"Your mindset is the most powerful thing you have, and if you keep telling yourself you can't do it then who else is going to tell you otherwise?"

This Black History Month, Panelle is highlighting leading Black innovators across the business world. Today, we want to bring the spotlight onto the incredibly successful Jennifer Raiford.

Jennifer Raiford, often referred to as the “Olivia Pope to Cyber/Corporate Stealth,” is a dynamic and innovative leader with a proven track record in protecting and transforming Fortune 500 companies, military, defence, intelligence, judicial, law enforcement, private equity, and government sectors. She has operationalized cybersecurity across various industries, ensuring excellence at every layer.

She has played pivotal roles, as a National Cyber Advisor, particularly with the President’s National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee (NSTAC), as well as Deputy Chief Information Security and Global Privacy Officer at Unisys and acts as an advocate for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI). She has had a remarkable career so far with numerous speaking engagements, publications, and recognitions, all to be found on her LinkedIn.

Panelle’s Megan sat down with Jennifer to discuss her incredible career journey, how it has been shaped by her identity as a Black woman and how her drive to succeed has led her to become a trailblazer in the cybersecurity industry...

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To begin with, can you talk me through your career journey from where you've started to where you're at now, the path that you've been on?

So I grew up in a very interesting scenario where I was basically military government brat and that gave me the ability to travel, learn different languages and different opportunities like that. Eventually I realised that I really wanted to be a business executive so I went to school to study global business management and then went into work for Siemens Energy and Automation corporate headquarters, working for the executives.

I went through an executive management programme, where I got to learn all of the aspects of corporate business and how large corporations run. That was when others started to see that I had valuable skill sets. That no matter where you put me I could change the dynamic and I would improve the process, right? So they started sending me all over the organization and I became very well versed in large corporation business; how it's run and being able to see business from an executive management perspective.

What began to happen over that time was I started to shift over into technology. Going back to when I was growing up, that's what my dad did. He was into computers and we would often program for fun. So they naturally sent me over to technology because it made sense to me. I started working on the consulting side coming in and helping the inside of an organization to build programs, fix problems and that kind of thing.

By this time Sarbanes-Oxley was coming, so all these large corporations are like ‘what do we do?’ So I became someone that travelled all over, being hired to come in and help companies get ready for Sarbanes-Oxley. With that I also got a chance to do a world tour with the Red Cross for the Armed Services, where I got to go all around the world working and meeting with the top leaders of each branch of the military.

I already understood corporate, but now I was seeing it from the military and the government side. I'm a student; I just love to learn and I'm always taking things in. So I saw how they were classifying their data. I saw how they were handling their incidents and crises and I learnt from it.

As I moved through my career I started to realise, and I think I was even told a couple of times, ‘you're ahead of your time’. I was called a trailblazer. Keep in mind, I'm a black woman doing this so I saw things. There were assumptions that because I was on the regulatory side I wasn't technical. They didn't know that I understood systems. They didn't know I did programming. They didn't know any of that.

But that was the assumption, right? What they also didn't understand is that the role of the traditional CISO was starting to evolve. They always thought it was someone who was very technical, network based but what I could see was that it needed to have exactly what I brought to the table, which was diversity. I had flexibility. I understood business.

"I was often told ‘you can't be here’. I would literally be told I couldn't go into certain rooms."

I was a consultant, so I knew how to present to the boards and I knew how to translate because I had, as a consultant, gone into all of these companies and helped them build out their technical controls. I had already learned how to have conversations at every level. But I was often told ‘you can't be here’. I would literally be told I couldn't go into certain rooms.

I just want to stop for a minute and just touch on the fact that I had executives mentoring me throughout my career, right? Not only did they mentor me, but there were also times where they would be my champions. A lot of the time my work would make it into the boardroom before I did. I'd be doing the work, but I couldn't go in and speak to it because, you know, I wasn't on the board or the risk management team.

But my mentors would champion me and say ‘Jennifer, needs to be in the room. You're talking about her report. She's the one doing it. She needs to be in the room’. And it would be those types of leaders that would clear the path for me so that I could do what I was brought in to do. They never questioned if I could do it. So, I call them my heroes. Those were people that stood up for me, fought for me and got me into those rooms.

So then, by the time I got into the room, I couldn't afford to just take a year to sit like a fly on the wall and take it in. I started to realise that the fight to get me there was because I'm the only one who can do what I do. I began to understand. I looked to my left, I looked to my right and I didn’t see myself, but that didn’t mean I didn’t belong.

"OK, I belong here and I'm very good at what I do."

You can just imagine this rather tall, black woman walking into a room going ‘OK, I belong here and I'm very good at what I do’. One thing I can tell you is I wouldn't have gotten in that room if I wasn't good at what I did. And so, it started to be a conversation that I made sure I was always having.

And then, at Unisys, I had been tagged to become a leader of a global diversity group. This is a group where we would celebrate all ethnicities in the organization and I was the Chair. The funny thing about that was leading this group and suddenly looking from a whole different lens, understanding that what I was doing was so unique to so many other people that it was impactful and was something that needed to be seen.

I had never realised that before. This was at a time in 2020 and 2021 where, here in the US, diversity and inclusion became a very sticky type of situation due to things that were going on in the news. So it became a situation where I was able to mentor. I mean I really, really fell in love with being able to do it. It tapped into a whole other creative side of me.

How did your identity and the way your saw yourself play into your passion for that role?

On a personal level, at that time I had started studying my DNA and found out I represent like 13 parts of the world. I'm predominantly African American and I'm very proud of that. But I also learnt I had indigenous and I also had European backgrounds and I was raised to know that and embrace that. I also think that is why I was able to go into those rooms and be a trailblazer because I viewed the world in a certain way, that I belong, right? I love the world.

I saw the world in a very holistic way and I'm grateful that I had that mindset. I think that's why I was able to be the only person in certain situations my entire life and be comfortable with that. I didn’t have to worry that I was the only one there because I was just raised with the mindset that there wasn't anything I couldn't do if I set my mind to it. I believed that, I knew that, I breathed that. That was my journey.

"I am a woman of many colours. I'm a black woman first and foremost, and I’m proud of that..."

As a leader I also wanted to understand and learn about others’ experiences. It wasn’t until we were having those conversations on the DEI side that I did fully. I mean, I will always represent diversity because I am a woman of many colours. I'm a black woman first and foremost, and I’m proud of that. But I'm a woman, I was a divorced single mother.

I had a lot of different things that could have held me back, but because of the leaders that I had in my career and the mindset, the background, the way I was raised, I believe a lot of that is how I wound up here today. I want to pay that forward.

I also feel like because of the things that I've seen within cybersecurity, I’ve seen how many people think they don't belong, that there's not a place for them. That couldn't be further from the truth. If you want to be here, you belong and we all need you. I mean, companies perform better the more diversity they have and cyber security, in particular, will benefit from all the different aspects of diversity and different people contributing.

"We are better as a nation and we're better as a global society when we embrace diversity."

Just think, if because of how I looked I wasn't allowed in any of those doors, look at the things that I wouldn't have contributed to. So we all have a place. All of us. So that's what I've been doing. I do the mentorship aspect; I do some leadership with diversity. I've been speaking and any chance I can get to encourage women, I'm all about it.

My style I think is also important. I feel like authenticity is very key. I'm someone that likes to sparkle. I love my suits, my dresses, my pumps, my designer bags and, you know, my perfume. But I am who I am and I'm doing it in this space. And I just looked up one day and I was a trailblazer.

You said yourself that growing up, you were raised with that mindset that you can do anything, that you deserve to be anywhere you want to be. For people that maybe struggle to have that mindset, you are a role model. What would you say to them?

You're right. I looked to my left, I looked to my right and I didn't see anyone that looked like me but I told myself that I belong, and I believed it. So that's one of the things that I would say to anyone today:

Don't let anyone get into your own conversation with yourself, right? Your mindset is the most powerful thing that you have.

I would also say, and I'm a big proponent of this because I wouldn't be where I am today if it wasn't for this, find your mentors, find your sponsors and your allies. I would also say get involved, get plugged into those resource groups.

If you are inside of an organisation, get plugged into those community groups. And if you don't want to do it inside of your company, there are phenomenal groups externally now.

"It's a beautiful time, I think, to be a woman."

I've begun to tap into it; we call it our tribe or our sorority. It's a beautiful time, I think, to be a woman. Believe it or not, your confidence is half of the battle; what you say to yourself is half the battle. Your mindset is the most powerful thing you have, and if you keep telling yourself you can't do it then who else is going to tell you otherwise?

I'll always also say this -don’t be afraid to go out and get the knowledge. Do whatever you want to do to the best of your abilities. I always say do it to a level of excellence.

And the last thing I would say is, as I was starting to go through my journey, every step of the way I was working on my alignment, my purpose and wanting to make sure that my steps fit the bigger picture I saw for myself.

"If I'm sitting in a situation and I don't feel like it's a part of my bigger picture or my purpose or my destiny, I don't want to do it. So, every step of the way I was intentional about it."

So those are kind of things that I say are how you get to greatness or how you trailblaze. I would recommend to anyone firstly to do the self-work, for sure, but you should also ensure that you're doing what makes you feel good.

At the end of the day, that's what I got out of all this,  I was doing things that made me happy and that were passions of mine. Everybody should be wanting to do things that make them happy, right? Because the happier you are the higher you resonate and you can attract the things that you want to attract. That's what's important.

Have you found, in your experience, that women don't tend to do that? Do you find that women struggle to leave when we may not be happy, because of how hard we've had to work to get into those spaces?

I do and I think that’s for a couple of reasons.  We all know about imposter syndrome. I feel like mindset and resilience are key to whatever it is you want to do, but it's definitely needed in cyber. I think for women, I want to say we are known for putting everybody before ourselves. A lot of times we're the last thing on the list when it should be the other way around.

Loving yourself and putting yourself first really is key. But in order to get there it's the internal work that has to be done; that mindset, your attitude, your beliefs. If you've got some kind of internal programming that's telling you ‘You are not enough’ or ‘You don't belong’, you’ve got to kick that out. That can't be there because you get enough of that on the outside.

"Just being authentic, honest and transparent is OK, not being afraid to learn."

My second part to your question is that we also tend to think that we have to be 100% perfect and meet every aspect of a role before we'll even try. Men, on the other hand, will just assume they can figure the rest out later. We have got to be the same way.  Just being authentic, honest and transparent is OK, not being afraid to learn.

There is one more question that I want to ask you. You have had an incredible career already and are a role model for so many people but what is your biggest career goal now? Where are you heading next?

I have realised I really enjoyed writing and I really enjoy speaking so I have definitely leaned into that. I have started my own firm that will continue the path of creating and guiding people through the different aspects of business.

I’m also working with Fortune 500 and Fortune 1000 organisations, building their programs, their strategies for AI and making sure they have those strong mechanisms in bridging that gap between business and security.

The last thing I'll say is, from a diversity standpoint, I'm working with one organization, helping build out their mentorship programme. I’m passionate about helping to level the field to getting people into an organisation and giving back because, like I said, it was the mentors and sponsors and champions that helped me along the way. Nobody does it alone.

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