Voices of the Vigilant S2 EP5 | Podcasthon 2026 Special - Cyberjutsu’s Playbook For Belonging In Cybersecurity
In This Episode
Cyberjutsu with CEO Mari Galloway, joins me for Voices of the Vigilant Season 2, Episode 5!
You can learn more about the conversation and the guest below.
Tune into the audio version of this episode by clicking the player below:
Tune into the video version of this episode by clicking the YouTube player below:
VIDEO: Voices of the Vigilant S2 Ep05
The 2026 Podcasthon event featuring The Women's Society of Cyberjutsu (WSC) with Women’s Society of Cyberjutsu with CEO Mari Galloway
About the Guest
Mari Galloway is a cybersecurity executive, award-winning community leader, and strategic advisor who helps organizations reduce risk, strengthen resilience, and build cybersecurity programs aligned with business priorities.
With over 16 years of experience across government and commercial sectors, Mari has led initiatives in network engineering, security architecture, vulnerability management, and enterprise risk strategy.
She is also the CEO and founding board member of Women's Society of Cyberjutsu (WSC), one of the fastest-growing 501(c)(3) nonprofit cybersecurity communities focused on advancing women and girls in cybersecurity.
She is the inaugural recipient of the 2019 ISC2 Diversity Award and a 2023 Presidential Lifetime Achievement Award recipient for her service and leadership.
Full Episode Transcript
Jess Vachon: 00:35
Welcome back to Voices of the Vigilant, where we amplify the humans behind cybersecurity and explore what it truly means to live and lead diligently. Today's episode is special. We are participating in Podcaston 2026, a global movement where podcast hosts around the world release coordinated episodes in support of charities they believe in. The goal to create a massive international wave of awareness for organizations making real impact. And the organization I've chosen to spotlight is one that has changed the landscape of cybersecurity for women and non-binary individuals for over a decade. The Women's Society of Cyberjutsu. Founded in 2012, Cyberjutsu is a national nonprofit dedicated to advancing women in cybersecurity careers through hands-on training, mentoring, education, networking, and real professional opportunity. Their vision, a cyber community where women can reach their full potential and thrive with unlimited opportunity.
And today I'm honored to be joined by an extraordinary leader, Mari Galloway, CEO of Cyberjutsu. Mari, welcome.
Mari Galloway: 01:42
Thank you. Super excited to be here talking with you, Jess. I always love having conversations with you because I always learn something. I'm really happy to be here and share about Cyberjutsu and the origin story, my story a little bit to kind of how it ties into the organization and where we go from here.
Jess Vachon: 02:05
Sure. Well, why don't we start there? Why don't you give our listeners your background?
Mari Galloway: 02:10
Uh so I've been in cyber and tech for over 16 years. And I always cringe when I say that because I'm like, you know, I used to hear these folks like, yeah, I've been doing this for two decades, and now I'm almost at that point. But I got my start as a network engineer uh with one of the three-letter agencies in the DC area, NGA. They were doing maps, they do all these national geospatial things, helping them move from all of their individual office locations into one major location in the Springfield area. Over the years, I continued to work through the government. I worked for US CERT doing kind of like incident response, but more like SOC work with US Cert now CISA. Uh did that for a little bit and then moved out to Vegas to help the Las Vegas Sands Corporation, the Venetian and the Palazzo casinos, uh build up their vulnerability management program nine years ago at this point. Did a little architecture work and then went into sales at Palo Alto and then continue to just work in the vulnerability management, exposure management, a little bit of governance and risk space. And now I'm a solo flyer that's running CyberJutsu, probably full-time at this point, until I go back to work.
Jess Vachon: 03:24
Well, so there let's highlight that. People okay, you've heard the qualifications, reach out to her. All right, and at the end we'll make sure that people know how to reach out to you. So CyberJutsu was founded in 2012 by Lisa Jiggitz, correct?
Mari Galloway: 03:42
Correct, yes, our fearless leader.
Jess Vachon: 03:44
Yeah, and that was long before diversity in cyber became a I guess a boardroom buzzword, not that it maybe is anymore. What was the gap that she saw that needed to be filled?
Mari Galloway: 03:57
For her, so she was in the northern Virginia area. Lisa's an Air Force veteran, an artist, all those things, and she's a hacker by trade. And so, she would go to the hacker groups in the Northern Virginia area, and she'd be the only woman. And she wouldn’t feel as confident to ask questions because she felt like, hmm, maybe I should already know this. Or the feel of that space made it feel like you should already know the answer to this, don't ask questions. And so, for her, she wanted to get hands-on, get into the techie stuff and get into the deepness of it. She said, let me start something else. Let me see what I can do, not only in person in the Virginia, DC, Maryland area, but nationally. And so, the first workshops were in, I want to say June 2012, before I even found the organization, and it was over Backtrack and Linux. So that's how long ago that was. Backtrack is now Cali Linux, for those of you listening.
Jess Vachon: 04:52
I didn't know that. So, I just learned.
Mari Galloway: 04:54
There you go. Yeah. So, it was Backtrack back then. And there was a lot of people a lot of women that showed up. And it was like, wait a minute, hold on. And so, then she started to do some study groups because she saw that there was a need for a place for women to feel confident, to feel like no question's a silly question, to get the community vibe around learning and growing and just feel, you know, like they have a place in cybersecurity. At that time, it was 11% women in the space. Now it's 24, 25, my plus or minus a few. And so, it was there weren't other organizations focused on cybersecurity, pen testing, hacking at the time. And so, she created that space for that.
Jess Vachon: 05:39
Yeah, that's great. It's so hard to feel confident, you know, outside of gender in those conferences because you always have this feeling like I should know as much as everyone else here. But for women and non-binary professionals, it's so much more intimidating because you don't know. Do you fit in with everyone else in the room? And so, it's great that she identified that and said, you know, let me dig into this a little further. So, you know, it's been about 14 years. What has surprised you most about how the mission has evolved?
Mari Galloway: 06:15
Wow. Probably the programming. When I first I found the organization because I failed the CSSP. And I was so upset because I was like, dang, there goes my $20,000 pay raise and my better job, and I had to pay for it again. And so, I was like, oh. And so early on, we you know, we would do the CTF stuff, capture the flags all the time. We would always get together and do that. Uh, we would have the workshops, and we'd have the study groups. Eventually, the program we wanted to offer, more structured learning, things around emerging tech, not just the cybersecurity piece, I think has helped us revise, revamp the mission, the goal, who we reach out to. We do grants that are co-ed grants in most places because you know, we understand that, yes, women needed the place, but we also need to look at other unrepresented groups in those areas as well to help with some of that pipeline, right? We're trying to build an army or a crew, a squad, a tribe of talented, smart individuals that can go into the world and you know be badasses. I just read Likable Badass. I just finished it today, so that's like in my head.
Jess Vachon: 07:36
Well, if you're in the tribe, as you mentioned, you are a badass. You're automatically accepted as a badass at the beginning. So, what does it mean for you to steward a mission like this?
Mari Galloway: 07:52
Well, that's a good question. Yeah. Honestly, when I came into this organization, my goal was only to get the learning, get the education. I didn't really see that, I didn't know that there was an issue, right? My first few jobs, I was the only female, I was the only minority. It's like, okay, whatever, no big deal. And it wasn't until somebody else pointed it out to me that I should take over from Lisa that I actually started to think about, okay, well, what does that mean? And even still in the beginning, I was like, oh, okay, it's just kind of cool, whatever. But over the years, as I hear the stories, as people say, hey, you know, that class I took with you guys, or, you know, Roxey helped me with something, or you know, I got to have a mentorship conversation with this person, it's like, okay. So, what does it mean to steward this mission, this organization? It's become my family, I think. And so, it's like my baby, my protective, my protective armor. But it's an honor to be able to help someone that doesn't quite believe in themselves, start to believe in themselves, start to realize, you know what, I can do this. Just to be able to see me, you, the rest of the board members, the rest of the volunteers, I it it's one of the best things I've been able to do. And I love to be able to give back in that way.
Jess Vachon: 09:25
Yeah, you mentioned it's like a family, and I do see that difference. You can look at other groups that are out there that do similar but not the same kind of work. And as a member of some of those other organizations, I never quite feel like I'm all the way in the door. So Cyberjutsu, right from the beginning, you you're like there, you're a member, and people are reaching out to you. The Slack is very active. So that is an important differentiator, I think. And you certainly are a force leading the organization. Um, and I think you, but I think that's important because you certainly make everyone feel welcome. Like you are not, hey, on the CEO.
Mari Galloway: 10:07
It's like how are you doing? Yeah, but you know, like we're just regular people. I know that I'm in that position to do that, like to make the decisions and all that, but I can't do any of that without the team, without the members, without the folks saying, hey, let's do this, or you know, I think this might be a better way. Like, I can't do any of that by myself. And I've had to learn that I became an entrepreneur in this job.
Jess Vachon: 10:36
Do you think because the organization is made up of so many doers and run by so many doers, that that's a big differentiator between other groups?
Mari Galloway: 10:48
That could be the case. I definitely see a lot of us, we want to do a lot of things and have our hands in a lot of buckets. And so, I yeah, I could definitely see that. We do have a lot of all right, coach, put me in. Like, what do I need to do? How do I do that? I think that's I'm not going to toot my own horn because I don't necessarily feel like I fall in that category, but I think that's a sentiment to the leadership style, the welcoming leadership style. I've worked in a lot of different organizations, and I've seen different ways of engaging the group and encouraging and motivating the teams that they weren't working. And so, I feel like when you meet people where they're at, and you give them the opportunity to fail and fix it. I think that really does stand out. I'm trying to think of other organizations that I'm a part of. I don't see that as much. Maybe because I was a volunteer, I'm a volunteer at heart, right? I've been volunteering my whole life, and so it's just easy to do, I think. And that's that could be why.
Jess Vachon: 12:01
From an operations perspective, what does it actually take to sustain and grow a nonprofit in cybersecurity? I'm opening the door wide for you.
Mari Galloway: 12:14
Honestly, money, right? Money, resources. We're 95% volunteer run. So, I think my assistant probably gets paid more than I do. And then we can pay folks through grants and things like that. But to be able to run something like this, this is a full-time job, right? You look at organizations that have grown to multi-millions of dollars, and they have staff of you know, 20 people, 50, you know, 50 people, sometimes even more, to help run the operation, right? It's not just about putting programs together, it's about the marketing of the program, it's about you know the logistics and the planning, and you know, the meetings every week. It's a real it's a business, right? And so, funding is always important to have. I have a big goal: $44 million for Cyber Jitsu. And in value, I think we're getting there. You know, the value of the education we're providing, we're getting to that point. But you can do a lot of things with that kind of you can serve a lot of people and actually make an impact with that kind of money.
Jess Vachon: 13:23
Absolutely. And we're gonna make a push towards the end of this recording for people to help us get the $44 million. All right, where have you seen the biggest growth in the in the in CyberJutsu? Have you seen it in the programs and the chapters and overall engagement, or maybe all three of those?
Mari Galloway: 13:41
Chapters and programming, which is which is great. We've got some good people on the team helping build out the education. And we had a program that we started a few years ago, Cyber Jitsu Training Academy. We started that, and it was mapping to like network plus, security plus, for if you wanted to be a trainer, and like a couple of other things. We quickly realized that that does not work the way we expected it to. But also at the time, we didn't have the plethora of platforms to use either. So, we were limited to what we could use. And so, in the programming, I've seen a significant increase. There's a lot of companies that will come to us and say, hey, we want to offer you guys these free opportunities, like CSA with the AI certification and some other groups that we're working with to be able to bring some more technical certification-driven type of training, you know, web app pen testing, things of that nature. And our CTA program has expanded. So, we were able to revamp that program, replicate it in Virginia a couple of years ago where we got the Virginia grant, and then replicate it here in Nevada. And so, what we're trying to do with that is have many academies in each of the regions where our chapters are so that the local community can also benefit from that education, the contacts with the employers, the networking opportunities, the speaking opportunities from a local component. And then the chapters. The chapters are growing. Roxey's doing a fantastic job of revising and revamping that particular program so that we can get the chapters more engaged, make sure that they have the information and the resources that they need at that local level, and just make it a little bit easier for them to operate.
Jess Vachon: 15:32
Okay. Obviously, there's measures that go along with the investment in the organization. How are how are you measuring the impact beyond just the numbers?
Mari Galloway: 15:42
Surveys, we do a lot of surveys. So, we typically do a survey either after the big conferences to get feedback on that, and we present those metrics after the events are over. We do surveys after workshops, testimonials. We'll get members that'll do testimonials about the impact of the organization. In our Nevada program, right now we've had one person before she finished her SANS training get hired for a pen test job from the program because of her learning and education. We've had a few folks that have gotten promotions. Um, and so we gather that information through surveys. I'm looking at considering focus groups or forums to have people, you know, voice their concerns and their issues. And then a lot of people will send me emails and messages, whether it's good or bad. And so, we can adjust and we can look at that too. We also look at membership attrition and kind of what the reasoning is behind folks not wanting to become a member or not staying a member, and it's usually just a funding issue, but that's how we typically do. So, I'm open to ideas if people have other ideas or creative ways. We like to be creative, so to measure impact.
Jess Vachon: 16:60
So, you mentioned the training, and then you measured you mentioned how you're measuring the training. Something I noted while you were speaking is you're talking about people going through training and then immediately or pretty closely afterwards getting promotions or getting new jobs. It's very similar to a conversation I had with the folks that run SANS a year or so ago when they asked me, you know, why do you take the courses, why do you invest in the courses for your team? I said, because I know the quality.
Mari Galloway: 17:31
Yes.
Jess Vachon: 17:31
And I know that, you know, when I've taken the course before I'm even done, I can apply what I'm learning in my job immediately. Is that the differentiator with CyberJutsu from some other organizations?
Mari Galloway: 17:46
Yeah, that's definitely one of the biggest ones. Most our focus is on the technical hands-on. So usually when we have our workshops or our trainings or even the conferences, we want you to be able to leave that program, that event or whatever it is, and be able to apply those skills Monday, whether it's at work or at home. And so, when we ask folks to come in and teach, because we always need instructors for various different, you know, AI, networking fundamentals, we have a great CISP person, you know, other certifications. We ask that the instructor make the majority of their presentations and their course hands-on technical activities. And so usually that equates to about 85% of the session because we get talked to all day, every day. We don't need a lecture. We want to get in and play. We've learned that women, non-binary, most people love to get their hands dirty and get in and like tap on the keyboard. And when that thing says, oh, there's a flag, or whoop, you found this this hole, and that light bulb goes off. It's like, you know, it's uh I know my first time playing a CTF and I was able to find the flag, I was just like, holy crap, you can swear here, it's okay. We mark it as adult. Okay. But it was like, wow, I could actually do this, and so that gives you it gives you confidence. And so that I've gone through other programs, I've gone through other trainings. I think that and the community vibe, every time somebody comes together at one of our events, they're always walking away with the new connection. And like I'll see them a year later, like, oh, we're best friends. I'm like, oh, okay. I like that.
Jess Vachon: 19:28
Yeah, that's so true, though. I think you know, you keep speaking of Roxey, who couldn't make it for this recording. But I met Roxey probably three years ago at RSA, I believe. We were hosted at a baseball game. Okay, we started talking, yeah, and didn't know each other from CyberJutsu, but just having to have that conversation. And from there on in, it was, you know, like you said, just that relationship gets established whenever we see each other, it's you know, like old friends, yeah, the whole conversation. And then, you know, she kind of hunted me down to be on the board. You know, I think if anyone else had asked me, I might have hesitated. Yeah, but when Roxey asked me, because I know Roxey, right? I know Roxey's energy and I know how enthusiastic she is about CyberJutsu, I didn't even have to think about it. I said, Roxey's asking me, yeah, I'm gonna do this”.
Mari Galloway: 20:28
So, we're glad you're here. You've been valuable so far, so we're glad that you're here. I never feel like I'm doing enough, but I can know, trust me, I always reference you. I've got to show you so.
Jess Vachon: 20:42
So, let's talk a little bit about mentorship. How are mentors paired? What do the mentors provide in the program? And you've already mentioned what kind of relationships come about from that but maybe speak a little bit more about it.
Mari Galloway: 20:56
So, we wanted to do mentorship a little bit different. Uh and we've tried everything, right? CyberJutsu was started with a bunch of tech folks. I think Kathy might have been technical. Well, she might have been like on the risk side of stuff. So, we were a bunch of geeky nerds, tech folks that like to wear heels, that like to get hands-on and all this. So, we were not entrepreneurs, we were not business savvy per se. We started to do a mentorship program. Matching one-to-one, we learned very quickly is very difficult. Because what's on paper is not always what shows up in person. I hate to reference this show, but I watch Married at First Sight. I've watched like a dozen seasons of it. And what they put on their application doesn't always match what's in person. Same concept. Okay. So yeah, it's an interesting show. It works, but we learned very quickly that that doesn't work. And so, we ended up changing it into a cohort based. Format. So, it's our small tribes groups, and we do them for just general mentorship or for a specific purpose. So, the first one we did was for small business owners. So, if you were a small business owner and you had issues or you were trying to, you know, move your business forward, we met for six weeks. Everybody had a topic that they talked about related to some of the concerns and issues that they were having. And then, you know, they had homework and all these things. We add this part of the puzzle to the Cyberjutsu Training Academy so that not only are the students going through the training together, but they’re also getting to learn outside of just training about each other. So, they're mentoring each other, they're learning from each other. We'll try to bring in more senior folks like myself. Andrea goes in sometimes. Andrea's out of Dallas. She'll go into some of the meetings sometimes to help coach some of the women. But what we've learned is, and what we've seen, when we mix the groups up, obviously based on time zones, but when we mix the groups up based on skill level, it forces the more senior folks to help and encourage the younger junior folks, right? But then the junior folks are also mentoring the senior folks. We've learned that having just having the group, even if they weren't talking physically, just having the group, we've seen conversations that have been impactful to where folks have gotten jobs, like through our Slack channels, because we can see all of those conversations. When we've chimed into some of those sessions, um, when they're learning about branding, about networking, they're doing the activities that we have in the in the uh documentation, or they're, you know, one of them came and said, “Hey, I have this problem at work. Can we walk through it? “And that the whole group comes together to help this person walk through it. That's been much more beneficial to the membership that has participated, um, and I think to the leadership as well. Because it allows us to be able to come in and give insights and input, and it makes the folks in the program feel like they're a part of something outside of themselves. So, it's not just us giving to them, they're also giving back.
Jess Vachon: 24:12
So I was going to ask about leadership development because you mentioned Cyberjutsu is technically oriented, but you answered that question because when you have a more senior person working with a more junior person in the technical part of the career field, by the nature of that pairing, you're learning coaching and you're learning mentoring, and you're developing some of those leadership skills. And as you mentioned, some people who come forward to be mentors just are not wired to be mentors, maybe not out of the gate, but by having that interaction where it's more of a coaching type of relationship, they can develop those skills. And we know, right, that the technical skills, well, that's the fun part and the right. I love it. I love geeking out and taking things apart. That's why I got into technology and into information security. But the world we live in is run by businesses that want to make a profit. And we have to understand how we can operate and live as leaders and team members in that environment. So, it's great to see that that just happens organically in the process. For people who are wanting to attend some of these programs, are there scholarships and if they if someone needs accessibility accommodations, if it's on-site, are those available?
Mari Galloway: 25:40
So, when we when we when we do on site, we do try to make sure that the venues we use are accessible. Most of the times they are just because they kind of ADA you have to be, but we do try to make sure that it is accessible for folks. We do sometimes have scholarships, but it just depends on the program. So, for CTA, we do try to get grants for those to make it a little bit more cost effective for folks. But grants are, you know, you you're familiar with how grants work. It doesn't always work out. But our workshops, they're usually either free or low cost, right? You'll never pay for a Saturday workshop on like Python. You'll never pay more than 120 bucks if you're a member. Um, so members of the organization do get discounts. Um, you can have your company if you work for somebody pay for a membership or multiple memberships or even a sponsorship. Quote unquote hint, hint, hint. I mean, that'll give you more access to things, you know, tickets to the conferences, etc. You can volunteer. That's another good way to get some exposure to the space, talk to other people. We have volunteers all the time for the big conferences, the mini conferences at you know, industry conferences like RSA and Black Hat. And then you can join our Slack channel, you know, follow us on LinkedIn. We always post events and activities and programs that you know are either free or low cost for folks. And you can go right to the website and sign up for it. And we're working on a few things for the rest of the year. So hopefully there's some opportunities that come through uh for folks in Q3 and Q4.
Jess Vachon: 27:20
Well, that's a perfect segue because now I want to talk about something that's really exciting. Cyberjutsucon 2026 in June in Washington, D.C. For those who haven't attended before, what is it?
Mari Galloway: 27:32
Cyberjutsu con wow. So, Lisa said she wanted to do a conference. She was like, I want to do this conference that's like kind of like DEF CON or Black Hat or this is a hacker thing. We could never get it together. COVID happens, and it's like we can't go in person anymore. We have to go virtual. And so, we were feeling the I feel like everybody was feeling this like, what do we do? How do we get together? How do we come back to this grouping? And I was I talked to the team and I said, let's do the conference now. Let's do it virtually, let's find a virtual platform, let's just do it. And finally, all those years later, we finally have Cyberjutsucon. So, the awards we've always had. The awards started in 2014 after we all attended Women in Tech Awards. We said we could do a women in cybersecurity awards. And so that's when that started. And that was a separate event during COVID. We rolled those into two into one, and so now it's one big conference weekend event. Fridays are usually workshops. We'll do four technical hands-on workshops. This year they're going to be virtual, which makes it a lot easier, more accessible to folks that may not be able to get to the DC area but still want to participate in those workshops. And then Saturday, um, it's a full day of conference or talks, keynotes, cyber games. We'll have a CTF that right now is being sponsored by Hack the Box. So, they're coming on as one of our sponsors for that. We have Backdoors and Breaches that's run by Robin. So, you know, John Blanchard and their team will send us stuff over all the time. We'll have a career village, you know, that's run by Mari and Shade. I like to shout out the volunteers, so people know just me doing the work. Career Village with headshots again and mock interviews and resume reviews, mental health. And then the awards is a sneaker ball, which is always fun. So, you wear your sneakers in your formal gear. There's a video on YouTube from last year. It was amazing. We recognize a lot of people. And if you're part of the CTF, you might get an award, all those good things. But it's a way for the community to come together, get technical if you want, or focus on core skills if you want, and just have a blast, a good time. You're not in suits and ties all day, you're comfortable in whatever you want to wear. And we have s'mores.
Jess Vachon: 29:59
The s'mores and the sneaker ball!
Mari Galloway: 30:01
I mean, if you don't show up for anything else, show up for those two. And so, what's probably different about this is more like a family reunion, the more people that are showing up year after year than at some of the other conferences. And would you say you probably don't get lost at this conference? No, you won't get lost. I'll call you out. I'll find you. And then I will call you out. Hey, notice time. Our photographer will come and find you and say, hey, let's do an interview. So, yeah, no, when you come into Cyberjutsu, the vibe is, oh, let me find a place where I could squeeze into here because I like this. And that's what I hope it is going forward, right? I'd love to be, you know, a 20,000-person conference, but you get lost in those kinds of things. And which is one of the other reasons we brought in the Cyber Jitsu unplugged events to kind of have those smaller, more intimate local events for those that can't make it to the big one. And so come on, let's go.
Jess Vachon: 31:04
And that is so different because I know when I'm headed to RSA later this month, and you know, black hat, some of those, you just you disappear. And yeah, in some respects, you want to disappear at those.
Mari Galloway: 31:16
Yeah.
Jess Vachon: 31:17
But what I like about this, the Cyberjutsu con is that it's meant to be intimate, it's meant to be exactly what the organization is all throughout the year, you know, people getting together, it's a huge volunteer effort. Everyone's there to help everyone advance. And it really is like, hey, friend, it's nice to see you again. Let's sit down and learn something.
Mari Galloway: 31:42
So, and for employers, we're building the pipeline. So, you're getting people that are trained, that take the initiative, that do this stuff outside of just their work. You know, they bring their kids along. And so, you're getting some really good talent from our membership base. So, I want to make sure that they all know that too.
Jess Vachon: 32:05
Is there any central vision for the conference for this year?
Mari Galloway: 32:09
Yes. So last year we started the art of cyber, because cyber jitsu means the art of cyber, but this year's theme is beyond the patterns. So, we're always looking for patterns in the data or not looking for patterns in the data. And so, all of the talks and the conversations are going to be around what do we do beyond the normal, beyond the patterns, and how do we navigate in that space? Because AI is not going anywhere. It's here. Quantum computing is coming. You know, who knows what's next after that stuff? And you know, we have to be ready and prepared for that. So, what are we doing beyond the patterns? So hopefully, call for speakers open soon.
Jess Vachon: 32:48
Yeah, that theme is spot on because I think a lot of us are trying to ask the questions, and I've been doing technology for 30 years. We're all saying, I I've never navigated this area of technology before. And we're being asked to you know be prepared for it, and we're like, okay, we'll test that again, but so it because it's one of these huge changes, almost like so. The internet was a huge change, right? And then AI has been one of those huge changes, and now we're going into AI and post-quantum computing. And wow, I mean, things we think things are moving fast now.
Mari Galloway: 33:27
It's only gonna get quicker.
Jess Vachon: 33:29
Yeah, yeah. It's going to be crazy. It's going to be crazy. So, we've talked about Cyberjutsucon. What do we need to get this off the ground? How do companies reach out? What are the sponsorship levels like?
Mari Galloway: 33:43
So, we need speakers, attendees, sponsors all of the time. The sponsorship package they go from 2,500 for small businesses and uh community colleges all the way up to $50,000 in custom packages as well. They all include sponsorship opportunities for marketing your business throughout the year. Your logos will go on the websites, and you get tickets to the events, job postings, video, access to those that opt into the mailing list or to have sponsors reach out to them. Um, and lots of really fun conversations and discussions around, you know, AI, cyber, things beyond the beyond the patterns that you guys can have those conversations about. Google is a sponsor currently, Splunk is a sponsor, hack the box, like I said. Um, and so we are looking for an additional $75,000. We are working on that now to help make this event successful. You can reach out to me, mari.galloway, M-A-R-I, just like that on the screen, at womencyberjutsu.org or on LinkedIn. It's the Mari Galloway on LinkedIn. And we can get started on that conversation. Um, if you know Jess personally, ping her and we'll get together and discuss next steps on that as well. And if you know anybody from the CyberJutsu organization, make sure you reach out to them and say hello.
Jess Vachon: 35:03
Yes. If you know me personally, even if you don't know me personally, but you know me professionally, uh, and we've done business together before, I expect you to step up. We need you to step up. You have no problem using the talent that is being produced by CyberJutsu and other organizations. It's time for you to invest. This is an easy, an easy way for you to invest in developing and growing talent without having to do it while the people are employed at your organization. It is a no brainer. So please, please get a hold of Mari, get a hold of me, go to the website. I've thrown the banner up a couple times. If you're watching this on YouTube, let's get this moving. It's coming up. June is coming up fast. So, you really need the funds. Beyond that, you're not just sponsoring this this con. Your name is going to be mentioned throughout the year. I'm sure it's gonna be on the website. We'll be coming back to you to say, hey, let's sponsor next year's event. So, you know, it's an opportunity for you to align your values with the values that we've talked about so far in the podcast. You know, if you have initiatives that are supporting women that are supporting diversity, this is one of the best vehicles for you to deliver.
Mari Galloway: 36:21
Clock that tea. What is it? The tea thing. I don't know, they do it on social. I saw Michelle Obama do it or something. I was like, oh, okay.
Jess Vachon: 36:32
So, and just a few more things on the conference. So, is this just for women or is it opened up?
Mari Galloway: 36:38
No, so it is open to anyone and everyone to attend. We do have tickets. We did introduce a VIP ticket this year, so you're making an additional donation to the organization, and we'll have something special for those folks that do the VIP ticket. But tickets are at 100 bucks that gets you access to the entire Saturday event, um, including the awards. I mean, it gives you food for breakfast, lunch at the awards time. The workshops are a little bit they're 50 to 100 depending on the type of workshop, but you can get CPEs from attending if you need to update your certifications and things of that nature.
Jess Vachon: 37:14
And so, um come on through, let's go. Um, let me just tell you, folks, if you're going to other conferences, you're not getting this much of a deal. It's a very, very fair price, great workshops for you to take advantage of. So, let's just highlight there's skill building labs, career tracks, there's probably some executive leadership conversations going on, and there's community connection.
Mari Galloway: 37:44
Yeah, and games, and games, and games and a ball and a whole book swap and sticker swap too Those are always the fun thing. So, you bring your books, bring your stickers. If you have books you want to donate, we can talk about the books. And really quick, if you do have books that you aren't reading or using, you can donate them to your library. I had to do that with the palette of books, they took them all from me, and then you can get that right off if you guys need to if you itemize. That's a little tax tip. I do taxes on the side too.
Jess Vachon: 38:15
Okay, and so let's I just want to hit the sponsorship up again. If you don't have the capacity to sponsor Cyberjutsucon right now, there are plenty of other um events or opportunities for you to do sponsor. There's event sponsorship, there's individual training sponsorship, there's chapter sponsorship and chapter support that you can do. We talked a little bit about the chapters. I want to just circle back to that because I think I might have gone past one of my questions. We have some chapters throughout the U.S. Where would we like to see new chapters and how can people contact you to get that going?
Mari Galloway: 38:52
My favorite question. So, my favorite place in the world, Miami. We've been trying to get a chapter in Miami for a while. So, South Florida, any of that South Florida area. Chicago is definitely another area. We have a meetup up there, but we don't have official chapter membership there. Seattle is also one. We've got some people working on some things, not quite Seattle proper, but within the region up there. And then in the Midwest, we don't have anything in the Midwest outside of Texas, and so you know, St. Louis, Southern Illinois area.
Jess Vachon: 39:00
Chicago. Come on, Chicago.
Mari Galloway: 38:12
Chicago, yeah. I want to have some stuff up there, but it's too cold. So, I gotta wait till after the winter. Right now, that's it. I would really love to go international and host some international events, especially with my travels being able to visit some of our members that are um in other countries. So, if there's folks that are watching that are international and are interested in sponsoring, partnering, doing some programming together, by all means let me know because I'm happy. I would love to get something like that going too.
Jess Vachon: 39:58
Yeah, it would be great to see, you know, something in Europe, Africa, Japan. Um I mean, because we know there are women in technology and women in cybersecurity in all these places. It's simple. Just drop a message to us and we'll help you get going. But really, Chicago. I'm in Chicago all the time. So, if you're in Chicago and you want to start a chapter, I will meet with you personally. Let's get into it. I'm coming to Chicago.
Mari Galloway: 40:22
We're gonna do an unplugged event in Chicago. How about that?
Jess Vachon: 40:31
All right, so I think we've covered just about everything. I don't know if there's anything we didn't cover. If we didn't cover anything, I'm sure you can reach out to Mari. You can reach out to me, and we'll be able to answer those questions for you. On Voices of Vigilant, we always talk about vigilance, not just as threat detection, but as intentional leadership. So, I want to ask you, Mari, what does living vigilantly mean to you?
Mari Galloway: 40:59
That's a that's a hard question. And I did not think of I didn't prep that one. Um yeah, I didn't prep, I didn't prep that question. Honestly, I think it's just you know, being authentic, true to yourself, being observant of your surroundings. I I'm a military brat, I grew up in the military, I was previously married to the army. Um, and we were always having to one of the themes they would always say was “be vigilant” in some of those really weird commercials. And from that perspective, it was being aware of what's going on around you, right? And not always absorbing it, but thinking about it, understanding it, and then figuring out, okay, how do I either move beyond this or help move this forward? I think the biggest thing too is like I said, being your authentic for me, it's being my authentic self. It took a long time to get to that point. And so, with me being able to be that way, I'm able to help others be that way.
Jess Vachon: 42:05
Yeah, and that's huge. You know, that's bold too. All right, if you're listening to this during Podcasthon 2026, here's your moment. You can become a member of Women's Society of Cyberjutsu, start a local chapter, attend CyberjutsuCon 2026, become a mentor. Uh, you can sponsor a program, or you can bring your company into sponsorship. Bang, bang, bang on the table. So, this is not a passive awareness episode. This is a call to action, a call to build greatness. Mari, thank you for your leadership, your courage, and your relentless commitment to expanding opportunity and cybersecurity. And to everyone listening, be vigilant, go boldly, and when you rise, bring someone with you. Until next time, stay vigilant. Thank you.
