"The Greatest Lesson in Life is that I still have a lot to learn..." ~Unknown

I Was that kid on the playground that could never answer "what do you want to be when you grow up?"...

I had visions of being a firefighter, a paramedic, a biochemist...literally everything that doesn't have to do with heights or bugs. I had a few great teachers in high school that I felt that I could emulate pretty well, so I began my early adult years wanting to be a High School English Teacher and Coach.

Two years of college and several thousand dollars worth of student loans later, I had a spout a clarity that education would not be a great path for my personality (having suffered a severe concussion as a result of college football left me with a lot of time to think). I ultimately chose to keep the English side of my degree, since I love stories and writing comes fairly natural to me.

I would ultimately shift my focus and studies towards Law Enforcement/Corrections, since the investigative process and locking up bad guys had also always intrigued me. I joined my college's Community Service Officer program, where I would ultimately meet the love of my life, Liz.

Pete Groehler

"Knowing your limiits is a strength, not a weakness" ~ Kim Harrison

I ultimately joined the private sector, conducted investigations into Organized Retail Crime for one of the nation's biggest retailers. I was exposed to Open Source Intelligence by Griffin Glynn through his presentation to one of the organizations that I belong to.

I was immediately hooked. Over a long weekend snowed in in the Wisconsin Northwoods, I devoured Michael Bazzell's book Open Source Intelligence Techniques, scribbling in the margins as I went. I brought OSINT into my retail investigations, spawning an entirely new way of conducting investigations in the digital age, and which has continued to shape the industry.

The more I studied OSINT, the more I was exposed to, and beginning to find myself operating in, the realm of Cybersecurity. I would sit in on trainings from vendors that I was very familiar with that were things like OSINT for Threat Hunting or Intelligence Gathering for Red Teaming. So, I started to do my homework and talking with industry professionals...

Ultimately, I decided to dive in with both feet, taking advantage of my Continuing Education benefit at work to take both a Python Programming course and a Cybersecurity Bootcamp, figuring I could at least suffer it out for free if I didn't like it.

My life was immediately changed and I have fallen in love with tech, computers, ethical hacking, threat hunting, and all of Cybersecurity in general.

I hope to continue to learn and grow with you!