Employee Spotlight: Marie Joseph

In your words, what is your role at Trava.

I do a lot of compliance work, so I focus a lot on things like SOC 2 and ISO. There's a lot of other state regulations that I help with as well. I also learn the process myself if I do not know and help them achieve those certifications when they need them, whether it be now or in the future. I also help with deliverables, like baseline cyber risk assessments, risk registers, and risk mitigation roadmaps, and the vulnerability scanning.

Describe Trava in 3 words.

Best place ever.

Where is your happy place?

I am a firm believer that it's the people, not the place. So, wherever my family and friends are, that's where I'm the happiest. Quality time is one of my love languages. So, wherever the people I love are.

If you could give your 13 year old self advice, what would it be?

It's going to sound pretty cliche because a lot of people use it, but trust the process. Life gets really hard every once in a while and I'm a firm believer that you all are going to end up where you're supposed to end up. So, you go through those hard times, but everything works out for a reason. And even if you have darker days, the brighter days are coming.

What is your favorite motivational quote?

Oh, for this one, this one's hard. I love quotes, but there's one that I had. I was involved with Indiana University's Dance Marathon and there was a quote that Ashley Louise Crouse, who was one of the exec members at a point who passed away. She had this quote that said,

So, that's a quote that I constantly remember and every time I meet someone new, I like to kind of find out their story and what can I do to make you the best person you can be.

What has been your favorite project at Trava?

Oh, there's been so many. My favorite project I would have to say was my first audit with a customer. So, that was with Encamp where we did a SOC 2 Type 1. It was a huge learning experience and I got to work with Schellman who was their auditor. So, it was really fun to work with Schellman, Trava and Encamp all at once and learn the SOC 2 environment and help more customers going forward and getting that first certification was a huge accomplishment, really cool.

Cats or dogs?

I'm a dog person all the way.

What advice would you provide to someone interested in your field?

Oh, I would say just dip your feet in all the different waters. Cybersecurity is a huge field. I know a lot of people say, you need all the certifications that you can get, but I think that those only show a little bit of the knowledge. But if you have hands-on experiences with all these different types of projects, whether it be the coding and engineering aspect, or the consulting side of things, the law part of things, getting all the different connections with all the different industries within cybersecurity is huge. So, just try it all and then focus and find the one that you like.