Colors of InfoSec Podcast

Episode 8 - Grand Closing (Season 1 Finale)

Asif Ahmad & Christina Morillo Season 1 Episode 8

Ep 8  - In this Season 1 finale episode, Asif and Christina catch up with COI listeners and discuss: 

  • Why they went dark since election week and what they have been up to.
  • Election week chaos, exhaustion, new beginnings & other changes. 
  • The challenges of working from home for working parents.
  • Suggestions on how to cope, including self-care.
  • Our 2021 resolutions and some of what we are hopeful for.
  • Season 1 shout-outs and wrap up. 

Thank you so much for rocking with us this season. We will be back in January 2021 with new episodes. 

Episode Resources

1.  ISC Congress
2.  The Queens Gambit (Netflix)

Connect with us on Twitter & Instagram 

Music

  • Track: Too much ice
  • Artist: Young Kartz via freemusicarchive.org


Speaker 1:

Welcome to the colors of InfoSec podcast, a podcast and mystifying, what it means to navigate a career in information, security and technology as people of color. I'm your host mud, and I am Christina, and we're here to give you an all access pass into tech and Infosec's past, present and future.

Speaker 2:

Hey everybody, how's everyone doing up there? Uh, we thank you guys for joining us. Um, we know it's been a couple of weeks since you all have her from us, so we're very happy that everyone is returned. We hope everyone is well, everyone's doing healthy with everything that's going on. How are you doing Christina? Is everything good with you here? Maintaining? I think, I think maintaining and unprecedented or two words in 2020 that has been just that's all I hear are like those two words, you know, so, so don't, don't feel bad. I think we're all actually just trying to maintain that. That's a very good, very good way to sum it up. But, um, but, uh, when during, during, uh, these, this, uh, these last several weeks, we've, we've decided to go dark, um, because we wanted to support democracy and support everyone, you know, focusing and coming up with a plan for them to get out there and express their opinion. So over the last, you know, several weeks we didn't release any episodes. So, um, as far as what, what I've been doing, what you've been doing, um, I'm just going to talk about what I did over the last several weeks. Um, the first thing I did was I tried my best to get caught up on everything that was going on, whether it's in the industry, whether it's the election. And, um, I just want to give, before I even get into that, just give a huge, huge shout out to, uh, to Campbell Harris, um, her being the first vice president of color and of black and Indian descent. So I just want to give her a huge shout out for just representing and just not only speaking her truth, but being out there and just being a powerhouse for, for all, for everyone. But you know, me having a daughter of Indian descent and having children of, I have a son of Indian and, and, um, African-American descent. And I have, you know, my other two children are of Indian descent. I, it is huge to be represented and for them to have someone out there that they could look up to. So for me, it was, it was personal. So I want her to give her a little shout out and, um, you know, outside of that, uh, I've been just attending conferences and in doing a lot, trying to try to stay positive. Yeah. So, um, well that week of the election was like insane. Um, I actually

Speaker 3:

Happened to just because of timing, I, I had started a new job that Monday, but, you know, had election day off. So I was able to go and vote and stuff like that. But of course, like everyone else super stressed and anxious, um, you know, because of like not knowing what was going to happen and just the result and, and the chaos that was about to ensue, um, you know, also fighting, you know, still kind of, we're all fighting this whole pandemic and being stuck at home and all that. So just to add a little bit of more stress to the equation, uh, and then basically just really, I've just been really focusing on like, um, adapting, you know, figuring out this new role, this new company meeting everyone, which has been really cool so far. Uh, but you know, also being home balancing with the kids, uh, being a mom, obviously, and then trying to also learn, study doing school. So it kind of like the same, but just with the added stress of you can't go outside or you shouldn't go outside as much. And also we, you know, being in the middle of like the election. Right. And so kind of dealing with some of the, um, some of the crap, right. Uh, it's just very anxiety inducing. So that's really what I've been up to. I've been exhausted, I think like everyone else I've, I've just been it's exhausting.

Speaker 2:

No, I, I, I second that, and, um, I feel that that week referring to, I think I was on edge the entire week. Um, I mean, I'm, I'm still not started off of it to be quite honest with you, just everything, just the way, you know, everything was handled. Um, the, the, the, with, from I actually did a mail in ballot because, um, I didn't, I didn't, I didn't feel comfortable. I just didn't feel safe going out and voting. And what I mean by that is like, I have two very small children. Uh, one's 40 others too, and I'm just, I didn't want to get, you know, bring home, you know, the, the virus or anything else. So I just figured the easiest way for me to do it would be a mail in ballot and I can track the ballot and all that other stuff. So I felt secure with that. Um, and the way, you know, I'm, I'm a New Jersey resident. So, um, I know we have a lot of listeners from all over the world, um, and we have international listeners as well, but, um, yeah, so the, the mail-in ballot was for me the best option. Cause I thought, you know, I can track it. I can see, um, you know, when it arrived and all that other stuff. So me and, you know, being an InfoSec person, uh, that's kind of like what we do, we like that, you know, audit trails out of the good stuff. Right. But, but aside from that, my week to work and I, you know, my, the company that I work for is not, it's not an, it's not a US-based company, so they're not there. The funny thing was that I was getting contacted by a, of my coworkers that, you know, in, in the UK, in India, just asking me about what was going on with the election. It was, it was like they were watching us, like everywhere was watching us. So it just, it just threw me off a bit how in tuned everyone was with it. And I'm just glad that it's over. Um, yeah.

Speaker 3:

Is it over them?

Speaker 2:

I mean, like my part of it, like the part that I played, right. The part that I played, like, I, I, you know, I voted did my part and, um, for what, for, in my opinion, in terms of me worrying about it, um, like I look at things sometimes I think in this situation, for me, the only safety I felt was just not being, not having, like, I can't control everything. So, um, the only thing I could control is kind of like, you know, my, my mood sometimes in my, my outlook. And so I try my best to stay positive, but like you said, um, it's been rough. So, and then, and then th th what throws this into a loop for me is working from home. I think people think that working from home and it is a huge blessing because I know there's a lot of people in this economy that are suffering. They can't, they can't work. Um, and when we do, and I have the opportunity to work from home, so I think it is a blessing, but, um, it's also, it's also very rough, like, um, a lot of us have to homeschool our children. Um, and, um, this is something that I don't, I don't share that much with a lot of people, but I'm comfortable enough to share in this pocket. My daughter has special needs. So I'm like, it just adds another, another caveat to the situation. Um, and just for me, um, you know, my daughter was recently diagnosed with special needs and, um, about, about roughly year and a half ago. So finally I got her on, on a proper schedule and we had everything, you know, working like clockwork, and then this pandemic hit. So on top of working from home, and like I said, doing this pod and studying for certifications and, and, and, and literally setting up, you know, managing and doing everything, it's like, you also have to become a teacher now, too. So it's just, it's just a different mindset is it's a different challenge. Uh, that kind of makes it just almost very difficult. And, and I mean,

Speaker 3:

It was very difficult, extremely difficult. Well, I'm trying to be positive. No, you gotta be real. And there will be positive leaders. Seriously. It's super, super difficult. It's um, a, I can't imagine what other people, I mean, I think that we're, we're privileged, right? That we do have, you know, good jobs that we're able to work from home. Imagine folks that are dealing with everything you just mentioned. And so I'll have to get up and go to work. Right. Um, I have family that they don't have the luxury of working from home five days a week. Uh, they're single parents and they have to figure out, okay, now that New York city schools closed, uh, again, what am I going to do with the kids? Right. Like, and then just going through that guilt of feeding, like, am I choosing my job? Like, what do you choose your job that supports the family or your child that needs to be educated and learn? And so there's that constant struggle as well. I mean, 2020, like, let's keep it real. 2020 has been a nightmare. Like there are positive things though. Like one of the, you want to keep it positive. I have seen that a lot of folks have gotten new opportunities, right. Uh, you know, for folks that are able to work from home, there have been more, you know, companies don't have a choice at this point, so they have to hire more folks that don't live in those kinds of regions or States. And so there are more opportunities for people to work from home, like peoples specifically in the information security industry and other industries as well, uh, to work from home. Right. Which is a positive. So I've seen a lot of people winning and getting new jobs. And, um, so that's, that's always good.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. No, I agree. I think that's probably one of the only things I can see that that positively came out of 2020 is I do see a lot of people, um, exploring new careers, trying new things, um, you know, writing. I do see a lot of people, public speaking events. I do see I'm just gonna speak for the InfoSec industry. I see a lot more people that are getting that are speaking at conferences. Like I just attended, just to give you an example, I just attended the ISC square, uh, security Congress. It was my first time attending it because normally right. To attend that conference, it would be, you have to pay for a flight it's usually around close to eight grand, then you're paying for food. You have to fly down to Orlando or Vegas, or one of these, you know, one of these awesome destinations. Right. Because they want to put, you know, events and everything around, around the conference on that. Okay.[inaudible] I might act a little bit, I love Vegas, but, uh, that's another, that's another topic for another time, but, um, yeah, so like this year it was like, it wasn't even that much money. It was all virtual and the amount of people that they had speaking, like they had Bruce Schneier on there. They had like, you know, a lot of people getting into, you know, identity management cloud, like in-depth cloud security. Oh, that's funny. Yeah. Yeah. Like really in depth cloud security, incident management. So like all this like knowledge and all these people presenting, I had a hard time choosing like, which, which, uh, which track, because there's like a managerial track, there's like a technical track. There's like a cloud security track. There's like a software development life cycle track. So they had all these cool things going on. So that was one of the positive things I have to say that square really did a good job making this, this Congress or this, this virtual event, um, you know, like something worthwhile for all the participants and, um, you know, and working from home and doing it from home. Um, it just, it just, it, that, that to me is a positive 2020 thing. Is that just the educational opportunity? Like, that was a huge opportunity for me. I thought from an educational STEM cause I learned so much. Right. And, uh, and I, and I felt like I gained a lot out of it. However, mind you, I was doing this while in the middle of trying to drop my daughter off to school or, you know, if she's not in school, you know, running, uh, you know, like trying to figure out her day, um, making sure my, my, my son was okay. It, it, it, it, it was difficult because there was times I had to transfer the conference to my phone and then, you know, do all these things in between. So like you said, like you alluded to beautifully earlier, like it's just hard to, to manage all of these things. And for some way, you know, come out with, you know, smiling. Um, and, and, and another thing I noticed too, was like, I know there's a lot of guys that are in InfoSec. I'm just gonna speak for, you know, for the guys out there. I don't see him talking about how hard this is. Like, it kind of worries me sometimes. Cause I feel like, Hey, if I say something I'm not going to be looked at as like, you know, because I'm a veteran, I'm a man of color. And if I say something like Dan, this is hard, you know, dealing with all of this and being an InfoSec and doing all this, am I going to be looked down upon for, for saying these things? You know? So, um, and I just feel like, I just feel like, you know, yeah, 20, 20 the trouble like us, like guys, man, let's talk about it. Like, let's engage each other. Let's, you know, um, hit me up in the DMS or whatever. Let's, let's talk because I, you know, I just wanted to make sure I'm not the only one out here feeling this, you know?

Speaker 3:

Yeah. I mean, I definitely think you're not the only one out of your feeling this, but I think it's like a, I mean, it's cultural, but also just like societal, right? Like there's a problem where men are expected to be stronger and like, don't be a cry baby. Um, figure it out. You're ain't, you know what I mean? Like it's like, you're a man, that's what you're supposed to do. Like not express your feelings, which is really unfortunate because I think there are so many people that are suffering and struggling. So, um, absolutely. I mean, I, I suggested, I think that it's, um, it's, I know it's hard for men to be vulnerable. And while I, I will say maybe, you know, you may not want to be, to do that on social media, definitely like phone a friend or something. Right. Like it's, it's important to be able to express it. I think that one of the things, one of the things that we don't talk about as well is that like, you know, mourning is about more than death, right? Like I just really, we, I, I'm constantly feeling like I'm in a state of like morning 20, 20, or like the possibilities or the potential, like what could have been, you know, especially like I'm wanting, not taking a vacation because like I really needed a vacation. Like I know it was like, you know, first world problems here, but like, I think it, that gives you that opportunity to reset, just, you know, get with people. You love to see people and spend time with people that, you know, family and friends. Um, and so that's been really difficult, like that kind of loneliness, which I dunno, we're all messed up. And by the end of all this, we're all gonna have like PTSD, you know? I mean, I'm not even gonna front, like, it is what it is. Like, let's keep it a hundred percent real. We won't know the effects of this, you know, for years. Right.

Speaker 2:

No, I, I agree. I think, I think it's funny how was not funny, but I think I'm thinking funny and I'm like, in terms of how it is in my brain, because I'm looking at it. Like every time I see TV or I'm hearing an update, I hear about a vaccine, or I hear about, you know, a financial struggle or I hear about, I hear about everything being, you know, talked about, but I never hear, uh, the mental health aspect of this, you know, and, and the mental health, the, where that it's going to have. I think this is the first time, first time I've ever seen anything where collectively the world, it doesn't matter where you live. Right. We're all experiencing this one event all at the same time. Usually like when I used to live, like, you know, when I lived in Florida, if we had a hurricane, right. One of my family members in Toronto, and one of my family members in, in, in New York would call me up and be like, Hey, why don't you come up here while the hurricane is going on? Because you know, it's just to kind of show support in a way now, like

Speaker 3:

[inaudible] yeah. If you're in Miami view and you know, Diana have knee

Speaker 2:

Kelly, we're all like going through it UK, it doesn't matter. So, um, I think that the, the mental, the, the whole world having a situation and then having consequences that come out of it, it's, like I said, it's going to be, it's going to be a challenge. And, you know, I think the main thing we've got to talk about it, we can't be, you know, we, we got, we got to kind of be there for one another. I think that's one of the things I think, you know, one of the things that as far as like coping with all of this, um, I think one of the things that helped me cope, I think with dealing with all this is it's trying to get a tribe, um, like building a tribe of whether it's friends, coworkers, colleagues, um, I think that's one of the tips. If I had to give a tip right on how to deal with all of this is like, build yourself a tribe, build yourself a tribe of people that you trust. And that, that are diverse. What I mean by diverse having be people that in InfoSec, people in different different fields have more like multitudes of interests. Cause I, I do, I'm interested in a lot of things I'm into sports. Um, like I love tech, right. But it's not just the only thing I do. I like to read. I like to,

Speaker 3:

No, I love my kids, you know, but like what I do

Speaker 2:

Friends with, like other parents, like other guys that are like, like, like dads or, or other, like, for instance, you you're part of my tribe. I don't know if you know that, but like I hit you up sometimes and get your on an idea I have. Or, or like we talk about our kids or, you know, like I feel that, that probably, I think this year I've leaned on my tribe, I think more than ever. And I got to give every one of you guys props because y'all have been here for me new to see you're part of that. I don't know if you know it, but know part of it, like y'all have always picked up every call, answered every text, um, you know, and supported. So I'm gonna give a shout out to my tribe because y'all have really been there. Uh, and I think, and I encourage you out there, like everyone out there listening, like if you're going through some stuff, like build yourself a tribe of people, because it's hard to do this alone. And, um, it's, like I said, this year, I think has, has really made me like, very thankful for, for, for that is try to reach out to people. Like if you will, what would you, what do you do see, like, in terms like when you, when you're going through some stuff, like what what's, what's your kind of like pile what's your process or how you, how are you doing it?

Speaker 3:

Well, I mean, I don't know that I have like a process so to speak, but I know that I, you know, I really like self-reflect and just self-assess, but I also listened to my body. Right. Like, you know, one of the problems in this industry and just in tech in general is that you're expected to work in tech, you know, uh, eight hours a day or 12 hours a day or whatever. And then after you log off, you have to go and build VMs and like, um, you know, build cloud clusters and just like experiment and, and crack passwords and stuff. And it's like, really, you know, like that's, it's just not sustainable. So I think to your point, like having other interests and stuff is really important, but also listening to your body, right. And your body will tell you, listen, you are tired. You need to do nothing and being okay with doing nothing. So there are times where I take my weekends and I literally do nothing. And I fight through the guilt of not doing anything because I feel like we're all wired to like, want to do more and be productive and record more episodes. And even like, to the point that, you know, for the last two weeks I've been like, yeah, no, I can't write because I've just like, I really needed that time. And that's one of the things that 2020 has taught me that I need to be super bullish about my self-care. Um, and the fact that I can't go to the sPower to the salon or whatever, to treat myself right now, I have to be very intentional about being still and doing the things that like, make me feel relaxed that allow my brain to rest. Right. Um, so like two weeks ago I watched the Queen's gambit, like from like a Friday night to like all day Saturday, I literally just like, got up, took a shower the next Saturday and like took my kids, you know, got my kids food, cooked dinner, you know, I would pause do all I have to do come back upstairs, watch the rest of the episodes, by the way the Queen's gambit on is phenomenal. It's such a great series. I highly recommend it. Um, but see, that's an example, like I had homework and stuff, but I said, Nope, can't my brain is fried. I can't do anything right now. I'm giving into this. And I think that we need to learn how to be okay. Especially because we have like information overload right now, there's multiple, like, you know, you don't need to have to turn on the TV now to get news. Right. And get like, you know, flooded with news and information that you're just like, I don't care. I don't want to know about this right now. Like I needed to stop. So, you know, I think again, being very self, uh, being very aware and being able to stop and they being okay with like getting out of the line for a second, you know, or three days, um, and really shifting and focusing on like, okay, what is it that I want to do right now? Oh, I don't want to do anything. Let's do nothing. You know, and being like, okay with that. And I know that's easier said than done, but I think that it's what we're going to have to do to maintain our sanity. Because if we keep going at the level at the levels that we were born before, we're not going to make it right.

Speaker 2:

No. Um, it's, it's, it's, I, I like what you said, and this is why I like what you said, because I think tech professionals, techies, technologists, whatever you want to call us, we're like conditioned in this field to overwork. Right. It's like, it's like, we're, we're like, we're wired a certain way coming up. That you go, you go all out to kind of, to kind of solve these issues, whether it's, you know, writing an RFP or it's, you know, doing a project plan or coming up with a, you know, or are we actually implementing a router or a switch or hardening or security hardening or, or coming up with a policy or whatever it is audit. It's like, no matter what field you're in or what aspect of, of, of, of tech or InfoSec you're in, you're like, why are to like put in these outrageous a number of hours, like amount of hours. And like, I think what the working from home, along with the pandemic is, is like, sometimes we, because we're, you know, we're already doing it and we're like, we don't want to think about the pandemic. So we'll end up working more or because, because we're like you said, you feel, yeah, exactly. Or you feel like, like you said, you feel come someone guilty because you have a remote operate w you know, remote opportunity, you feel someone else out there is, is, is, is struggling. Or, you know, like a person that's working, you know, essential worker or that that's doing, you know, there's doing the, putting themselves in harm's way. You sometimes like, listen, they're going that hard. Maybe I should go that hard as well. So it's tough.

Speaker 3:

Yeah. It's something I think that there's like, you know, dualities do exist. Right. And like, you can, you can totally be okay with feeling the way you feel without feeling like you're being an ungrateful, right. For like what you have in your life. Or like, I think that, that, that's one of the things that like, burdens of my gears, that like, you know, sometimes when you want to vent or say like, Hey, I'm feeling this way, or I'm upset, or I'm sad. Folks are like, what? You should be thankful. It's like, well, yeah, I'm thankful. It doesn't mean that I'm not thankful because I'm tired as hell or because I need a break. One of the things that I also, I want to add to the earlier point is that, listen, take your vacations. He's okay. Take your vacation days. Take two of them. Take your sick days. Like, take the time. Like, don't let these companies are here, run you ragged. Right. Because it will happen. Like if they can get, you know, another 20 hours from you because of whatever, psychological thing that you know that that's happening right now, they will. Right. And, um, and I think that it's a lot of people are experiencing burnout. A lot of people are experiencing burnout. And I know a lot of people don't talk about it on social media, but you know, every time I tweet something relative to that, or just kind of like that balance, not existing, um, I get like flooded with messages, right? Where people are not maybe free to share, but are feeding. The same thing are struggling with the same, with the same beatings. And I just feel like life is too short to be miserable. And you really got to keep your own and be honest with yourself. You may not want to be honest with the world, but you have to be honest with yourself. And the fact of the matter is that you have to take your time, you know? And I learned that the hard way, um, from here on out, I'm not going to be, you know, feel guilty about taking my vacation time, uh, or about taking time. Even if it's to sit at home to do absolutely nothing, I will be 100% okay with that because it's needed. Like we need to recharge like our brains and bodies have not evolved for us to like work at the pace that we work. It, it should, it just can't like, we just, you know, we cannot, and also, I'm not trying to make rebel rich because I noticed that I was ordering extra cases and I'm like, you know, I'm going broke, ordering rebels. So, you know, shout out to rebel if they want to give us a sponsorship, but after drinking, but not working as hard. Right. Um, but yeah, no, I mean, I think it's okay to like, to, to, to stop, right. And to be like, nah, I'm gonna like, take me time. You gotta be selfish. Right. Cause every time you say no to yourself, you know, every time you say yes to another opportunity or something else you're saying no to yourself. And at the end of the day, you are the one that's going to suffer you and your family. If you have a family and these jobs, let me tell you, they'll send you a bouquet of flowers and tell your husband or your wife, sorry for your loss. And they will hire someone else to replace you. So, you know, think about

Speaker 2:

Bar. She just, she just gave you the bars right there. She gave you the keys right there. But, um, I agree. I totally agree. I think I, I see it. You

Speaker 3:

Always agree one day have a conversation about it.

Speaker 2:

I mean, that would burn out man burnout. I agree with you all day. It's it's, it's a really, really common. My, my, my question is for, for, for our listeners though, I would love to love to know this is that we see it a lot InfoSec, but it does it exist in other industries because I just want to know it was just like just an InfoSec tech thing, like, like the, the burnout, or does this exist in other industries as well? Like, does it, does it exist in finance? Does it exist in, you know, and I'm sure in the medical industry right now, what's going on. I'm sure it does. You know, people are overworked, insane amounts, but I'm just wondering like, is this, is this like something that we're, you know, because we, you know, we're obviously, you know, our, our fingers are, are, our hands are on the pulse, we're on the pulse of tech, but I'm just wondering if, if it's all over and if the pandemic added to that. Well, I'm sure for, for the medical industry, I know that's a yes. But I'm just thinking, I'm just wondering and outside of that, um, another thing that I like, what you said is like,

Speaker 3:

I think, yes. Yeah. I don't think so, but I'm just saying of course, because I think it's like any, you know, first of all, corporate world in general, um, and just the, you know, what we're going through. So I think that obviously we're not the only special snowflakes, this, this, this industry is not the only, you know, ones that are going through this. Um, yeah, I definitely think other industries are as well.

Speaker 2:

The, in terms of self care, uh, for me, uh, I like, you know, when you said using vacation days, I encourage a lot of the guys and gals that work for me to do that. Um, in fact, one thing I like about companies I've worked for in the past is that, uh, they've liked, they like to encourage you. Um, they'll monitor, um, how many days people are taking off and encourage people to take time off, especially like around. And then they'll start doing this, like after summer, like maybe around August, September, they'll start telling everyone, Hey, listen, you know, I've noticed that you guys, you know, your team hasn't been taken time off. A lot of them have a lot of vacation remaining. And usually towards the end of our fiscal year, you're going to lose a certain amount of days. So I would suggest you encourage your team to take time off. So I, I hope, uh, companies start doing that more start encouraging their people to take time off, start, you know, um, I've noticed, uh, mental health breaks. I've noticed that, um, you know, I've, I've, I've seen companies now encouraging people to walk more, um, not, you know, either whether it's around their house or to go outside, uh, because of the pandemic. So I do see companies making somewhat of an effort as far as how far it asks them to go to contribute to, um, you know, mental health, as far as, I don't know, I don't think we have a handle on that yet, but at least I do see some effort. Um, as far as, you know, will those efforts will yield type of, uh, results, you know, I don't know, but, um, that's one thing for me. Um, I wish I could, I could get away more, like you said on vacation would be dope right now, but I know for a fact that I can't do, I would love to go home to South Florida and see my family. I haven't seen like my parents in over a year. Um, so I would definitely like in, they haven't seen the kids so that that's something that's really been bothering me. But, uh, I think once this is all settled and this is all done. I definitely want to take a nice vacation. I think that's probably one of the things I miss the most is travel. I haven't traveled in almost two years now. Um, so it's been, it's been, it's been crazy. Um, aside from that,

Speaker 3:

I don't know when this is going to be over, but I seen my, I haven't seen my family in forever and my mom is trying to convince me to fly, like since a minute, going public for like the holidays she's in Florida. And I was just like, I'm going to the American public. You shouldn't call, you should come. And I'm like, are you serious? Like, no, I have kids, family. No, we're not, we're not going to do that. Right. But yeah, same, same as you like, I, I would love to like go to Florida or go to the Caribbean, just go to the beach and they out by a pool, like just to recharge like no technology, no phones, no computers. Like, I dunno, just to change it up. Yeah, yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 2:

So let me ask you something like in 2021, right. I know 2020 has been hectic. So like for 2021, um, well let's try and be hopeful. Right. Um, we'll get, try. We, we know, but if you like were to say, there's some things you want to see on the horizon for 2021, like what, what, what, what, what would a few of these things be?

Speaker 3:

Like? What, like in general, like generally speaking, or just like, like, like

Speaker 2:

Whether it's tech well, yeah,

Speaker 3:

Like to be honest with you, I'm going to just keep it 100, 100, to be honest with you. Like, I'm not concerned about that. Like, I, I can only control, you know, seriously, like I can only control my actions and like my reactions, I think, you know, I'm hopeful for like, just kind of that reset, right? Like a new year new opportunities, um, kind of hoping that, you know, we're all in good spirits and health, right. Um, at this point we gotta almost live day by day because we can't make these, you know what I'm saying? Like we don't, we don't know. Right. We don't know what's happening. And so I think that for me, I I'm hopeful that like, you know, more folks will wake up, be happier, make changes, right? Like make impactful changes in their lives because they're realizing that, Hey, life is short. I'm hopeful that, you know, this new president is going to really, first of all, I'm, I'm hopeful that he'll pay off our student loans or clear a student loan. Cause I, that I need that help. You know, I, you know, I'm hopeful that, you know, I don't know, you know, I'm, I feel like it's, it's kind of really difficult to say, uh, because there's so much going on that it's, you don't want to, you almost kind of don't want to jinx it. You know what I mean? Like you just, you just try to like, enjoy and appreciate the present and tomorrow you do the same and tomorrow you do the same. I'm not really concerned about anything else. Like I'm, I'm, you know, I'm looking at ways to kind of diversify my intake. Like my news intake, my, the projects that I work on after work. Right. Like changing it up a little bit. I might take a streetwear course. I don't know, like, you know, because I think that we have to do these things to stay like vibrant and not just, you know, fall into falling into these, uh, fall into these traps. Right. Um, so I don't know. I can't, I can't be positive. I can't be as positive right now because like, things are crazy.

Speaker 2:

Nah, I feel you. I feel you me, I'm uh, I'm going to tell you what I'm going to be doing. 2021 to me is all about the cloud for me. I, I I'm, I'm gonna, I'm gonna get into this cloud, this cloud security business. I'm gonna, I'm gonna really put some, some, that's what I'm gonna study that I've made 20, 21 my year to kind of really get into it from a security standpoint, from a research standpoint, just really get into it. You know? So that's one of the things I'm excited about. I won't lie. Uh, so I'm definitely, I'm, I'm probably gonna try and take my CCSP hopefully by mid or the end of the year. So that's one of my goals for this year is to get into, um, into that technology. I mean, I've, I've worked with it. Um, but I really want to get my hands dirty and just get in there and do some things, pen tests, things like that. So I'm excited about that. Um, you know, um, the second thing, the second thing I'm hoping for is the gym is man, I need the gym to open. I mean, I want it to open safely though, because I really missed the gym. I think, uh, that was one of my tribes that I had before. COVID I got a nice crew that the gym was a good group, a good group of people. And we, we, we used to motivate each other. So I definitely miss that. Um, so I'm hoping that it comes back and it comes back in a healthy and positive way. Um, the second thing is for the schools, man, uh, I, my daughter, and that she needs the schooling, she needs the, um, the extra care. And those were those teachers. Uh, let me tell you something 2020 made me realize that teachers, I love y'all and I appreciate you guys, the job and the jobs that you all do. It goes unnoticed a lot the times. And I think if 2020 taught us anything is to appreciate teachers, um, medical, the medical professional research, like, you know, these, these folks that go out there and, you know, are responsible for our children. I don't think they get enough credit. So that's something that I'm going to take seriously in 2020 moving forward is to try to give, you know, some teachers, some love in terms of giving them their, their, their, their, their due respect, um, you know, take care of them, uh, in any, any way I can, whether it's, you know, um, that's one thing, another, the other thing I'm looking forward to in the last thing is getting more involved in like, just this local, local, uh, local things, like getting involved in local school boards, getting involved in, um, just local, like even if it's local government just getting involved and being more aware of what's going on around us locally. Like, I'm not trying to get, you know, say I understand that the election was important, but that's like, that's presidential. Like, I think for me, I want to get more involved locally, like to get involved in like, whether it's money for the parks and money for like our local, our local sanitation workers and rights for them and things like that. Um, I think getting involved in, in just locally, whether it's just a recycling campaign, just something to teach my children that it's important to just get involved locally. So that's what I'm hoping that this stuff clears and that's, those are some, some of the things I'm excited about. Um, and I try to stay excited because let me tell you, it's rough, it's hard to get excited about things these days, but, um, but I'm trying, I'm definitely trying because, um, you know, it's like, I see my children sometimes and I'm like, man, I can't even take him to the park. You know, I can't even, it's rough. Yeah. So, um,

Speaker 3:

They're struggling and suffering just as, you know, just as much as, as adults are. Right. Um, and it's hard, it's hard for us to see your kids, you know, having to do that as well. Yeah. So I definitely, I, I definitely feel that that's why I'm saying that. Like, I think that it just, this year has also reminded me that there's more to life than just like the day-to-day. Um, and so, you know, I, you know, that's, I mean, I, you know, it's hard to be like, Oh, I'm so excited about this because we don't know with this pandemic, it's, it's really difficult. And I just, I feel like I'm at the point in my life where I don't want to make, it's like no expectations, no disappointments, you know, if I'm going to do it, I'll do it, but I'm not going to like talk about it for like 80 days and then get disappointed because it's like, it's too much. Um, so yeah, the one thing that I am excited about though, is that I don't know if I shared it on the podcast, but I'm like writing, curating and editing this, uh, new 97 things book for Riley. So just kind of working on all of that, the proposal was approved a few months ago. So working on combining all of that, um, so I'm excited for that to be released next. Hopefully all goes well so smoothly. And, um, and it is really, so that's one thing I'm excited about, but you know, a few more months to go and there's a lot of work ahead of me for that, but, um, yeah, just kind of thing day by day, I'm excited for hopefully a, a reliable vaccine at some point.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, no, I get you. Well, not only are we talking about, you know, 20, 20 and 2021 also the drum roll, this is also our season finale. So we're, we're wrapping up season one. This is our last episode. So, um,

Speaker 3:

Yeah. We're going to take the holidays off that you guys take the holidays off as well.

Speaker 2:

Definitely, definitely. But, uh, we just want to, like, not only thank you all for subscribing commenting and rating, but you know, we also want you to keep, keep in touch with us as well. So, cause as we're bringing you in season two, we want to, we want like the feedback, the, uh, the conversations we'll be, we'll be on our socials. Uh, we'll be on there on IgE, Twitter, LinkedIn, like I said, give, give us a follow and engage us. We, we love to hear from, from everyone. We've gotten a lot of support, a lot of positives, a lot of feedback, a lot. I've met a lot of cool people out there in the industry. So, um, season one for me has been, it's been amazing. It's been such a huge learning. I've learned so much about myself, more than any of that. And I think step out to do this podcast to learn about myself. I actually try to do it too to help. I think that's one thing me and C like we felt you felt, we felt like we could share our experiences and share our stories with everyone. So, you know, because we know what it feels like to kind of be people in this industry and not really have mentorship, not have sponsorship, not have, you know, kind of like the guidance. So we, we, we, we set out doing this to, to help others. And for me, I felt like I've learned so much about myself so much about Christina. I learned a lot about you too, but I felt like I've learned so much. So, um, I just want to thank everyone for that opportunity. Um, what about you, how do you feel about seasons

Speaker 3:

Season one? I mean, it was, it was a learning experience. It was definitely a wild ride. You know, I I'm proud that we were able to actually record all these episodes and then we were, you know, super diligent about it. Um, and also that, you know, we kind of had to learn a couple of things in the process, right. Like how to edit audio, which is something I never thought I would be doing, but, um, it, it's great to like learn these really like tactical skills and tangible skills. So that was fun. And, um, it is hard work though, right? I mean, I was, you know, I didn't, I, I think I, I didn't understand the amount of work that it entailed. Uh, I mean, I, I wouldn't, I don't regret doing it, but it, it does require a lot of discipline, which obviously in the middle of a pandemic and a crazy election is a little bit tricky, but yeah, you know, I'm looking forward to what the next season will bring, you know? Um, I J I want to think and give a shout out to all of, you know, all of the guests who appeared on, on, uh, the colors of InfoSec podcast this season, you know, to ask those point, definitely, you know, give us feedback, let us know what you thought. Uh, also let us know how we can improve because without feedback, you know, you don't, you don't improve, you don't grow. Uh, we definitely would like to get better and also feel free to tweet us and, and also, uh, email us if there's a topic that you want to, you want us to de-mystify or cover, uh, or keep it real on. So, yeah, make sure to do that.

Speaker 1:

We really want to thank our listeners for coming along with us on this journey. We will be back in early 2021 with brand new episodes until then you can engage with us on social@colorsofinfosecandcatchuponourentireseasonatcolorsofinfosec.com or on your favorite podcast app, wishing you a safe and happy holiday season. If you enjoyed this episode, don't forget to rate, subscribe and share. You can find us on Apple podcast, Spotify, Google podcast, among others. Follow us on Twitter or Instagram at colors of influence.