Alright. In the interest of time, I'm going to get started. First and foremost, thank you so much for spending part of your day with me.Whether it's morning, afternoon, or evening, I hope you had a great day, and I'm very grateful for you to be joining this session. My name's Dina Mathers. I'm the chief information security officer at Carvana. I've been with the company for about three years, and I'll tell you a little bit more about my career journey. What I'm hoping to get or share during this session is a little bit about my career journey and hopes that inspires some of you to join cybersecurity and also provide you with some practical tips in your career, whether you're in cybersecurity, technology, or just your career more broadly.

So with that, let's, dive in. So a little bit about me. I grew up in New York, and I am the oldest of three. I am not a real fan of the cold. I don't like skiing. I don't like snow. And so I made a decision to come to somewhere very hot. I decided to go to university at Arizona State University, and my dream growing up, believe it or not, was to be an accountant. So I got my bachelor's of accountancy at Arizona State University. I became a chief public accountant, and I actually started my professional career with one of the big four accounting firms, specifically KPMG. I started with them technically my junior year of university.

I was an intern, But our a lot of our clients didn't want college level, college level, for lack of a better word, kids on their engagements. So I unfortunately spent a lot of time in the office, and a lot of my peers were, you know, going to lunch and having a bunch of fun, but I really wanted to gain as much value from my internship as I could. So I spent a lot of time in the filing room, filing work papers, scanning work papers, giving them to partners. And I try to make the most of it. I enthusiastically accepted, again, the job as soon as I graduated, college and became an an, audit. I was in audit, IT audit specifically. And, unfortunately, I was hired, around the recession. So I unexpectedly got laid off from KPMG. And, truthfully, I was very disheartened. I felt like it was a very, like, personal failure of mine.

But KPMG assigned a formal mentor during my internship and to help me get up to speed, and my mentor encouraged me to apply for a position at American Express. And, truthfully, I was very intimidated. I did not understand any of the words on the job description, didn't know what a vulnerability, a patch, or anything was. And so when I was talking to my mentor about applying for this position, I'm like, are you sure? Like, I really don't meet any of these qualifications. Anyway, she encouraged me to apply, and I went through a very rigorous interview process. And I'm really grateful that I had the encouragement of my mentor because if it wasn't for her, I probably would be, like, I would be somewhere completely different. I probably would have accepted a job in my comfort zone working at another accounting firm.

But I I got my first job in cybersecurity doing threat and vulnerability management, and I had a lot of opportunities at American Express. Because of my audit background, I was given a lot of opportunities to address audit findings from our internal audit. So I built a lot of programs, like our web application security program, our configuration management program, patch management, again, vulnerability management. But I realized after some, you know, few years of working in different roles and having different opportunities at American Express, it's really similar challenges. You're finding patches or misconfigurations and working with the business stakeholders to address and remediate those vulnerabilities. And so, I had an opportunity to manage the global cybersecurity operation center at American Express, and I built their security operation center in Brighton and The UK, which was really a rewarding experience.

I had never been to Brighton, and it was a great opportunity to challenge myself and get outside of my comfort zone. So I I led the SOC there for quite some time. As you can see, I spent seven years at American Express, and I absolutely loved it. But what led me to be open to new opportunities was anytime you'd wanna make a change, American Express has a lot of people, and so there's a lot of different opinions. And when it was really hard to, like, innovate and and drive change. And so I took, yeah, I essentially took an opportunity at Norton LifeLock to run and mature their information cybersecurity program. I spent seven years there, and then what led me ultimately to the role that I'm in today that I'm really, like, fulfilled in is, Norton Lifelock was going through a lot of acquisitions.

And, truthfully, there was a lot of challenges from a cultural perspective, and I was admittedly being overlooked for some opportunities. So I I actually got, my existing role from a former colleague at American Express oh, sorry. At Norton Lifelock who said, hey. Carvana is looking for somebody to run their cybersecurity program. So I was really enthusiastic to start with them. And I'll tell you a little bit about Carvana. So for those of you that are maybe internationally, you might not know Carvana as a brand, and that's because Carvana operates nationwide in the Continental US. Our mission is to change the way people buy, sell, and own vehicles, through technology. So our customers can go to our website or mobile application and search a large inventory of vehicles, and we have transparent pricing. We offer financing.

You could purchase insurance if you're purchasing a vehicle through Carvana. And you can also trade in your vehicle as part of the purchase process, which beef I will just be transparent. Before I became an employee, I was a repeat customer of Carvana. I had experience buying a vehicle from Carvana and also selling. So both of our currently, both of our family vehicles are purchased through Carvana. And so you can do it all this from the comfort of your home, again, through our mobile application or our website, and you can choose to have the vehicle either delivered to your home, or you can pick it up at one of our iconic vending machines, across The United States. And so what I really wanted to kind of lean into a little bit is around just the macro environment.

There's a lot of individuals, whether purse like, you've personally been through a layoff or maybe you know somebody that's been through a layoff, it's very, very tough, to go through a significant transformation for your career. So for me specifically, my identity was my work. And so I felt like when I was laid off back in 2008 but this was, like, the worst thing that ever happened to me. I felt like it was a personal failure. And, truthfully, it took me almost fifteen years to be ready to share my story that, you know, I finally acknowledged that, you know, this isn't a personal reflection of me. Businesses have to make tough decisions, and in some cases, they have to impact employees.

And so and I I already told you that I experienced a layoff, and I had a lot of resentment. Just to give you some context, I had the highest utilization on my team. I was sent to Stockton, California to work at Washington Mutual, which is no longer in existence, but it was a bank, and I was helping them do, compliance with anti money laundering. And for those of you who maybe aren't familiar with Stockton, California, it was the second most miserable city in The US at the time. When I drove down Main Street, I was really intimidated. I didn't feel very safe. But either way, like, we had a lot of it was a great learning opportunity for me.

I didn't have a family at the time, so I got to travel, on weekends and then come back to the client, but I had the highest utilization. And so for I mean, maybe I was naive. I felt like I was invincible. Like, I knew people around me were getting impacted, but never did I think that me, like, being so loyal, traveling, and really pouring my heart and soul into this career that I wouldn't be impacted. And fast forward, like, you know, the story, I I was unexpectedly laid off. And for those of you who've been through a layoff, it's a very, like, like, it's a little bit of an emotional roller coaster at times. There's resentment, and then you're, like, very gung ho and excited about your next opportunity.

And as a leader, unfortunately, too, like, I've had to let go of people to to support the broader business. But one thing that I learned having having some empathy for those being laid off is as soon as I ended the conversation and let the employee know that they were let go, I spent the next thirty minutes, this was before AI, so don't judge, providing a letter of recommendation to my former employee.

So I made sure I had his personal email address, and I sent him the letter of recommendation because it was not a reflection of him or his poor performance. It was really a tough call from a company perspective. And so I I took the lessons I learned having, like, all the internalization and feelings of failure and personal failure, And I tried to say, like, what would I would have wanted from my leader in that position? And at the time, I, like, wasn't really willing to ask for help even though they did offer some resources. So I guess what I'm saying is, like, the job market's really tough. Times have changed, but I I do think that if we are kind to one another, we can help individuals or friends who are let go, who are having a difficult time finding or landing their next career opportunity.

And, you know, there's no secret. Every industry, like, whether it's a go government or, comp a corporation has to make some tough decisions. It's being accelerated a little bit through, artificial intelligence. So I just kinda wanted to share that perspective. And then, this quote really resonates with me, especially being an employee of Carvana with automobiles, but I love this quote from Henry Ford that's whether you think you can or you think you can, you're right. Like, this quote to me really resonates because it's your mindset and your attitude is, like, so important, especially when you're going through some significant life change. And then what I really wanted to spend a lot more time, talking through is some of the lessons learned from being, you know, being laid off or or what have you. And so, like, first and foremost, again, it kind of is emphasized in the quote that I just shared, but mindset is really important.

Like, I peep like, friends, family, they can tell when I'm having a bad day or when I'm really stressed out or when I'm nervous or when I'm really happy. And it's really important to take time to make sure that you take a moment, you breathe, and you try to focus on the positive. In a layoff or a lot of situations in life, we can't control the outcome of the decisions that are being made. But what we can control is how we respond to those challenges in times. And we, you know, I I could sit there, and I did. Like, I will I will admit for a moment, I did sit with a box of tissues feeling sorry for myself. But of you know, after that subsided, I was really determined to find my next opportunity.

And the the other thing that I wanted to kind of point out is really around the, like, the growth mindset. And so, again, for those of us who experience a layoff, I think it's really, really demoralizing, and it can be viewed as a personal failure. And for those of us, that are very ambitious, they like, we want to succeed. It could be a blow to our ego. But in hindsight, the layoff is the best thing that ever happened to me because I wouldn't have ended up in a career in cybersecurity, like, if it wasn't for the layoff forcing me to be open to new opportunities. And the next thing is around, emotional resilience. And so, again, this kinda ties back to just your ability to adapt and thrive in the face of adversity and stress. And so for for those of us who are maybe breadwinners in our family, there's a lot of stress and pressure.

And when you have when you get news that you're let go and, sure, you're given some severance based on your tenure, based on your company's corporate policies, it can be very, very stressful. And your emotional or your response is either gonna be, do I fight or do I flight? Am I gonna run away? Am I gonna lean into this? And so one of the things that I mean, it kinda seems obvious, but asking for help is, like, critically important because people want to help one another. When I got let go, even though there were resources available to me, I I don't know. I let my ego get in the the way. I never wanted help. I was gonna figure out my next opportunity without help. Little did I know that my mentor, though, would be the one that, you know, catapulted me onto into this, like, such a rewarding and fulfilling career in cybersecurity.

And one thing that I cannot stress enough is networking. Like, do not underestimate the power of your network. So, initially, when I heard the term networking, I had a very negative connotation with it. It's like it feels very forced and and authentic, and I wanna be my authentic self. And I definitely don't wanna be in a situation where I'm taking from something from somebody, whether it's their time or their advice. But, really, networking at the heart is really about building genuine connections and relationships with people. And so for me, what has been very effective in networking is meeting putting myself in positions, where I can meet people and learn about them kind of outside work.

So, you know, what are our common interest or passions? For me, I have two toddlers, so I love talking about family. I love traveling, and I love music, and I'm particularly, a fan of Dave Matthews Band. So those if if I can find some commonality in those, with colleagues, I can talk for hours. And the great thing about networking is when you're building these real like, authentic, genuine relationships, opportunities will, like, just come about. So every single opportunity that I've been given for my throughout my career has been a direct result of the the relationships that I've built, including my current position. Again, it wasn't posted. It was from a former colleague and friend at Norton LifeLock. And then time. So time's the equalizer.

We all have twenty four hours in a day. In cybersecurity in particular, we could always, like, be reacting. There's always more to do. The work's never done. And so I was kind of getting overwhelmed and drowning, like, trying to balance. How am I gonna be a mom? How am I gonna be a boss? How am I gonna be a mentor? And so what I've really been successful with is being very intentional with my time. And every Sunday, I plan out, like, what are two or three things I wanna accomplish each day? What's my schedule like having meetings with my my spouse to say, okay. I'm not gonna be available. I have a happy hour for work. I have this conference. Like, just having so, anyway, I I think what I would encourage you is to be intentional with your time.

And then I just wanted to kind of wrap things up because I know it's about two minutes. I just wanted to share some of the best career advice that I've either been given or have received that has really helped me in my career. And I I said this before, but be kind. Like, one act of kindness can change your life. Like, I didn't know that I had a really great relationship with my mentor. I just showed up every day, and I tried to contribute. And she was the one who opened the door and encouraged me to land my first role in cybersecurity. And then, again, be kind. Like, even when you have to make tough decisions, maybe figure out how can you help one another.

So, again, when I had to lay off an employee spending time immediately to write a letter of reference, he still contacts me to this day, and I've served as a reference for him for multiple opportunities. Be bold. Say yes often. Be willing to take risks. I know a lot of us or myself. I could speak for myself. I'm a little intimidated with change, and I'm like, am I am I good enough for this position? I don't have all these qualifications. Do you think I should apply? Go for it. Qualifications. Do you think I should apply? Go for it. Like, be yet like, whether you're rejected or not, like, you need to apply for the position and say yes to to grow and to to learn and to develop. And the last but not least, I think sometimes, again, speaking from experience, I can have analysis of the paralysis, and I'm so fearful of making the wrong decision.

And what I've realized is decisions are temporary. If you make a decision and something happens, you can like, you could pivot and try something new. You're not stuck with your decision. So just kinda remember that. And with that, I know we're out of time, but I would love to thank you for your time and attention today. And I would love to stay connected or answer any questions you have about this topic or anything else. That's my QR code to LinkedIn, and I look forward, to connecting with you. Thank you so much.