The Visibility Problem

▶ Watch (3:33)

Deepika Gupta’s mentor told her: cybersecurity is not a talent problem, it is a visibility problem. Many women self-opt out before submitting a CFP. They wait until 100% ready, while experienced speakers submit at 50%. The gap between technical expertise and presentation confidence keeps first-time female speakers off stage. Competition with pros intimidates them.

A Six-Month Mentorship Pipeline

▶ Watch (7:59)

At Cisco, Gupta and Poorna Rajaraman built a program with two calls: one for novice speakers and one for mentors. Mentors come from Cisco’s speaker bureau. A team verifies that applicants have never spoken to over 200 people. Matching is by domain and time zone. The process runs six months. Speakers and mentors iterate on content. A technical advisory committee does a double-blind review. 24 out of 38 matched speakers made the cut.

Three Years of Data

▶ Watch (15:40)

In the first year, applications were low. By the third year, 50 speakers applied and 38 were matched. 24 spoke at the internal conference. Speakers from earlier cohorts returned as mentors, accelerating growth. External CFPs were shared to bridge to outside conferences. Some cohort members later spoke at BSides. The playbooks are available for anyone to replicate.

Q&A

What is the criteria for rejecting some presentations? The technical committee gives actionable feedback; rejected speakers can improve and submit next year. ▶ Watch (22:38)

What is a tip for a hesitant first-time speaker? Find a mentor, do the hard work, and use internal forums or AI like Gemini for practice. ▶ Watch (24:31)

Were there challenges in motivating the mentors? VPs and directors volunteered eagerly; the challenge was matching enough mentors to speakers by domain. ▶ Watch (29:32)

Notable Quotes

cybersecurity does not seem like a talent problem it seems like a visibility problem Deepika Gupta · ▶ Watch (2:07)

if we build an environment where they are not there is no competition would that be something possible Deepika Gupta · ▶ Watch (5:39)

the pipeline in the third year it grew faster was because some of the speakers from the first and the second cohort came back Deepika Gupta · ▶ Watch (18:18)

she gave me a launching pad. That’s how I started creating submitting more technical talks Deepika Gupta · ▶ Watch (6:39)

Key Takeaways

  • First-time female speakers need a no-competition environment with mentor support.
  1. A six-month mentorship pipeline matched by domain and time zone produced 24 speakers in one year. 1-spacing? Let’s use bullet dashes.
  • First-time female speakers need a no-competition environment with mentor support.
  • A six-month mentorship pipeline matched by domain and time zone produced 24 speakers in one year.
  • Alumni return as mentors, creating a self-sustaining 360-degree growth loop.

About the Speaker(s)low since no bio, omit section.

No bio provided for either speaker, so omit.