you don't have
the fundamentals correct from the start, yeah, you're going to
have a tough row.

Speaker 1 (37:22):
So you told me earlier about the most gratifying part
of what you do. What's the most stressful part of it? Like,
what's the most challenging part? I guess is a better question, cervation,
you know, is is it people that kind of like
think that, you know, getting into this industry is a
lot easier than it actually is, or that's for sure?

Speaker 2 (37:44):
Is it that's for sure for me stressful. I try
to look at it two different ways. Like one way
you look at it is I know what I'm doing,
I'm confident in my abilities, right, but there's always that
you know, am I going to be okay?

Speaker 1 (38:02):
Here?

Speaker 2 (38:03):
Is this going to work? Right? I remember the very
first time, you know, because you get comfortable in things. So,
like I said, I spent twelve years in a hospital
and I left there to do a six month contract
to hire position for a manufacturing company. And it was

(38:25):
interesting because everyone everything, and everyone was telling me why
would you leave here? You've been here all this time.
You can probably retire, and you know, in a couple
of years, you put a couple more years in, you
can leave and do your thing. And that's that jump
I was talking about. You got to be sometimes we're
going to take that leap. And I guess the most
stressful thing is walking into a new opportunity knowing you

(38:51):
can do the job and knowing you have the skills,
but then how to apply that to the new position
that you're in, right, because I was at it. I
was at the hospital for a while and then once
I went left there, I went to like into like
manufacturing and things like that, and then from there and
I stayed there for three years, right, so what was

(39:13):
supposed to be six month contract turned into three years.
So I just kept getting re up and re up
and re up, and I'm like, okay, I'm good with that.
And then finally I moved to the firm and I
remember my first day there after I knew I had
gotten a job, and all the all of their things
were straight, and they took me up to my office

(39:33):
where I was going to sit, and I remember I'm
sitting in the office and I was like, what what
do I even do? Right? We're talking about client matters,
we're talking about intellectual property, right, how do you even go?
That was my first time in the legal field, you know,

(39:55):
so I had to like get a hold of myself
and say, Okay, you know what to do. It's just
applying it to what you're doing now. So all you
need to do is understand how the legal field works
and then take those same security principles and apply them
to the legal field.

Speaker 1 (40:13):
Right.

Speaker 2 (40:13):
So once you understand that process, then it's not hard
to apply the security concepts to that, right, because it's
mostly about access controls and things like that. So you
know that part, but now just apply that to the
legal process, like who gets access to certain things? Who
doesn't know how assessments and questionnaires get completed because my

(40:39):
role there in the firm is like GRC. So that
in itself is another field that I hadn't worked in
prior to that. Prior to that, I was more like
blue teamer right and since admin security slash security, so
that's a new field in itself as well. So it's
knowing that, knowing the frameworks of how things work and
how it applies, how you get the company to uh

(41:01):
follow their regulations and and the the frameworks that are
in place with them. So it's that that's that's the
that's the stressful part. But knowing that you know your
stuff and knowing that you just need to apply that
to the new opportunity you have should get you through that.
But it is a process.

Speaker 1 (41:21):
Knowing Ebony back then would have it would have had
you straight, bro, you straight, straight bro.

Speaker 4 (41:28):
Yo, that's yeah, I love it. I'm like, okay, what
do you like to do and let's figure out how
we can apply this.

Speaker 2 (41:34):
To you exactly day Like yes, absolutely, I'm here for it.

Speaker 1 (41:39):
She would have coached that through that thing. Bro exactly
showed it up early in the morning, like five in
the morning, been like, let's go, that's gonna be fun.

Speaker 3 (41:49):
Got to be great about to run up these steps.

Speaker 2 (41:51):
Don't worry is running, have to do it. Just run,
that's it. I always encourage people to take like personality tests,
right so they know who they are. Once you take
a personality test, find out who you are, then marry
that to a technology. Feel that you could do because

(42:14):
you may want to be like everybody wants to be
the star quarterback, right, but maybe you're a fantastic wide receiver.
It's still on the field. Yeah right, maybe you just
can be a great coach exactly what Sometimes in.

Speaker 3 (42:32):
The middle of the action, I want to make sure
I got the tools.

Speaker 2 (42:35):
And resource everybody. That's right, that's what I want you go.

Speaker 3 (42:40):
And get out there.

Speaker 1 (42:45):
I'm not accusing anybody of anything, Kevin, but I'm sure
my mus will be like, why is this water taste? Like?

Speaker 2 (42:52):
Use is something that's what you need?

Speaker 3 (42:56):
That's the tool.

Speaker 2 (42:59):
To much of that water, sir, just a little bit.
Sometimes why is it giving me my water and shots?

Speaker 3 (43:09):
We don't want you to be olde hydrants right there
you go.

Speaker 2 (43:15):
Exactly.

Speaker 1 (43:20):
So personalities, right, that's interesting, bro, Like I've heard you
talk about this, and it's it's always been interesting to me, right,
how you can take a person's personality profile and you know,
match that up to a professional technical profile. Like can
you give me like one or two examples of like

(43:42):
you know some personality traits, what you know professional traits,
they will kind of like correlate, you know, directly to
or closely to. Every year, I try to take a
personality test, because you change, you should grow every year, right,
So every year I take an assessment where I am,
what I want to accomplish, etc.

Speaker 2 (44:01):
And I take a personality test. And you can do
that for free online. It's like a lot of free
sites that can do that for you. And I think
the one thing that I always always have, like if
you take the Meyers Briggs, which is it's like a
they give you like a chart, and I think this
may be for the paid version, but the idea is

(44:23):
there are four quadrants, right, and depending on where you
score in that quadrant kind of gives you an idea
of the kinds of things that you may be great at.
Like early in my career. The reason why I took
MCDBA is because I took a personality test and it
was saying that I would be great at transportation management

(44:43):
and database management. Now what's interesting about that is I
do a lot of well, I mean, you know, in
between the career thing that's always been there. I do
a lot of music stuff. So I collect music, collect vinyl,
I produce stuff. You know, music is my and I
always liked categorizing what albums I had with CDs, I had,

(45:06):
what cassettes, Yes, cassettes I had, and I want to
make sure I put all those in a proper order
so that way I don't buy duplicates and things like that.
And so I had to develop a database for that.
So when it came to understanding databases and how things
work and how you do ad and join statements and

(45:26):
select statements and all that, I didn't have a problem
with it because I would just take my project for
music and just apply it to the database stuff I
was learning in class. Right, So that is one example
taking something that you love and then just turning marrying
that to something that's technical if you want to work
in tech. The personality part of it is what kind

(45:49):
of person are you. Are you a free thinker, are
you like open or are you very regimented? Are you
like a micromanager type? Because if you're a micromanager type
and you're working with someone who's like abstract thinking, who
was like always like, hey we could do this, we
can do that. Hey look at this over here, that's great,
we should work on that, you may not get along

(46:10):
with that person as far as a working relationship because
they're very micromanaging, very focused. Right, So if you're a
person that's all the way out here with your personality tests,
like because they're like four dots, and it's the four
dots are in a pie shape, and then there's four quadrants.

(46:30):
And the dots closer they are to the center, the
more you are of that particular characteristic and then the
further away they are is the more like like if
you're like judging, Like judging is the one thing that
everybody has, Like it's the jay if you're taking your
sixteen personalities, But how much do you judge? Right? I

(46:51):
remember taking this exam and not an exam, it's more
like a test. And my dot was way out here
near the edge, right, And when you look at everyone
else's chart that you're working with, and we were a
team of about ten, Like their dots were closer inside
and some towards the center, but my dot was way
out here. And it helps you to understand who you're

(47:13):
working with, right, and because sometimes it may not be
that the person doesn't like you or something like that.
It may just be that you're working your characteristics don't
always fit. And if the director or the manager of
that team knows where to put you, you can be
a great asset. But if they put you in the

(47:35):
wrong spot or pair you with the wrong person, it
can be disastrous. Right. So that's the one thing I
like about personality tests because it kind of helps you
define who you are. And it also makes for a
great interview question. So when you get told, okay, tell
me a little bit about yourself, you could take some
cues from your personality test and say who you are? Right,

(47:55):
And then the person who's interviewing may say, you know what,
I can pair you with this person. They're just like,
you got to make a great team. Yeah, right, So
exactly they can lock you in. But but if you
hadn't given that information, that may not you know, they
may put you with someone where you may have had
a harder time adjusting, right, So that's that's the reason

(48:17):
for that.

Speaker 1 (48:17):
I think when you said Mayus Briggs, I thought sixteen
personalities and then it was like a quash. I'm like, man, yeah,
but yeah, I did that same one. I'm i t
j A right, So it was telling me, I'm like
have a hyperpensity for like being an architect. Right, So yeah,

(48:38):
it kind of like it really explains a lot of
exactly why you enjoy the things you enjoy, and it'll
also tell you, like, you know, personalities that you draw
closer to and you know ones you should kind of
like steer clear to clear clear up because you may
have conflict due to access, you know.

Speaker 4 (48:59):
The challenge was that The of course though, is that,
as Kevin mentioned, you got to do it regularly. You change,
like our experiences over time change who we are and
how we react to things. So you can't take the
test once and be like, oh, this is it, because
the find that you get yourself into an environment and

(49:21):
it doesn't suit you anymore because you're not the same
person that you were when you took that test the
first time.

Speaker 2 (49:26):
Exactly exactly. I take it every year every year right
after like you know, right after the New Year, like
we'm off that New Year's Day. Most of times that's
when I'll take it, you know what I mean, change
your set.

Speaker 3 (49:38):
That's a good job, changewords. Take the personality test.

Speaker 2 (49:43):
Take a personality test, and put the batteries in your
smoke detector.

Speaker 3 (49:50):
Does smoke detective batteries change?

Speaker 2 (49:52):
That's right, that's right, that's water. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (50:01):
Yeah, yeah, I know it's gonna be a good interview.

Speaker 4 (50:05):
So wait a minute before we let you go, Kevin,
I just have a really quick question. What is your
favorite Philly snack?

Speaker 2 (50:13):
Favorite Philly snack Philly soft pretzels with spicy brown mustard?
Come on now, okay, okay, spicy brown mustard from Golden's
for sure.

Speaker 3 (50:28):
Mmm okay, okay, I.

Speaker 2 (50:33):
Say cheese steak, but Philly pretzels. Yeah, yeah, yeah, you know.

Speaker 3 (50:38):
My favorite Philly snack is a tasty cake. Yeah, maple pancake.

Speaker 2 (50:47):
Tasty cake.

Speaker 3 (50:47):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (50:48):
Oh wow.

Speaker 4 (50:49):
It has like a maple icy yeah, a pancake cake,
and then it has like a sweet butter cream inside. Anyway,
I'm not going to but I would tell you it's seasonal,
so you'll yeah.

Speaker 2 (51:01):
Okay, okay, Well, you know you can order online and
have stuff shipped to you.

Speaker 4 (51:05):
You know that you can't because Florida does not allow
cream field things because the temperature changes in mold sometimes inside.

Speaker 2 (51:16):
Okay, all right, I know that that's not important. I'll
let you run with that experience. I'll let you run
with that, but but hit me up if you if
you need that fix.

Speaker 1 (51:31):
I got you almost. I almost call that a segment,
but I'm not gonna chance it. You call your audience
members big bags, like what I canceled.

Speaker 2 (51:52):
That's what I'm trying to keep up. I'm trying to
keep up.

Speaker 4 (51:55):
You'll gotta have a big back because you appreciate color arts.

Speaker 2 (52:00):
That's my niece. Man.

Speaker 1 (52:01):
She Marshall is a daughter.

Speaker 2 (52:02):
Man.

Speaker 1 (52:03):
She's calling people names. She got me, got me a
short king.

Speaker 3 (52:07):
Oh wow wow.

Speaker 4 (52:10):
And there's nothing wrong with that. She added the king,
and I think that's the most important thing.

Speaker 2 (52:15):
But back to you, Kevin, oh Man. There's certain things
I just keep up. The cultures, like craziness, especially diabolical.
That's that's the that's the new one. I guess for me, now,
is it?

Speaker 3 (52:28):
I love a good diabolical?

Speaker 2 (52:29):
Everything is.

Speaker 3 (52:32):
Crazy worky work.

Speaker 2 (52:34):
Yeah, that's another one. That's another one. Keep up, keep up.

Speaker 3 (52:39):
I mean you got to relate to your audience and
the students. So you know what I'm saying. You got
to keep your ear to the streets. But they're talking
about how are they.

Speaker 2 (52:46):
Phrasing it exactly? Exactly? And you gotta know it's like,
am I that guy? I don't want to become that
old man you know on the porch. Get off my lawn,
you youngsters. I don't want to become that guy.

Speaker 3 (52:58):
So you know that you got a minimuts. That's the job.

Speaker 1 (53:04):
That's another one. Yeah, it we can't all do that.
That's gonna be my role. Get off my grass. It's
all rocks.

Speaker 2 (53:15):
I don't care. Yeah, you don't know how to walk
in Your parents teach you anything.

Speaker 1 (53:22):
Right, So, Kevin, you've you've alluded to what you guys
are doing. You and Professor ros is that great work
you guys are doing on the backside, do you want
to kind of like give a little bit more, give
a little bit more context. You know, you don't have
to like go through and give a whole class and
nothing like that, but just just a basic breakdown for

(53:44):
anyone that may be potentially interested in joining you guys,
because you got to do quite a bit throughout the week. Correct, Correct,
you got a whole marathon going over there.

Speaker 2 (53:53):
Exactly. We're actually holding a session right at this moment
Tech Tuesday. So I'll start, I guess I'll start on Monday.
So Monday we have Cloud Mondays and that's with Tanara
Burke Lloyd. She does cloud. We basically break down if
you want to get into cloud security, how does that work?
How do cloud concept what are cloud concepts? What are
some things you should know? How to cloud fit together

(54:15):
with the various platforms, what's to share security model, et cetera?
Things like that, and that class is going very well.
And then we have on Tuesdays we have Tech Tuesday
with Antoine Jordan. We talk about various tech topics, you know,
the latest news. Antoine always has an agenda about what
he wants to talk about, and then folks jump in

(54:36):
and usually we end up going left sometimes because you know,
the cybersecurity world is so crazy at times. And then
on Wednesdays we have is C Squared where we teach
that course and it's the fundamentals of I s C
Squared and it's more like the risk base. It's more
risk based than Security Plus. So we teach that on

(54:57):
Wednesdays on Thursday, have a career Thursday. So if you're
interested in getting into cyber security or getting into it,
we give you various tips on that, you know, some
helpful careers you may consider, and just your general path
how to get into it, how to get into cybersecurity

(55:18):
if you even should take the path that you're taking,
because you may be you know, hitting your head against
the wall for no reason, right, We'll show you a
better way. So we show you that interviewing tips, resume optimization,
LinkedIn optimization, things like that. And then on Friday we
take a break, you know, because life is life and
you know. And then on Saturday, Saturday mornings, we do

(55:41):
Security Plus. That's where we do a Security plus trading
and that usually lasts for a few hours on Saturday mornings.
And then of course on Sunday you have Sundays with
cyber and that's me on clubhouse moving to fan base.

Speaker 1 (55:56):
I may add, so I think considering the same thing,
because I kind of do. I don't do the full
marathon like you guys do, but I do like a
listening party. You know, I can't wait to have a
listening party with this episode. I was gonna do that
on Mondays and then we uh we record obviously on Tuesday.
So not doing anything yea on Thursdays it's the demos.

(56:18):
But I'm definitely gonna be tapping in to check you
guys out because one of the things that I usually
get as an interview question, and you should give as
an interview question if I'm interviewing people, is how do
you stay current?

Speaker 2 (56:34):
You know?

Speaker 1 (56:34):
How do you stay sharp?

Speaker 2 (56:35):
You know what I mean?

Speaker 1 (56:36):
So tapping in with with with Kevin or even myself,
that's a great way of staying shark and staying on.

Speaker 2 (56:42):
Top of the game.

Speaker 1 (56:43):
Listening to podcasts like this one. Ask a CSSP. Tanisha's
got a great one on AI if you're interested in
that topic. We had her on the show because a
lot of great, you know podcasts out there that you
could be listening stats.

Speaker 2 (57:00):
That's yeah, that was good. I was checking that one out.

Speaker 1 (57:07):
A big shout out to the Status Status lad for sure.
We can't wait to collaborate with those ladies at the
next B size. Absolutely so, yeah, any anything else you
want to leave the audience with man.

Speaker 2 (57:20):
We got we got it. We got some minutes, you know,
we got some time. So I think I was the
last thing I would leave with. It can be all consuming, right,
I mean, I've been told that you have a certain
zeal and a passion for cybersecurity or I T and
it's true. You know, you kind of got to have that.
You don't want to get yourself burnt out, you know,

(57:41):
because that that's a that's a thing as well. So
I take breaks, excuse me, throughout the throughout my day.
You know, I do work from home primarily, but I
do take breaks throughout the day to just get away sometime,
to go outside, take a walk, especially now it's getting
nicer outside. But I also have my music, you know,
to my right here, I have all my music, so

(58:04):
I may slide over there, you know, play a song
or two, and then go back to work. Right. So
it's those kinds of things. And outside of this, outside
of the house, I also do mentoring for the Center
for Black Male Mentoring in Philadelphia. We mentor young boys,
particularly black males, and because we want to help them,

(58:26):
you know, reach their potential. Right So I'm developing a
STEM program for that for that outfit, and I hope
to get some young men involved in tech because a
lot of times we play the games and we play
the technology. But you know, if that's what you like
to do, wouldn't you like to actually create the technology
that you like to play? Right, Change your life. Tell

(58:49):
folks all the time, you can change your life with this,
this career, and it's a career. It's not a job
to me. This is a career. You can change your life.
You can change your zip code, you change where your
kids go to school, you could change how you live.
But you've got to have the right mindset. Mindset is
super important, super important. So I do a lot of

(59:09):
self introspection, a lot of self development. I'm big on
law of attraction and things like that, because what you
think about you bring about. So if you're thinking the
wrong way, that's how it's typically going to go. It's
funny how that works. But if you're thinking the other way,
it's amazing. When you look at that and you see

(59:31):
the outcome of that, that's what changes your life. And
once you do it and it happens to you one time,
you'd be like, wow, I never knew, right, I never
knew it could be like this. Right. If someone told
me twenty years ago that I'd be doing what I'm
doing now, I wouldn't have believed them. I'd say, what
do you mean, man, I'm a sous chef in a restaurant,

(59:53):
like talking about cyberseickety? What is even cybersecurity? What director
GRC what are you talking about? Right? But that's this
is where I am now. But what is what drives
and what keeps me going is where would I be
five years from now? Right, That's what you got to say, like, Wow,
I never knew it could be like this. I remember

(01:00:15):
when I started out in nineteen. I remember when I
got my first cyber job, and I remember when I
was talking to them tech folks, and I was at
this place, and now I'm at this level. Wow, that's
that's crazy, right. So that keeps you going. That that
ability to look inside yourself and define and decide what

(01:00:36):
you want and then make that road, make that plan,
and then work that plan with consistency. Everything you want
is on the other side of consistency well, and that
at least keeps you going. Vack. You've made several VOCA references.
It's easy to see what this gift to me and

(01:01:00):
to you, it sh'll be for me. It's easy. It's
easy to say, I promise you I don't have.

Speaker 1 (01:01:05):
It's all good, bro, it's all good.

Speaker 2 (01:01:09):
It's all good. There's some great brands out there, you
know what I mean.

Speaker 1 (01:01:12):
I was just showing Ebony of the brand that and
my brother got for our birthday on the way back
from Kenya. And there you go, do bottle. But absolutely,
I really appreciate you coming on the show Man. You
mentioned a law of attraction. It kind of made me wonder, like,
what's your favorite personal developing bookies. I'm sure you got

(01:01:33):
like some titles. What would you recommend someone One book?

Speaker 2 (01:01:37):
I always recommend it's The Seven Habits of Highly Affected
People by Steven Copy Even. Yeah, I definitely recommend that.
It's not a hard read. And if you are fortunate
enough to be able to take the class that goes
along with that, there's a week long course that's that's
taught by consultants basically, and it kind of puts these
things in perspective. When there's like a group of people,

(01:01:59):
you break up from the group, seed to exercises and things.
It kind of drives the point home more. Of course
that was pretty COVID. Like we talked about everything before
and after COVID, so this is before COVID. But the
book itself, even the audiobook as good as a great read.
And it's good to take notes and and really look

(01:02:21):
at things in a different way. Right, and certain habit
you developed or that you're constantly working on because you're
always in development, that can help change your life.

Speaker 1 (01:02:31):
Absolutely cool. Any save runs me.

Speaker 4 (01:02:38):
Nope, just gonna shout out the stats on Stats again, majorodcasts, absolutely,
the clubhouse rooms.

Speaker 2 (01:02:56):
Get some ice for you doing.

Speaker 1 (01:02:58):
That, like sharing, subscribe to shoot it.

Speaker 2 (01:03:01):
Absolutely, I wish, I wish.

Speaker 1 (01:03:03):
I remember, I can't think of the dates because they
have the stats. Stats on Stats has definite evented their planning.
You can't think of the dates. But I will definitely
be most follow us on our socials. You get all
the news. You're gonna have to like wait before we
go to try to remember stuff.

Speaker 3 (01:03:23):
That because he will not.

Speaker 2 (01:03:27):
He just turned for he turned that to the excuse
and everything exactly all right. I saw that. I rolled.

Speaker 3 (01:03:37):
Well, you know what, thanks so much everyone for joining.

Speaker 2 (01:03:39):
Our ever we're talking about it, it was my pleasure.
I said, it's Our pleasure is my pleasure.