From my earliest days growing up in New Jersey, and being born on the turn of the century, I was always painfully aware of many of the threats that are present in the modern world. This ultimately led to me enlisting in the United States Army National Guard shortly after graduating from high school. As I wrote in my LinkedIn biography when I was 21 years old, “I strive to make the world a safer place”.
This message stands true and has been the driving force behind most of my decisions thus far in life. The world can be an incredibly hostile and unforgiving place for many. It has been the greatest honor of my life to be able to contribute to the safety and security of people around the world on multiple occasions. Between overseas deployments to hostile areas, working emergency response missions here in the United States, or helping develop my peers to achieve their goals, there is no better feeling than being able to feel like your actions have had some sort of an impact.
My first taste of physical security work in the real world was while responding to a security incident in the capitol of the United States and as part of the National Guard, mobilizing to ensure the safety and security of the area. After returning home from this, I figured I had the real-world experience to quit my dead-end retail job and try to branch into something more meaningful, to be able to give back to my community.
At the time of writing this, I have been working professionally in private security for 4 years, in capacities ranging from unarmed, to armed, working anywhere from abandoned properties, residential complexes housing hundreds, providing a security presence at schools, businesses, sporting events, and nearly everything in between.
My collegiate studies bridge the gap between my passion for security and my love for technology. While studying cyber security I have been able to see the disconnect between security personnel working on computers and the security personnel that are patrolling data centers and businesses, I strive to be able to use my experiences and knowledge to help teams better mitigate threats in both realms.