Organised by Eskenzi PR in media partnership with the IT Security Guru, the Most Inspiring Women in Cyber Awards aim to shed light on the remarkable women in our industry. The following is a feature on this year’s winner of the Paula Brici Cyber Marketeer of the Year Award, which was presented to Laura Reilly for her exceptional work in cybersecurity marketing. It is the first time this award has been given out at the Most Inspiring Women in Cyber.
Nominees for the award were:
- Susie Evershed – Corporate Communications Consultant at Secureworks
- Korina Kennedy – VP of Communications and Brand at Centripetal
- Anne Cutler – Director of Global Communications at Keeper Security
- Laura Reilly – Head of Digital Marketing at LT Harper
- Charlie Rhodes – VP of Marketing at Searchlight Security
- Lottie MacCallum – Head of Marketing at Trident Search
- Angela Whiteford – Chief Marketing Officer of Corvus Insurance
- Bruna Rodrigues – Senior Events Marketing Executive, Nineteen Group – International Cyber Expo
- Antoinette Varley – Senior Regional Marketing Manager at Dragos Inc.
- Maria Graham – Director of Sales at Nuspire
- Becca Harper – Head of Content at ISMS.Online
Presented in a Q&A format, the nominee’s answers are written in their own words with minor edits made by the editor for readability and where relevant, supplemented with additional commentary by their nominator.
In 2024, the awards were sponsored by BT, Think Cybersecurity Ltd. and Plexal, with Eskenzi PR, Assured and Women in Cybersecurity UK & Ireland Affiliate as partners.
What does your job role entail?
I’m super excited to have just started my new role in heading up Cyro Cyber’s Marketing department! The purpose of my role is to enhance brand awareness and affinity, and enable the insanely talented cyber professionals in Cyro to safeguard businesses and individuals across the U.K.
I love my role because no day is ever the same, and I get to work on such a broad range of projects. Anything from developing the marketing strategy, crafting the brand story, creating educational content, planning webinars, hosting events, attending/exhibiting at cyber expos, collaborating with industry partnerships… the list is truly endless!
My two biggest motivators are being creative and being collaborative (especially with the wider cyber community!), so getting to do a role that allows me to do both of these things on a daily basis truly makes my heart sing. It allows me to actually believe in the work I do, and it gives my life so much meaning.
How did you get into the cybersecurity industry?
Quite by accident! As a Humanities focused student (one who didn’t enjoy IT/sciencey subjects), cyber was never a consideration of where I might end up. I had many ideas over the years: an author, actress, teacher, journalist, and eventually, marketing – but even then, I was hoping to market within the film/TV/literature space!
I studied English Literature and Creative Writing at university and undertook a Professional Training Year, where I searched for marketing roles. However, COVID hit, hiring freezes happened, and I was an English student with no experience, in competition with thousands of business students…
After 10 months of applications and 50+ rejections, LT Harper, a cyber security recruitment agency, took a chance on me. I’ll be honest – although I was so grateful to have a job, I was, at first, a little disheartened that the inception of my career wasn’t what I expected. Cyber wasn’t part of my plan. What did I know about it? How would I ever do this job? I decided to give it a go, and planned to try again with the industries I thought I wanted after graduation. But it wasn’t meant to be! I worked in cyber at LT Harper for almost 4 years, and somewhere around the 3 year mark, I realised that this was truly where I belonged, for two reasons:
- The first, your work truly matters in cyber. Professionals are literally saving the world and it’s humbling to be working alongside them, and to feel that your work is adding genuine value.
- The second, and most importantly, were the people. I had the pleasure of working with some of the most inspiring, talented, kind, hardworking people I could ever hope to meet. There was no way I was leaving an industry full of such role models!
What is one of the biggest challenges you have faced as a woman in the tech/cyber industry and how did you overcome it?
Like many women in the industry, I’ve struggled with imposter syndrome. I constantly feel like I don’t deserve the praise and success I’ve had and I’m very much waiting for the day that I’m exposed as a fraud! When I saw my name on the screen for this award, I didn’t move for a good few seconds. “There’s no way”, I thought – “there’s absolutely no way.”
There was a specific point in time that my work on the InClusive inCyber events started picking up traction, and the praise and positive feedback suddenly picked up too. It was 100% the best scenario I could’ve asked for, but it was also overwhelming because I found it very difficult to see the truth in what people were saying. “They’re just being polite” or “they don’t really understand what I do” were two reasons I often used (and still do!) use to explain praise away, which is so detrimental for self confidence, assurance and decision making.
How I mitigate this though, is by leaning on trusted friends and allies in the industry, who are able to see an objective view of my skills and capabilities. People I’ve worked with, alongside, or in collaboration with – people qualified to make a judgement. If the feedback is all consistent (which it usually is), why should I not believe it? They believe in me, so I should believe in me too.
The other thing is to document these things – the praise people give you, positive feedback, metrics, stats, etc. Have them ready for the days that you’re lacking confidence; ready to refer back to. Sometimes, all you need is a reminder!
What are you doing to support other women, and/or to increase diversity, in the tech/cyber industry?
I’m one of the leaders of the InClusive inCyber initiative, hosted by LT Harper. Throughout my time with them, myself and Kunjal Tanna were constantly looking for ways to add value to DEI initiatives in cyber. We first tried a mentorship platform which didn’t quite take off. I then had the idea to relaunch and repurpose the initiative into a physical community.
InClusive inCyber is a community of 300+ women in cyber. Every quarter, we host networking breakfasts in London and Manchester. They’re designed to provide a safe, supportive space for women to share their stories, successes and challenges, and for them to meet allies and lifelong friends. The events help to bolster attendee’s confidence, helping them realise that there’s no limit to what they can achieve in cyber and lessen the talent gap.
I’m passionate about fostering an actual community. Networking events are great, but sometimes they can feel impersonal. I’ve been dedicated to making sure that’s not the case with ICIC. Whenever someone new is referred to me, I’ll do my best to hop on a call to introduce myself, or try to introduce them to others in the community, so they know someone there and don’t feel that they’re entering an event alone.
The events are inclusive spaces to hear other women’s journeys and get inspired. They can take their advice and learnings, and apply it to their own goals and careers. There’s a strong sense of community, so networking is generally easygoing. I know that people have found jobs through the relationships they’ve built at the events, and the same with mentors/mentees that we’ve connected together.
Being part of ICIC has been not only the highlight of my career, but of my life. I’m so excited to continue being involved and keep making a difference!
What is one piece of advice you would give to girls/women looking to enter the cybersecurity industry?
Get networking! The cyber industry is actually quite small, and it’s extremely tight knit… everyone knows everyone! The best part is, everyone is genuinely so lovely. They’re always willing to help, offer advice, and are so happy for one another when someone succeeds. It’s the most uplifting experience and is great for confidence building, as well as exposure to opportunities you may not otherwise have access to.
It can be terrifying to network, but I promise, most people are more than happy to chat if you reach out to them on LinkedIn. Don’t message them with an impersonal and corporate sounding message, it’s hard to build rapport and a relationship with anyone this way. Introduce yourself, maybe see if you’ve got anything in common with them from their LinkedIn profiles, and just be yourself – there’s no one better!
The post #MIWIC24 Cyber Marketeer of the Year: Laura Reilly first appeared on IT Security Guru.
The post #MIWIC24 Cyber Marketeer of the Year: Laura Reilly appeared first on IT Security Guru.