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?
Shecky - Third Wheel@hacks4pancakes Just so others can see, the Burbsec community in Chicago does a pretty good job of being welcoming.
That said, I have found a big difference between community and community meetups and cons, in attitude and cliquishness. I have found it to the point that I, a CIS White male tends to wallfolwer at some conferences, even when I know people, because I don't want to impose myself into dinners/situations and not do much contribution. I think some of that is due to the frequency of people seeing each other in person leads to them being a bit more unaware of what is going on around them.
Meetups though seem to be a lot more open overall, again due to the nature of it all.