Organised by Eskenzi PR in media partnership with the IT Security Guru, the Most Inspiring Women in Cyber Awards aim to shed light on the remarkable women in our industry. The following is a feature on one of 2022’s Top 20 women selected by an esteemed panel of judges. Presented in a Q&A format, the nominee’s answers are written in their own words with minor edits made by the editor for readability and where relevant, supplemented with additional commentary by their nominator.
This year, the awards are sponsored by Beazley, BT, KPMG and KnowBe4.
Camilla Currin, Senior Partner Manager, Trend Micro
What does your job role entail?
I currently manage the largest Value Added Reseller for Trend Micro UK/I. My role is to drive engagement between our two businesses across all levels as well as work in unison to create a GTM business strategy.
With my knowledge of what Trend Micro has to offer across our broad and award winning portfolios, I work with the wider Trend Team to go out and update the VAR on what it is we can do from a cyber security perspective, and how we can integrate with solutions that the customer may already have on site to further enhance their cyber security protection.
From there we go further to address Sector specific requirements as well as work on case by case deals. It is extremely important to understand what the typical customer challenges and issues are, and to bring in solutions to those ahead of the game.
I work to also ensure that I am not only seen as someone who wants to sell but someone who is keen to help others become thought-leaders to their customer base.
How did you get into the cybersecurity industry?
I travelled over from Zimbabwe to the UK 20 years ago. When I arrived I had a 5 year old so wanted to do something that would allow me to look after him, set up home, and earn.
I was a door to door sales person initially, selling items from a magazine. Following that I went on to sell greetings cards at shows, events, and from home. Realising that this was not earning me enough money, I went off to look for something more substantial. That is when I started working for Arrow ECS Distribution. This provided me with fantastic grounding to the world of infrastructure, virtualisation and security. I worked my way up from being a personal assistant, to working in operations, on to being part of the Virtualisation Team. It was then that I realised I wanted to work in Sales. I moved up into the sales side, managing circa 15 partners as well as setting up Veeam as a new Vendor for Arrow ECS. Soon after that I was promoted into being a Strategic Account Director, responsible for some of our key Partners.
I learnt so much from each and every role, and this gave me the clarity that as the world evolved, if I was ever to leave Distribution, my next role had to either be in Cloud or Cyber Security. Very happy to say I was headhunted into the wonderful world of Cyber Security and have not looked back.
What is one of the biggest challenges you have faced as a woman in the tech/cyber industry and how did you overcome it?
I believe that one of the biggest challenges was that “despite being a woman”, I should be seen as someone who does indeed know what she is talking about. For a long time, when I walked into a room of invariably men only, along with one or two male colleagues, I knew the thinking was “well what will she know about tech – perhaps she is here to take notes”.
The way out of that was by putting my shoulders back and embracing the audience. Making introductions, engaging directly with each individual, and having the ability to speak confidently when presenting or when contributing to a discussion. There was a bit of extra work that I felt I had to put in, in preparation ahead of a meeting, which would in turn give me the extra confidence of knowledge that I would be able to hold the audience. I also learnt how important it was to be upfront when I did not know an answer to a question, but instead go away, find out and get back with all the facts required and more.
Times have moved on and with so many remarkable women in the industry, I am happy to say the challenge mentioned above is definitely on the decline!
What are your top three greatest accomplishments you have achieved during your career so far?
These have all really happened during my career in Trend Micro where I have been given the “wings to fly” due to working for an organisation that truly believes and trusts in me.
The first was being awarded the “Unsung Hero 2019” Award which was handed out at the Global Sales Kick Off. I was one of 5 out of Europe and Global to get this award that year. The award recognises people that have gone above and beyond for their Team, their Business Unit, to Trend Micro as a whole and most importantly – to their Partners/Customers.
The second accomplishment was during Covid lockdown. As Trend Micro were unable to attend our regular Global and European Kick Off, we held this virtually. I was selected to co-host/moderate the European Event with Rik Ferguson, then VP of Security Research for Trend Micro and other key people over two days. Ensuring the event ran smoothly, introducing speakers and conversing with Rik during the breaks on subject matters that had been presented, our takes and thoughts on them and bringing the virtual audience in to participate in those break discussions.
The third and latest accomplishment comes from being nominated for “Most Inspiring Women in Cyber 2022”. This nomination came as a massive surprise to me and I am honoured and humbled to have been selected as one of the winners of this amazing Award amongst other great Women in Cyber.
What are you doing to support other women, and/or to increase diversity, in the tech/cyber industry?
This is a very important part of my world. I am so keen to do what I can to help give people the confidence to push forward and go for what they want in life. From where I started to where I am now is not something I would have thought I would achieve. Most importantly, the passion I have for what I do and who I work for. It is a great place to be. I want others to have this.
I have been involved in Trend Micro’s Mentoring Programme, which we offered out globally to try and encourage women to enter the world of Cyber Security or just give them the confidence that they needed to help them in the route they wanted to take.
Internally at Trend Micro, I will always go out of my way to work with young people who need guidance and encouragement in what they are wanting to achieve or have achieved. This could be a simple word of encouragement on something they have done, recognition of them to management, or a deeper dive into what it is they are wanting to do, but not knowing where to start.
There are so many roles in our wonderful industry – we just need to take that initial step.
What is one piece of advice you would give to girls/women looking to enter the cybersecurity industry?
Be brave and go for what you want. You do not have to be technical to enter this industry – you just have to have a passion for what it is you want to do and the results will follow.