Board Highlight: Lauren Cusimano
“What excites me the most is hearing everyone brainstorm and come up with ideas on how to continue to expand Inspiredu.”
Q. As an Inspiredu Advisory board member, what are you most excited about?
What excites me the most is hearing everyone brainstorm and come up with ideas on how to continue to expand Inspiredu. Everyone is so passionate, so creative, and hearing folks bring different ideas to the table and then watching those ideas come to life is really cool. A great recent example that came up at the Town Hall was implementing Cyber Security into our Digital Literacy classes. Watching fellow board members jump into action, give feedback, and volunteer their time to help bring these ideas to life is really inspiring.
Q. What is your current job and what does it involve?
I currently work as a Sales Executive at a cyber security company selling endpoint detection and response software. I work with security teams in the Atlanta area on a daily basis to better understand if our offering is something that can help address their current challenges.
Q. What is a day like in the life of Lauren?
Busy! Outside my professional responsibilities, my fiance and I are planning our wedding (April 2024), I'm training for a half marathon in August, and on the weekends we're in town (not attending a wedding/bachelorette/baby shower, etc.) we're likely doing some sort of house project. Our most recent project is screening the area below our deck, and creating a sunroom. :)
Q. How do you relate to Inspiredu’s mission, values, and/or work?
This is a long answer, so get ready :)
My mom was a first-grade teacher, and growing up, I have a distinct memory of her always buying a bunch extra school supplies at the beginning of each year for her students that couldn't afford them. Things that most of us would take for granted, but were truly essential to even keep up with our peers.
Fast forward to getting introduced to Inspiredu, and seeing such a parallel, is what initially made me want to get involved. Then, when you look at my job and the people I'm speaking with on a daily basis - IT and Security executives in the ATL area - I felt like I was in a great place to amplify Inspiredu's message.
However, outside all the great work Inspiredu is doing to actually get devices in kids’ hands, my personal favorite piece is the digital literacy work they do within the communities. I'm so fortunate that my company has a similar mission that has allowed me to amplify this goal myself. Our Foundation has a goal to Empower the Next Generation, Build an Inclusive Future, and Protect our Planet. Last year, we sponsored a global effort to make kids more cyber-savvy. We went into classrooms (grade k-8) to talk to kids about things like:
An Introduction to cybersecurity
What is an online identity?
Having fun but staying safe while online
An introduction to passwords, VPN, multi-factor authentication
The importance of online privacy
Caution around unknown networks and outlets
Ideas on how to pursue a career in cybersecurity