Never Give Up: Gaelle Koanda's Inspiring Path to Success in Cybersecurity

We had the privilege of speaking with Gaelle Khonda, a cybersecurity professional whose journey is as inspiring as it is impactful. From Burkina Faso to Colorado, Gaelle’s path to success is a testament to resilience, determination, and the power of representation. Here are some highlights from our conversation:

💡 Overcoming Challenges: Gaelle shared how she transitioned from finance to cybersecurity after facing financial struggles, cultural barriers, and even being fired early in her career. Despite personal loss and adversity, she refused to give up, proving that persistence pays off.

🤝 The Power of Networking: Without early mentors, Gaelle took initiative by attending conferences, volunteering, and reaching out on LinkedIn. Her proactive approach landed her opportunities, including a life-changing IT compliance role from an unexpected connection while delivering food.

🌟 Representation Matters: As a Black woman in cybersecurity, Gaelle emphasizes the need for more diversity in the industry. Her mantra—“Represent and Inspire”—is a call to action for leaders to pave the way for future talent from all backgrounds.

Her journey is a powerful reminder that giving up is never an option and that representation can inspire the next generation to thrive in cybersecurity. Let’s celebrate voices like Gaelle’s as we work towards a more inclusive, innovative industry.

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Show Notes
Books
1. Think and Grow Rich: The Landmark Bestseller Now Revised and Updated for the 21st Century - https://www.amazon.com/Think-Grow-Rich-Landmark-Bestseller/dp/1585424331/
2. Cybersecurity Myths and Misconceptions: Avoiding the Hazards and Pitfalls that Derail Us https://www.amazon.com/Cybersecurity-Myths-Misconceptions-Avoiding-Pitfalls/dp/B0D244K9YN/

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction
• 2:24 Initial Passion in Cybersecurity
• 4:43 Reaching out for Help
• 7:23 Never Giving Up!
• 9:33 Any Mentors Along the Way?
• 13:13 Giving Back to the Community
• 14:18 Right Place and Right Time?
• 17:47 Mental Preparation
• 18:53 Transitioning Professionals and Student Recommendations
• 22:28 Don't fall into the Certification Trap!
• 23:48 Job Descriptions
• 26:19 GenAI from a Cybersecurity Perspective
• 29:00 Need Diverse Data to give us a Holistic Picture
• 30:29 What has Suprised you about the Cybersecurity Industry?
• 31:25 Key Takeaways!
• 31:36 Top Books

Transcript

Introduction
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[00:00:00] Danny: Gaelle, how is it going today? 

[00:00:12] Gaelle: I'm doing good. Thank you for asking, Danny. And thank you for having me. 

[00:00:17] Danny: Yeah. So I'm super excited to really dive into our conversation. I love. Just your immediate passion, your humility, and the value that you bring to our profession. I know we met at the Rocky Mountain Information Security Conference officially.

I think we're already synced up and LinkedIn. So with that being said, I'm going to give you the floor to give us a little, uh, background on who Gaelle is. 

[00:00:46] Gaelle: Okay. Thank you. It's an, it is an honor for me to be with you today on your podcast being a guest. Thank you for having me. Who is Gaelle? Gelle Khonda is a 36-year-old woman, originally from West Africa, Burkina Faso moved to the US back in 2008 on student visa

went to school in Georgia, Atlanta Georgia State where she did associate in business management, bachelor in finance, and then went just for cyber security. I went to grad school for Information Systems, Audit and Control. Today, I work as a cybersecurity professional in Colorado. I speak French, my dialect, and then English.

I like to say that I'm still learning English, because people like to say, where did accent come from? That's why I'm telling you guys where I'm from. I'm a mother of a six year old, Ismail. I'm also very active in cyber security in Colorado. I'm passionate about cyber security and posture I've been in cyber security since 2017.

I work in governance, risk and compliance, but before that I was an IT auditor. I'm a certified information system auditor and I'm also a certified information system manager. I also sat on the board of ISACA Denver, and I'm also the She Tech Ambassador for Colorado. I also volunteer with WyCyS Women in Cybersecurity, and I always volunteer in my neighborhood, like school or nursing home for cybersecurity awareness.


Initial Passion in Cybersecurity
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[00:02:24] Danny: Kind of work backwards, in immigrants coming into this country, it's already hard. To, you know, culture shock, I'm sure, but where did your passion for IT and cybersecurity come from? Where did it originally start? 

[00:02:43] Gaelle: That's a great question. Like I told you previously, I had a bachelor in finance and I was working at a bank as a business analyst, but I was still struggling to pay my bills.

And I was like, the American dream, is that the American dream? Come here, go to school and get a job. This is not working for me. So I start looking and people were like, Oh, go to a medical school. But it was not medical school in the U. S. is very expensive. And I was like, Oh, and I want, when I work for a CPA firm and then they're like, Oh, if you like auditing, why don't you do IT audit?

I'm like, what is IT audits? And I did some research and I saw like that my school had a master in information systems and auditing and control in one year track. Okay. Let's sign up. And then after graduating, I got a job in Colorado. When I moved, it was still, they gave me the opportunity to start without any background in cyber security as an IT consultant.

I would see 95 percent men and I was like, huh, is that for me? I kept digging, kept looking, and it was hard. I was, I was not getting help. I was getting assignment, but I did not understand. I ended up being fired, but I did not give up. I lost my brother and I had a lot of stuff happening in my personal life.

So it was hard for me to focus. But I am a lion. I didn't give up. I always come back. I start going to conferences and then. I was not seeing like female it was rare and also a black female. Maybe I should go back to finance?

Maybe I should go back and study for my CTA. And then I kept digging and start going to conferences and I realized that all these people don't know everything, but I don't have no one that will guide me.


Reaching out for Help
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[00:04:43] Gaelle: What should I focus on, you know? And then since I did not have anybody that will guide me. I said, okay, I will take the leads. So I start emailing, I saw that you're on board of this organization. I was at your conference. What is your next conference? Should I come? Uh, volunteer. How can I get this slide from the previous speakers?

And then this is how I did. And then I had like feedback and I got free training and I started to volunteer with the ISACA board. And then I got, eventually I landed up like two or three jobs. And then I kept studying for certification because before COVID, employers love to see like certificates on your resume.

And it's something that I did not know. And I find out about it by going to experience conferences and then I become passionate about it. I'm like, what about those future Gaelle so I started volunteering with the board. Start pulling up people to come with me and then I'm still doing it. And I'm loving it because I'm still learning every day, especially in our field, there is something new to learn.

[00:05:57] Danny: I really admire, I think your tenacity and your thinking about your career at the time in finance, is this the American dream making that calculation? One of my former. Uh, guests on the show did kind of a risk based analysis that if I continue this route, I'm going to have to take a pay cut because they're transferring into cybersecurity and you did it a little bit different.

I think that is great critical thinking skills and kind of risk based analysis that doesn't really deal. with cybersecurity, but just risk based for our personal lives and career and our betterment. So I really admire that. You started doing a lot of great work. One, learning, but actually even before that, you, you touched upon a very major topic or theme in cybersecurity about the lack of representation in cybersecurity.

So you said. You're a black woman and you're, all you were seeing was men at the table. Yeah. Is this right for me? Right. Can you walk me through the step? You asked yourself, is this right? A lot of people would probably stop. They would say, Ooh, this, this isn't what I want to do. 


Never Giving Up!
---

[00:07:23] Gaelle: It's true. And I must admit that I almost gave up. Giving up was not an option. After maternity leave, they were sending me out of state to go audit. It's. And my son was barely six weeks, and I barely knew some new people in Colorado. And because all my co workers were men, they were, they did not understand. I had to leave my son with a babysitter that I barely met.

And I had to leave, like, Colorado and go to Seattle and come back. You know, I said, like, if they were, like, female, at the top, they would understand. They'll be saying, no, we cannot send her to go audit someone out of state. She hasn't been born, you know? Also, I was not technical. They will use like some word, some acronym and I'm like, I'm not dumb.

They know you don't understand, but they are using it just to trick you. And as an auditor, you will ask them something and they will ask you a question. It was a challenge, but today I'm not afraid of that. I love it because it make me. And enhance my skills, you know, when you ask me something, I will tell you, Oh, let me Google this, this is a new term that I never heard before, but before I couldn't do that, you know, so I learned.

So if I can do it, anybody else can do it. Don't let them scare you. And also the representation is still not there. It's still not where it's supposed to be. That's also one of the reasons why I'm not giving up. So we can see more female, more black, more Hispanic, more Indian at the top Because to be honest, our industry is also what you know, because everybody can get this degree.

Everybody can study and go pass this certification. You need someone to train you for the job. Each job is different. So what's differentiate someone from someone else is who you know. I always tell people that if you don't have more female at the top or more black, it's going to be hard for those graduating too.

So this is one of the reasons why I'm passionate about it. I cannot wait to see the difference that I'm, I will be making. 


Any Mentors Along the Way?
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[00:09:33] Danny: So during your early part of your career, did you have any mentors? Did you have any sponsors kind of helping you to take this certification and not that one, or take this, um, education route and not that one?

[00:09:51] Gaelle: Unfortunately, I did not have mentor. That's why when I go to conference and I see people asking me questions, I'm happy. And I always tell them that I wish I was doing what you were doing while I was in school. I knew about ISACA because they had a student membership, but I was not aware of the benefit of having a mentor.

And then when I was doing my masterwork, the class I was taking was for the CISC. Exam. So in my head, if I have my degree and I have this certification, it's going, it was going to be a peasy, easy click for me to don't get a job. I did not know that it was more than that. You know, I passed this to third time, so after failing twice, I went on LinkedIn and I look, I searched for people that had the certification.

A woman, Veronica Rose, she was on the way in Kenya and Africa, but she's also on the board of ISACA. And she was really, um, nice and started giving me answers. Do this, do this, that. She even wrote about it, see that. I also reached out to other people. That I did not know. Jeff O'Lincoln. I'm like, sorry to bother you.

I failed my CISC and I'm about to go take it again. Is there anything, um, I need to be doing so I can pass it? And then these people slowly became my mentors. Also met some women, um, Quintana, even my actual boss, Julie. I did not officially give them, gave them the title of mentor, but they are my mentor now.

I see a job that I'm interested in. I will ask them, do you think this match with my profile? Oh, I'm trying to be like you're in five years. What should I be doing? Oh, someone asked me for Y and Z. I told her X, but do you think I should have said X instead? And sometime, um, we will debate and you know, and I'm, I'm glad that I have these people in my life.

[00:11:51] Danny: One thing that we don't do more of is acknowledging that we don't have all the answers, right? And that's okay. And, you know, picking up the phone or texting somebody and say, Hey, or in your case, sending a message on LinkedIn to say, Hey, I need help. And a lot of people view that as a weakness, but the way you did that, that's a strength.

Reaching out and saying, Hey, I need help. It's not a vulnerability. And if people view that as a vulnerability, it tells me more about them and their view of the world and people than the people reaching out. Because there is kind of a Spanish saying that if you don't say anything, Nobody's going to hear you, right?

So I really love that you did reach out. You embraced that you were struggling with, uh, this particular certification. So I really love that about our industry, that we're willing to help out when we do receive that help. And I know everybody's busy. Everybody is working a lot of hours. Um, they have a family, they have kids to raise. But 30 minutes out of the week, that's not a lot. It 


Giving Back to the Community
---

[00:13:13] Gaelle: can make a difference. That is why when I was studying for my CISM, I came up with this idea. I remember that I promised to people that if I pass my CISA, we give back.

So when I was studying for my CISM, I had like a light bulb moment. Let me sign a great instructor and look for a sponsor and have a CISM boot camp. And it was a success. I have over 60 people sign up. A three days boot camp from Friday to Sunday, I was surprised I had people came up from out of states because it was only 25 dollar and we all study all domain for three days, like eight to five, eight to five and see like if everybody was willing to give 15 to 20 or 30 minutes of their time, like you said, will make a great difference. Because one of the barrier also is the cost. 

[00:14:03] Danny: This is great. But I want, I want to go back a little bit, uh, based on our pre call. You had an amazing story that I want you to share. And I'll set it up for everyone. Okay. You were in an elevator. 


Right Place and Right Time?
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[00:14:18] Gaelle: Yes. So let me tell you the story. Okay. So after I was fired, I lost, I just lost my brother that was a medical doctor and then, uh, it was really hard for me. I did not have any family in Colorado and I'm a first generation immigrant. I moved here without knowing anybody, so I couldn't give up.

I did not have a job. And then the only laptop that I had to apply for a job broke down. I was using my phone on Indeed. I was doing DoorDash and InstaCart, delivering grocery or food. And then one day, DoorDash took me to this nice building in downtown Denver, and I was delivering food. But, it was the fanciest elevator that I've ever seen in my life.

I did not know how to use the elevator. And there was a lady asking me where I'm going, and I told her what floor I was going, and then she offered to help me. And then she asked me if I was leaving here. I'm like, obviously I don't live here if I don't know how to use your elevator. I am delivering food.

And she's like, okay. And she was very nice. And then she helped me deliver my food. And on the way back, he asked me if I need help going down. And I'm like, yes. And sometimes being chatty is sometimes good. So I asked her, she was wearing her badge. So I asked her, oh, are you coming back from work? 

What do you do? And then she told me, I'm like, where do you work? She told me where she work. I'm like, oh, already? Oh, they called me from Canada two months ago. She said, you? I said, yes, me. I went to school. I went to undergrad and grad. And she said, why are you delivering food? I'm like, I'm still looking.

And then usually they will tell you to send them an email, they will give you their card. She did not do that. She's asked me to give her my email and I forget about it. I kid you not, not even a week later, I got an email from that company in Inglewood. I'm not going to mention them because they're not sponsoring to be in this.

The first paragraph, they said that someone interviewed me for IT compliance position, the first paragraph. The second paragraph, they said that you met this lady in her neighborhood. And we would like you to know that she passed the message. Within two weeks, I had an offer letter. I mean, I had an interview with them, but I had an offer letter.

Just to tell you that, you know, never give up. That by delivering food, you will get your next IT job. Sometimes, when I, when I give up, I'm like, oh no. You know, there is so much in store. There is a saying for my country that doesn't exist. If God said that you're going to have hundreds, NO before you're getting your YES, you better start getting your No.

Now, anybody looking for a job, I just want you to know that in cyber security, even there's chief information, security officer, also looking for a new job. So everybody is in the game. So don't give up. Volunteer when you can keep learning. There is YouTube video mingle apply, apply, apply, do some projects. And I'm sure that after all of this, something will happen. 

[00:17:21] Danny: So Gaelle, I really love that story because again, it's very, it's serendipitous. I can have the email, 

[00:17:27] Gaelle: I can send you the email, it's like something I will remember, you know, I will never forget about it. 

[00:17:33] Danny: It's just an amazing story, right? That you're working, you're continuing to put in that effort and then just being at the right place at the right time.

Yes, 

[00:17:45] Gaelle: it's important being at the right place at the right time too. 


Mental Preparation 
---

[00:17:47] Danny: There's another facet to that because You could be at the right place at the right time, but you're not ready mentally for that, or you don't have the skill sets. But you already had those skill sets. You still need to take advantage of those opportunities based on your background or your 

curious nature to learn and grow in this case, learning about cybersecurity. As you're talking, I'm like, Oh, you have to mention that because I think it will resonate with a lot of 

[00:18:21] Gaelle: people. It is going to resonate. I would never think that I can get an IT job while doing food delivery. And she did not ask me for nothing. When I started working, um, I went on Teams I look for her and I thank her. She was not even in my department. You see how you can share someone's life? 

[00:18:40] Danny: It's just helping people out in need, even though they might not ask for it. 

[00:18:45] Gaelle: Yes, doing, and trust me, always come back. I have the Buddhist spirit. It always comes back. Nothing goes to waste.


Transitioning Professionals and Student Recommendations
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[00:18:53] Danny: Switching topics a little bit. Um, I know we're going to be talking about certifications and we kind of hinted at that. But the way I want to, the way I want to frame this is if you have a transitioning professional wanting to get into cyber or a student, and they ask you, what certification should I take to get into cyber, what do you tell them?

[00:19:20] Gaelle: Okay. I'm going to give you, we're going to have two scenario. I had someone reaching out to me, the pharmacist, that didn't want to come to the cyber. And I'm like, You're a pharmacist, why do you want to come to Cyber? He said he has trying and he heard that you work, you can work remote and make extra money. I'm like, you're coming to Cyber for the wrong reason. 

First question I always ask, why do you want to come to Cyber? If it's for the money, you stay in pharma, you stay in your field. If it's someone who don't tell me that he's coming to Saibor for the money, I'm like, what's your background? Why did you study?

Or you did not go to college. Okay. Um, do you have, at least you have your high school diploma? Do you have access to YouTube? Go and learn networking and see if it's something you like, because the base is networking. I had to go back and learn networking. I did finance, I did auditing, and I did not understand how, like the connection work and stuff like that.

So I had to go back and learn networking. So I would tell them, go and watch it. If it's something you like, go for it. If you're a student, I guess you studied computer science or now they have like, you know, when I was in school, they did not have a cyber security major. Cyber security is a life learning journey.

You'll be learning all the time. What topic did you like? Did you like IT audit? Did you like networking? Pick an area and try to master it because you cannot master everything. Look for internship. The privilege to do it, even an unpaid one, do it because school wants you to get your degree, but employers want to see the experience.

Before coming, like, all the recruiters would call you, oh, do you have a CISA? Oh, do you have a CISSP? Oh, okay, okay, we're looking for someone that has the CISSP. Okay, good luck. But now, okay. A lot of people have this certification, so the experience matters. So try to build your own lab at home, you know, do some projects, and also go out and volunteer.

Go out and network. Like there, there are so many organizations here, SSCSA, CTLA, WyCiS, ISACA, ISSA. Try to find your niche. and volunteer and then you get it, you will get your foot out the door, but don't go and pay a lot of money for a certification thinking that you will get a job with study. There are a lot of people that are giving free vouchers right now, but study, learn, volunteer, network, and I promise you, you will learn something. Do not think that by passing a certification would give you a job in today's world. That's the one I think because I have a certification. I know what I'm talking about. 


Don't fall into the Certification Trap!
---

[00:22:28] Danny: I appreciate that insight, Gaelle and I think you're definitely right when it comes to these certifications and it's understanding what aspect of cybersecurity you want to get into because it's a big field.

Like the analogy that I use is you want to be in the medical field. Okay. What? Part of the medical field. Do you want to be a Medical doctor where you do surgery? Do you want to you know, deal with any other facet? associated with the medical field So it's one understanding the other point that you mentioned is going to YouTube free Information.

If you want to be a hacker into pen testing, red team, purple teaming, just type that out, right? And that is free. Don't spend money. After you go through a couple of videos, you might say, yeah, this isn't for me. I don't want to do that. 

[00:23:26] Gaelle: Me, I like it because it's so innovative. I get bored easily. So I like that the fact that it changes all the time. So it keeps me busy. That is one of the reasons why, that I love cybersecurity, but some people like repetitive tasks. If you don't like change, I don't think cybersecurity is for you. What do you think? 


Job Descriptions
---

[00:23:48] Danny: I, I agree. If you don't like change, then you're going to struggle in life because that's all life is, right?

I've had people in the past, same thing. Oh, I don't like change. I don't like change. Well. It's going to be hard being a human being that does not experience change. When we look at job descriptions, it says you need all these certifications. You need Um, this education, what are your thoughts on those job descriptions?

[00:24:19] Gaelle: Anybody can be successful in cyber security. You don't need a degree to work in cyber security. You need to have a foundation because this certification is not hands on. If you know a little bit of IT and you study, you can go and pass this certification. So if you see a job description asking you for a certification that you don't have, keep applying.

Even if you have the experience and not have a certification, forget the certification, but apply for the position. You can even put on your resume. We have like AI looking at the resume, right? So if they see that you have the exam, if you are studying for a certification and not ready, you can even put that below your education section.

And I feel like it's the experience. Don't let having a certification be a gatekeeper. The most successful people that I met when I was an IT consultant in cyber security were people study sociology, psychology, biology, I kid you not Danny. 

[00:25:18] Danny: Individuals from different backgrounds think differently, right? They look at the problems that. If we've been in IT or security for 30 plus years, we're going to be biased. We're going to be thinking one way. And that's why, um, I I'm definitely with you bringing in more of that diversity of thought, that culture renaissance that we need in cybersecurity so we can look at these problems in a different way and find better, or at least maybe newer solutions that not necessarily.

will solve everything, but at least give us new ideas to test, to see the potential of it solving our biggest challenges. So I definitely, uh, love that. So let's transition into the biggest word of this century. Generative artificial intelligence, 

[00:26:17] Gaelle: gen 


GenAI from a Cybersecurity Perspective
---

[00:26:19] Danny: AI. So from a macro perspective, well, naturally let's do it this way. From a cybersecurity perspective, is it good or is it bad? 

[00:26:31] Gaelle: I think it's good. I know that people don't like change. So some people don't like it. I think I told you that before, that we have to accept AI because AI is here to stay. And AI did not come up this year or last year. AI had been here for a while.

People been using AI for like, since 2015, you know, that we had like, Customer service using AI, but they were not just talking about it. So AI is here to say the bad guys are using AI to do some hacking. So they're using AI to find some new, new tool how to hack, you know? So we need to learn AI and adapt some policy around it. AI is not here to take our jobs. AI is here to take the job of the people that are refusing to use AI. 

[00:27:21] Danny: Then you actually beat me to the punch. 'cause my next follow up question was, if somebody comes to you, will AI take my job? But I, I love the way 

[00:27:32] Gaelle: Yes. ai. Are you using ai? No. Do you know how to use ai? No. I guess AI is here to take your job then because AI is here to take the job of the people refuse to use AI or learn. And then I feel like ai, we also create jobs. 

[00:27:46] Danny: I think historically, just technology revolutions as a whole has always been. And I know there there's some arguments against the betterment for society. There was a picture of, I forgot what town it was or what year, but it was early in the 20th century. So shortly after the automobile came out. So let's say 1915, there is a street and let's, let's call it New York. There is nothing but horse and buggies in one car. 10 years later, that same street, it was flipped.

It was nothing but automobiles, nothing but cars. Him one horse and buggy. So there technology quickly changed where, you know, the horse and carriage, the horse and buggy, that industry probably didn't innovate. Probably went away, but then now this new technology was just revolutionary, you know at the time and I think it's the same way. But the only thing that I would caution at least from my perspective Where are they getting this data?


Need Diverse Data to give us a Holistic Picture
---

[00:29:00] Danny: Is it a diverse set of data? And I'll use an example. The medical profession, Gen AI will help us solve Alzheimer's for any of these horrible diseases that are affecting us, that they might find medication that reduces that or maybe even eliminate it. But where is that data set coming from? Is it primarily from first world countries?

[00:29:27] Gaelle: You don't know. 

[00:29:28] Danny: So, right. I guess my assumption would be that it's only coming from first world countries. Now, second and third world countries, That's the downside of 

[00:29:39] Gaelle: AI. 

[00:29:40] Danny: Right. Right. So there, there is this pro and cons that we need to balance, uh, I think at the end of the day when it comes to, um, to 

[00:29:50] Gaelle: AI.

But I feel that we should, uh, also, I don't know who's in charge. You should also fight for them to have a diverse data. 

[00:29:59] Danny: Agreed. That's hard to do, again, my, my personal opinion, because it's these technocrats in Silicon Valley, primarily males, that are dominating this space. So I know we're coming up to, to a close, so a couple of final questions for you, Gaelle.

How would you summarize your experience? Within cybersecurity, what has surprised you about the industry? 


What has Suprised you about the Cybersecurity Industry?
---

[00:30:29] Gaelle: Surprised me at the end of the day is the fact that it's still not diverse, even though we're hearing everywhere, oh, diversity in cybersecurity, that's the biggest surprise that I have. 

[00:30:41] Danny: And that's put you on the spot. How do we get better in that regard? I 

[00:30:45] Gaelle: think I have two words, two words for you, represent and inspire. It's not easy. Trust me, it's not. But you represent and inspire and, uh, people will follow your path. 

[00:30:59] Danny: I love that, uh, insight. I'm definitely going to start using that a little bit more in my discussions with people and leaders within our industry because I think you're right, Gaelle. Uh, we need to inspire the next generation and have that representation at the end of the day. If you had to sum up our conversation today, what would be some key points that you would want the audience to take away? 


Key Takeaways!
---

[00:31:25] Gaelle: Giving up is never an option. Then you are the average from the five people that you see along the same sleeve. Choose wisely, network, keep learning. 


Top Books
---

[00:31:36] Danny: And with that being said, learning, so the last question I always ask my guests, and I got this from a different podcast, I love reading Quick Funny Story, I put on LinkedIn my summer reading, I think five or six books. I haven't started any of them because I found four new books.

[00:31:56] Gaelle: Really? Um, 

[00:31:58] Danny: yeah. And how do you get the titles 

[00:32:00] Gaelle: on your books? How do you know which book to read? 

[00:32:03] Danny: So a lot of, you know, I listen to podcasts, I look at the New York Times book section to see what books are coming out and it doesn't have to be related to technology or cybersecurity, business books, leadership books, fiction books, anything to give me an inspiration.

To help me learn new things. So with that being said, what book are you currently reading or you've recently read that you would like to share? 

[00:32:37] Gaelle: That's a great question because I was not a reader. I hate reading. I signed out that I'm learning from books, stuff that I never learned in school or college.

I'm currently reading two books, and then one of them is my third time. It's The Think and Grow Wishes of Napoleon Hill. Oh my God, you need to read this book. It's about faith, persistence, mindset. It talks about Charles Schwab, Thomas Edison. Like the story in this book and everything, the summary in this book is everything is possible. It all starts with our mind. And there's another book that I'm reading. I don't remember the name of the author, but it's a misconception of cybersecurity. Like it. I know that your area of expertise is cyber threat intelligence. It talks about it.

[00:33:36] Danny: I definitely need to really look at that book. 

[00:33:39] Gaelle: Yes. 

[00:33:39] Danny: But, uh, Gaelle, with that being said, thank you for your time sharing your cybersecurity journey. It's, uh, amazing and the best part, it's only getting started. So, You're going to be doing a lot more great stuff. I could definitely see that because you have that passion.

You have energy to learn and also, you know, giving back to the community. We need more Gaelles in cybersecurity. Oh my 

[00:34:09] Gaelle: god, thank you, Danny, again. Thank you for having me. And it's a honor to have you, you know, to have you also doing stuff in the community and you're also a mentor for me now. So thank you so much. And I hope my story inspired.

[00:34:26] Inclusive Cyber - Cybernetix: I hope you guys enjoyed the video.