UnderRepresented Episode I | A Conversation With Doug Cochran And Larry Whiteside Jr.

By Sean Martin and Marco Ciappelli with Chris Cochran and Ronald Eddings

For some, catching that big break in life may seem like it was a miracle.

For everyone else, it usually comes down to focused research and working hard to turn that dream into reality. But there is one more thing necessary—a magic ingredient if you will—for this process to start: knowing about that opportunity because someone, somehow, introduced that possibility to us.

Someone, that one day, told us that we could have that dream—and that we could make it come true.

Our destiny can, unfortunately, be defined for us by many factors:

The place we are born (country, state, town)

How we are raised (two, one or no parents)

The languages we speak (multiple, native, sign, none)

How much money and resources we have (wealthy, comfortable, poor)

Where and what types schools we go to (university, secondary, primary, none)

And many more factors, including gender, race, religion, neuro-makeup, disabilities, and eventually age.

There has been an increase in conversation around the topic of diversity and inclusion—something that this group of podcast/webcast hosts believes in wholeheartedly. 

But while there are still more actions to see beyond the talk, we think there is *some* progress being made on this front. However, we know that there is a very long way to go, and we want to try to help by facilitating the process, providing a platform, and opening up the conversation in a safe place for people to come and make their voices heard. 

We want to let people know that opportunities and dreams are out there and achievable for everyone. Many organizations and people are devoting their lives to this cause, and we want to hear from them. We want to listen to their stories, their struggles, and their achievements.

In this webcast/podcast series simply called “Underrepresented”—a series recorded and produced in conjunction with our good friends, Chris Cochran and Ronald Eddings—we want to merge conversations and actions.

In this, and all future episodes, we intend to bring clear examples of all pockets of underrepresentation. We want to shine a light along the path with case studies to draw upon and actions that can be taken to go beyond diversity and inclusion.

In this first episode, we get to speak with someone well outside of the InfoSec industry, Chris’ dad, Doug Cochran. Doug is joined by someone that does amazing things for the greater community and helping those less fortunate to get a voice and to be heard - co-founder of the ICMCP, Larry Whiteside Jr.

Together we talk about the bigger challenges with diversity, inclusion, and underrepresentation. What can be done to make the InfoSec industry more available to more people from all walks of life? 

We look at the correlation and connections to the InfoSec world through the eyes and the perspective of a waste management industry. We also hit some hard truths and bring some real-world examples to bear as we begin to scratch the surface on this ever-important topic.

Ultimately we will need to find a solution to this issue if we want to have a fighting chance to reduce the skills gap in the tech industry, and most of all, if we want to live in a society that is fair and equal for all.

Alright, enough here. Let’s get down to business. 

Go on now—press play.
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Learn more about this column's sponsors:
Bugcrowd: www.itspmagazine.com/company-directory/bugcrowd

Find more An InfoSec Life stories, including this UnderRepresented Series in collaboration with Chris Cochran and Ronald Eddings:
> On ITSPmagazine: www.itspmagazine.com/an-infosec-life
> On HackerValleyStudio: http://hackervalley.studio/