In this episode, Girl Security CEO Lauren Bean Buitta discusses the importance of supporting, encouraging, and training girls for careers in cybersecurity. She gets into why it's so critical to create — and protect — pathways for young women in order to build a more diverse industry, and why that really matters when it comes to making tough national security decisions that affect the entire population. She also describes her journey into security, and what led her to start Girl Security in the first place.
In this episode, Girl Security CEO Lauren Bean Buitta discusses the importance of supporting, encouraging, and training girls for careers in cybersecurity. She gets into why it's so critical to create — and protect — pathways for young women in order to build a more diverse industry, and why that really matters when it comes to making tough national security decisions that affect the entire population. She also describes her journey into security, and what led her to start Girl Security in the first place.
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Why You Should Listen:
* To better understand the value of gender diversity in cybersecurity.
* Learn how to create trauma-informed programming that builds trust and understanding.
* Discover how you can help develop new pathways for underrepresented cybersecurity talent.
* Hear Lauren’s take on how identity can inform security decisions.
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5 Key Quotes:
* “Everyone’s identity has a place in a discussion about national security because it's the most consequential field in the world.”
* “What we are seeing in in our country is evidence of how long it takes to uproot any kind of systemic discrimination.”
* “We are cultivating a generation of girls and women who will hopefully be more well represented in the short, near and long term and we hope that that results in more equitable national security policies of which cyber is so crucial”
* “Girls and women from childhood live in a world in which they are taught to fear everything … and we do a really good job at keeping ourselves secure.”
* “We don't know what a national security field would look like where there's gender parody. What would national security look like if women were co-equally represented? I want to see what that world looks like.”
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Related Links:
* https://www.synack.com/were-in-synack-podcast/
* https://www.girlsecurity.org/about
* https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauren-bean-buitta/
* https://www.synack.com/trust-report/
* https://www.synack.com/lp/enterprise-security-testing-101/
Thank you so much for joining us today, Lauren.
Lauren Buitta: [00:01:26] thank you for having me, I appreciate it.
Jeremiah Roe: [00:01:29] what inspired you to start girls security?
Lauren Buitta: [00:01:39] yeah, a couple of things. Really. I kind of had three reasons for starting girls security. The first was, I was a young woman in national security, a long time ago. Um, and I was one woman among a few women and lots of men, oftentimes, and every room. Um, That wasn't terribly surprising. I worked construction through [00:02:00] college where I was also the only woman, but I think what struck me about national security is that when you've gone through schooling and you show up in a room with professional people, you don't expect inappropriate comments or behavior.
So I had a lot of that in my early career that really actually derailed my career. I had one boss in particular, and so certainly that was a really. Challenging moment in my career early on. And one of the really foundational reasons for starting girls security. I didn't want another girl or young woman who was really passionate about this field to have that type of experience.
I would say the second reason was nine 11. You know, like many, I guess we're called geriatric millennials nowadays, but, um, Nine 11. I was a junior in college and, you know, I wanted to do something like most young people. And so national security was something that I stumbled into, but really didn't understand exactly what it was.
I didn't understand that it was this really specific decision-making arena, this very powerful political realm. And so I wanted to create something for young people that would [00:03:00] simply explain what national security is. And then the third reason is my brother was deployed to Iraq during the early part of the war.
And. Having had personal experience yeah. Of writing letters back and forth and realizing the ways in which I, what I was saying was kind of the decision-making part and what he was experiencing was the actual impact of the decision-making made me realize that perhaps our national security? um, is off base in some really critical ways.
And so those were really kind of the three primary reasons for starting the organization. Um, probably 15 years too late, but here we are.
Jeremiah Roe: [00:03:35] I don't think that there's any too late. I think the fact that, you know, you jumped into this and got it started. I think it's, I think it's wonderful.we need more diversity. We need more people that can collaborate based off of different experiences and backgrounds to make these decisions.
[00:04:00] Lauren Buitta: [00:03:59] Yeah, I agree.
Bella DeShantz: [00:04:01] So you talked a little bit about your background in national security. Um, we are of course, a couple of cybersecurity nerds over here on this podcast. And I was wondering if you could tell us specifically how cybersecurity fits into the girls' security mission.
Lauren Buitta: [00:04:17] Yeah, it's funny. Um, when I started girl security, I didn't want to kind of stick in one arena security because actually I started out really focused on early in my career, looking at national security law issues. So many of which were cyber focused around the Patriot act and privacy and balancing, you know, civil liberties and looking at the types of regulations and policies that were being put in place as part of a counter-terrorism strategy.
So. And when I started girls security, cyber was like first and foremost in my mind, like everything is a cybersecurity issue. It's ubiquitous. I mean, it's like national security. And so rather than focus on the technical side of it, which I do not have a technical background in, we really try to supplement all of the awesome [00:05:00] technical training out there by doing more of the kind of analytical side of it, as well as the decision making side.
So really trying to frame for girls how national security decisions made. In the cyberspace have all of these kinds of different impacts for how they work in live and then to get into some of the nuts and bolts of law and policy, you know, kind of that multidisciplinary approach. But we do also give them a balance of kind of skills-based training.
So we do things like ethical hacking, open source intelligence, uh, cyber war gaming, things like that. So we bring in the skills based training, but we really try to frame the issues for them so that they understand how all of these parts collide. And result in some of the things that we're, we're seeing today, which is not a whole lot of progress, at least in some areas.
Bella DeShantz: [00:05:47] since I've been working as a, as a woman in cybersecurity, I've tried to do what I can to engage with younger women, because I'm seeing [00:06:00] unfortunately, some of the same things that you experienced. And I think it instilled a little bit of passion in me.
I think similar to you where I want to do what I can to help a lot of the time, the conversations that I have with young women who are interested in this field, the questions that they have, aren't like. What is, how does cybersecurity work? How do I program? It's like, how do I, I work in an office. What does this mean for the world?
Like how, how does cybersecurity change the world? And. Those are questions that when I was younger, at least I didn't have a resource for. So it's interesting to hear you kind of focus in on those areas that I am also observing people wonder about. So you talked about trying to engage with, with younger people.
What age group specifically are you trying to reach and grow security and how do you connect with girls who might need the support most.
Lauren Buitta: [00:06:50] So our program engages at the upper high school to early undergraduate with respect to our skills based training, but our learning piece. So we work, we have kind of learning modules [00:07:00] can be from middle through high school. Ages. So I think for us, you know, when we, when I started the organization, it was very much just going into schools to understand what young people were learning about national security of which cyber is a piece of that.
And what I learned was it was very little, um, as I think probably you would guess national security is a very partisan issue, even though it shouldn't be. And so it was really how do we kind of. Reach the girls that we know we want to reach, which are girls from certainly like where I grew up in the Midwest, where I didn't have any access to that type of opportunity, but more importantly, girls from underserved communities whose experiences we feel as an organization would most.
benefit.
Our national security understanding, especially as we talk about equity. So the learning modules that we create are in the classroom and they're accessible to middle through high school, as I noted. And then the fellowship program that we've started, which is skills-based is open to all girls. And so we really mindfully work in local communities to build that relationship through the school [00:08:00] program, which then kind of excites the interest of girls.
That then onboarded to the fellowship program as part of the training piece. And then in addition to that, we have our mentor networks. So kind of to your point about the questions that girls and young women asks, there is a balance of like practical questions of like, how do I structure my resume to, I think I'm interested in, you know, counter-terrorism or whatever it might be, how do I go into this career path?
And so our mentor network is really, I feel like the core of what we do because. It creates this really safe space to ask questions that may be in a professional space. You wouldn't want to ask. And even for girls and women who kind of cycle out of the mentor program, they tend to stay in to mentor others.
And then it kind of creates this lateral and, you know, network of support that you can leverage. Throughout the course of your career, which, um, I don't know. I'm often asked, could you do one without the other? And I don't believe so. I think having the, the skills-based piece is critical as critical as the mentoring piece.
And I think the in-school [00:09:00] learning piece is as critical as the fellowship piece, because if kids don't know that these things are on the menu for them, when they're leaving high school, it's really hard to think about how to engage them at the undergraduate level, especially in male dominated spaces where they're, they're not even reading women's.
Scholarship or sometimes seeing women professors as well.
Jeremiah Roe: [00:09:18] building that community that you just talked about and building that support and building that trust trust is important. Building that trust around how people can.
Um, leverage each other to get into these spaces that they wouldn't otherwise have access to is so important. And I love that you had mentioned something about equity, and I'd like to maybe circle back around to that. If I can, I'd like to just quote something from your site, because I think it's important.
And so you mentioned women make up less than 40% of the us state department's leadership in 26% at the Pentagon. And so. My question, focusing around, you know, equity, what are some key barriers that you have seen that women and girls and, and others face when it comes to increasing representation?
Lauren Buitta: [00:10:58] I mean, I think there's [00:11:00] the, the established ones that are documented in terms of. In equal pay, equal advancement, you know, uh, promotion systems. But in my mind, what I think are the more important impediments are societal norms that still see girls and women as. Individuals who need to be protected and who don't serve in active security roles.
I think that's still a norm that has been, um, reiterated more recently in certain, uh, commissioned reports and so forth. But I think what we try to really emphasize is the idea that girls and women from childhood live in a world in which they're taught to fear everything, whether that's real or perceived.
And we do a really good job of keeping ourselves secure. Um, And if we fail to do so, it's not our fault. We're quite resilient in that way. So we try to really put the emphasis on girls and women already have this inherent skillset that they've been refining for decades, [00:12:00] by the time they get into their professional paths.
And it's one that I still personally believe we fail to value. And I think that's very apparent. And as I noted some of those. representation? barriers at the undergraduate level, where again, we hear this all the time from undergraduate mentees, that they're not seeing women, professors that are reading women's scholarship, the bond technical issues or legal issues or policy issues, no dedicated support for their advancement.
And so in my mind, it's quite simple. It's straightforward. If you want to see. More girls and women, but also more underrepresented groups. You can't just expect that the status quo is suitable. You have to topple the apple card, I think. And the way that we do that is going into the communities and bringing the opportunities that.
Oh, many of us didn't have to them. So that girls who can't afford to fly to certain areas or who can't afford, have a stipend and they can train as part of our program. And then hopefully if the organization remains reputable and I don't [00:13:00] screw it up, somehow it becomes a moment of pride for them on their resumes.
And hopefully that pride and. You know, and the integrity of the organization and the mission can be something that, uh, the community takes notice of in the longterm and says, they've participated in this program. We know it's awesome.
Jeremiah Roe: [00:13:18] when it comes to, to equity in, in the, in the cybersecurity industry, as well as I guess, you know, every industry. Early, right. When it, when it comes to equity, there's a lack of that. And, and you mentioned the sort of status quo of today's societal norms when it comes to how things operate and how things function.
Um, that status quo has been maintained by those who, who hold the status quo.how do you, how do you get around that? How do you, how do you go around that to sort of grassroots that effort, right? To infuse the new perspectives and change that stuff.
Lauren Buitta: [00:14:11] Yeah, I think that's a great question. And hopefully we're doing it otherwise. We're going to disappoint some people. But I think when I started this, I knew it would be the long run, which is a terrible sales pitch to, to donors. You know, of course there's easy metrics. You can show how many people participate and so forth, but I.
Don't believe in that cultural change happens overnight. I think what we're seeing in our country is evidence of how long it takes to uproot any kind of systemic discrimination. So our belief is really putting the power in the voices of girls and. All our, our job is simply to say, here is how this field has been defined for you over the last, let's say 100 years, but you could certainly say thousands of years, what do you think of that?
How do you think it should be defined and then [00:15:00] creating opportunities for their voices to be amplified? And for example, one of our high school partners wrote a letter to the national security council that was read before them, what they thought national security should mean. And so the more we're able to do that, do I think that, you know, The president is going to say national security should be called something else, not necessarily, but I think, um, we're cultivating a generation of girls and women who will hopefully be more well-represented in the near short and long-term.
And of course our hope is that that results in more equitable national security policies of which cyber is so crucial. It's for everything from the development of the technology, to its implementation, to the laws and policies around its usage. So. I really do believe that in the aggregate more girls understanding what national security means, more girls understanding cyber security, not just as a technical skillset, but more sort of this domain in which they exist on a regular basis is all good.
Like no harm can come from that. But [00:16:00] do I think that all of a sudden the status quo is going to change overnight? No, but I, I do think it will change otherwise. I wouldn't be doing this.
Bella DeShantz: [00:16:08] I wanted to ask about a phrase that I've seen in reference to some of the programs that girl security has. So trauma and equity informed programs. Can you explain what that means? And, and how that works in the programming.
Lauren Buitta: [00:16:20] Yeah, the trauma pieces, um, mostly trauma informed approaches are used in the classroom, but essentially what they do is they assume that. You don't know, anyone's lived experiences and you assume that everyone brings some kind of trauma into the room, the classroom, or the room or online in a virtual environment.
And so it really just informs a series of practices by which you create a safe kind of to your point earlier about trust. You create a safe environment in which people feel like their privacy and safety are valued, which. I feel, and we've seen, has created a more comfortable space to talk about identity and national security or to talk about sexual harassment and national security, because [00:17:00] many, um, many of us bring that into a discussion about national security.
And I would say, especially for girls in our program who come from areas of high violence, sexual trauma, gang violence, things like that. Them knowing that we understand and are respecting and valuing those experiences is something that's really critical to building trust and similarly with the equity frameworks as well.
I mean, the, the equity pieces is along the same lines of trauma, which is valuing people's lived experiences, but also recognizing that the policies that we're talking about have historically resulted in inequitable results on certain communities and that we just really need to create. Space for communities who maybe have negative associations with national security to talk about why that is, and hopefully help shape better decisions going forward.
having a brother deployed was a really. It was a very impactful moment for my family and I just. It's really this basic idea. What I always kept thinking was is what if my mom was sitting at the table with these people, making these decisions, what would that say? And I know that sounds so naive, but I think we're seeing it in Afghanistan where we're talking about the impact on girls and women or our immigration policy.
That's most disproportionately affecting Latino students in low income areas so we can do better. And I think it's just valuing individual experiences is a big part of it.
Jeremiah Roe: [00:18:36] I intimately relate to your brother being deployed. I was not specifically deployed, but I was in the Marine Corps myself. And so I went through bootcamp and San Diego when I was there, you [00:19:00] get used to a particular way of operating.
You get used to a particular way of how things are done. And, you know, if you think back on, if, if I think back on that, um, a lot of those. Directives and a lot of those programs and a lot of those things that really drove the direction we went. Um, those things were specifically very much one sided. Right.
You know, I don't, I don't know of how many, how many groups were designed around making appropriate decisions from an even keeled perspective or, you know, making appropriate decisions with. Multiple viewpoints taken into effect. And so when you had mentioned, you know, being at home, what would the decisions have been if your mother was at that table?
Right, because that implies obviously that, that, you know, your mother has great sense and your mother could impose that sense on, you know, [00:20:00] maybe the process of communications in deciding things. And I think that's exceedingly important and goes to the very heart of what we've just been talking about this whole time, which is, you know, diversity in the groups that make the decisions and the lack thereof.
Yeah.
Lauren Buitta: [00:20:15] Yeah, she's also Italian. And so she got really angry. I'm not sure that prom spelled would have had, uh, much to stand on if Barb had been in the room. So, um, but Yeah. I think that is the essence of it is the national security decision making process is a process. And it's one that very few people understand and.
That I think has been historically by design, but we're not in that place anymore. You know, ransomware attacks and all of these different cyber challenges that are uprooting our sense of privacy and what that looks like. What does it look like to be secure in this world? And I think that transparency that a lot of women in our space talk about is, is really important.
We really need to be talking more about that now. [00:21:00] I think.
Jeremiah Roe: [00:21:00] What are, what are some of that maybe, you know, a representation of what technical things you all can offer and then the additional, maybe not so technical things that are really good for, you know, maybe policy and governance and you know, something along those routes.
Lauren Buitta: [00:21:31] Yeah. I mean, as I said earlier, the more technical I would say is things like ethical hacking where it's still not even technical, it's more strategic. And so that's where we kind of focus. Our competencies is, um, we focus on ethics, critical things. Gain strategy, uh, collaboration and logistics. So really trying to, we're really try to draw on the competencies girls already have so that they don't feel like they have to necessarily even acquire a new skill to do these jobs.
It's more so [00:22:00] just drawing out the skills and things that they do on a regular basis and show them how those skills. Already fit into many different pathways and national security. So we do things like, you know, we talk about, we do instruction on national security law. We do discussion on writing policy briefs and training on writing policy briefs.
We do sessions on intelligence analysis that runs across the ends. We do things on war gaming. Uh, so we really touch on a lot of the different elements of national security. The more traditional ones. And then we also talk about, we do sessions on identity and national security. So what does it mean to identify in this space and how does your identity shape national security understanding?
We talk about diplomacy. We talking about women, peace and security. So we really try to provide a very multidisciplinary menu for these girls because it's,
Jeremiah Roe: [00:22:48] Those things are so important.
Lauren Buitta: [00:22:49] they are.
Jeremiah Roe: [00:22:50] They're so
Lauren Buitta: [00:22:51] They're good. Girls are ethical. They they're collaborative. They think critically, they they're adaptive. They already have these things [00:23:00] that we know as professionals we need more of in our professional and our professional workforce.
So Yeah. I think, you know, my only hesitation when starting this was, I didn't want girls to feel like they were like tracked in a career. Like you said, you had to be in the CIA, you know, you have to it's, it's peak your head in, you know, look around and see what might interest you. And.
Jeremiah Roe: [00:23:20] Those skills can apply to so many different areas,
I wanted to ask about something that you, so you mentioned an identity conscious. Approach to working in national security. in my personal experience have bringing my own identity to work is something that I've sort of struggled with and seen a lot of other, uh, you know, people in general struggle with this concept of, of how does my identity fit in a professional setting.
And I was just wondering if you could talk a little bit more about like, why talking about that as important, what are some of the lessons that come out of that, that approach?
Lauren Buitta: [00:24:42] I think we all struggle with that all of the time, which is why talking about it is helpful. I think it depends on the participants, right, So some of our younger partners. That's, it might be the first time they're even thinking about their identity at all. How are the ways in which you [00:25:00] identify among family or peers or community or groups, what does that look like?
What does that feel like to you? And sometimes it's actually the first time they're thinking about it. Uh, and even sometimes it's the first time they're thinking about their identity in relationship to their security experiences. You know, sometimes we have girls who for the first time are thinking about the fact that they have to park in a lit parking lot.
Uh, as, uh, a connection to their gender or however else they identify for the first time, I think for some of the more kind of mature audiences that we engage with, it's, uh, talking about identity, normalizing it and understanding that. The experiences that we have as a result of our identity are valuable too.
I think what we've been talking about, which is like cognitive diversity, diversity of thought, diversity of problem solving and innovating. So I think for us, it's really just about creating the space to talk about how our identity shapes our contributions, how it shapes our experiences. And I think building confidence in those spaces to then as, you know, bring your experience to the [00:26:00] table in a professional setting, which.
I think we really struggle with that, but I don't know that it's, um, I don't know if it's specific to women,Bella DeShantz: [00:26:35] right before this recording, I sent a message to everyone like the, the, the team on our side. And I said, I don't know if it makes sense for me to bring up my personal experience because I don't know much about national security.
Lauren Buitta: [00:26:47] of course you do. You live in the United States, you're a global citizen. You know, everything about national security.
Right.
Bella DeShantz: [00:26:54] it's like that mindset, right. Of like, of like, wait a minute. do I have the right experience? Do I have the right identity to be in this, to be in this space, in this conversation? And I'm like, there's a, there's an example right there.
Lauren Buitta: [00:27:09] I think national security is one of the most important areas in which. Everyone identity has a place and a discussion about national security because it's the most consequential field in the world. I mean, every decision we make in the name of national security has had significant implications.
And I think. As we start to see the ways in which the threat environment advances online and offline, especially as women and other underrepresented or marginalized communities, our identity, whether we like it or not is playing an increasingly important central role in things like misinformation and so forth.
So I think it's really wonderful that you would want to bring your identity into it or your experience. And I think honestly, my own experiences are what shaped. It's what started me to start this. And I felt the same when I [00:28:00] started, it was like, is anyone going to have these same experiences? But even if your experiences are different, you're just creating that space here.
Then I think that's pretty powerful.
Bella DeShantz: [00:28:11] Yeah, I think it's that, that, that's the mindset that I have to constantly remind myself and like unlearn all of the, you know, Doubt that I think has entered my brain over the years. Um, but so I wanted to ask you something sort of unreal. I mean, related to what we've been talking about, but slight topic change.
So, um, recently I saw some, some videos that the CIA and the U S army recently released some ad campaigns that featured sort of diverse individuals highlighting their experience, uh, as, as like recruitment videos. And I know that girls security posted a. Like a response to that. And I guess my, my question is what are ways that the S the, that the U S government and other entities are making progress and, and getting it right in [00:29:00] this kind of, you know, recruiting and things like that.
Lauren Buitta: [00:29:03] I think what's so frustrating. Not the ads or the backlash to the ads was how many people see them. Is that backlash and how it, it gives breath. And we actually kind of went back and forth about whether or not we should issue a statement because sometimes I just think it's not worth it, but we had a lot of mentees reach out with feelings and therefore it felt like it felt like something that needed to be said.
And I also think it was just another example of misogyny, you know, using words like pansies. I mean, these are. These are very discriminatory, very, uh, derogative terms that that people are using. So I think as far as the recruitment ads, whether you like it or not, and I think we said this in our statement, it's attempting to reach a different audience, which I think in and of itself is positive.
Now. One can speculate about the motivations and all those other things And that's a whole nother conversation, but, but the ads themselves represented a different demographic and a different set of experiences, which I felt were positive. I definitely think under this administration, we're seeing some positive signs, right?
There's a much more diverse [00:30:00] set of political appointees. I think in the military, they're talking about diversity, they're talking about racism and systemic racism. So I think these conversations are happening, you know, they've recently and are still convening the commission on sexual assault and harassment in the military.
I think there's areas certainly in the intelligence community that aren't as transparent. I think the private sector is a, um, we haven't turned our, our target there yet. And I think we need to be talking about what women's experiences are like in the private security sector. I think there are implications of progress.
But for the same reasons, girl security, security's a long-term project. I think it's, it's going to take time to change the culture. Jeremiah Roe: [00:31:51] Bella, you brought up, um, some of the ads, um, but those who are listening, who may not. To be quite as familiar with those particular [00:32:00] ads. I was wondering if you wouldn't mind Lauren, if you wouldn't mind shedding some light on what those ads were maybe necessarily about Lauren Buitta: [00:32:14] Sure. Well, one of the, uh, both the military and the CIA issued ads, I think within weeks of each other and one, uh, depicted. And intelligence officer who was being very candid about her upbringing, very candid about her experience as a mother, kind of how to balance different burdens, talking about kind of mental health and other struggles.
And the military ad was a young woman who had two mothers and was kind of telling the story about how. Her experience with her mother's shaped her kind of career aspirations and actually the army yet. I thought it was kind of cool cause it integrated like a cartoon, basically like a graphic novel feel to it.
And so the response was essentially, you know, the intelligence community in the military have gone Wolk. [00:33:00] Uh, this is not the type of lethality. We want to be projecting to our adversaries, including Russia. And also in those same tweets, they reposting Russian recruitment ads, which is interesting and referenced Jason Bourne.
You know, we want a. A fictional male character to secure our nation. And so the backlash has been pretty widespread. I think what I find a bit frustrating about some of the backlash is that it's, this is bad because, because we're giving our enemies fodder, and not necessarily, this is bad because it's really just bad to say things like, you know, that the things that were said in response to those ads.
Bella DeShantz: [00:33:42] I watched some of them knowing some of the backlash and it was interesting to watch them and like, feel myself, be like, oh, wow. Cool. Like as a young person, if I were watching this, I would be like, maybe this is what I want [00:34:00] to do, you know?
And it's so interesting to think that like, like you said, the backlash that it's, it's out there. I think as much as the videos are and like, what would that mean? If I were a young person and I watched the video and then I heard the backlash, like how would that impact my, my reaction to it? Lauren Buitta: [00:34:23] They are. And I mean, we have young women in the military in our programs and, um, Well, I, I just makes me really upset because these young women are signing up for service to their nation. And I think, uh, to make assumptions about.
their capabilities first and foremost, but to make assumptions about their capabilities because of their gender identity, when women have been contributing to this space for a very long time, it's just unnecessary.
I don't know how else to say it. It's just unnecessary.
Bella DeShantz: [00:36:43] I wanted to ask you a question that I like involves talking about my own personal experience a little bit. So, uh, you know, we've talked [00:37:00] a little bit about, um, Kind of the idea of getting young women and girls interested in these fields at a younger age, giving them exposure and doing that by, you know, bringing in the professionals to them, like showing them women who are in the field, uh, women, professors, things like that.
. Sometimes I see this idea of like representation. It's so important. I absolutely know that in my own personal life, the moments where I realized that I was capable of things w were, were when I saw people like me doing them, representation absolutely matters. But something that I've experienced now, sort of on the other side of things, as a professional in the field, I think sometimes it's frustrating when I feel like I am involved in things because I'm a woman exclusively.
Or the value that I bring is only because of my identity. I was thinking about wanting to ask this question, thinking about examples of this in my career. And there was a time where I was interviewing for a job. [00:38:00] And, uh, it was, it was a pretty casual interview. At the end. I was talking with one of the people that had interviewed me.
And he was chatting and said like, oh, you did great. I think you'd be such a great fit here. And you're a girl, so that's cool. And it was really frustrating for me because I felt like, well, am I a good fit because I'm smart. And because I'm technically competent or am I a good fit because of my identity.how do we instill in young women and girls, the idea that they belong without. Making it feel like they belong only because of their identity or exclusively because of their identity.
Lauren Buitta: [00:38:39] And I think that's really important question. And I think your experiences, you know, you're not alone in having had that experience. And you know, what we always try to say is, is that. Okay. Equity is more about equality. It's more about it's more than just the numbers. And I think what we're really talking about is shifting norms in which women and [00:39:00] other groups, their experiences are valued.
So less about the identity piece and more about emphasis on add value in the individual. But I think for us as an organization, Part of shifting that norm requires a discussion about identity because we've learned from your experiences, how is someone's identity shaping what experiences they have or what experiences they might be prohibited from having.
And so I think for girls and young women, again, the way that we approach it is first of all, saying, you belong in this space and many women have existed and performed and served in these different capacities, but more importantly, you already have the skills that you need. You already have the skills that this field values, and you're really good at these things because you've already had all of these awesome or try and experiences depending upon what someone brings to the room.
So I think the message should be and feels very simple. It's hitting home. You belong in this space. You're needed in this space. Um, but more importantly, we don't know what a [00:40:00] national security field would look like, where there's gender parody, or we like to say gender majority, what would national security look like if women, uh, and others were co equally represented?
Um, I want to see what that world looks like.
Bella DeShantz: [00:43:39] I wanted to end with more focus on. The sort of girl security and what girls security has in store in the future. So first of all, congratulations on winning third place in the Gulag tech foundations competition. Uh, and, and so I know that you received some, uh, grant, a grand prize of $200,000, which is super exciting.
how does this change the future of girls' security?
Lauren Buitta: [00:44:04] it was really transformative for us because I had long wanted to offer a stipend for our programming. We really want girls to start valuing their time sooner. So we're able to do a stipended programming. That's a dedicated program for girls of color in Chicago. Uh, it was interesting. The school thought they might get 20 or twenty-five girls.
We had 175 girls sign up, needless to say we couldn't accommodate all of them this term. So we're, I don't think.
Jeremiah Roe: [00:44:30] incredible.
Lauren Buitta: [00:44:32] from one school, one school That's what's even more remarks workable. And, uh, we're doing a really awesome. three-day session with them. Uh, women all over the world, calling in on AI ethics and, uh, ethical hacking and intelligence as I noted, and we have some great cases.
Keynote speaker. So we have that in the works. We're doing programming with the girl Scouts on national security and cyber. Uh, this summer we have a week long training program with the U S Naval sea cadets, which will also be amazing. We have a [00:45:00] five day training program and they get to design their own challenge coin and do all of these other really cool things that the services do.
Uh, And then in the fall, because of the Gullett tech grant, we'll be able to offer a stipend as part of our fellowship, which is basically a much more robust version of our summer empowerment programs. It's a six month program. Uh, girls create a capstone. We're hoping for more corporate partners who will give them kind of a virtual day in the office and things like that.
So, uh, that, that grant was really pivotal for us because we've, you know, we're still very much a startup in ways. And so to have that kind of investment right now, Uh, was just really a lifeline. And on top of that, Ron and Cindy Gulag are amazing people who are going above and beyond to get the organizations that one in front of lots and lots of people, which is it's.
It's amazing. I don't know how to say it. It's just amazing.
Bella DeShantz: [00:45:56] That's awesome. That's when you, when you described the number of girls [00:46:00] that applied, I literally got goosebumps. That's so exciting. And it goes to show like, Like the it's that it's that idea of. I remember being young and no one ever expecting me to be interested in math, be interested in technology. And it's like, no girls like this too.
Hello. That's so cool.
Lauren Buitta: [00:46:20] Yeah. Well, yeah, and I think too, you know, for some of these girls, uh, you know, we got emails saying like, if we didn't have a stipend, I couldn't attend because I'm working. My parents rely on me for money. So even if it's, you know, a few hundred dollars, it's a few hundred dollars that matters a lot. And why shouldn't we do that?
And I think the whole idea of charging young people for training programs is, is wrong. It's just wrong.
Jeremiah Roe: [00:46:46] if you could discuss more about maybe how, um, individuals or groups or others who would like to hear more, see more help, jump in, get involved, you know, I [00:47:00] dunno. Do something. How can they do that?
Lauren Buitta: [00:47:03] Well, I mean, the easy way is if you know, a girl or a woman who's involved, she can sign up at the website to the mentor to apply to the fellowship program, to participate in our professional development workshops. There's lots of different entry points for the organization. But I think the thing that I always tried to tell people is when, if you have a girl or woman in your life, who's.
Kind of seeking careers. Just tell her that? she can go into this field and she can be really good at it and be supportive because I think people would be surprised at how, especially for men in these girls' lives, if their father or brother or some trusted person says, like, you don't want to go into that field because It's male dominated, which by the way happens a lot that has an impact on that, that girl's prospect of her own prospects.
And so I think it's really important to just. To be part of the change around normalizing and valuing women in security broadly, whether it's cyber security or national security or any other [00:48:00] type of security. So that's the harder, but seemingly more accessible way to be part of the organization.
so we have just one last question for you. Hopefully an easy one. Uh, so we, we asked this question of, of new hires at Synack whenever they join.
What is one thing that no one would would know about you just from looking at your online profiles, like LinkedIn or your website?
Lauren Buitta: [00:50:21] Probably that I'm really weird.
Jeremiah Roe: [00:50:26] I think I can 100% relate to that.
Lauren Buitta: [00:50:31] I don't know. I think that.
Bella DeShantz: [00:50:34] You're in the right
Lauren Buitta: [00:50:35] I think like I'm hearing my husband voice being like, if people knew how weird you are. Um, so probably how weird I am. I think that would probably be the one thing that people wouldn't know about
Jeremiah Roe: [00:50:45] That's great. I love that. Oh man. Thank you so much for your time today, Lauren.
Lauren Buitta: [00:50:53] Appreciate the opportunity. This is a great conversation and I'm happy that it was a conversation cause that, that made it a lot more fun for me as well.