Nov 1, 2024 7 min read Women in Cyber

Ballet to Bytes: How Lola Rebuilt Her Career in Cyber Security

Hi Lola! Can you introduce yourself and describe your current role in cyber security?

Absolutely. My name is Lola Kureno, I’ve been married for 10 years, no kids, only one beautiful cat, we live in Tokyo, Japan, and I am 37 years old.

My current role is Cyber Security Engineer and I work for an industry leader in the cyber security, cloud and networking training realm. I wear many, many hats in the organization but amongst my responsibilities, I am responsible for the company’s security compliance and ensuring we fulfill all our compliance requirements so all our B2B and B2C clients rest assured that our product adheres to the highest security standards.

What's your backstory? How did you first get into cyber security?

I had retired from a lifetime dedicated to classical ballet and I really didn’t know how to do anything else, profession and skill wise.

I am fast forwarding the story telling, since it took me quite a while to realize that I might have a future in the tech world, but I always enjoyed being on the computer and in the internet in the rare moments I had free time, and even though I had never had any formal training, I had always been quite good at getting things done on the computer and had colleagues and family members coming to me for computer solutions, instead of going the obvious computer repair route.

I decided to start looking for computer oriented careers that one can start later in life after many conversations with my husband and taking his advice to search for what would be available to me.

Just saying “a career in computers” is immensely vague, but for a complete layman, that’s how I approached my first search.

Then one day, while watching a video on YouTube, the algorithm must have picked out that I had been searching for careers related to computers, a video came on my recommendations about being a hacker for a living. The first thing that came to my mind is that I was simply looking for something new so I could look for a job, I wasn’t interested in a life of crime (because of course, all I knew about hackers was what I had watched in films, and they were the criminals). But I decided to watch the video nevertheless, and by the end of it, I became VERY interested in this field!

Well, continuing from where I left above, I used every minute of my awake time to learn about this field and how to become somehow proficient in it. This didn’t only include actual skill learning and training, but how to enter the work force in this world.

In the beginning it all seemed quite strange and VERY foreign to me, however I have certain character skills that certainly come from growing up and spending my life dedicated to the art of classical ballet, which are dedication, consistency, discipline and patience, and I’d say these helped me more than anything.

What advice would you give to someone aspiring to become a security engineer?

Don’t make the same mistakes I did. If one is considering a career in cyber security, the first big step is to extensively research all the fields that are available in the cyber security/information security realm. When I see new people who wish to enter this world, I see a tendency to believe that cyber security equals hacking and red teaming and nothing could be further from the truth.

Hacking and red teaming might be the most famous areas of the security realm due to films, and internet “influencers” so present in all social media. Until I had the privilege to encounter a very wise mentor who changed how I viewed this security world, I was one more of the aspiring hackers/red teamers who couldn’t see myself doing anything else.

There is something for everyone in cyber security and if I could mentor someone, I would tell him/her that being influenced by what one sees in social media might not be the best idea.

I’m thankful to that certain video I saw that day, about hacking for a living, but I really wish I had just extensively researched what careers are available.

My other advise is that the role “cyber security engineer” and what this role entitles may highly differ from employer to employer. Choose a company or a brand that you like and are interested in, say, Apple, or Nintendo, or a cool startup near you and look for a job description of a cyber security engineer working for these companies, to have an idea of what responsibilities the role entails.

Have an open mind. This is also one of the best pieces of advice I can give and one that was given to me and I am so glad I took it, when I was just starting my first job.

Do you like hacking and pentesting? Excellent, but do not close your mind to other skills you may have the great chance to learn on your job. You might even realize you like so much better a new skill you learned on your job, you’re very good at it, and it even fits your personality better.

Don't think of cyber security/information security as something alienated and completely different that anything else you’ve done especially if you wish to transition from another corporate role. Another mistake I see some newcomers make is thinking everyone working in security is a highly technical and skilled programmer typing a million commands on a terminal and coding 24/7, when so many security professionals would say that a good part of their day is spent in Zoom or in person meetings, and reviewing or writing documents.

Law, sales, financing, marketing, customer support … are all valuable skills that can be brought from a career transition.

And last but not least, soft skills are as, if not more important than any technical, specialized skill one may have, especially during job hunting.

Who are some of your role models or sources of inspiration in the security community?

While I would love to specifically name names of people who were and are extremely kind to me and helped me so much when I needed the most, I feel that I would probably leave out someone who had a wise advice at the right time, or gave me an answer I was looking for, or gave me needed encouragement when I was feeling a little down.

I have a good list of seniors who are my role models and sources of inspiration in the security community.

Amazing mentors who I am most happy to call friends too. They know who they are, if they ever read this.

And I recommend to anyone starting to seek such seniors. Having a mentor can make a world of difference in one’s career. It did to mine!

How has being active in the infosec community impacted both your personal and professional life?

Networking (as talking to people) is and has always been VERY out of my comfort zone.

I’m extremely comfortable being on stage dancing for a huge audience in a huge theater, very few things can be as exhilarating and give me so much happiness as performing on stage, but put me to talk to more than 1 person at a time, and I always feel extremely out of place.

But the security career has helped me to overcome and improve my lack of communication skills. From being absolutely terrified of having more than one person in a Zoom meeting, to some years later traveling overseas and presenting in front of a company audience, I think I’ve come a long way. Still not my favorite thing to do at all, I still very much dislike speaking to more than 1 person at a time, but I feel that I have kept an open mind to little by little becoming more eloquent and less nervous.

Good communication is a must, especially for those seeking career advancement to leadership positions.

Outside of work, what hobbies or interests help you unwind and maintain a healthy work-life balance?

To be completely honest and transparent, I thought that this work/career would fill the immense emptiness I felt when I was forced to retire from ballet due to a nearly fatal car accident. But it didn’t. This work and career fulfills my brain and makes it work to its maximum capacity, but once one was raised and grew up doing beautiful things and art with her body, very few things in life will replace this feeling.

So I started figure skating. As an adult, from zero. I guess one can say I like such challenges!

These days I practice figure skating with a private coach and even moved to another apartment to be closer to the rink. Obviously I will never reach the level in figure skating that I once reached in ballet, a skill I was raised into, and starting as an adult is perhaps the hardest challenge I’ve ever had, but seeing progress, being able to compete, and being back to performing in front of an audience has finally made my life complete again.

I have a very challenging job in cyber security that incredibly challenges my brain and I have figure skating which is one of the hardest sports to perform. Life is perfectly balanced! :)

The job requires time and dedication, so does the sport, so I don’t really have much free time to have any hobbies! The few I have are: I love watching films (horror, action, sci fi are my favorite genres) and all kinds of documentaries. I love animals and love playing with my cat. My husband is an excellent skier, Japan is quite amazing and cheap for skiing so I accompany him on several ski practices during ski season and quite enjoy it as well. I love Pokémon and Sanrio characters!

Lastly, where can people connect with you or follow your work online?

LinkedIn! Here is my link for those who wish to follow me! https://www.linkedin.com/in/kureno/

Thanks Lola!

Thank you Lola for doing this wonderful interview with us! That's all we have for today folks.

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