The Navy taught me perspective taking early in my career as a young unqualified professional. Growing up as an unqualified technician and working my way up the ranks into leadership taught me how to see beyond my own perspective. Collaborating with people of so many cultures, personalities, and demographics taught me how to remediate problems and conflict by learning about others, ultimately teaching me to consider their perspective as well. At ODU courses on cybersecurity ethics and cyber law have given me the scholarly background to channel that instinct into various professional environments.

Reflective Writing: Cybersecurity Ethics – PHIL 355E

This class has changed how I view my future career in cyber security. There were three key takeaways for me. Firstly, that legality and morality are not synonymous. There will come times as a compliance professional when something can be done, but it is not the right thing to do, and I will need to have the fortitude to recognize that. Secondly, that professionalism pledges allegiance to a mission and its ideology, not people. I have learned through experience how loyalty to people can cause individuals to make choices that detriment the mission as a whole. In GRC, where we are tasked to ensure an organization is holding themselves accountable to their own policies and external regulations, loyalty to people can be detrimental. Lastly, that calling out something that is wrong is not betrayal, it is called accountability. These lessons were not learned just to pass a class. I will carry them with me.

Case Analysis: Utilitarianism & Google Street View – PHIL 355E

The reason this paper really stood out to me was that it forced me to assess the deployment of an actual technology from the perspective of multiple stakeholders at once. I made the case that the deployment of Google Street View was unethical not because the tech was bad, but because Google hadn’t considered that privacy means different things to different communities. That type of multi-stakeholder analysis is what risk assessment is all about. Recognizing risk is step one. Realizing who has what stake and how they will be impacted is what differentiates compliance from risk management.

Virtue Ethics Reflection – PHIL 355E

This reflection explored how character is developed by experience, not rules. I related Aristotle’s idea of phronesis (practical wisdom) to my own career. Growing into an ethical cybersecurity professional does not come with a stamp of approval. It is the practice of honing judgment, learning from failure, and building character to do the right thing when no one is making you. The Navy taught me this principle as well. This class gave me the framework to analyze it intentionally.

First Amendment Memo – CYSE 406 Cyber Law

This memo had me consider First Amendment issues from the viewpoints of citizens, private platforms, government regulators, and minority communities whose speech interests often compete.I balanced three competing claims all at once based on the facts of a campus speech disruption. For a GRC professional regulatory interpretation always means thinking about who the rule was written from, and whose interests it protects. This assignment built that muscle directly.