About Me — Magda Chelly
Global Citizen, Tunisian and Polish by birth and nationality, Singaporean resident, cybersecurity passionate, author, public speaker, entertainer, and serial entrepreneur.
Coffee or tea? Coffee is a must for me. I cannot live without coffee — it is how I start every day, sipping from a decadent brew while answering a ton of emails.
Desk or park? Desk. I am a computer addict! 😊 I love hacking, reading, and learning new things about cybersecurity. It never ends. There is rarely an instance where I do not have anything to do as I like to keep myself busy.
To relax, I like to drive fast cars, act, and dance. I love walking in the evenings in beautiful Singapore when I finish my day early.
I continuously travelled, but with the pandemic, that stopped.
I am a strong diversity activist, and I love building businesses.
It sums it up. Naturally, I’d like to believe there’s more to say.
After all, I was born in Krakow, a city with a rich history and beautiful landscape. Architecture enthusiasts will believe they’ve died and gone to paradise after seeing this city! All of Europe’s major architectural styles — Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance, baroque, and art nouveau — have come and gone throughout Kraków’s thousand-year history, leaving behind remains that suggest the city is much larger than the sum of its parts.
When it comes to Poland’s former capital, Krakow easily combines ancient vibes with modern exuberance. In Kraków’s history, devastation and regeneration have gone hand in hand since Tatars ravaged the city in the 13th century and the town crier was slain. Kraków regained prominence as Poland’s capital a century later until it was dethroned in the 16th century that saw the transfer of power to Warsaw. When Kraków rose again after World War I, Nazi Germany seized control of the city 20 years later. Then came communism, which marked the beginning of a new era.
It’s a never-ending sea of conflict and drama that’s easily as gripping as an episode of Game of Thrones.
A one-way ticket from Poland to Tunisia
As a child, my family and I travelled to Tunisia a few times. It wasn’t easy, and it wasn’t affordable as it is nowadays.
But the communist era did impact my family, and my parents decided to relocate us to Tunisia when I was 7. Located in northern Africa, it is an astonishing country on the Mediterranean Sea. It covers 163,610 square kilometres (63,170 square miles) and has an estimated population of 11 million people nowadays. However, in the 80s, the country fared better than Poland economically, but society was not all that advanced either. My parents first visited the South and then moved to the capital.
At that time, there was no full-time Polish school in Tunisia. I attended an Arabic-speaking school at seven without speaking a word of the language. And, every Saturday afternoon, I attended the Polish school.
My best years were spent as a teenager in Tunisia. I went to a local school and then a local high school, where I made amazing friends that I still keep in touch with. As kids would say, they are my BFFs, beautiful friends forever.
However, I was aiming for more. I was dreaming big and unafraid to travel the world to achieve it. It took some time before that was possible.
From Tunisia to France
In 2008, I bought a one-way ticket from Tunisia to Paris and never looked back. I spent seven years in Paris, studying and working.
I only managed to travel and leave Tunisia when I pursued my telecommunication engineering studies, joining Telecom SudParis (Institut National des Télécommunications as it was called at the time) in Paris’ suburbs. I ended up in a cozy little student room and was beyond excited to start my new life. This obviously entailed partying in the best clubs in the city of lights. What years! It went past, and I have lovely memories, but I have spent days and nights studying and later on researching for my thesis while working. Though I needed little sleep, I have always found a way to enjoy my social life.
During my thesis year, I would code a lot and research about networks and indoor positioning. I even tried to find an alternative way to the popular GPS. Many people do not realize it, but GPS doesn’t work very well indoors or in environments where there are many skyscrapers. At least, it wasn’t working all that well at the time.
Telecom SudParis was where I earned my Ph.D.; I got a Doctorate in Telecommunications Engineering. However, my engineering degree and my Master’s were from Sup’Com (or SUP’COM or Higher School of Communication of Tunis or Engineering School of Communication of Tunis). My professors definitely remember me as the loudest student in the class 🤭
I was also fascinated by the topic of security during my thesis research, and I played a lot with hacking. I say ‘play’ because I did not understand how to compromise an account or hack a system then. It was but the beginning of my budding passion.
At the same time, I discovered my two foremost passions: dancing and acting. I’ve taken several acting classes and appeared on TV shows and short movies as well as music video clips.
During my seven years in Paris, I shuffled between various roles and started my career in IT consulting. Back then, cybersecurity wasn’t the focus for those in the private industry. It was more about customer management tools and IT transformation, complete digitization had yet to come into the picture.
My first job was with an insurance company in the contract and customer management business, and my second was with an IT consultancy international firm. I honestly had no idea I’d wind up working in so many different sectors.
Those were invaluable learning experiences, particularly when aiming to learn as much as possible, to move quicker in your career, and to earn international experience. I gained a great deal of knowledge about the corporate world, including but not limited to culture and technology. I’ve come a long way in the corporate world, having worked with numerous international companies directly and indirectly as a consultant. Insurance, banking, digital, services, are among the few industries that I’ve served in France.
Particularly, my flair for communications saw me taking on several non-technical roles, cutting across sales, pre-sales, and business development. The companies I worked for appreciated that I was simultaneously perfectly versed in technical aspects but was also able to convey the message to the business stakeholders without the jargon.
I did, however, feel that I needed more intellectually stimulating engagements.
From France to Qatar
Although I was not entirely ignorant of the Middle East and its customs, I was also not fully up-to-date either. This made me slightly nervous when I received my first offer to join Vodafone. But I decided to give it a shot and accept the job offer in Qatar, Doha.
After two years in Qatar, I yearned to expand my career further. Decision made, I thought that the most difficult was behind me. Hence, my pursuit of a career opportunity in Asia began, but not before I took time for a project near and dear to my heart.
And so I joined an association caring for children with disabilities in Indonesia. The experience taught me the best lesson of my life — that we, as adults, should focus on what children can do, their abilities, rather than their disability. We should focus on happiness rather than the feelings we tend to project.
In the Balinese village, near Ubud, and among forests and animals, serenity and contentment found me, though I must admit that I missed having warm water and electricity. Most of all, I was desperate for decent Internet connection.
I began traveling on the weekends to other countries in the region. I have already known South Korea, so I visited Hong Kong, Malaysia, Vietnam, and Singapore. I fell in love with Singapore immediately when I saw it. Naturally, I ended up spending a lot more time there during the year than I had initially intended.
But settling in Singapore wasn’t a smooth ride. I needed to ensure a professional opportunity with the proper work pass.
By mid-2015, I managed to secure an offer, and so I moved to the thriving global financial hub.
Over the years, I’ve been asked countless times where I’m from, and each time, I’m happy to tell them “I am half Polish, half-Tunisian, but I am truly a Citizen of the World, and Singapore is home”.
I am proud of my origins and family history, and I am grateful to the Tunisian community for raising the woman I am today and for the memorable experiences in my formative years. While the cultures vary, it is still feasible for a girl to be empowered in North Africa, find fantastic opportunities, and be supported by the community to thrive. The sky is the limit.
It’s difficult to capture the essence of a place with just some pictures, but these ones say a lot.
I started dabbling in IT and playing with computers really early. To this day, my parents and I still wonder about this picture, thinking that there must be some photoshop involved :D!
A Seasoned Globetrotter and An Ambitious Change Maker
As a youngster, I travelled a lot and saw a lot of different places: Italy, Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg, the UK, Russia, Spain, Finland, Portugal, Sweden, Hungary, Monaco, amongst others. My personal favourites were Italy, Spain, and Portugal. As part of my Ph.D., I also visited Switzerland for a conference, where I was invited as a speaker.
Other remarkable destinations include United Arab Emirates, Lebanon and Turkey. Because of my job, I’ve also been to big cities like Los Angeles and Dallas in the United States, and lesser-known places like Belorussia.
While on vacation some time back, I went to Ibiza, Madagascar and Mauritius. There are still many locations on my bucket list, such as Greece, Japan, Colombia, and Brazil.
Fun fact: I participated in a game show that aired on TV in France, “Ça passe ou ça Trappe (NRJ 12),” when I was young. The game brought together six candidates who, in 6 rounds, had to charm the public using their sparkly, attractive personalities. At the end of each test, the eliminated candidate gets dropped into a ball pit. Surprise surprise, I was the first to be eliminated :D!
As of 2016, I am the co-founder of a cybersecurity start-up named Responsible Cyber. My vision is to build a sustainable and life-changing business.
An Entrepreneur at Heart, Cyber-Security Enthusiast, and Lifelong Learner
In the 2000s, I began investing for the first time. I was a student at the time and felt that business was the way to make a difference. I started by selling ice chocolate cakes. It wasn’t quite my business, but it was my first attempt at it where I got to understand demand vs. supply and see for myself how vital sales is.
Later, I started tutoring and training businesses; It was quite a good start, but I decided later on that with the economic downturn in France, it wasn’t suitable. It’s all about failing fast and starting over.
Then I worked for significant companies, banks, and other financial institutions, amongst others. When there are a lot of intriguing start-ups to choose from, I like choosing the ones with the most promise, and cybersecurity seemed to be the perfect industry because of its relevance to my passion.
Working as I did with a wide range of people — including start-up founders, CEOs, C-suite executives, and members of the board of directors — it provided ample opportunities for me to improve myself. Mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, and integration initiatives are within the scope of my professional experience.
Visit my website to learn more about me: magda-on-cyber.com
The Next Chapter
We will be expanding into Europe, and the journey of a thousand miles will begin with a trip to the beautiful city of Poland with my team this Christmas.
I will be publishing my second book shortly and starting work on my third.
I hope you enjoyed reading this short snippet of my biography, and hope that it will bring a positive spark to your personal goals, hopes and dreams.
If you’re so inclined, do feel free to add your ideas and comments below.
By Magda Chelly
Chief Security Officer | TEDx Talk | Author & Keynote Speaker | IFSEC Global Top 20 Cybersecurity Influencer | Entrepreneur | PhD, S-CISO, CISSP, Cert SCI (General Insurance)
Find out on magda-on-cyber.com
Awards
- The IFSEC Global influencers in security and fire 2021
- Top Women in Security Asean Region 2021 Awards https://www.asiapacificsecuritymagazine.com/winners-and-judges-of-the-top-women-in-security-asean-region-2021-awards/
Follow Magda on her Social Media Accounts:
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/m49d4ch3lly
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/m49D4ch3lly
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/m49d4ch3ly
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/m49d4ch3lly
