Her Story
About Ayah
She is an emerging cybersecurity professional and entrepreneur with a strong foundation in computer science and mathematics, currently serving as Cyber Security Engineer at Xerox. In this role, she applies her technical expertise to protect organizational assets and strengthen security posture. She is also Co-Founder of AFO Cyber LLC, a cybersecurity startup focused on reviewing emails, mail, and texts for scams and providing vulnerability risk reports, where she leads a team of three and manages business operations, investor engagement, and pitch development. Her experience includes serving as Cybersecurity Engineer at the University of Kentucky Information Technology Services, where she assisted in threat assessment, vulnerability response, and digital asset protection. She also works as a Cybersecurity Mentor on topmate.io, guiding individuals breaking into the industry, and as a Content Creator on LinkedIn. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science and Mathematics from the University of Kentucky Pigman College of Engineering, where she was a recipient of the Academic Excellence Scholarship, a member of the Society of Women Engineers and NeuroCats, and an LSAMP Scholar. She is recognized as a driven, innovative, and community-focused leader who is passionate about cybersecurity, mentorship, and building solutions that protect individuals and organizations from digital threats.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Ayah
01What do you attribute your success to?
I think just like the work ethic that I have, I feel like I'm always like go go go and I just don't want to like sit there and do nothing, and I think it's just fun to like live in the moment. Startup working full-time at like corporate is just like the same thing every day but that's why I wanted to do the startup because it's like something's different every day.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
Don't be scared to like move around to different like areas of like study. When I was computer science major I always thought that like I have to be a software engineer or like I have to do something like the software side and then I kind of ventured out tried cybersecurity and tried software tried everything before deciding like what I wanted to do and then it's still so it's like I'm not like stuck to one place and like moving around is a good thing.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
I would say networking that's been a big thing for me. I started like being more active on LinkedIn posting more reaching out to people connecting with them and I think that's helped me the most and it's actually opened a lot more doors for me than I could have imagined. People just overlook networking.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
I think women are starting to get more into it so I think like as of right now it's like a really good time to go into cybersecurity as a woman because it's like more of like a not as like a trend but like there's more women trying to get into it so it's more accessible now I think than it was a few years ago.
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