Lesley Carhart 
I had a mentoring session last night with a poc I’ve been working with who went to his first local cybersecurity con, recently. He had such a bad experience with people being cliquey there and ignoring him that he’s ready to stop trying to get into the industry. 😥😰 I knew there are some cultural issues at that con and area but had no idea they were so bad, and encouraged him to maybe look at other cities in the US and their cons. Pitch your city’s infosec community and scene and I’ll share with him?
k3ym𖺀@hacks4pancakes the amount of "pull yourself up by your bootstraps" comments on this thread make make want to puke. That is not equitable - not everyone is starting from the same starting line as you, especially for people who identify as BIPOC or LGBTQIA+.
The onus is on us who are established in the career, especially those of us who are non-marginalized, to go out of our way to be intentionally inclusive and lend a hand up to those who need it. I'll go as far as to say that I believe that the security of the organizations we're defending rely on this.
We are stronger together when we have diversity of thought. Not fostering inclusivity is inherently accepting more risk.
Romain 