You Can't Be Her Unless You Can See Her: Inside the First Episode of Show Up

Aspiron Influence recently launched Show Up, a CyberBytes podcast spotlighting the marketers and leaders reshaping cybersecurity. The show debuted with founder and CEO Nina Korfias interviewing Lisa Hayashi, CMO of iCOUNTER and founder of Vision & Voice.

What followed was a fast, funny, and moving conversation about Lisa's journey into cybersecurity, the importance of building products that deliver in third-party risk and threat intelligence, and finally, how to make this industry a little more glamorous (shoes included). Here are the highlights:

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"My Home Is Tech": Lisa Hayashi's Path Into Cybersecurity

Lisa Hayashi has worked across several corners of technology, with what she calls "a tiny stint in consumer marketing" along the way, before landing in cybersecurity about six years ago. While the sector changed; the thing she chased didn't.

"My home is tech. I love disruption. I love breaking into new markets," she told Nina. "The other thing I'm very passionate about is its founders, startups and growth, and creating a category."

That standard shaped her last job search, too. She'd ruled out any company "slapping AI on branding,"  a decision that ultimately led her to iCOUNTER.

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Meeting John Watters What iCOUNTER Does

John Watters, founder of iDefense and "the godfather of threat intelligence" in Lisa's words, invited her to Dallas to see what iCOUNTER was building. What she heard sealed the deal: iCOUNTER was taking a fundamentally different approach to a problem that was crying out for a solution: third-party risk and threat intelligence.

The industry has gotten loud, Lisa says: enterprises are drowning in intel with no way to act on, what’s now called, intel bloat. iCOUNTER's answer starts with what it refuses to be.

"We're not a survey company. We're an intelligence company. We're taking this from an adversarial point of view, and we're looking in and protecting companies that way."

The work is operationalizing intelligence: fast risk calls at the edge of collection, routed straight to remediation. Asked what it's like to build something that actually delivers, Lisa didn't hedge. "The product works. We've got customers. We've only been in GA since March, but we're moving fast."

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Vision & Voice: Leadership You Can See

Vision & Voice, the women-in-cyber community Nina has backed since its earliest days, isn't a diversity checkbox for Lisa. It's a leadership and visibility play.

"It's not just about being inclusive. It's really about leadership, because you can't be her unless you can see her." The community spotlights women who've done remarkable things in the industry, so others can learn from them.

That ambition extends beyond her own career and into how she wants the industry to be perceived. For too many young women, cybersecurity still isn't seen as a viable career path in the same way as medicine, law, or teaching. Lisa wants to change that. 

She believes the industry needs to do a better job of showcasing the diverse opportunities it offers and creating visible role models, so the next generation of women can see a place for themselves in cybersecurity from the very start.

As Lisa puts it: "I want to be at dinner parties with my friends going, wow, your industry is so glamorous. Look at your shoes. We're not wearing a vest and a backpack. Let's do it differently."

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What's Next for Vision & Voice

With Aspiron Group now powering Vision & Voice, Lisa wants to keep the organization’s energy alive between events. One idea that has been floated is the idea of an LLM-backed platform with a real database behind it, where users could turn to the community for practical support, from filling a panel to negotiating a salary. "There's a lot of opportunity there. It hasn't been done yet."

The community is already leaning in unprompted, texting Lisa panelist recommendations and volunteering to host happy hours. The goal for the next twelve months: a regular cadence of in-person gatherings with content, podcasts, and newsletters in between.

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FAQ

What is Show Up? A new CyberBytes podcast from Aspiron Influence spotlighting cybersecurity's marketers and leaders.

Who is Lisa Hayashi? CMO of iCOUNTER and founder of Vision & Voice.

What does iCOUNTER do? Operationalizes threat intelligence around third-party risk into fast, actionable decisions.

What is Vision & Voice? A women-in-cyber community building a resource network with regular events, panels, and content. 

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The conversation doesn’t stop here. Listen to Show Up and join the conversation around the people, ideas and stories making cybersecurity more visible, more inclusive and, yes, a little more glamorous.