Founders on Fire: Igniting Diversity with CyberSisters

In this episode of the Tech Trailblazers Founders on Fire podcast, host Rose Ross sits down with Roha Raheel, co-founder of CyberSisters and winner of last year’s Diversity Trailblazers award. They discuss the realities of breaking into tech, the double-edged sword of AI in hiring, and the undeniable power of finding your tribe.

The Birth of a Cyber Sisterhood

Roha’s seven-year journey in cybersecurity has featured numerous peaks and troughs. Early in her career, she often found herself as the youngest person, the only woman, and the only person of color on her teams. A specific, unprompted negative comment from a colleague left her shaken, but it also became the catalyst for something remarkable.

• Seeking guidance, Roha confided in her former Sainsbury’s colleague, Cheila Dos Santos, sparking a deep mentorship and friendship.
• Alongside their third co-founder, Blair McMeeken, they realized the sisterhood they had built was something the broader industry desperately needed.
• CyberSisters was organically founded to ensure other women never have to navigate the corporate tech world alone.

Empowering Women at Every Stage

CyberSisters is dedicated to making the cybersecurity industry highly accessible, operating through two distinct avenues to help women thrive:

• Free Community Resources: The group offers podcasts, book clubs, and workshops covering CV writing, LinkedIn optimization, and online safety.
• Corporate Partnerships: CyberSisters delivers specialized training for mid-level professionals to refine their personal branding and executive presentation skills.
• A New Digital Home: To further connect their members, the team is currently developing a dedicated community app.

Navigating the AI Hiring Conundrum

The tech job market is shifting, creating unique friction for emerging talent. Roha noted that entry-level roles seem to be disappearing, leaving recent graduates frustrated despite their academic credentials.

• Candidates are increasingly relying on AI to generate CVs, which often strips away their authentic voice and leads to embarrassing interview blunders.
• Corporate reliance on AI filtering tools creates a “black box” where applicants have no idea what parameters are eliminating them from the candidate pool.
• Roha insists that academic degrees must be paired with hands-on understanding of current trends, like the real-world impact of AI-driven social engineering.

The Power of Planting Seeds

To combat the roadblocks of modern hiring, Roha champions the human element: networking. She describes making connections as “planting seeds,” noting that a mentorship session she attended at age 22 led to a chain reaction of introductions. Years later, those exact connections helped her land a new role and discover the Tech Trailblazers community. Her core advice for women in the industry is simple: stay visible, keep going, and always make way for the next wave of women coming behind you.

Watch / listen to #FoundersonFire with Roha Raheel: