Her Story
About Temmie
Temmie Kosoko is a cybersecurity manager at a Fortune 500 fintech company. In this role, she collaborates with senior leadership and CISOs to oversee cybersecurity posture across the organization, addressing risk management, threat landscape, threat modeling, policy development, and incident response. She ensures security considerations are integrated from product inception through employee training, including social engineering awareness. Kosoko began her career around 2016-2017 after arriving in the United States as an international student to pursue a master's degree in international public relations and advertising. Her path shifted toward cybersecurity following a project management class and a risk management internship, guided by a mentor in internal audits. She completed relevant certifications and secured positions in the financial industry due to its regulatory demands. In addition to her corporate role, she founded TOKS Consulting LLC, through which she assists small businesses and government contractors with building foundational information security programs, data protection, access governance, and AI security measures to support audits and client contracts. Kosoko holds a bachelor's degree and is pursuing a PhD in cybersecurity. She is a member of ISACA and ISC2. As an immigrant and Black woman in a male-dominated field, she emphasizes resilience, audacity, and continuous learning amid evolving technologies like AI and cloud computing.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Temmie
01What do you attribute your success to?
I credit my success to God and Jesus first, as a Christian who leaned on faith during dark times. My partner has been incredibly supportive, helping with exams, events, and kids so I can pursue my ambitions. My parents believed in me even when I didn't believe in myself, and my mentors saw my resilience and potential. My siblings and younger family members look up to me, and my friends push me to be better. My community and family have been key to navigating challenges.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The best career advice I received was to be audacious. Let your dream be too big, even delusional, so people think you're crazy. As an immigrant, you have to be audacious to get what you want in this land of opportunity, or you'll be left with crumbs. Want your dreams as bad as breathing.
03What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
Challenges include male-dominated environments where C-suites favor men, work politics, underrepresentation of women, and needing to fight for credibility especially as an immigrant, Black woman without the accent. The fast-evolving tech landscape with AI and cloud requires constant learning. Opportunities lie in AI adoption, digital transformation, cloud computing, and increased cyber threats creating demand for experienced professionals like me who bridge old and new worlds.
04What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
Honesty, loyalty, hard work, being formidable, believing in yourself, authenticity, and resilience are key. When you fall, come back a hundred times as long as you have life. Family is crucial - hold them dear. Audacity is essential, especially as an immigrant; don't be shy, dream big. Your dream has to be wanted as bad as breathing.
Join Influential Women and start making an impact. Register now.