“The first thing people should know about me is that I champion gender inclusion,” says Mel Migrino.
It’s a powerful statement, because there are many other things you might want to know about her, from her storied and ultra-successful career as a senior executive, to her faith, her blogging, and even her love of dogs. Even within her advocacy Mel does not limit herself, being equally committed to tackling digital exclusion as well as promoting gender inclusion.
But the first thing she wants you to know? The importance to her of inclusivity.
Meeting Mel to record an interview for our First Person podcast was an uplifting experience filled with wisdom and insight – and fun. To Mel, her career has all been leading to a point at which she can use her experience, expertise, and influence to advocate for others less able to do so.
Mel is an infosec and cybersecurity titan who in late career has pivoted to advocacy. In her early career Mel chose software development as a means of making money. She pivoted to infosec after a friend told her it was an opportunity, before combining her experiences to become a senior business leader.
In our conversation she praised the powerful influence of her mentor, who she described as a true ‘dragon lady’ who could see that Mel’s technical chops complemented her own strategic and business knowledge.
Mel described much of her career path as being driven by boredom: whenever she has felt she is no longer learning she has moved on. She told us that she now finds herself in the position that gratitude for her own success motivates her to act as an advocate both for the digitally excluded and for female leaders in cyber security.
You can view our interview here, listen to it here, or watch in the box below:
The importance of inclusivity
Mel was keen to share the work she leads on gender inclusivity: “I lead WISAP, the Women and Security Alliance Philippines. Our goal is to develop digital risk leaders.”
She spoke to us about the importance of promoting inclusivity in order to achieve equity, stressing that the goal is not promote female leaders above male. (See also: 8 obstacles women still face when seeking a leadership role in IT.)
“The group is primarily female, but we support gender inclusion and the progression of male practitioners. We have around a 35 to 40 percent male base. These are male executives who are then also championing inclusion and diversity.”
WISAP has made good progress in just a few years, growing in numbers and building relationships and partnerships with other organisations with similar goals across the ASEAN region and beyond. “The community service we have shown for the past three years starts to have its own ripple effect. We are very grateful about it.”
Mel remains hungry to do more, and told us that in addition to advocating for gender inclusivity her focus is on supporting the wider population of the Philippines in dealing with cyber security and preventing scams.
“I’ve been a cybersecurity leader for more than a decade. I have pivoted to business and lead an enterprise. We are a tech company, and we strongly run our own advocacy to fight against scams,” Mel told us.
“I want to see greater advocacy against scams and fraud, so that more Filipinos can be digitally enabled and be confident every time that they do online transaction. And of course to educate them as well.”
Cyber as a matter of life and death
Mel also explained why this is so critically important to her fellow Filipinos.
“We focus on different facets of scams and how scams can be an entry point to more serious issues. This is specifically for less privileged people who can in the end become victim to human trafficking. Technology plays a crucial role within the ecosystem of human trafficking.”
For those of us from more privileged backgrounds, this is a humbling message. There can be no arguing with the value of this effort, but we asked Mel why it is so important for her be an advocate.
“It’s not because I want to be known as the leader of a community,” she told us. Stressing that her Christian faith is an important driver. “It’s very personal. I want to serve my community.”
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