Cyversity is proud to present our 2024 All-Star Team!
In order to celebrate the dedication, achievements, and positive impact of our Cyversity community throughout the year, we have selected a team of six All-Stars. Nominated by their peers, these awardees represent an unwavering dedication to the Cyversity mission and a fierce commitment to doing the work to achieve it.
The winner of the 2024 Cyversity Educator of the Year Award is Mea Clift! Mea was selected as this year’s Educator of the Year for creating impactful educational opportunities through the Fundamentals of GRC Program that she created and teaches for Cyversity. The 12-week course offers lectures, hands-on labs, and homework assignments that walk students through the entirety of Governance, Risk and Compliance. Outside of her contributions to Cyversity’s educational programs, she has also become a member of the Twin Cities Chapter Leadership Team and chosen to serve as a Cyversity Mentor since joining the organization in 2022.
Mea created the Fundamentals of GRC Program because she believes that GRC skills are essential in the cybersecurity industry and noticed a lack of in-depth GRC training available in the cyber landscape. She is now in the middle of her fifth cohort and has many fond memories of the program thus far - top among them the students who got creative with their final presentations by incorporating pop culture elements and the student who landed their first GRC job just three months after completing the course!
On winning this award, Mea had this to say: “In cybersecurity, sometimes, it's hard to see that you're making a difference, or that what you do is valuable- knowing that I am helping people learn and grow, and that it is appreciated is just so incredible for me and I am incredibly honored to have this award.”
The winner of the 2024 Cyversity Leadership Award is Monique Head! Monique was selected as this year’s Leadership Award winner in honor of the incredible work that she has done to revitalize Cyversity’s Security Education Program. With experience in instructional design that ranges from universities to her own, Europe-based company, she has brought a fresh perspective to Cyversity’s curriculum in order to help increase learning opportunities for our members. Besides leading the charge for the Cyversity Security Education Program, Monique has been a strong presence within the Cyversity ecosystem since joining the organization in 2020.
Monique has had many wonderful experiences as the Head of our Security Education Program, but among those experiences, one particular moment stands out above the rest: the moment she received word that her first student had completed their certification! She further explained that this moment is particularly memorable because it gave her a sense of accomplishment. “I thought that is why I am here,” she said. “To help this happen as much as possible.”
Monique expressed a sincere gratitude for being selected to receive this award. “If I look around me to all the others that… have received an award, that serves as validation that I am making a difference in my own way. Seeing the success of others helps amplify the success I feel,” she explained. “[I look] forward to growing and learning more as I support others to learn and grow.”
The winner of the 2024 Cyversity Community Impact Award is Abby Carlton! Abby was selected as this year’s Community Impact Award Winner for her contributions to community outreach, education, and support within the Cyversity organization. She currently serves as the Senior Program Manager for Cyversity, and through that role has helped to revitalize the Chapter and Mentorship Programs and expand the overall reach of the organization.
Abby joined the Cyversity team in May of 2022 after completing her undergraduate degrees at Florida State University, and cited a passion for nonprofit work as her motivation. “I’ve spent nearly my entire life in the nonprofit space,” she commented. “Through my work with Cyversity, I have been able to continue serving others and doing work that I can see the positive impact of everyday!” Abby also expressed great pride in being able to say that the work that she is doing is in service of creating a more diverse and inclusive cybersecurity community.
“To win an award that recognizes my impact on the Cyversity community as a whole is a huge honor,” Abby concluded. “Interacting with members of the Cyversity community and hearing about all of the ways that Cyversity has impacted their careers is something that I find great joy in, and it’s very rewarding to know that my efforts are appreciated."
The winner of the 2024 Cyversity Ally of the Year Award is Jeffrey Wheatman! Since joining the organization in 2022, Jeffrey has been an impactful community member. He first joined Cyversity looking for an opportunity to give back. He has served as a mentor in every cohort of our Mentorship Program since joining, has volunteered as a speaker, and has engaged with Cyversity at various events - including our 2023 Conference, where he gave a fantastic presentation on IT Risk! Outside of Cyversity, Jeffrey hosts Risk and Reels: A Cybersecurity Podcast, which he uses to highlight the perspectives of cybersecurity professionals from a diverse array of backgrounds.
When asked what allyship meant to him, Jeffrey explained that he sees it as a three-fold effort to: 1. Lead by example; 2. Make yourself available when someone needs help; and 3. Speak up when you see a problem. As for the advice that he wants to offer to others looking to be strong allies in this industry? “Don't assume you understand the problem if you haven't lived the problem; listen more than you talk; [and] stop being offended on other people's behalf,” he said. “If someone tells you that you acted in a way deemed not aligned with optimal behavior ... don't take it personally and don’t get defensive; [and] if you see/hear something, say something.”
Jeffrey further went on to say that he was deeply grateful to have received this award. “We all see ourselves in certain ways, and often there is a disconnect between what we see and what others see in us. I don’t think we ever get there all the way – this award tells me I’m at least moving in the right direction,” he stated. “In short I am honored in a way that words can’t express.”
The winner of the 2024 Cyversity Partner of the Year Award is CyberSN! CyberSN is a woman-owned business that provides cybersecurity workforce risk management and strategy, offering talent intelligence solutions that empower leaders to diversify, acquire, retain, and develop their teams. Cyversity formally announced our partnership with CyberSN in July, with the stated goal of advancing diversity and inclusion within the cybersecurity industry. As partners, CyberSN and Cyversity aim to collaborate in ways that will leverage the strengths of both organizations to foster a more inclusive workforce, from entry-level positions to leadership roles.
Since formalizing our partnership over the summer, Cyversity and CyberSN have already worked together in many meaningful ways. From offering clients a greater diversity pool of candidates who have undergone hands-on training through Cyversity, to hosting an important roundtable discussion on diversity at Black Hat USA 2024 and collaborating with the Cyversity Bay Area Chapter for a local event, CyberSN has made significant contributions to the organization and demonstrated an exceptional dedication to their relationship with Cyversity.
Through this impactful partnership, Cyversity and CyberSN can make a significant impact on the cybersecurity industry by fostering inclusive and diverse environments. “Partnering with Cyversity was a no brainer for us, win/win all the way,” CyberSN founder Deidre Diamond commented. “Those that sponsor Cyversity's programs want a better way to identify and match talent to their needs; this applies to all talent including diverse talent. With our partnership, Cyversity sponsors get to leverage CyberSN's platform and services to solve major talent problems, including diversifying their teams.”
The winner of the 2024 Cyversity Member of the Year Award is Dorothea Lovelle! Dorothea has been an active and engaged member of Cyversity since joining the organization in 2023, including the completion of two Cyversity-led training programs and volunteering on behalf of the organization at Black Hat USA 2024. Her dedication to career growth and regular involvement within the community are among the reasons that Dorothea was selected as our 2024 Member of the Year!
Two years ago, Dorothea made the choice to pivot from a career in healthcare and into the cybersecurity field, which ultimately led her to Cyversity. Joining provided her with access to a variety of resources to help her career transition, and she has been able to receive certifications in cybersecurity and cloud security and gain practical skills in GRC. She mentioned the GRC training as perhaps the most impactful, explaining that “The GRC training… helped me land my first role as a privacy professional on the Corporate Compliance team of a large, nonprofit health system.”
In reflecting on the journey that led her to receiving this award, Dorothea expressed honor and gratitude for the recognition. “I’m… exceedingly grateful to have been able to rely on Cyversity to continue launching new opportunities for growth for all its members,” she said. “I would recommend the organization without reservation to anyone interested in entering the exciting, rapidly evolving field of cybersecurity.”
Congratulations to our 2024 All-Star Team on their amazing accomplishments this year. We're so proud to highlight these impactful members of our team, and can't wait to see the incredible things that our community will go on to do in 2025!
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