Jeanette Manfra
Jeanette Manfra
Assistant Secretary for the Office of Cybersecurity and Communications, DHS’s National Protection and Programs Directorate
Jeanette Manfra was working in cybersecurity long before it was cool. “When we started, nobody wanted to talk about cybersecurity, no one understood what we were talking about,” she told FedScoop. Throughout her long career working in technology or cybersecurity, she’s always been one of the few women in the room. However, she said, “I never really focused on it.” Instead, she said women should focus on “what are your strengths, build on those strengths, and maintain confidence in who you are, what you bring, your expertise, your intellect, and present that confidence.”
“Being a woman,” Manfra said, “is sort of an added bonus, because you’re presenting a unique perspective that isn’t often reflected in technology or security.”
