KARINE TOBIN
FROM MARKETING TO CYBER SECURITY, CHANGING CAREER THROUGH RECRUITMENT by Karine Tobin, Consultant at The Network
Karine Tobin arrived in Sydney 12 years ago as a
business helping entrepreneurs set up and grow their
fresh-faced backpacker after a career in sales and
businesses and became a volunteer helping other
marketing spanning 15 years throughout Europe.
cancer patients find their ‘new normal’. She wanted to make a difference in people’s lives and support them
She had worked her way up to being a national brand
in a way only someone who had been through their
manager for three well-known kitchen appliance
experience could.
brands when she was diagnosed with melanoma while pregnant with her second child.
When her health improved, and with a future ahead of her, Tobin was keen to start something new. She
“Seven years ago, I was diagnosed with stage four
was craving learning, ideally something technical
melanoma after the birth of my daughter. It changed
and mentally stimulating to challenge herself.
my life forever,” says Tobin. After the shock of the
“The world we live in is embedded in the digital
news, she went through treatment while taking
world,” she explains. “I’ve always been curious about
care of two young children with only her husband
technologies and how hackers do what they do, so
for support. Life had taken an unexpected turn, her
I decided to learn how they do it. Maybe that way
priorities had changed and her future looked grim.
I could help protect our digital world and make it a
Tobin re-assessed what she wanted to do with the
safer place.” She spent two years in full-time study
rest of her life.
with Learning People Global and discovered a new passion: cybersecurity.
During that time she wrote We Only Live Once: Memoir of a survivor, started her own coaching
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W O M E N I N S E C U R I T Y M A G A Z I N E
“I’ve studied between school drop-offs and pick‑ups,
J A N U A RY • F E B R U A RY 2023