Liz Jaluague – The Amazing Power of Mentorship and Gratitude

Every person needs a mentor for personal and career growth.

Bio:
Liz Jaluague is a Toronto-based cybersecurity engineer and Canadian Army reservist. She earned a BSc in Biochemistry and a postgraduate certificate in Computer Security and Digital Forensics, and has been a non-profit leader in seven different organizations since the age of 19, currently volunteering with a NFP cybersecurity organization.

She believes in the power of mentorship from her own experiences, Liz consistently commits her time to guiding others along their professional paths.

Links:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/existentializm/

Quotes:
“When you're constantly learning different skills, you kind of remember that everybody is a different level, and it's a humbling experience.”

Episode Highlights:
On today’s episode, we delve into the captivating story of Liz Jaluague. From navigating cultural experiences to challenging conventional career paths, Liz shares her journey of resilience, determination, and growth. She shares insights into the ethical implications of cybersecurity, the power of mentorship, and the impact of cultural influences on leadership.

Childhood Memories:
Liz grew up in a Filipino family in Toronto. She had a great understanding of both English and Tagalog. In Tagalog, there are suffixes that one uses when addressing people older than them to show respect. At some point, Liz started questioning why she wasn’t accorded the same respect as a young person. She dropped the suffixes, and it caused her issues with her parents. A year or two down the line, her parents came to term with it. Later in her own life, she came to value the respect accorded to elders and now sees both sides of the issue.

Cultural Influences:
Growing up, Liz had a desire to learn new things and really valued the learning culture. She was able to grasp a lot of new things but learned later on that she couldn’t ace everything and became more selective with her learning and more humble in her approach to others.

Liz’s parents had her much later in life which gave her an opportunity to learn from her older cousins.

Influential Groups:
After university, Liz volunteered in several NFP organizations, currently with a cybersecurity non-profit. Looking back at her leadership journey with the NFPs, Liz realized that the people she most admired had a sense of purpose, and in every job, she connected with the mission and vision of the organization.

Liz vividly remembers a time when she was in Las Vegas for a conference and she recognized one of the sponsors. She walked up to him and thanked him for giving her the opportunity to make friends working in that organization. The simple act of gratitude gave Liz a mentor.

Personality and Temperaments:
Liz describes herself as a pessimistic optimist. By nature, she looked at things glass half empty since her family didn’t have a lot of material means. On the flip side, Liz learned to adapt and understand that things always work out in the end.

Cultural Epiphanies:
In Belgium and the Netherlands, Liz began to consider cultural differences through the experience of a glass of water in restaurants and different types of door locks in AirBNBs.

What brings out the best in Liz?:
Liz loves working with people who are authentically themselves. She is not a fan of hierarchy.

Soapbox Moment:
Do you have a question on cybersecurity? Liz invites you to send her a message on LinkedIn, and she will be more than willing to answer the question.