[00:00.000 --> 00:01.240]  I'm a little different.
[00:02.500 --> 00:10.780]  If you hadn't noticed, I spent a few, about 10 or so years in the Army, and I think it kind of messed me up a little bit.
[00:13.300 --> 00:15.260]  So I'm kind of out the box.
[00:16.020 --> 00:17.560]  I like some engagement.
[00:18.920 --> 00:21.180]  If you like what I'm saying, say, oh yeah.
[00:21.360 --> 00:23.320]  If you don't, yeah, hey.
[00:23.900 --> 00:26.240]  If you don't, throw something at me, and I'll change the subject.
[00:26.440 --> 00:27.040]  All right.
[00:27.960 --> 00:29.420]  My name is Alan Walker.
[00:29.940 --> 00:32.860]  I am a cyber threat intelligent subject matter expert.
[00:33.200 --> 00:35.660]  I work for... Oh, hello.
[00:35.720 --> 00:36.100]  That's me.
[00:37.280 --> 00:39.120]  I work for one of the big three.
[00:40.100 --> 00:40.900]  I love it.
[00:41.020 --> 00:41.720]  I enjoy it.
[00:42.700 --> 00:43.480]  My eyes.
[00:44.220 --> 00:45.620]  Can I take this and walk with it?
[00:45.680 --> 00:45.940]  Yes.
[00:46.640 --> 00:47.300]  Can I walk?
[00:48.020 --> 00:48.440]  Yes.
[00:48.600 --> 00:48.840]  Awesome.
[00:49.620 --> 00:51.000]  Yeah, I work for one of the big three.
[00:51.140 --> 00:51.880]  I've been doing my job.
[00:52.020 --> 00:54.820]  I've been doing intelligence since 2013.
[00:56.240 --> 00:59.160]  I've been doing cyber threat intelligence since about 2019.
[00:59.820 --> 01:02.780]  Again, I work for one of the big three aerospace companies.
[01:03.480 --> 01:04.820]  I enjoy what I do.
[01:05.020 --> 01:06.120]  I love what I do.
[01:06.680 --> 01:12.640]  But I saw a problem back in 2018 when I first went to grad school.
[01:13.180 --> 01:18.980]  I didn't see a lot of folks that looked like me, that were different, that were oddballs.
[01:19.960 --> 01:25.440]  So I was like, okay, once I get into the industry good, out the army, I'm going to see a lot more diversity.
[01:26.620 --> 01:28.000]  I did not see that.
[01:28.540 --> 01:38.100]  So I thought about, okay, if I could go and get a master's in cybersecurity, then anyone can go and get a master's in cybersecurity.
[01:38.320 --> 01:42.300]  Because all my life, all I ever wanted to do was be a Virginia State Trooper.
[01:42.760 --> 01:45.520]  I joined the army to be a Virginia State Trooper.
[01:45.700 --> 01:49.940]  I was a Boy Scout, Eagle Scout, to be an army to be a Virginia State Trooper.
[01:50.600 --> 01:52.620]  I was in the army distance team.
[01:52.860 --> 01:54.540]  I was captain of the army distance team.
[01:55.120 --> 02:00.220]  To be a Virginia State Trooper, everything I lined up with was to be a State Trooper.
[02:01.640 --> 02:06.200]  And when I applied like eight, nine times, they didn't hire me.
[02:06.360 --> 02:08.280]  I was like, what the heck is going on?
[02:08.540 --> 02:10.240]  So I was like, all right, next, next thing.
[02:10.420 --> 02:13.100]  Let me go to, let me go work out of prison.
[02:13.600 --> 02:15.220]  I enjoyed myself out of prison.
[02:15.300 --> 02:16.700]  I was a casework management counselor.
[02:17.000 --> 02:19.980]  And I was like, yo, I'm making about $35,000 a year.
[02:20.040 --> 02:20.900]  I'm enjoying this.
[02:21.060 --> 02:21.400]  It's all right.
[02:21.500 --> 02:24.860]  I'm not in law enforcement, but I'm in law enforcement a little bit.
[02:25.680 --> 02:26.900]  But then I wanted something.
[02:28.440 --> 02:29.620]  I wanted more money.
[02:30.120 --> 02:35.340]  So I went to grad school and I was like, hey, let me into your cybersecurity graduate program.
[02:35.560 --> 02:36.920]  They're like, what do you have?
[02:36.920 --> 02:40.660]  I was like, well, I got a degree in intelligence.
[02:40.780 --> 02:43.500]  They're like, I got a degree in criminal justice.
[02:43.660 --> 02:45.840]  They're like, I have a master's in divinity.
[02:46.060 --> 02:48.020]  They're like, what would that do to help us?
[02:48.180 --> 02:49.320]  I was like, all right.
[02:49.920 --> 02:51.900]  Well, I got another master's in women's studies.
[02:52.140 --> 02:55.260]  They're like, you don't meet the prerequisites for studying cybersecurity.
[02:55.860 --> 03:00.520]  And I told him, I was like, hey, Dr. Wu, he was a director for the ODU grad program.
[03:01.820 --> 03:02.960]  I was like, I begged him.
[03:03.080 --> 03:05.700]  I was like, hey, just give me the opportunity and I won't let you down.
[03:06.660 --> 03:07.720]  Just give me the opportunity.
[03:07.840 --> 03:08.880]  So he gave me the opportunity.
[03:09.100 --> 03:09.960]  I graduated.
[03:09.960 --> 03:15.480]  I was one of the first people to graduate from the university with their master's in cybersecurity.
[03:15.920 --> 03:19.820]  And then I went into the field and I still didn't see a lot of people that were different like me.
[03:20.500 --> 03:37.380]  And my thing was, if I am the CSO, the chief security officer or chief information security officer, and I have a problem within my network or in my organization, do I want 10 people who went to the same school, who had the same background, giving me my solution?
[03:37.860 --> 03:40.040]  They will all come up with the same thing.
[03:40.540 --> 03:44.060]  As a CSO, I will get one solution because they all think the same.
[03:44.180 --> 03:58.260]  And in my mind, if you have a different group of people from a different group of backgrounds with a different group of education and a different way of thinking and how you were raised, then you're going to get to present me a different way of thinking.
[03:59.160 --> 04:02.700]  Because you weren't raised like everyone else that went to the Ivy League schools.
[04:02.800 --> 04:06.420]  You weren't raised like those other people that had the perfect education.
[04:07.860 --> 04:10.620]  And you can present the CSO with five different options.
[04:10.800 --> 04:14.320]  And in my opinion, you might not agree, but some of you will.
[04:14.600 --> 04:21.720]  Would a CSO rather have one solution or would it rather have five, six or seven solutions to their problems.
[04:21.820 --> 04:24.560]  So they can say, hey, this one fits best.
[04:24.740 --> 04:30.180]  Or if they only have one solution, ah, we have no choice to go to use this one because this is the only solution we have.
[04:30.340 --> 04:38.880]  So on my mind, I was like, hey, I got to get more people that are going to be loud, be boisterous, be outgoing, people that never thought about getting in cybersecurity.
[04:39.200 --> 04:40.600]  Those are the people that I want to get.
[04:41.200 --> 04:41.980]  So I did it.
[04:42.320 --> 04:44.800]  I grabbed my best friend who was my frat brother.
[04:45.020 --> 04:47.740]  I was like, hey, uh, go get a master's in cybersecurity.
[04:47.940 --> 04:50.000]  He was like, Alan, I already got a master's.
[04:50.100 --> 04:50.340]  I don't...
[04:50.340 --> 04:50.760]  I'm good.
[04:51.140 --> 04:53.200]  And I was like, uh, I think you should do it.
[04:53.280 --> 04:55.660]  And he was like, all right, I'll go get a master's in cybersecurity.
[04:56.000 --> 04:57.000]  And then I met this young lady.
[04:57.060 --> 04:58.320]  She was a teacher, same thing.
[04:58.440 --> 04:59.660]  She wanted to be a Virginia state trooper.
[05:00.140 --> 05:01.500]  Her dad was a Virginia state trooper.
[05:01.600 --> 05:02.440]  He died in line of fire.
[05:02.440 --> 05:05.240]  And I was like, Hey, um, they're not hiring you right now.
[05:05.340 --> 05:05.900]  You're a teacher.
[05:06.080 --> 05:07.400]  Let me send you back to school.
[05:07.600 --> 05:12.240]  So I sent two people to graduate school, Malia Hill and Lamar Pierce.
[05:12.540 --> 05:16.600]  They graduated from their graduate school.
[05:16.820 --> 05:22.500]  And then Lamar's job, what he wanted before he started, he's like, Alan, if you can get me to the FBI, that'd be great.
[05:23.140 --> 05:23.620]  I was like, cool.
[05:24.560 --> 05:25.300]  Got him graduated.
[05:25.700 --> 05:26.580]  FBI sent him a letter.
[05:27.300 --> 05:28.300]  Got offered a letter at FBI.
[05:28.440 --> 05:29.080]  I was like, all right, cool beans.
[05:29.260 --> 05:29.940]  Malia came to me.
[05:30.060 --> 05:32.420]  She's like, hey, I don't want to be in this small town anymore.
[05:32.720 --> 05:34.080]  I've been here my entire life.
[05:34.260 --> 05:35.640]  Get me a job somewhere else.
[05:35.800 --> 05:36.640]  I was like, all right, bet.
[05:36.640 --> 05:37.380]  How much you making?
[05:37.540 --> 05:37.960]  40 grand?
[05:38.200 --> 05:38.300]  Bet.
[05:38.540 --> 05:42.500]  So those two folks got offered more than what they're currently making.
[05:42.640 --> 05:47.020]  And I was like, okay, if I did it with two people, maybe I can do it with a few more.
[05:47.500 --> 05:59.780]  So over the course of time at the large, one of the largest aerospace companies in the world, I was like, hey, what if I send people to school and then get them hired and then get them paid?
[06:00.060 --> 06:14.740]  So over the past five years, me, the guy standing in front of you, has supported and assisted and sent over 90 people, I want to say of color, but it was white, black, Asian, all people of color, everyone, uh, to graduate school.
[06:14.940 --> 06:21.560]  And every single person in the past five years that I've sent to graduate school has graduated from graduate school.
[06:21.720 --> 06:24.800]  I've had zero dropouts, zero dropouts.
[06:24.880 --> 06:27.440]  And these are all people who are teachers, who are nurses.
[06:27.760 --> 06:31.960]  I met a guy, um, I'll tell you about a recent guy.
[06:31.960 --> 06:32.980]  His name is Lee Hill.
[06:33.580 --> 06:35.180]  He works at Food Lion.
[06:35.360 --> 06:37.780]  He is a cashier at Food Lion.
[06:37.980 --> 06:39.300]  He has no idea.
[06:39.600 --> 06:43.180]  He had no idea what cybersecurity was, none whatsoever.
[06:43.980 --> 06:54.720]  Um, he now has three certifications in cybersecurity and I'm offering him currently a job at the same organization where I currently work for.
[06:55.040 --> 07:02.940]  Um, so it doesn't matter what background you are, where, what level education, what level understanding you have.
[07:03.160 --> 07:04.380]  My deal is simple.
[07:04.540 --> 07:08.760]  I ask everyone who joins my program, do you have the capacity to learn?
[07:09.300 --> 07:12.920]  They say, yes, then let me give you the opportunity to change your life.
[07:13.060 --> 07:22.520]  And every single person I've given the opportunity to study cybersecurity with me, I've doubled their salary or got them over a hundred thousand dollars a year.
[07:22.520 --> 07:33.080]  And that goes across the field to every single person from Lee Hill, who was working at Food Lion as a cashier to Hillary Finch, who was a teacher when I met her.
[07:33.240 --> 07:37.280]  And now she's probably upwards of $150, $160,000 a year.
[07:37.800 --> 07:40.780]  Um, Malia Hill, who's making 40, who's way up there now.
[07:40.860 --> 07:42.800]  So I can keep naming names.
[07:42.800 --> 07:46.220]  I can talk about Karis Tolbert, who I met at 7-Eleven.
[07:46.560 --> 07:49.380]  And I'll be honest with you, I met him at 7-Eleven.
[07:49.500 --> 07:53.300]  And if I would've saw this dude on the streets, I probably would've crossed the street to avoid this guy.
[07:54.040 --> 07:56.420]  Being honest, I, again, I'm kind of weird.
[07:56.460 --> 07:57.720]  So I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm Frank.
[07:57.820 --> 07:58.860]  I'm going to tell you what's on my mind.
[07:59.100 --> 08:02.360]  So when I saw Karis, I was like, Hey, Karis, you know anything about cyber?
[08:02.400 --> 08:03.980]  He was like, nah, man, look at me.
[08:04.020 --> 08:04.840]  I'm working at cashier.
[08:04.940 --> 08:05.520]  I'm a 7-Eleven.
[08:05.620 --> 08:06.100]  What are you talking about?
[08:06.400 --> 08:07.920]  I was like, bro, let me teach you.
[08:07.940 --> 08:09.300]  And he's like, all right, you think you can teach me?
[08:09.360 --> 08:09.960]  I'll do it.
[08:10.380 --> 08:14.560]  He now works at Capital One, making $68 an hour.
[08:14.980 --> 08:18.460]  That was maybe 12 months after he met me.
[08:18.680 --> 08:23.840]  My program back in the day was about 12 to 14 months before I doubled your salary.
[08:24.380 --> 08:28.760]  Now I'm about at five to six months before I double anyone's salary.
[08:29.040 --> 08:33.340]  And you might say, Hey, Alan, to get in cybersecurity, you got to have a degree.
[08:34.760 --> 08:37.840]  School doesn't show you how brilliant you are.
[08:37.960 --> 08:38.520]  Like me.
[08:38.860 --> 08:40.920]  I own my own cybersecurity company now.
[08:40.920 --> 08:42.840]  I have a student degrees.
[08:43.160 --> 08:44.960]  I have a lot of people working for me.
[08:45.120 --> 08:50.240]  I have a couple of PhDs who are also working for me, working with me, excuse me, gentlemen.
[08:50.720 --> 08:53.060]  Um, and I flunked out of college.
[08:53.840 --> 08:55.840]  I flunked out of college hard too.
[08:56.260 --> 08:58.740]  I mean, I flunked out with like a 1.3 GPA.
[08:59.300 --> 09:07.820]  That same university that I flunked out of, I've sent over 90 people to graduate school there, not counting people who I passed into undergraduate school.
[09:08.080 --> 09:17.840]  That same school that I flunked out of, uh, I actually was nominated and won the 40 under 40 for, for doing the work that I'm currently talking to you about.
[09:18.080 --> 09:20.600]  That same school that I couldn't pass a single class.
[09:23.790 --> 09:31.470]  Uh, so I'm here as a testament that you, anyone can be successful in cyber.
[09:31.650 --> 09:35.410]  If you have the skillset to learn, I'll compare it to a room.
[09:35.530 --> 09:37.890]  If you need me to, I'll compare it to ABCs.
[09:37.910 --> 09:38.870]  I'll compare it to driving.
[09:39.070 --> 09:40.770]  I'll compare it to whatever that connects you.
[09:40.910 --> 09:42.830]  I, there's a guy in here that likes to cook.
[09:42.830 --> 09:43.910]  Where is he at?
[09:44.210 --> 09:44.570]  There.
[09:45.810 --> 09:46.210]  Here.
[09:46.510 --> 09:49.510]  He was telling me he liked to cook and he wanted to get into cyber security.
[09:49.630 --> 09:53.570]  I was like, I'll compare it to, I'll compare it to cooking if you need me to.
[09:54.030 --> 09:56.070]  Because for me, I was like, I'll
[09:59.840 --> 10:03.480]  get Dr. Xavier Palmin.
[10:03.680 --> 10:05.880]  Before he was Dr. Xavier Palmin.
[10:06.140 --> 10:07.640]  I was like, I can't make it.
[10:08.060 --> 10:09.360]  I don't know what I'm doing.
[10:09.760 --> 10:11.520]  I, I, I can't get into this field.
[10:11.640 --> 10:14.520]  I got tattoos from collarbone to ankles, my locks.
[10:14.620 --> 10:15.440]  I want to get my hair.
[10:15.440 --> 10:16.940]  I won't be successful in this field.
[10:17.120 --> 10:21.620]  And he kept telling me, Alan, if I can do it, if I can make it, you can.
[10:22.320 --> 10:23.360]  So I kept trying.
[10:23.540 --> 10:24.220]  I kept doing it.
[10:24.260 --> 10:26.700]  I kept persevering and I kept going to school.
[10:26.780 --> 10:29.260]  And that was at a time when I found out that I had a brain tumor, right?
[10:29.580 --> 10:29.960]  You know what I'm gonna say?
[10:29.980 --> 10:31.200]  Alan, what does that have to do with me?
[10:31.700 --> 10:34.920]  Because I, I, I believe in transparency and I believe in vulnerability.
[10:35.240 --> 10:46.760]  And I believe if I am transparent with you and I am vulnerable with you, then that might unleash something in you to say, Hey, if Alan did that brain tumor, uh, the U.S. Army calls it a catastrophic brain event.
[10:47.020 --> 10:51.860]  If I can do cybersecurity and still be in cybersecurity, then you can too.
[10:52.240 --> 10:55.400]  If, if I can become who I am today.
[10:56.060 --> 11:01.580]  Uh, I, when I joined that organization, I was supposed to be working on an EPO.
[11:02.220 --> 11:03.900]  I didn't know what an EPO was.
[11:04.060 --> 11:09.020]  I was like, what y'all hired me because I had a master's degree and I knew Palantir, but I don't know any of this.
[11:09.120 --> 11:10.440]  They, I got smart on it.
[11:10.540 --> 11:15.080]  And then I was, they asked me, they're like, Hey, you want to do anything else?
[11:15.180 --> 11:16.080]  And yeah, I want to do something else.
[11:16.660 --> 11:18.880]  So then I was doing endpoint security.
[11:19.140 --> 11:27.340]  I became backup for endpoint security for over 170,000 people right after maybe six, seven months after I graduated.
[11:27.720 --> 11:33.260]  And again, I was like, okay, I took this job down from five, six hours down to two or three hours.
[11:33.680 --> 11:34.600]  What can I do now?
[11:35.040 --> 11:36.440]  They're like, okay, you want to learn something else?
[11:36.520 --> 11:37.080]  I was like, hell yeah.
[11:37.360 --> 11:37.860]  I mean, heck yeah.
[11:38.960 --> 11:40.980]  Uh, so they said, learn something else.
[11:41.060 --> 11:43.220]  So I was like, all right, I want to learn encryption.
[11:44.120 --> 11:48.600]  So I became encryption support, subject matter expert for, again, the largest.
[11:48.760 --> 11:49.620]  What can I do now?
[11:50.040 --> 11:51.440]  They're like, okay, you want to learn something else?
[11:51.560 --> 11:52.080]  I was like, hell yeah.
[11:52.320 --> 11:52.820]  Heck yeah.
[11:53.880 --> 11:55.980]  Uh, so they said, learn something else.
[11:56.040 --> 11:58.240]  I was like, all right, I want to learn encryption.
[11:59.040 --> 12:04.960]  So I became encryption support, subject matter expert for, again, the largest aerospace company in the world.
[12:05.740 --> 12:08.220]  And I was like, how's this so easy for me?
[12:08.420 --> 12:10.740]  Someone that knows nothing about cyber and computers.
[12:10.900 --> 12:18.420]  And if you want me to like, I don't, listen, I can, all these brilliant men and women that have spoken to you all, they're brilliant.
[12:18.620 --> 12:19.240]  They're great.
[12:19.460 --> 12:20.800]  I am not like them.
[12:21.660 --> 12:24.580]  I'm not some lofty guy if you use big words.
[12:25.140 --> 12:27.200]  Uh, I make things easy.
[12:27.720 --> 12:31.980]  Literally, A, B, C, Barney style, because that's how I needed to learn.
[12:32.160 --> 12:36.700]  And because of that, again, I can connect with someone who's working at 7-Eleven.
[12:36.880 --> 12:43.520]  I can connect with someone who's never thought about going, getting their master's degrees, who's a realty.
[12:43.680 --> 12:50.000]  Whatever field y'all can think of, I have introduced myself to that person and said, hey, let me show you something different.
[12:50.220 --> 12:57.960]  Like there's people that join my organization and say, hey, Alan, there's a guy named Lamarcus Crocker right now in my organization.
[12:58.240 --> 12:59.620]  He was already working at NASA.
[13:00.000 --> 13:04.540]  He was making, uh, about $70,000 a year now, this then.
[13:04.880 --> 13:10.540]  And I was like, hey, my organization's not just people trying to learn cyber, my organization for people who need more money.
[13:10.860 --> 13:17.520]  Because again, if you are good at what you do, then there's a dollar figure attached to it.
[13:18.040 --> 13:21.520]  So if you're a happy assembly doing cybersecurity, great.
[13:21.820 --> 13:25.860]  But if you're doing cybersecurity and know your values more, then come on over to my organization.
[13:25.880 --> 13:27.140]  I'll afford you that opportunity.
[13:27.220 --> 13:29.660]  So I have sniped people from Walmart.
[13:29.880 --> 13:31.420]  I've sniped people from NASA.
[13:31.820 --> 13:33.240]  I've sniped people from TSA.
[13:33.580 --> 13:35.540]  I've sniped teachers.
[13:35.900 --> 13:37.380]  And it just, it doesn't matter.
[13:37.560 --> 13:38.940]  You cannot have a job at all.
[13:39.160 --> 13:41.420]  And y'all might say, well, these are people that are confident.
[13:41.800 --> 13:44.000]  There was a young man, his name was Chappelle.
[13:44.620 --> 13:49.060]  I met him when I was a casework management counselor, going back to when I worked in a prison.
[13:49.180 --> 13:49.400]  Remember?
[13:50.200 --> 13:51.260]  He was getting out.
[13:51.400 --> 13:52.340]  I gave him my number.
[13:52.480 --> 13:56.120]  And I was like, hey, you have the opportunity to learn cybersecurity too.
[13:56.340 --> 13:58.280]  When you get out, call me and let's do it.
[13:58.980 --> 14:01.860]  He got out with a criminal record.
[14:02.640 --> 14:07.160]  He started working on cybersecurity, maybe seven months after that.
[14:07.640 --> 14:10.620]  He invited me over to his house, cooked me a whole meal.
[14:10.820 --> 14:15.260]  And again, he had a two-bedroom duplex, doing things he never thought he was doing.
[14:15.680 --> 14:20.760]  So again, I'm making that connection because I don't want y'all to think that people have to be, they have to look the part.
[14:20.900 --> 14:23.460]  Because I am all about not looking the part.
[14:23.720 --> 14:28.320]  I don't want people that look the same as everyone else because you look the same as everyone else.
[14:28.460 --> 14:30.760]  You're going to present me the same opportunities that they did.
[14:31.260 --> 14:32.020]  I don't want that.
[14:32.100 --> 14:33.220]  I want a different perspective.
[14:33.480 --> 14:36.020]  And if I want a different perspective, I got to see different people.
[14:37.000 --> 14:37.860]  Well, that's what I've done.
[14:38.380 --> 14:41.160]  I grab people, say, hey, you want to get inside?
[14:41.280 --> 14:41.440]  Great.
[14:41.800 --> 14:42.400]  Let's do it.
[14:42.400 --> 14:48.960]  And then now that large organization has asked me, Alan, you keep building all these people.
[14:49.880 --> 14:54.760]  How about you send them to us instead of just building them and hoping and trying to finally get them a job.
[14:54.860 --> 14:57.240]  And oh, by the way, this isn't my full-time job.
[14:57.340 --> 14:59.280]  I do not get paid for this at all.
[14:59.520 --> 15:02.840]  The work I've done over the past five years have been a heart effort.
[15:03.440 --> 15:07.500]  Uh, every single person that gets a certification with me, it was a hundred percent.
[15:07.660 --> 15:08.680]  Now we're down at 50%.
[15:08.680 --> 15:13.000]  I reimburse whatever certification you need, whatever it is.
[15:13.100 --> 15:14.940]  You can come to me, take the security plus.
[15:15.060 --> 15:15.540]  Was it $400?
[15:16.040 --> 15:18.100]  You pass that security plus, I'll give you $200 back.
[15:18.920 --> 15:22.660]  You can come to me, take the JYAC, cost $1,600 to take the JYAC.
[15:22.860 --> 15:25.880]  You pass the JYAC, I'll give you $800 out my pocket.
[15:26.260 --> 15:28.960]  And my company, they'll say, hey, Alan, how are you doing this?
[15:29.340 --> 15:30.700]  How are you affording?
[15:30.800 --> 15:31.520]  Because there's no limit.
[15:31.780 --> 15:38.680]  My program, I'll be honest, I'm allowed to say, hey, it costs $25 to join my program because I want people to invest in themselves.
[15:39.260 --> 15:40.660]  $25 to join my program.
[15:41.040 --> 15:42.140]  They join their program.
[15:42.340 --> 15:45.380]  I cover every number of certifications you want.
[15:45.580 --> 15:47.000]  And then I give you a job opportunity.
[15:47.220 --> 15:48.120]  It's your choice.
[15:48.300 --> 15:50.440]  It's the easiest thing anyone has ever done.
[15:50.820 --> 15:57.060]  Um, in my mind, because a lot of times it's hard to get into cybersecurity and it's all about who you know.
[15:57.280 --> 16:03.720]  And now I'm, I'm, I'm talking to the vice president of this large organization and he's saying, hey, Alan, what do you need?
[16:03.800 --> 16:07.680]  I was like, hey, I'm throwing a part, I'm throwing a conference on, in October this month, this year.
[16:08.240 --> 16:09.920]  And he was like, I'm there.
[16:10.380 --> 16:13.820]  Last year, he was like, hey, I want to be the keynote at your, your next conference.
[16:13.940 --> 16:15.400]  And he was the keynote at my conference.
[16:15.500 --> 16:22.940]  And I can say for a free organization, hey, I'm having the vice president of the largest aerospace company in the world come and talk to y'all.
[16:23.480 --> 16:30.120]  These are the opportunities that I give the people that are in my program, because I want them to have access, not to me, but to industry.
[16:30.380 --> 16:33.200]  And a lot of times people don't have the access to the door.
[16:33.320 --> 16:34.640]  They don't, they can't open the door.
[16:34.740 --> 16:41.020]  So what I do is I open the door and if there's a landmine on it, landmine in a way, I jump on a landmine and have them walk over me.
[16:41.560 --> 16:46.720]  My job is to figure out what my CSO wants, to figure out what the industry wants.
[16:46.780 --> 16:49.260]  I build that individual and I send them on their way.
[16:49.540 --> 16:53.780]  And then a lot of times people like me, they'll charge that person.
[16:54.480 --> 17:00.060]  The people literally are coming in and making hundreds of thousand dollars just go into my program and I'm only charging $25.
[17:00.280 --> 17:02.260]  I should be getting something on the backend.
[17:02.640 --> 17:11.980]  The only thing I ask every single person in my program, when you leave my program, just tell someone you met someone who paid for everything that you needed.
[17:12.240 --> 17:15.640]  And now you make double or over a hundred thousand dollars since meeting.
[17:16.260 --> 17:17.300]  And there's no catch.
[17:18.500 --> 17:21.760]  Now, before, I would help you get your certs.
[17:21.820 --> 17:22.860]  I'll help you get your degrees.
[17:22.860 --> 17:30.780]  I'll, I'll, with the aid of these two gentlemen on the sides, Dr. Lucas, Lucas and Dr. Xavier, get your published, get your research.
[17:30.920 --> 17:32.040]  And we got people on our program.
[17:32.240 --> 17:33.240]  We have Simone Steven.
[17:35.100 --> 17:39.140]  She, she got her bachelor's with us, her master's with us.
[17:39.240 --> 17:42.940]  And she, she graduated this last December and she walked into her job in January.
[17:44.600 --> 17:49.360]  She makes more money than everyone in her family, every single person.
[17:49.360 --> 17:59.540]  And there's a lot of examples like that in my program, because again, I'm active people that never would have thought or thought about getting into this industry, getting into this bill, because again, it's hard.
[17:59.840 --> 18:01.400]  Alan, I don't know the program languages.
[18:01.740 --> 18:02.660]  Alan, I don't know this.
[18:02.820 --> 18:03.420]  I don't, I don't that.
[18:03.540 --> 18:05.720]  Hey, Alan didn't know either, but here I am.
[18:06.720 --> 18:13.920]  So if I don't have the capacity to teach you, I have people that attach themselves to me that will teach you.
[18:14.040 --> 18:16.300]  And we all, again, got full-time jobs.
[18:16.300 --> 18:18.000]  We don't, we don't ask for nothing.
[18:18.000 --> 18:20.080]  When they leave, we don't ask for 5% of their paycheck.
[18:20.260 --> 18:30.300]  Once they go, no, go have fun, but tell someone, you met someone that you gave $25 to you and you got $3,000 of education or $3,000 in the education.
[18:31.680 --> 18:32.520]  That's what I'm after.
[18:32.600 --> 18:34.620]  I'm after, uh, hope.
[18:35.500 --> 18:38.240]  I'm, I'm giving hope because hope was given to me.
[18:38.720 --> 18:40.160]  And that's what I do.
[18:40.460 --> 18:41.800]  I, I want to give people hope.
[18:41.800 --> 18:46.380]  Because again, when I was working at the prison, again, I'm transparent here.
[18:46.600 --> 18:54.860]  I was living behind my parents' house in a trailer because I couldn't afford to get a home where it was cold during the winters.
[18:55.380 --> 18:59.540]  And I will go to my parents' house and I'll steal food from their family because I couldn't afford it.
[19:00.620 --> 19:10.560]  So now if I really want to change the field and narrative of cybersecurity, like I say, I do, I can't charge someone who's barely making it $3,000 a week just to learn security.
[19:10.760 --> 19:14.900]  Plus I'm not going to change the industry like that because I couldn't afford that.
[19:15.260 --> 19:15.560]  Right?
[19:16.040 --> 19:19.700]  So what I do is I taught those people that can't make it or can't afford and do it.
[19:19.760 --> 19:21.500]  And I'm like, Hey, I will support you.
[19:21.580 --> 19:22.700]  And I, I say it all the time.
[19:22.920 --> 19:25.600]  I'm just, I support the support you need.
[19:26.200 --> 19:26.740]  That's it.
[19:27.240 --> 19:28.440]  You have ambitions.
[19:28.440 --> 19:31.800]  And I asked everyone who joined my program, what do you want in a year?
[19:31.960 --> 19:32.720]  You want to buy a house?
[19:32.720 --> 19:33.120]  Bet.
[19:33.800 --> 19:34.300]  You want to buy a car?
[19:34.400 --> 19:34.520]  Bet.
[19:34.700 --> 19:35.300]  You want to buy a dog?
[19:35.400 --> 19:35.520]  Bet.
[19:35.860 --> 19:37.340]  And I hold them to it.
[19:37.480 --> 19:41.040]  Because I know, again, people who join program, everyone makes it.
[19:41.680 --> 19:43.040]  So I say, Hey, what do you want?
[19:43.240 --> 19:44.220]  You want to double your salary?
[19:44.320 --> 19:44.740]  That's easy.
[19:45.000 --> 19:46.160]  Give me something hard to do.
[19:46.360 --> 19:48.400]  And all you got to do is give me a year of your time.
[19:49.580 --> 19:54.680]  If you go to grad school, if you want to get certs, maybe five or six months, and then you're gone.
[19:54.780 --> 19:55.820]  They never see me again.
[19:56.000 --> 19:59.860]  I won't charge you nothing except for the $25 to join my program.
[19:59.860 --> 20:03.360]  Because again, a lot of times I've given people this opportunity.
[20:04.240 --> 20:08.420]  And since they had no investment in it, they've retreated back up.
[20:08.600 --> 20:10.780]  They were like, all right, I can do it whenever I want to.
[20:11.000 --> 20:17.800]  But if someone gives you $25 and that's all the $25 they have, then they're going to want a return on that $25.
[20:18.260 --> 20:21.780]  And the first return of that could be meeting the vice president.
[20:22.180 --> 20:23.720]  It could be going to one of my conferences.
[20:23.880 --> 20:24.560]  It could be getting the job.
[20:24.660 --> 20:31.180]  It could be just you joining my company on Tuesday, getting your security plus on Wednesday, $400.
[20:31.640 --> 20:33.060]  You gave me $25 yesterday.
[20:33.280 --> 20:34.560]  I give you $200 tomorrow.
[20:35.020 --> 20:37.100]  And then the next day you take your JYAC, $1,600.
[20:37.620 --> 20:39.600]  I do you $800 back for whatever cert.
[20:39.760 --> 20:40.360]  You take your CH.
[20:40.560 --> 20:41.720]  It doesn't matter.
[20:41.860 --> 20:44.360]  I have no cap because I say it all the time.
[20:44.580 --> 20:50.180]  The more certs you get, the better I look, because I know you're someone else that I can get a job.
[20:51.060 --> 20:57.560]  And a lot of times I've only had two people in my program, LaMarcus Crocker and Simone Steven, who actually go in.
[20:57.700 --> 20:59.320]  Everyone else is 100% remote.
[21:00.820 --> 21:02.400]  Everyone else is 100%.
[21:02.400 --> 21:08.600]  So they're going from working eight hours, nine hours a day, sometimes 12 hours a day, to be in that home.
[21:08.600 --> 21:13.240]  So yeah, so again, I have a few degrees and a lot of times people don't... you think you need degrees.
[21:13.400 --> 21:17.500]  I only got degrees just to... I'm not going to say what I normally say, just to crap on people.
[21:18.080 --> 21:26.280]  Uh, because to me, um, a lot of people is, there's a lot of judgment in this world and they'll judge you according to what you look like.
[21:26.860 --> 21:31.140]  And I don't have to fit the facade of what you think I am.
[21:31.200 --> 21:36.040]  Do I look like I help out or I, uh, I am a cyber threat intelligence analyst?
[21:36.320 --> 21:37.020]  Nah, probably not.
[21:37.580 --> 21:39.080]  Do I look like whatever?
[21:39.260 --> 21:39.560]  Like, not.
[21:39.760 --> 21:42.140]  But I can, I can do those things.
[21:42.340 --> 21:43.320]  And you can do those things.
[21:43.480 --> 21:45.200]  If we can all do the same, the pajama pants and peaches.
[21:45.860 --> 21:46.920]  Um, and I love it.
[21:46.980 --> 21:49.160]  Only time I get dressed is when I come to conferences like this.
[21:49.740 --> 21:51.460]  Um, I like to be remote.
[21:51.640 --> 21:53.600]  I like to give other people the opportunity to be remote.
[21:53.760 --> 21:56.780]  I like, I, I, I prioritize mental health.
[21:57.320 --> 22:00.420]  Um, and that's just, that's just who I am.
[22:00.560 --> 22:07.200]  I would, I would like to hear questions if y'all have any, um, or I can keep talking, but the floor is yours.
[22:07.300 --> 22:10.060]  I just want to give y'all a spill of who I am, um, what I do.
[22:10.420 --> 22:18.200]  And, and if y'all know anyone that might need a little, uh, I would love to help them out with that and give them an opportunity.
[22:18.440 --> 22:22.020]  I, I, again, I started with two people in 2018, 2019.
[22:23.100 --> 22:25.360]  I've got over five, 500 people who did.
[22:28.060 --> 22:34.580]  Um, and again, every single person, I make sure that, I make sure that, because again, I'm a college dropout.
[22:34.720 --> 22:35.580]  I flunked out of college.
[22:36.120 --> 22:37.160]  I know what people need.
[22:37.160 --> 22:46.240]  I, it's hard to connect with people when, it's hard to connect with people if you're not transparent or vulnerable enough to, to really show them, Hey, I struggled.
[22:46.460 --> 22:47.520]  It sucks up here.
[22:47.680 --> 22:49.840]  It sucked going through the mire, but I made it.
[22:50.320 --> 22:52.120]  And this is how you can make, make it too.
[22:52.200 --> 22:57.040]  I just, I tell people all the time, you don't, you don't need me to be successful in this field.
[22:57.120 --> 22:59.240]  You don't need me to be successful in cyber.
[22:59.620 --> 23:02.280]  I just make the road easier for you.
[23:02.860 --> 23:03.360]  That's it.
[23:03.440 --> 23:04.280]  I just make things easier.
[23:04.280 --> 23:05.160]  I open up the door.
[23:05.300 --> 23:06.720]  I give you a seat at the table.
[23:06.900 --> 23:11.120]  I, I introduce you to some people, but, but I just make it easy because I wanted it.
[23:11.240 --> 23:12.040]  I needed help.
[23:12.280 --> 23:15.140]  And Xavier, without Xavier, I wouldn't have the company I have now.
[23:15.780 --> 23:18.440]  Xavier and I have published so many people.
[23:18.640 --> 23:24.840]  And so many of those people have been offered opportunities just off the papers that were published with these two gentlemen right here.
[23:25.740 --> 23:28.940]  Like me, me and, uh, uh, Dr. Lucas Potter right here.
[23:29.240 --> 23:31.280]  We, we, we are flying.
[23:31.280 --> 23:38.480]  We'll most more than likely we're flying at the end of this month to the largest aerospace something in the world, but discuss with them just what we're doing here.
[23:38.780 --> 23:43.420]  Like we have been because again, we've so many people to know, like, how are you doing this?
[23:43.580 --> 23:44.580]  This doesn't make sense.
[23:44.700 --> 23:48.860]  You're, you're better than, than our internships and apprenticeship programs.
[23:52.340 --> 23:52.800]  Boom.
[23:52.800 --> 23:52.820]  Boom.
[23:55.560 --> 23:56.900]  I can't hear you, sir.
[23:59.020 --> 23:59.580]  Damn.
[24:00.140 --> 24:00.620]  Uh, all right.
[24:00.680 --> 24:20.120]  So, um, a lot of, uh, when getting into certain levels, a lot of questions you can to, and a lot of folks, when you're covering, um, working, uh, labor, out of it, you know, have you to spnie?
[24:25.260 --> 24:25.900]  Awesome.
[24:30.580 --> 24:32.780]  So we have a holistic program here.
[24:33.000 --> 24:39.560]  Um, so number, I talked about Lee Hill, who's at Food Lion as a cashier.
[24:42.300 --> 24:43.120]  Repeat the question.
[24:43.620 --> 24:50.980]  Uh, the question was, how do we, how do we learn, how do we teach people how to speak to BPs, business partners, vice presidents?
[24:51.320 --> 25:00.540]  Um, so that cause people who are coming from food line, people are coming from Walmart and all these other locations where I snipe people from, they don't know how to, how to, how to talk the talk.
[25:00.860 --> 25:01.160]  Right.
[25:01.600 --> 25:04.680]  Um, so with that, in my program, there's a lot of classes.
[25:05.140 --> 25:08.220]  Uh, there's a professional writing and a professional speaking class.
[25:08.780 --> 25:11.560]  Um, and, and we also call it nuking.
[25:11.720 --> 25:13.680]  Um, we challenge people to speak.
[25:13.880 --> 25:16.600]  Everyone that doesn't want to speak has to speak until they love it.
[25:17.120 --> 25:18.160]  It's amazing.
[25:18.560 --> 25:26.180]  Um, we bring people like Lee who really, when he first came, cause I opened up my house every two weeks at my home.
[25:26.360 --> 25:36.080]  I had, until I closed about two months ago, I had about 50, 40 to 50 people in my home every two weeks, every two weeks I opened.
[25:36.180 --> 25:38.200]  And again, I'm a, I don't, it looks like I'm an extrovert.
[25:38.220 --> 25:39.140]  I'm an introvert.
[25:39.600 --> 25:42.560]  And, and a young lady asked me at my last session, which is at a hotel.
[25:42.680 --> 25:45.400]  Now we, we have, we rent out the common room cause I closed my house.
[25:45.820 --> 25:49.460]  Um, she was like, Alan, you're one of the most paranoid people in the world.
[25:49.820 --> 25:51.720]  Um, but you opened up your house for so long.
[25:52.120 --> 25:52.800]  And I did.
[25:52.960 --> 25:56.080]  And I was like, and I told her, I was like, when I met you, you were a waitress.
[25:56.960 --> 25:59.120]  And now you have a master's in cybersecurity.
[25:59.700 --> 26:03.120]  If I didn't open up my home to you, you wouldn't have passed.
[26:03.520 --> 26:04.640]  You wouldn't have made it.
[26:05.040 --> 26:14.120]  So I opened up my home to give you hope and give you a foundation and give you an anchor so that you know that you can tie what you do at my home with your education.
[26:14.120 --> 26:17.360]  And again, going to Lee Hill and Skyler, her name's Skyler.
[26:17.760 --> 26:19.020]  They were very quiet.
[26:19.340 --> 26:22.100]  They were like, they were like quiet, quiet.
[26:22.880 --> 26:24.060]  They didn't say nothing.
[26:24.700 --> 26:26.700]  Now, Skyler argues with me.
[26:27.200 --> 26:29.740]  Lee comes up and says, Hey, I got my networks plus.
[26:29.920 --> 26:31.180]  I'm doing great now.
[26:31.860 --> 26:35.960]  Because we invite them to, uh, to talk and they learn how to talk.
[26:36.120 --> 26:38.320]  And because of those talks, we have people like Mariah.
[26:38.820 --> 26:41.400]  Mariah is 15 years old and she's getting her associate's degree.
[26:41.580 --> 26:50.280]  And she handed her resume to the vice president, Richard Bucket, what 15 year old can hand their resume off to the vice president of the large airspace company.
[26:51.040 --> 26:53.780]  And again, that's what I, that's what I teach in my program.
[26:53.920 --> 26:54.980]  It's not just cyber.
[26:55.160 --> 26:56.380]  We teach you how to talk.
[26:56.500 --> 26:57.240]  We teach you how to walk.
[26:57.380 --> 26:58.380]  We teach you all those things.
[26:58.380 --> 26:59.860]  We teach you holistically.
[27:00.180 --> 27:03.040]  So you can be a better person, better person for the job.
[27:05.340 --> 27:06.520]  Any other questions?
[27:07.320 --> 27:08.480]  I welcome them, please.
[27:08.680 --> 27:10.720]  I will talk in a full hour, don't I?
[27:15.920 --> 27:16.440]  Bueller.
[27:18.020 --> 27:18.540]  Bueller.
[27:20.420 --> 27:27.500]  Um, uh, so I, I think, do I have any, Xavier, am I missing anything?
[27:29.040 --> 27:29.560]  Good.
[27:30.140 --> 27:30.800]  Dr. Lucas?
[27:31.040 --> 27:32.680]  All right.
[27:32.800 --> 27:32.900]  Yeah.
[27:33.220 --> 27:34.560]  So yeah, my name is Alan Walker.
[27:35.240 --> 27:37.440]  Um, thank you for, for listening.
[27:37.700 --> 27:39.340]  Thank you for listening to my still hope.
[27:39.820 --> 27:41.880]  Um, thank you for giving me hope, Xavier.
[27:42.060 --> 27:43.000]  Thank you for inviting me.
[27:43.260 --> 27:46.500]  Uh, thank you to the whole conference for, for allowing me to be here.
[27:46.700 --> 27:52.940]  And yeah, uh, if you know anyone again, that's trying to get in cybersecurity and they're struggling a little bit, send them my way.
[27:52.940 --> 27:55.500]  And I, I can assure you to be well taken care of.
[27:55.900 --> 27:56.440]  All right.