Welcome to our space
Back in March this year, a group of ladies met in a pub in Farringdon. We’d met at security meet-ups and networking events, bonded over red wine and decided to meet to debate whether all women spaces were needed in the info-sec London world.
Spoiler: We decided that a space where we focused on helping those that identify as female/ non-binary was needed but that we would endeavour to make sure that space welcomed anyone that wanted to be there. London Women in AppSec (WIA) was born. Influenced by our partnership with OWASP, our logo took shape, and the events started earlier this year.
So here I am! Ready to quickly introduce the team, our event and a little why on WIA.
The Team
Who are we?
We’re a right bunch, a mix of experiences and sectors, unique and yet similar. I’ll let them introduce themselves via this platform over the coming weeks but for now, their names and their twitter handles (how else do you understand someone but over 140 character dad jokes about software engineering? *Cat Banks). So in no particular order:
As you get to know each of us, through blog posts, WIA meetups, London security events and red wine you’ll learn that we all have some different reasons as to why we wanted a Women in AppSec London space, I’ll tell you mine a little further down..
What can you expect from a WIA event?
Our events are informal, small to medium size and like many meetups, include food, drinks and an opportunity to learn something new. But here are a few other things that we do (these aren’t unique to us, just extra important):
- We only use venues that have well lit and well populated routes to public transport.
- You can see the guest list (not sure if you’ll come if you don’t know anyone? Take a look — (we do however, allow nicknames to protect those that want/need it).
- Don’t know anyone? Reach out to a member of the team, tell us a bit about you and we’ll introduce you to someone at the event we think you’d like to meet and would like to meet you.
- We serve non-alcoholic drinks that aren’t water.
- We try and live stream (this isn’t always possible, but we really, really try!).
- We always do a panel at the end, so you have a chance to dive into topics and our panels will always contain a mix of experiences and gender identities.
- Everyone is genuinely welcome. Gender isn’t binary. We embrace the differences between gender, sex and sexuality and work to better educate ourselves and each-other on the importance of diverse teams.
Our events are a bit of a mix, but ultimately they usually have talks, networking and a panel and an opportunity to stick around afterwards somewhere nearby to catch up some more. Most importantly, we’re to have fun, learn and feel safe doing it. Our moto:
“We just wanna AppSec and Chill”
Why on WIA?
Towards the beginning of my career I went to a Security Conference with my then manager. We arrived early for the breakfast and coffee and rather than either a) both of us standing in the corner, or b) my manager leaving me to network with his friends he did something else (for which I am so very grateful). My manager was a social butterfly and well connected and so he took me around the room and introduced me — not to just his friends — but to people he thought I would find particularly interesting/ useful at that point in my career. Each introduction was meaningful, not just names, but facts, observations and insight into common problem statements — enough ‘fodder’ to allow me to return later in the day without my manager to continue the conversation.
The feeling of anxiety I had that morning — where I thought I was going to be left standing nervous and alone next to the pastries, summoning the courage to approach a group of (friendly) dudes in suits has not left me. So when the opportunity for WIA came along, it was, for me, the chance to:
- Create slightly smaller events (<100 people) where there’s an informal and relaxed atmosphere
- Encourage a range of experiences, levels and job types to all meet and learn from each other
- Initiate meaningful introductions that persist to larger scale security/ tech meetups — encouraging more of us to represent at these meetings too
- Promote diverse perspectives and create a space for first time speakers to feel ready to share their unique and valuable perspective in a safe and encouraging space.
Join our meetup here to learn about our next event.
