Intel Is 'THE VOICE' Of Women's History Month, Today.

Welcome to 'THE VOICE' series for Women's History Month, produced to help encourage more women to join the cyber security and artificial intelligence industries.

Today's edition of 'THE VOICE' features Monica Mahay, from Intel.

Intel Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California, in the Silicon Valley. It is one of the world's largest and highest valued semiconductor chip maker.  

Monica was interviewed in 2019, to share her experience of working in the cyber security industry. She is the Head of Cybersecurity, Data and Privacy Legal, EMEA.

Monica provides legal oversight and management of all strategic and commercial matters at Intel within EMEA, relating to cybersecurity, data and privacy. She manages an international team of attorneys, and she works as the legal lead of Intel’s GDPR program.

Rajinder Tumber: Why did you join the cyber security industry?

Monica Mahay: I fell into it completely by accident. My first job was as a paralegal at a tech company and I started in data protection while I was there. In Europe, protection of data includes both privacy work and security work, and so it wasn’t really a conscious decision on my part.

There was an opportunity to get involved in this type of work, and I wanted to see if I liked it. Over time, I developed a real passion for this area and it gradually became the focus of my career.

Tumber: What do you feel you can contribute to the industry?

Mahay: I believe I can show that it is possible for women to not just survive in this industry but thrive in it. I hope to serve as a role model for others who want to pursue a similar career.

Tumber: The ratio of men working in cyber security is significantly greater than women. What do you think women can bring to a male-dominated team/domain?

Mahay: In a word – balance. And I don’t mean just in the sense of being seen to have a 50/50 split of men to women – not just balance for the sake of balance, but balance that contributes to a richer and more robust environment better able to address the challenges, answer the questions and optimise the opportunities that are coming our way in AI and Cybersecurity.

Statistics consistently show that diverse teams perform better than male-only counterparts at every level of business. Companies with female representation on their boards show better returns, higher productivity, and more innovation, so beyond even the moral and societal reasons to open these doors for women, it makes financial sense to do so. Aside from the ethical and cultural benefits, female representation enables teams to innovate within a wider framework of understanding to create results that help the real world, a real world that does have diversity. This is particularly beneficial in industries like AI and Cybersecurity where innovation is really the name of the game.

Tumber: Being a minority in your team, what (if any) challenges have you encountered?

Mahay: Actually right now, I wouldn’t say I am in the minority. The team I work with at Intel is half male and half female, when viewed globally, and is actually majority female when focusing purely on the EMEA region. Intel has been particularly supportive of offering flexible working practices and creating an inclusive environment. I genuinely haven’t felt that being a woman at Intel has put any restrictions on my career or opportunities since I have been here.

Tumber: Would you say your career has been a smooth rise to higher positions, or has it had its dips and detours? Please elaborate.

Mahay: It has been relatively smooth, although I did consciously choose specific paths in order to get to where I am. There was only one significant dip while I was still working in a law firm which was after having my second child. Both my husband and I decided to work part-time and share the load of parenting equally. I had at this point reached a level of seniority where I was having difficulty finding a role with flexible working hours (either part time, home-working or compressed). I wasn’t particularly surprised as I am a woman working in the legal and the technology space – both of which have been historically male-dominated. I decided to take the leap and I left the law firm I was working at to become a consultant.

While I was consulting, I was also an external advisor to a number of firms, as well as a lawyer with firms like Lawyers on Demand. The outcome was that I could take a long-term contract on a part-time basis, while in parallel I would take on smaller individual jobs via the law firms, such as auditing a major internet security company. I found myself in the very unique position of being able to set my own hours, and getting really good in-house experience, as well as simultaneously doing high quality law firm work. I cherry-picked the jobs that I was most interested in, and those that would help me build a skillset to position me to head up a team in this area, which was my ultimate goal. So for me, I would say it was a relatively smooth transition from role to role, particularly after I became an independent consultant. However, as I was definitely someone who knew what they wanted, I was willing to negotiate a deal that suited me at each step, and was selective in pursuing only roles that would accommodate my needs. I assumed everyone was the same, but having spoken to many women since, I think this is probably less common than I thought. Over time though, flexibility became less and less of an problem for employers, and so by the time Intel offered me my current role, the idea of flexible working was not even a discussion. Since I have been here, I have had a tremendous amount of support from my manager (also a very senior female at the company), as well as other colleagues and my immediate team. I do genuinely feel privileged to work at a company, and in a team that I really feel “walks the walk”. While I had a relatively easy journey, I am aware that this is not the experience of most women in the field.

Tumber: Have you experienced any difficulty with making yourself heard during your career?

Mahay: Early on in my career, prior to coming to Intel, I was rarely invited to key meetings and it took a while to get a seat at the table. When I finally did, there was a clear dominance of men in senior roles and it was quite difficult to get a word in at times. I found myself apologizing for having an opinion or questioning the benefit of anything I had to say before the words were even out of my mouth. It was definitely a case of developing my confidence, and getting some coaching on presenting which I was particularly anxious about. There were also a few occasions in my career where my input went unacknowledged or unrecognized but this is something that has definitely become less and less of a problem over time.

The majority of the issues I experienced were indirect or more insidious in their nature. For example, in one role I had at another company, when I was relatively new, I was keen to expand my network so was planning to arrange some lunches with some key clients, as this is how I was seeing my peers build their networks and relationships. When I spoke to one of my superiors about this, he told me that it wasn’t appropriate for me to be doing this “as a young attractive female” – people might get the wrong idea and this would affect my reputation for my entire career. It was a five minute conversation but really made me feel unsure and insecure in how to manage my career development when I couldn’t pursue the same opportunities as I was seeing my male counterparts.

This certainly doesn’t mean we are there yet – and I think it will be some time until we are, but in my 15 years working in corporate environments, I have seen a definite and significant shift in the right direction. We just need to make sure we keep going.

I really appreciate that a diverse workforce and inclusive culture are priorities at Intel. For example, in Intel meeting rooms, there are posters about identifying discriminatory practices as part of Intel’s “WeforShe” pledge, and one of the bullet points is to constructively confront people if they take an idea or suggestion stated by a woman and present it as their own. I think it highlights the awareness of companies to focus on the more indirect behaviors that undermine women in the workplace and this is a really positive step. Additionally, we recently announced achieving full representation in our U.S. workforce two years ahead of our 2020 goal so the company’s workforce now reflects the percent of women and underrepresented minorities available in the U.S. skilled labor market. This is just the beginning of Intel’s work in this space.

Tumber: Within the workplace, do you feel women are being treated differently because they are female?

Mahay: In my role, I don’t really feel any less heard or valued than any of my male counterparts. Generally speaking, yes, I think there has been a lot of progress made but there is still a way to go.

Tumber: Do you think more women should be encouraged to join the cyber security industry? If so, why?

Mahay: I do not think it is a case of encouraging women to do or not do something, it is more a case of making it a genuine option and structuring the industry, the work or the team to be generally more inclusive. Both AI and Cybersecurity are incredibly interesting areas to work in and given their large impact, they greatly benefit from having diverse and inclusive teams who may approach the work differently. As we’re seeing at Intel, having a more balanced workforce results in better innovation, and in industries based on technology, this is a major advantage, so having more women in the field of AI or Cybersecurity would likely increase the speed of technological advancement, which would benefit us all in the end.

Tumber: How do you think more women can be encouraged to join? 

Mahay: I think what you are doing is really positive. It’s important for role models to be highlighted and for junior women in the industry, or those thinking of entering, to be able to see senior women in their field of interest. I also think it is important for those women who have successfully managed to reach senior or management level roles to let down the ladder for other women to follow, whether this is by creating opportunities for work experience, offering mentoring and coaching, or sharing experiences so women can learn skills from each other to help them succeed in this industry. It’s also vital for men to fully participate in this issue, to understand and recognise the problems, and proactively engage in the debates.

I think it is also in the interests of men to voice their views on these issues, and to take an active and constructive part in the conversation, and not sit silently on the side-lines.