Trailblazer Jameeka Green Aaron

Battling bias: advocating for women and people of colour in STEM

Jameeka Green Aaron, shares her interesting journey in cybersecurity and her active role in advancing women and people of colour in STEM occupations

Jameeka Green Aaron is a woman who’s definitely not afraid of a challenge. The CISO has more than 20 years of cybersecurity experience under her belt, beginning her technology career in the US Navy as an Information Technology Specialist.

“I worked in Naval Networks and was responsible for network integration, and I was also at the Security Operations Centre patching Navy printers for the Y2K bug. I realised at that point that cybersecurity was my calling,” explains Green Aaron.

Now, the dynamic CISO is driven by her passion for innovation within Customer Identity and Access Management, noting: “Three of my favourite things about working in cyber is passwordless registration, the ability to enrich and leverage social profiles, and progressive profiling that provides powerful insights to enhance customer experience.”

Two months into Green Aaron’s role as CISO at Auth0, the company was acquired by Okta and now the two companies are creating the future of digital identity.

“Identity is personal – it’s so important to the way we work and live today, and safeguarding that is an exciting space to be working in right now. Auth0 and Okta are constantly innovating to meet the needs of our customers and the industry,” says Green Aaron.

“My team – which includes compliance, detection and response, and privacy – will need to continue moving at a rapid pace to ensure our technologies enter the marketplace seamlessly and, more importantly, securely,” she added.

Green Aaron’s role at Auth0 has provided her with a platform to enrich the technology community and move the needle when it comes to diversity and inclusion.

advocating for women and people of colour

“People don’t tend to get stagnant in cybersecurity roles – they move around, which creates tons of opportunities to get into this world quickly. I liked working in the military, and I like sneakers, and I like the community at Okta. Follow your passion and the need for security will be there”

“I’m especially passionate about guiding women and people of colour to develop successful careers in the security industry,” explains Green Aaron.

“We urgently need more representation at every level, especially in board-level and executive positions. I take an active role in advancing women and people of colour in STEM occupations, working with and mentoring within organisations such as Chief, Black Girls in Cyber, Day of Shecurity, Girls in Tech and the National Society of Black Engineers. Internally, I sponsor and support several employee resource groups that are focused on diversity, inclusion and belonging.”

On top of this, Green Aaron works closely with the Okta for Good team to launch the cybersecurity for their non-profits’ portfolio. The CISO explains that this is crucially important because these non-profit organisations are doing work for the common good, and, as such, their data needs to be well protected.

“The work that I do in cybersecurity is about people and protecting their identity; our global community, our diverse communities, are critical to that work,” she comments.

With a number of years of experience working for a diverse range of industries, Green Aaron reflects on her career in the Navy, at Nike, at Auth0 and among other companies, sharing advice for those thinking about a career in cybersecurity: “When you

Miles travelled this year: 300,000

Years in cyber: 20+

“I learn something new every day. The cloud is constantly changing – the threats we face are not hugely different from what we’ve seen in previous years, from social engineering to bot detection mitigation to cloud computing vulnerabilities”

start a career in cyber, you just need to dive in! It’s a matter of saying, “I want to do this work”, and figuring out where you want to start. This industry is self-taught, so it has many pathways in, whether you’re interested in technical or non-technical roles. For example, you could work in marketing at a security company, and I’d consider you a security professional.”

Green Aaron’s passions are not limited to cybersecurity. The CISO is also a passionate traveller, an interest she gained during her time in the Navy: “I became deeply curious about the world, people, cultures and food. If I’m not at work, you can bet I’ll be in the airport, on a plane or heading to the airport on my next adventure! My last trip was in June to Belize. I’ve already clocked 300k miles this year between work and personal travel.”