Lost In Cyberia

In this episode of Lost in Cyberia, hosts Annie Mei and Anika are joined by Alaina Lawson, a Perth-based cybersecurity consultant. Alaina discusses her journey into cybersecurity, starting from her interest in IT during high school, influenced by her family background in IT. She shares how asking a simple question to a customer when she was working in a bakery changed her entire career trajectory....

In this episode of Lost In Cyberia, Bianca Puglisi and Kathy Sisson share their unconventional journeys into project management. Bianca shares her journey from hospitality and psychology to joining the Army at 30, becoming a corporate trainer in cyber, and currently serving as the Operations Manager at Solvyr. Kathy details her career path from being a photographer in the Air Force to working with...

In this episode of Lost in Cyberia, we’re joined by Hortense Rothery, the Relationship Manager at Volkis. Hortense shares her unique career journey from studying fashion design in New Zealand to transitioning into software development and eventually finding her calling in cybersecurity. She discusses the challenges of running a fashion business and moving back to New Zealand during the Covid-19 pa...

This episode of Lost in Cyberia is what we (Annie-Mei and Anika) presented at CyberCon Canberra 2025. We look at the evolution of nerd culture, from the dawn of the internet til now.  We also discuss: Why the “hacker in a hoodie” stereotype is doing more harm than good 👨‍💻 The echo chamber of women-in-tech panels and why men need to be part of the convo 🧠 Toxic work culture, burnout, and the pr...

March nearly broke us, but it also kind of made us . In this episode, Annie-Mei and Anika unpack a chaotic month full of firsts: our first podcast guests (shoutout to Harry from Phronesis and Hortense from Volkis 💜), first guest spot on another podcast (AISA Cyber Voices, with David!), and Anika’s first-ever conference presentation (spoiler: improv background came in handy 🎭). We chat about: Cyb...

Harry Smith (who also goes by Harrison, Hazza or H) is our very first guest on the podcast! Harry works at Phronesis Security in the application security space but has previously done pentesting on LLMs (large language models). We spoke to Harry when he was up in Canberra for CyberCon. If you're looking to get into cybersecurity and want to know how you can practice hacking (ethically), then...

Have you ever been told that a team you're interviewing for are like a family?  If you have it's probably a good idea to widen that job search. In this episode we discuss red flags people should look out for in a job interview, what questions you should ask in a job interview and the green flags that you can look out for. Send us Fan Mail Find us on Instagram, YouTube or LinkedIn @thecyb...

In this episode hosts Annie-Mei and Anika discuss whether International Women's Day (IWD) is achieving its purpose of promoting equality and diversity in the Cyber Security industry. IWD was first observed on March 19, 1911, in Austria, Denmark, Germany, and Switzerland. This date was chosen by Clara Zetkin, a German socialist, to commemorate the 1848 revolution and a key workers' protes...

 In this episode of Lost in Cyberia, Anika and Annie-Mei recount their top five cyber security milestones from 2024, including cryptography publications, conference appearances, and hands-on digital projects. They also touch on dating apps, examining their technical and security aspects, and offer a timely reminder for everyone to spend more time offline. Tune in for down-to-earth look at cyber se...

This episode looks at how people can reach their goals by taking baby steps, whether that's for public speaking, networking or anything else in life. Annie-Mei and Anika discuss their family upbringing and how that has made them the people they are today. Annie-Mei talks about how she never had thought about being a confident person until it was pointed out to her by Anika. They discuss the i...

In this episode, Annie-Mei and Anika share their personal experiences , highlighting that a technical background isn't strictly necessary and emphasising the value of transferable skills from other industries like hospitality. They stress the importance of networking and showcasing personality , advocating for proactive job applications even without fully meeting job requirements. The discuss...

Welcome to the Lost In Cyberia podcast where we break down cybersecurity into byte-sized pieces so you don't have to! We are your hosts Annie-Mei and Anika. In our very first episode we talk about the importance of mentoring and what mentors and mentees can learn from each other. We also discuss Anika's career journey including her time working in hotel quarantine during the Covid-19 pan...