Said the children's book author and Best Buy's cloud security engineer: "I also felt it was important to take on the Hollywood myth that cybersecurity people are people in hoodies working in a dark basement.”

Said USC recruiter Rachel Harpley: "While I cannot fix the entire industry and often feel like an umbrella in a hurricane, it is interactions with driven and curious job seekers that remind me of how meaningful it can be to share shelter in a storm."

Said the head of the global compliance and regulatory practice at Octillo: “I think to myself when I’m saying to a little girl, ‘This is what an IT professional looks like, this is what a cyber lawyer looks like’ – that alone can really change perspectives."

Said Claroty's chief business development officer: “I have female friends that are CISOs. They tell me, ‘vendors assume that we're not technical.’ So we have this slogan: ‘When you talk to me, assume that I'm technical. When you talk to me, assume that I'm the CEO.'”

Said (ISC)2's CEO: “I am a rule follower, but I'm not going to follow the rules if somebody tells me this is the only path to get something done."

“The biggest way that I’ve confronted self-doubt is by finding people who believe in me and will kind of hype me up when I need it, to the point where I believe in myself."

The cybersecurity investor who sits on multiple boards and advises the Defense Department and Congress calls the amount of money flowing into the industry unprecedented. “It used to be that when we had five, six billion a year flowing into the market from a venture capital perspective that was a good year for us. We’re headed towards somewhere between 15 to 20 billion coming into the cybersecurity industry."

For the Seattle Public Schools chief information security officer, her passion is clear: "small businesses and nonprofits, and in particular, schools. They’re in the same boat. They may be larger, but they don't have the resources. They need something that's easy, inexpensive, and straightforward.”

“If the public demands a privacy relationship, and companies understand the responsibility of protecting that data, and there's an accountability play, then we can all understand and work together to get a better digital society,” said the managing director and co-founder of Gula Tech Adventures.

“Every single person, whether they know it or not, is walking around with a million-dollar cell phone and a million-dollar laptop,” due to the data they come in contact with, said Waseem, a passionate privacy advocate, said the director of cyber education for the National Cyber Security Alliance. “And if you understand why your information is worth hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars to other people, then you are more apt to protect that data.”