The People Behind Us – Website Security Champions 2021

Kayleigh Martin is a tier 2 Website Security Analyst. Her daily responsibilities include investigating sites for malware, removing the malware, and advising clients on how to prevent future attacks. The most exciting part of her day is finding new malware that’s not been seen before.

She finds that if she focuses on doing her job well, everything else falls into place. “Speed comes after you master the skill.” When she’s not working, she enjoys building websites, going to the beach, and spending time with her daughter and husband. 

Kayleigh interests are learning about new cultures and countries, cooking new foods, and traveling with her family if the pandemic ever ends. If Kayleigh had a superpower, she’d rid the world of poverty. But Kayleigh already has the superpower of clapping with one hand, so she may not get another. 

The one person she’d choose to meet is Huey Newton, co-founder of the Black Panthers Party who was shot at age 47. 

Kayleigh tries not to take things for granted and approaches each day with gratitude. Her mantra? “Life is short. Try to enjoy it!”

 Three words that describe her are considerate, determined and empathetic.

Victor Santoyo is a Sales Consultant who focuses on enterprise and agency sales. The best part of the job is when he gets to help struggling customers find the answers they are looking for. 

Somewhere you won’t see Victor is in the ocean. Although he lives in South Florida, Victor’s surprise fact is that he doesn’t know how to swim, but that’s ok because he’d rather be flying – his super power of choice. 

Someone who knows about getting mortals to fly is Kevin Feige, Victor’s choice for who he’d meet dead or alive. Feige is the film producer and president of Marvel Studios who has been behind the Marvel Cinematic Universe. “I’d get him to give up all the Marvel secrets!”

Victor’s own secret to success is to be realistic and clear with every response you give anyone, “client or coworker.”  The most important lesson he’s learned is if everything is important, nothing is important. His personal motto is “Dance Time!” In addition to dance parties, he runs and lifts.

Victor can be described as efficient, funny and persistent.

Michelle Armeda  is a tier 1 customer service specialist who assists customers with billing inquiries and account changes. She loves her coworkers, but when she isn’t working she enjoys spending time with her 5 daughters (what are the odds?), and lives by the motto you get more with honey. 

The one thing she doesn’t like spending her afternoons doing is sitting in traffic, hence her super power of choice, flying. “This California traffic is for the birds.” 

If she could spend an afternoon with anyone alive or dead it would be her all-time favorite actor and comedian Robin Williams. “He was such a brilliant mind.” 

The best career lesson she’s learned is if you think you did it right, check again. Her secret to success at Sucuri has been her commitment. “Always finish what you start.”

She’s best described as friendly, optimistic and loyal.

Marc Louis Kranat is a tier 5 security analyst at Sucuri. His day-to-day job includes leading a small team that covers enterprise clients, mostly supporting the Web Application Firewall product. He enjoys the product and team and finds it interesting to troubleshoot diverse kinds of issues. 

When Marc isn’t working on breaking down mountains, he enjoys hopping on his motorbike. “I covered 8000km+ this past summer around our small province.” When stationary, he enjoys settling down to a nice game of Catan with family and friends. 

He’s a believer in teaching others to do things themselves and in keeping with that, has picked up a number of interesting skills including working as a dark room technician for 8 years. If he could have any superpower, it would be the power combo of speed reading and hyperthymesia (an autobiographical memory).

Someone who’s specifically taught Marc tons has been Shon Harris, an information security consultant and author. Shon beats out Elon Musk and Eleanor Roosevelt who are close seconds for Marc’s dinner pick with any person alive or dead.

The best career lesson he’s learned over his life has been the 15-minute rule.

Follow the “15-minute rule”: Take 15 minutes to solve the problem any way you can. when you haven’t gone anywhere in 15 minutes, then its time to ask someone.

It’s a rule that helps break down big looming objectives into little pebbles. He believes if you work from the top down, you’ll always be successful. Dealing with security threats has instilled in him the wisdom and personal motto to always use a password manager, and never click on email links. Parting word of advice? “Always carry a towel.”

 Three words that describe him are resilient, persistent, and alert (in addition to his titles of husband, father, and brother).

Melinda Huff is a partners development guide which straddles both sales and support. Her coworkers and bosses make the job worth waking up for. When Melinda isn’t working however, she shows cattle with her son and devotes her time and love to their care, and the care of her cattle guardian dogs! 

She loves all creatures, and if she could have a superpower, it’d be to heal animals. Melinda grew up around farms and worked on her grandparent’s wheat farm as a kid (Ironically, she’s now allergic to wheat). 

Her grandpa would tell her stories of flying R&R missions for Richard Ira Bong, the ace of all aces in World War II. If she could meet anyone dead or alive, she’d choose Richard because her grandpa was so fond of him.

Melinda’s number 1 career lesson she’s learned is that you can start a new career at any age and be successful. This also aligns with her personal mantra. “Don’t wish for it. Work for it.” You just have to be willing to put your mind to it. 

Three words that describe her are happy, motivated, and friendly.

Liam Smith is a tier 3 website security support analyst that enjoys the unique challenges and the constant variety of interesting cases he works on. Always up for a challenge, Liam also pushes himself with his extracurriculars which include exercising, gaming, and coding.

His secret to success is to never stop learning, taking on new challenges, or pushing yourself to grow. His personal motto aligns with his driven approach to work and hobbies. “Everybody wants to be a bodybuilder, but nobody wants to lift any heavy weights.” Liam is all about lifting the heavy weights when it comes to personal growth.

He’s best described by the three words curious, persistent and optimistic.

Victoria Cupolillo is a tier 2 customer service specialist. Her job consists of responding to tickets, emails, and chats regarding billing issues, ad-hoc charges, and account disconnections. 

She likes that there’s no monotony in her daily work. “We learn something new every day.” When she’s not head down at Sucuri, she enjoys exercising, reading, and exploring new restaurants and coffee shops (all which she does without a driver’s license)! Her superpower request would be to never get tired, but I’m sure her coffee shops would miss her!

The best career lesson she’s learned is that double-checking does not waste time. It saves you from extra work down the road. Her secret to success is having discipline. If things don’t go quite the way she hopes, she leans on her motto: “Tomorrow is a new day, and you can start over.”

If she could meet anyone, dead or alive, it’d be Tolkien. As a die-hard Lord of the Rings fan, this was an easy question.

Three words that describe her are adaptable, persistent and reliable.

Nate Chaddock is the account management team supervisor. He applies his intense focus to his job where he creates and oversees processes for the HVC (High Value Client) team so they can be supported at the highest possible level. 

For Nate it’s the people that make his job amazing. “Our people are the best.” When he’s not at Sucuri, he tinkers in his workshop painting and 3D printing. Before Sucuri, Nate spent many years doing search and rescue in the Great Lakes region. That line of work, along with his current career have taught him to be prepared. 

“And when you’re not prepared, be patient.” This is the daily mantra he equips himself with before taking on the day. Ever the learner, Nate’s superpower of choice is knowledge, along with understanding the universe. 

Someone who he thinks we could all have learned a little more from is Bruce Lee, Nate’s living-or-dead dinner date of choice. “His philosophy on life and balance is something we all could have benefited from had he not been taken from us so early.”

Nate’s secret to success is always having the humility and willingness to learn. If he’s presented with new evidence, he reviews and re-evaluates his opinions.

Three words that describe him are versatile, eager, and single-minded.

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