RaiseMe Career Village
Whether you are currently outside the information security field and looking for your first role, or an established member of the InfoSec industry and want to kick up your career a notch, we’re here to lend a helping hand. Our volunteer consultants provide Resume Review, Mock Interviews, Job Hunting Assistance, and Career Check-ups. We also help companies looking for talent by connecting our participants with their hiring managers and staffing professionals.
The vision for RaiseMe is to make career dreams come true. We serve the entire community — from newcomers to principal engineering talent, from tiny startups to well-established public corporations. Is there a role in security you wish you had but have no idea where to start to make that dream come true? If you want to make a career change, we want to help! In this village, you’ll learn:
- What you should do to your resume
- What types of roles and employers you should target
- How to manage the interview and negotiation
- How to help recruiters help you
- How LUGs and conferences make a difference
- Is there such a thing as too many certifications?
The RaiseMe Career Village is open 10:00 – 17:00 on both Saturday and Sunday.
RaiseMe 2026 Speaking Schedule
Title: Consulting Appointments Begin
When: Saturday 10:00
Title: Exploiting the Career Village
When: Saturday 11:00 – 11:15
Speaker: Lori Barfield and John Sicklick
Speaker Bio: RaiseMe Career village leads
Title: Try to Teach a Goldfish to Bark
When: Saturday 11:15-12:15
Speaker: Khewna Dawar
Speaker Bio: Executive Coach – TGL Advisory
Title: AI Won’t Save Your Job Search, But Knowing Its Limits Might
When: Saturday 14:00-15:00
Speaker: Kim Pham
Speaker Bio: As Principal Consultant at Code Switch Security, I work with international think tanks, nonprofits, and high-risk organizations to strengthen their cybersecurity posture. Whether it’s deploying zero-trust security frameworks, designing compliance roadmaps, or driving security maturity improvements, my approach is always strategic, collaborative, and results-driven. Kim is also Vice President of ISSA SoCal.
Title: Surviving in the Ever Changing Cyber Space
When: Saturday 16:00-17:00
Speaker: Mel Reyes
Speaker Bio: As a CIO and CISO, Mel has successfully navigated through the IT drama, managing application development, eCommerce, backend data integration, and global compliance with a focus on security, infrastructure, and fraud management. As a “Chaos to Order” Enterprise Security and Information Technology leader, Mel has navigated through four startups, two IPOs, three M&As, and two divestitures. Mel is also President of ISSA SoCal.
Title: Final Consulting Appointments
When: Saturday 17:00
