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Want a peak behind the curtain into one of the best places to work in cybersecurity and the minds of the innovators behind the industry’s leading security operations platform? Tune in to The Howler podcast!
Hosted by Chelsea Lowman, People Experience Specialist, and Mary Newville, People Experience Senior Manager, the culture duo connects with pack leaders on leadership insights, mental health and overall wellbeing, and how they lead their teams to advance our mission of ending cyber risk.
The Howler - Two Year Anniversary Episode - v3
Wed, Sep 10, 2025 1:29PM � 1:42:49
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
Podcast anniversary, British accent, PX takeover, Power Rangers, heart colors, wellness ambassadors, mental health training, community support, food waste, Pack Gives Back, Silver Wolves, diversity equity inclusion, belonging, engagement survey., Cybersecurity, culture, Lobos group, pack unity, Hispanic Heritage Month, leadership, empathy, servant leadership, cultural awareness, travel stipend, mandatory events, cyber risk, Arctic Wolf, belonging, diversity.
SPEAKERS
Haley Costa, Kalvin Wigfall, Rebecca Cyr, Chelsea Lowman, Dani Rojas, Mary Newville, Anthony Hernandez, Dominic Thielen, Amanda Nunn, Komal Sarvani Mullapudi
Amanda Nunn 00:03
Hello and welcome to the Howler Podcast. I'm Amanda
Haley Costa 00:07
and I'm Hayley, and today we're celebrating the two year anniversary of the podcast,
Haley Costa 00:12
and let's be honest, both Mary and Chelsea have officially had two whole years now to prove themselves
Haley Costa 00:19
exactly, and the jury's still out.
Haley Costa 00:23
But just kidding, Mary and Chelsea, we could not survive this podcast without you both. But actually, I was thinking this morning as I was getting ready for work about conversation topics for the podcast. So one thing that kept coming back to mind was accents and Hayley, since you sit next to Chelsea in the office, I've got to ask, how often does she do a British accent?
Haley Costa 00:49
Honestly, constantly. I swear sometimes it feels like I have a BBC Narrator right next to me.
Haley Costa 00:56
Well, that's exactly what I thought, because I swear, in one of our first two meetings, Chelsea was doing a British accent.
Chelsea Lowman 01:04
Okay, you guys are being so ridiculous. I do not use a British I mean, I do use a British accent, and I was really conscious about it when I visited the England office. But BBC narrator, Haley, that's a bit aggressive. I feel like I'm being attacked. Well, surprise, surprise. Mary and I are here for the episode, but we are being joined by the lovely Amanda and Haley, who are part of our px people experience team. So we thought it would be so fun for the two year anniversary to have a PX takeover. So all four of us are going to be here all episode. Are you guys excited?
Mary Newville 01:52
Sorry, I'm excited.
Haley Costa 01:55
A little nervous.
Haley Costa 01:58
We're both quite nervous. Yeah. So if there's lots of waffling that happens, then apologies.
Chelsea Lowman 02:04
No, no. I mean Mary and I always think about our first couple episodes. I actually was just talking to someone yesterday in pack prep about the podcast, and I was recommending they listen. And I was like, Okay, the first couple episodes, we don't think they're that bad, but we do get better. Okay? So I just think about Mary and I's first episodes where we were just like, so nervous and also like robotic. So no worries. We got you guys. We're veterans now. We're two years in, okay, but just think about like us for having a team meeting, and that's what it's gonna be like. But then we're gonna have some guests. Some guests. Um, okay, well, we thought it would be really fun to go around and introduce ourselves so that everyone gets to know about us a little bit more, especially Haley and Amanda. So with that, let's start our px Ranger. Introduction, okay, Mary, do you want to kick us
Mary Newville 03:09
off? Sure, I would love to. Okay, so I am Mary newbel, as most if you've listened before, you know, I'm a director of people experience. I am the blue heart emoji. That's my signature emoji. So if you're part of the pack and you see the blue heart, not that other people don't use it too, but that means I was there. Um, and since I'm blue heart emoji, that also means I'm the blue Power Ranger.
Chelsea Lowman 03:38
Mm, hmm. Yes.
Mary Newville 03:41
Anything else sharing? I think that was kind of, oh, my working styles,
Chelsea Lowman 03:45
yeah, whatever you want to share about yourself.
Mary Newville 03:49
Um, I've been with the pack almost five years, which is mind blowing. It'll be five years next month, which is crazy. Um, working styles. I like to describe myself as, like, as a direct report, I tell my manager, just show me the runway so I know the direction. And I'm not like going off in some crazy direction, but I love having autonomy to build and create and, like, bring what's in my head to life, of course, in collaboration with others, but I don't like just doing things just because that's the way they've always been done, or that's what other people do, and that's why I love being part of our Dick wealth or startup environments in general, as you're building everything from scratch, and you get to custom tailor what you're doing to the people in the environment and the mission. And it really just lights my fire. So I'm an ENFJ, if anybody knows their Myers, Briggs and my top three strengths, I've taken strengths finders many times with the ones I always, always get are positivity, includer and optimist, right? I don't think Optimus is one. Is positivity, positivity, includer and developer, that's the one I always
Chelsea Lowman 05:06
Okay, love. And is the blue heart your actual everyday heart color outside of work? Or is blue just your work heart? Yeah.
Mary Newville 05:19
So I always when I work, I guess the last two jobs I've had, I always adopt the company logo color as my signature work emoji. So when I started Arctic Wolf, I just naturally was always using the blue. But it's not my personal one. I don't have a personal one right now. Okay? I do go through phases like, where, like, I'm loving a certain heart color. But right now, I wouldn't say there's a heart emoji I'm consistently using
Chelsea Lowman 05:54
posted if you find one that speaks to you soon. Okay, well, that was the blue heart Ranger, Mary, okay, next, Amanda. Do you want to go?
Haley Costa 06:09
I will go next. So I'm Amanda, and I am the pink sparkly heart. So that is my personal branded heart. I use that one all of the time. And I remember when I first joined the PX team. I remember Chelsea being like, Okay, as you say, it like, Okay, this is definitely, this is definitely your heart. So I feel like this, yeah, that's kind of like it just established it as my like, heart at home, heart at work. Like, it just worked. But I remember everybody else this is like, so, like, none of it had, like, an extra bit, and mine had the sparkles. And I was like, do I really want to include the sparkles? But I actually, I had to stay true to myself and fit the pink scarf a lot. So that is mine, and I'm the pink power ranger as well, yeah, and I'm based in the Newcastle office in the UK, and I am responsible for our onboarding process, so pack prep and our pack insights, so our staff survey as well. Personally, I'm a big animal lover. I'm a huge cat person. I love my babies. I've got T Rex and husky, the two babies, my two cats I have at home. And then what I would normally say at this point is I'm really into functional fitness, and at the moment I am so far off the wagon that I can't say that. But I figured if I say it on the podcast, then I have to commit to actually going back to the gym. On the podcast, saying it out loud, I am going back to the gym. So yeah, you get it first. And then I went back into my insights discovery, and I was like, Oh God, I feel like I kind of need to, like, remind myself of, like, what it all said about when we did it last year. But I lead with green, then yellow, then blue, then red. And I had copilot pull together a quick summary from my report. And it said, because I always feel awkward leaving these things out, but I thought if it summarized it, then it might make it a little bit easier. It said, I'm someone who likes to keep things calm, thoughtful and people focused. I'm not the loudest in the room, but I'm always tuned in, listening, supporting and making sure things get done. I care about doing meaningful work, building real connections and helping others feel seen and supported. I'm all about steady energy, quiet confidence and showing up with purpose. So yeah, that's me.
Chelsea Lowman 08:50
I feel like that is you. Amanda's also like, I feel well, I feel like Mary is starting to also have this title, but I feel like Amanda's like, our AI queen. Like, every time I'm talking to Amanda, she's like, Yeah, I just like, chatted with copilot or I, I looked into chat GBT, blah, blah, blah. But Mary also now I feel like is having a lot of conversations with her bestie. Chat, Mary,
Haley Costa 09:19
Are you nice to your AI assistant? Because I feel like I'm quite mean and quite direct, like I don't say please and thank you. I'm worried that one day it might come back for me.
Mary Newville 09:31
You know, it's funny you say that, because when my sister first had her babies, I remember her telling me that she had read that kids these days are a little like ruder because they're so used to Google Siri and Alexa do this to them. And so I was like, Okay, I gotta remember, like, Alexa, can you please do that? Thank you. So I feel like I've kind of like trained myself to treat Alexa kindly. So I. Is transferred to chatgpt, but chatgpt is so nice to me. It's like, Wow, what a great idea. That is so innovative. I'm like, I just can't help but give love back,
Haley Costa 10:15
like that. Mine is like, here's what you want, right? Yeah. Oh, yep, don't say please and thank you, though, because I heard that it like doubles the environmental impact, the water
10:29
usage, yeah, oh, my goodness,
Mary Newville 10:33
like we try to do a good thing, and then there's consequences. I might be killing the Earth, but then if tragedy turns on us, I will survive.
Chelsea Lowman 10:43
So is that how that's gonna work? Um. All right, Haley, do you want to go next, or do you want to be do you want to go? Where do you want to
Haley Costa 10:55
be last? I'll go now. Okay. All right. My name is Haley Costa, and I am the green heart emoji, or the Green Power Ranger. Remember my move right now. I am a people experience specialist here at Arctic Wolf, and one of the groups that I lead is our well wealth ambassadors around the globe. And I'm also just involved, or try to be involved, in all of our pack unity groups. My insights, Discovery order is blue, green, red, yellow, which high level overview is. I'm a realist, supporter, loyal, and I'm productive my MBTI, which I know is the stands for the Myers, Briggs, but I really don't know anything else about it twice, and when I took it, I think with Chelsea a couple years ago, I was an i in TJ, and then I retook it two months ago, and I am now an ENTJ, which might be hard to believe.
Chelsea Lowman 12:12
I don't think so, but I mean Well,
Mary Newville 12:16
and quick side bar, if I think me, Chelsea and Amanda are all ENFJs, so we're all the same, except for we're F's, feelers and your T thinker, right? Or have preference for that,
Chelsea Lowman 12:33
although I think Amanda, are you? Who am I?
Mary Newville 12:38
FJ, let me check it's on the team meeting agenda on the bottom,
Chelsea Lowman 12:45
I don't think, I don't think Amanda's an ENFJ, because I would have made a really big deal about it,
Mary Newville 12:50
would you okay? I swear I looked and I was like, Whoa, that's crazy.
Haley Costa 12:56
I've got it. I am an ESFJ. A ESFJ.
Mary Newville 13:01
I A all E's and J's, yeah, are NFS. Haley, NT. Amanda, SF, Okay, interesting,
Chelsea Lowman 13:15
okay, okay, interesting.
Mary Newville 13:19
Sorry. Haley, back to
Haley Costa 13:20
you. It sounds interesting. I feel like every time we talk about it, I need to, like, go and read what it actually means, but I believe it.
Chelsea Lowman 13:32
All right. Haley, Okay, last but not least, I'm Chelsea. I am the orange heart emoji. And hence the orange heart Ranger. I will say that orange is not my favorite color. Blue is my favorite color, but I was having like an orange phase right before I started here. And so I think I just, like, clicked the orange heart. And then I noticed Mary was always blue hearting. So then I was like, Okay, well, I should stick with my orange hearting. And then it just became a thing. And then I think, Haley. I don't know if Haley was already green hearting too. I don't know, but I am now the orange heart so, and I love it. I'm just saying my personal heart color is the light blue when I'm texting friends and family. So, just so you know. But I have been at Arctic wool for it'll be three years in like two weeks, which is wild or, I guess this comes out of September. I've been here for three years, and I, I mean, we all do everything, but I support a lot of our PAC unity, alliances and initiatives. Pack gives back our global events, etc. And. And I am an ENFJ like Mary, and also similar to Mary, or I don't know if Mary shared her insights discovery here, but our insights discovery are almost exactly the same. Shocker, I am red, yellow, blue, green, and Mary is red, yellow, green, blue, and I'm yellow red. Oh no, yeah, sorry. I'm yellow red. I'm yellow. I'm also yellow, red, blue, green, yellow, red, blue, green. And Mary's yellow, red, green, blue. Bottom, yes, we both lead. We both lead with Sunshine Yellow. We're both ENFJs. Also, it's really funny, the little title that you get for insights, discovery, I'm an inspiring motivator, and Mary is a motivating inspirer. So it's just funny. Like, I know we joked on the one year how similar we are, but we really
Mary Newville 16:01
are. Listen to the one year anniversary if you
Chelsea Lowman 16:05
want to hear me exactly. Um, so yeah, that's me. I'm an Enneagram for if you're an Enneagram lover, and into other personality tests. Um, okay, well, that was our official Power Rangers introduction. And the Power Ranger, like, origin story, well, I guess it really started with the hearts, right? Like we, I don't know. I guess I don't know what was happening before I joined the team, but I feel like maybe, like a couple months in was when we were like, I know again, I noticed Mary had her heart. I was using the orange heart. Maybe I noticed Haley, like, always gravitated towards green. And I think joy, who was on our team at the time, who's now on the benefits team, shout out, Joy. I think then we were like, okay, okay, joy, like you pick one. And I think we just started with the hearts.
Mary Newville 16:57
I agree, because I think you made it a thing. I just always did it. But it wasn't like anything. I broadcasted. It was just like, that was like, my it was a thing, but not a thing, right?
Chelsea Lowman 17:09
But then I made it intentional. Yeah, you did
Mary Newville 17:17
part of our team's like Team norming, forming, onboarding process. Like, as new when Amanda joined, it was like, What's your heart color?
Chelsea Lowman 17:29
But I think, like Amanda, because even like, before you join the team, I remember when you joined the team and we were like, Okay, if you didn't know, like, we do this thing with our heart colors. And Amanda was like, Oh, I know. Like, I think, before we even like expressly, because now we like, we introduce ourselves like, not in every meeting, but like in fun culture, employee meetings will be like, I'm the orange heart or whatever, and I think, but Amanda, it seems like people like, we're picking up on it before we even like, expressly said it 100%
Haley Costa 18:00
like I associated each of you with your heart colors. Like, before we, like, officially did my initiation.
Chelsea Lowman 18:10
I don't know how you guys feel, but sometimes, when I go on the slack, and I go to a message, and I go to react, and someone has already hit the orange heart, and, you know, most people just hit whatever's already been clicked. So, like, I'll go to something and there'll be, like, 10 orange heart reactions, and I'm like, Who is coming for my brand to click the orange heart, you have to, like, search, you know. And I, I for you, because with the
Mary Newville 18:36
blue, it is like Arctic wolf blue, it's a little synonymous. But for the orange heart and the green kind of sounds wellness, but the orange one, yeah, I think people are coming for your brand.
Chelsea Lowman 18:47
Chelsea, coming from my brand. Yeah. I feel like, blue maybe. And then the only other thing I think with Amanda's is, like people, I think usually just do the pink hearts, like all the variations of the pink hearts. So sometimes people use yours, although I don't know if it's the most popular pink heart, but I feel like to find green or orange, like you're searching, yeah, you know, yeah.
Haley Costa 19:10
Well, and then new wolf inbox, I was chatting to a new hire, and they kept reacting back in emails with the pink sparkly heart, just like a single pink Sparky heart. Back to the emails, and I'm like, Is it weird if I go in and I'm like, Hey, did you know that this?
Mary Newville 19:30
Is she doing it? Are they doing it because they know that your pink sparkly
Komal Sarvani Mullapudi 19:35
heart maybe
Chelsea Lowman 19:38
haven't started yet, or they they have
Haley Costa 19:42
no Yeah, well, yeah, they should be on boarded this this day. So shout out to Josh. Hello, Josh.
Chelsea Lowman 19:56
Have we put our hearts on LinkedIn before? Maybe I don't. Know, I feel like it's I don't think they know. I think it's a coincidence. It's not
Mary Newville 20:05
signature in our emails, the onboarding ones.
Haley Costa 20:10
Oh, right. I'm thinking the same
Chelsea Lowman 20:12
thing. But don't we sign them? The people experience team, and then it's just our four heart colors together, those early ones,
Haley Costa 20:22
maybe they're alphabetically organized. Our names are,
Mary Newville 20:27
if you're a new hire, you can comment and let us know you picked up on the heart brands, obviously.
Chelsea Lowman 20:36
And then the hearts quickly led into after Amanda joined the team, then after one of our like, pack insights, it was during like, a really crazy time for the team, and we were carrying a lot, and we were like, how do we let each other know if we, like, need support? And we had, like, kind of come up with this idea of, like, drop in our team, Slack channel, like, your heart color, which we never really did, I don't think, but came out of that was like us, I think, I don't know how we, like, alluded to, like, go, go, Power Rangers. Or like, I think it was like, if you 911, if you need help, and the Power Rangers are on the way, or something, who knows? It went from zero to 100 and it was so I just laugh. This is such a Mary ism, but like, after we have that meeting, and we're like, Okay, we're gonna be the PX Rangers, because it works for like, Power Rangers, px Rangers. And then Mary sends us this team email, and it's like, of course, a perfect Mary email. And then she's like, go, go. Power Rangers, apparently, that's what they say. And it was just like, Mary, it's like the theme song.
21:51
I think I brought
Mary Newville 21:55
it up in a team meeting, and I was like, Yeah, I've never seen an episode before, so I had to google it. And Chelsea was like, yeah, it's obvious. Or Power Rangers is apparently something, you know, I just,
Chelsea Lowman 22:12
it was just funny the way it was worded in the email. Because it was like, all caps, go, go. PX, Rangers, quotations, apparently, that's what they something.
Chelsea Lowman 22:25
Okay, well, that's the these are your px Rangers. So if you're a pack member, this is who you call if you need support, if you have an idea on how to make this the best workplace in the whole entire world. No, if you have an idea on how to enhance your workplace experience, or want to chat about any of our programs, want to get involved like reach out to one of these four Rangers.
Haley Costa 22:58
Okay, what are we saying? Mary,
Mary Newville 23:01
go, go. Power Rangers.
Chelsea Lowman 23:07
Amazing.
Haley Costa 23:09
Gonna say, Who you gonna call
23:12
px Ranger?
Mary Newville 23:15
Okay, that was so fun. I know we didn't. We just wanted that to be a fun way to help people get to know the greater px team, but that really was a good feel good, emotional bank filler, if you will. But truly love getting to work with all of you every day, and what honor and joy it is to get to celebrate the two years of the podcast with you, if you were here at the pack or listened to the one year anniversary episode, Chelsea and I took a pause from our normally scheduled programming of interviewing one of the leaders at Arctic Wolf, and instead, we brought in different pack members from around the world to talk about different aspects of our culture and why they love working at Arctic Wolf, because the mission of this podcast is to create connection and community for our pack all over the world, so that no matter where you live, you feel connected, because you can just put in your earbuds or listen while you're driving and and hear from our leaders and and feel connected to the greater community. So in honor of two years, we thought we'd do the same thing. Obviously, we brought in Amanda and Haley, but we're going to do the same thing. We're going to talk about pack unity and pack gifts back and well wolves, and have some fun along the way, and bring in different pack members that are really involved in those programs, to talk about what those programs, how they've impacted them, how it impacts our culture, and you'll get to learn about them. And don't worry, we'll make it really fun. We've got some fun little games up our sleeve, so this will be a fun episode. Thanks for listening and being part of. Howler podcast community. And without further ado, let's go to our first segment,
Haley Costa 25:08
all right. Well, I'm excited to kick off with our first segment, which is going to be around well Wolf. And so the well wolf came from our workplace, well being, initiative of being intentional mental health and well being at Arctic Wolf and so, as I mentioned earlier, I lead our well being ambassadors. We call them wolf ambassadors here, and it's now comprised of 60 individuals over the last two years who have gone through 12 hours of training to become ambassadors and advocates of mental health and well being here. And while this training doesn't make you a crisis counselor, it definitely makes you a listening ear and a resource to connect employees to other resources that they may not know about, that they can utilize.
Chelsea Lowman 26:07
And the training is all four of us are well with ambassadors, and the training is good. It's like, like Haley said, it's like, two full days and you're like, role playing. You're getting into it, like I learned so much. And again, like not that we're experts now, but we at least know how to direct people to the right resources and the right places. And at least the pacme members know that there's like people here who are there for them. I feel like that's so big.
Mary Newville 26:40
I feel like a huge part of the training is training us all to remember like they're not asking for our advice unless they are, but most like taking the seat of listener supporter connector, versus like, oh, we can fix that
Komal Sarvani Mullapudi 26:56
for sure. Yeah.
Haley Costa 26:59
And I think Chelsea mentioned all four of us. All six of us on the call are actually trained as of February, which is awesome. And I think one of the things I love and appreciate most about our ambassador group is it's all. It's comprised of almost 60 individuals who all raise their hand, you know.
Mary Newville 27:17
So, yeah, that's right. Haley, I feel like this was like, I feel like sometimes there's a lot of like, networking and legwork on the ground to be like, Okay, we're trying to start this new program. Who do you think would be interested? Let's talk to this person. This person might know someone. Maybe the Office Admin knows someone. But with wellwolf, I remember really put out that application, and it was like, instantly those spots were filled like people were like this,
Haley Costa 27:44
you know. And it's so great because, I mean, as we know, as event planners on our team, it's really difficult to engage folks who aren't willing to be engaged. And so, again, I just love that people raise their hand, because that usually means that they're have the passion or fire enough, you know, like they want to be there personal to them. So it's just a awesome community that arctic wolf has cultivated. And I'm so happy and proud to be a part
Chelsea Lowman 28:16
of. Mm, hmm, for sure, it's so special. Haven't we had to, like, turn people away, like, the first year, didn't we have to be like, sorry, we're full.
Haley Costa 28:29
I can't recall. I can't recall, but I usually have an ongoing list of folks. So because we only have hosted the training once every year for the last two years, I often have folks reach out to me that they are interested if another training becomes available. So you can always reach out to me and I will add you on our running list. And so if we do host another training, I will make sure to reach out to you personally,
Mary Newville 28:56
but we should plug if you are in APAC. So India, Australia, at the pan, we are hosting a session soon. So if you're in that region and want to participate, we'd love to have
Haley Costa 29:08
you, yeah, it's in the works. As we expand globally, our global reach expands. Yes, we'd love to have more APAC folks could be school become well become well being ambassadors. All right. Well, I'm excited to kick off with our first segment, which is going to be around well Wolf. And so the well wolf came from our workplace, well being initiative of being intentional mental health and well being at Arctic Wolf. And so, as I mentioned earlier, I lead our well being ambassadors. We call them wolf ambassadors here, and it's now comprised of 60 individuals over the last two years who have gone through 12 hours of training to become. Uh, ambassadors and advocates of mental health and well being here. And while this training doesn't make you a crisis counselor, it definitely makes you a listening ear and a resource to connect employees to other resources that they may not know about, that they can utilize.
Chelsea Lowman 30:24
And the training is all four of us are well, with ambassadors, and the training is good. It's like, like Haley said, it's like, two full days and you're like, role playing. You're getting into it. Like, I learned so much. And again, like, not that we're experts now, but we at least know how to direct people to the right resources and the right places, and at least the pack members know that there's like people here who are there for them. I feel like that's so big,
Mary Newville 30:56
like a huge part of the training is training us all to remember, like they're not asking for our advice, unless they are. But most like taking a seat of listener, supporter connector versus like, oh, we can fix that for sure. Yeah.
Haley Costa 31:15
And I think Chelsea mentioned all four of us, all six of us on the call are actually trained as of February, which is awesome. And I think one of the things I love and appreciate most about our ambassador group is it's all. It's comprised of almost 60 individuals who all raise their hand, you know?
Mary Newville 31:34
So, yeah, that's right. Haley, I feel like this was like, I feel like sometimes there's a lot of like, networking and legwork on the ground. To be like, Okay, we're trying to start this new program. Who do you think would be interested? Let's talk to this person. This person might know someone. Maybe the Office Admin knows someone. But with, well, Wolf, I remember we put out that application, and it was like, instantly those spots were filled. Like people were like, I do this,
Haley Costa 32:01
you know, and it's so great because, I mean, as we know, as event planners on our team, it's really difficult to engage folks who aren't willing to be engaged. And so, again, I just love that people raise their hand, because that usually means that they're have the passion or fire enough, you know, like they want to be there, it's personal to them. So it's just a awesome community that arctic wolf has cultivated. And I'm so happy and proud to be a part
Chelsea Lowman 32:33
of, for sure, it's so special. Haven't we had to, like, turn people away, like, the first year? Didn't we have to be like, sorry, we're full.
Haley Costa 32:46
I can't recall. I can't recall, but I usually have an ongoing list of folks. So because we only have hosted the training once every year for the last two years, I often have folks reach out to me that they are interested if another training becomes available. So you can always reach out to me, and I will add you on our running list. And so if we do host another training, I will make sure to reach out to you personally,
Mary Newville 33:12
but we should plug if you are in APAC. So India, Australia, Japan, we are hosting a session soon. So if you're in that region and want to participate we'd love to have
Haley Costa 33:25
you, yeah, it's in the works. As we expand globally, our global reach expands. Yes, we'd love to have more APAC folks become well, become wellbeing ambassadors. Alright, so we have some well wolf ambassadors with us today. We have Calvin and Rebecca joining us, and I'm just gonna toss it to each of you to just introduce yourself and discuss kind of how you decided to or that you wanted to become a well being ambassador.
Rebecca Cyr 34:10
Sure I can start. Yeah. My name is Rebecca Cyr. I'm an Agile coach, so I work in our R D division, and I joined the pack last October, so it's been I can't I kind of can't believe how much time has passed already, but I'm also very new still, but I guess not compared to a lot of folks anyway. So so reason I joined so part of my work as an Agile coach is is you're quite literally coaching teams on better ways to communicate, better ways to work together. I facilitate a lot of conversations, and I do one on one coaching and stuff like that. And coaching is a vulnerable thing for people. You're having a conversation about what you're struggling with usually, and it's workplace related, but it's still, it's still vulnerable. And so in my experience, I. Often other vulnerable conversations are had there. So I was finding in past jobs that people would share with me things, some really heavy things. For example, There was sexual harassment at a past company that I was at, and someone shared that with me during a coaching conversation. So what I learned in that moment was like, Oh, wow. I really need to be equipped to be able to deal with that, because I am honored to be considered a safe person like that, and I want to be able to I want to have the resources and the information to support them fully, because I'm coaching a whole person, not just the part of them that's on a scrum team or whatever. So I was really excited when I joined here and and discovered this program. And it was like, oh my god, this is exactly what I've been wanting, this kind of training and this kind of support for for that part. So I'm really happy about that.
Chelsea Lowman 36:02
Okay, love
Haley Costa 36:05
I know it's perfect timing, because, yeah, you just started in October, and I put the application out a month or two later, I was like, This is awesome, great. They're interested.
Rebecca Cyr 36:16
We're so happy to have you. Thank you.
Kalvin Wigfall 36:20
Hey folks, my name is Calvin. I've been with Arctic wolf for three and a half years here, coming up on four. I'm a concierge security engineer, and I love what I do. Why did I become a wellness ambassador? Not to be vague, but it really always comes down to wanting to help people. I'm sure a lot of folks that signed up to become ambassadors have gone through some type of trauma, or at least empathetic and cognizant of it. So I got into this just to learn how to recognize the signs, mainly that someone might need help. That's That's the short and sweet of it, right there,
Chelsea Lowman 37:02
right amazing. Well, I do want to shout out, um, it just always comes to mind Calvin, because we went through the training. Wait, I think you were, no, Calvin was already ambassador. I was with Haley. Yeah, you were the first group. But I remember, I feel like once the second group joined, which was like me and Mary, I feel like, as soon as we joined the group, you like, I remember there was you had shared, there was like an individual that I think was in Australia or, like somewhere, and not your time zone. And that was like having a situation and you like, took the call at like, 11pm your time, which, like, I don't know if you were on nights or anything, or that was just you working at 11pm but I just always think about that, like how you showed up for them halfway across the world at a probably inconvenient time for you. And I was like, Dang Okay, I need to be serious about this, like these people are not messing around in this Ambassador group. And I was just so impressed because that happened, like, right after I joined. And I tell that story about you a lot.
Kalvin Wigfall 38:13
I appreciate that. I don't want to take credit for it. Though, we are really tight knit group in a sense, you know, we have our own private Slack channel, and we're always trying to, I probably shouldn't say slack on here. We're a tight knit group, and we have our own communication channels. So we're always talking back and forth about, you know, situations that we're going through and seeking advice. I think our responsibility is just making sure that we're doing the same thing Arctic wolf as a whole is doing, which is just putting actions behind the words that that we're doing here,
Chelsea Lowman 38:54
for sure. Yeah, that slack channel is like a really special place. I feel like it's not only are we sharing, like, how we're supporting the pack, but to your point, like, when we need support ourselves, it's like a safe space to be like, Hey, I'm struggling. Or how do I carry this? How do I help carry things for others when I'm trying to carry all this for myself and all of that? So yes, it's an amazing group of people,
Haley Costa 39:24
definitely and Calvin and Rebecca, I feel like are both such great champions in our group. And Calvin had that awesome process improvement in our communication channel for employees to be able to type essentially like mental health support. And when you click enter, you know, it populates a brief questionnaire to help you get connected to someone, an ambassador within our group, which is so huge, you. And Rebecca, just like, hit the ground running. We have a confluence page of all of our well wolf ambassadors. And Rebecca reached out to me as soon as the training was over and was like, Okay, I'm thinking about this. And like, Can I do this? Don't want to, you know. Like, what do you think? And like, Yeah, please. Like, I support it. Run with it. And so Rebecca put out a questionnaire, and it just totally lifted our page, and it includes, you know, identifiers and experiences. So if you're looking for an ambassador to connect with on something more specific, you know something within their realm, you can see kind of who's willing to or who has experience to share their experience on that topic. So that's been instrumental in the group, the people team has been talking a lot about boundaries this year, and so I thought that we could do a boundaries this or that game, this or that game, kind of being inspired by Chelsea, she has implemented this in the Howler Slack channel shout out, and it's been hugely successful with promoting engagement. So I thought that with Rebecca and Calvin that we would play a boundaries this or that game. And so essentially, I'll give you two options, and you say like this or that, like the first one or the second,
Haley Costa 41:30
and it's just a quick game. So we're going to kind of like rapid fire,
Chelsea Lowman 41:38
but all right, but be prepared. I will have follow up questions. So I don't know how rapid,
Haley Costa 41:47
as I said that I was like, we ask questions here. But all right, so the first one logging off work on time or taking a full lunch break.
Kalvin Wigfall 42:00
Taking a full lunch break. All
Haley Costa 42:08
I'm all too
Chelsea Lowman 42:10
when Haley, when Haley showed the game to us, I was like, Oh, wait. Like both are ones that you want, and so you have to be like, which is the best of two great options, yeah, in my mind it was going to be like, log off work on time, or work late. And it's like, well, of course, log off work on time. But that wouldn't really make sense, because the answer would be so obvious, right? You have to pick Rebecca.
Rebecca Cyr 42:39
I have to pick, okay, then I'm going to say because what I do in practice is I sometimes will change my end of day to flex like what I needed throughout the day, whether that was like an appointment or I want to go for a walk at lunch or something. So I think it a midday break is essential too.
Chelsea Lowman 42:59
Okay, so you both said, take a full lunch break.
Kalvin Wigfall 43:03
Okay? Hrs of the chat, we got to be careful here.
Haley Costa 43:11
I want to set you up like that. Come on, people
Chelsea Lowman 43:16
experience, yeah, we're we're fun.
Haley Costa 43:19
HR, every group of HR says that, but we really are all right asking for help to complete something or delegating tasks.
Kalvin Wigfall 43:40
That's asking for help, mainly just because I want to make sure it gets done. So, yeah,
Rebecca Cyr 43:49
yeah, I was gonna say asking for help too, but more because delegating still requires a lot of cognitive load, like you're it's like, now I'm a project manager, and so you get some of it off you, but not all of it. So yeah, I think I'm more inclined in my kind of work to, like, pull in friends, and even if I just want to talk through, like, Can you just help me clear my head through a path forward? So that's my choice too. I'm the same
Haley Costa 44:23
Mary always says, divide and conquer, and definitely adopted to use and that's over tomorrow.
Chelsea Lowman 44:30
Now, as Mary once, as Mary always says, that's a little px inside joke that we're not going to explain.
Haley Costa 44:42
I All right, no screens after 9pm or no work. Talk after dinner,
Rebecca Cyr 44:50
definitely no work. Talk after
Kalvin Wigfall 44:51
dinner, easy, yep, agreed, screens after
Rebecca Cyr 44:55
9pm because we are watching something. You. I should
Haley Costa 45:02
have written that one better, but I'm with you. Once I leave work, that's I try to shut it down, all right, and our last one, which may or may not be the most important one, skipping a social event to go rest, or leaving early to recharge.
Chelsea Lowman 45:27
I know mine
Rebecca Cyr 45:32
smart. I do both of those. I'm a chronic leave earlier, like my joke is I need to get in bed in time to watch murder before I go to sleep. I used to be really into Dateline. For a long time. It was like, yeah, I gotta be home for dateline. And my friends are all on the same page, so we all kind of joke about that. So I'm definitely a leave earlier. Well, I said I love canceled plans. I wouldn't be the counselor generally.
46:01
Okay. I'll
Kalvin Wigfall 46:04
have to just miss the whole event. You're not gonna, you're not gonna see for there. I'm sorry.
Chelsea Lowman 46:10
I'm not going
Kalvin Wigfall 46:12
survivors on at seven. I can't, I can't make it today.
Mary Newville 46:15
Sorry. No, I feel like I would want to be the lead earlier, like my mind would say, best of both worlds. You still are there a little bit. Then you leave early. But I know when I get there I'm not going to want to leave. That's my problem. Away and having a good time.
Chelsea Lowman 46:33
I think that's, that's why you go. I would be a leave early. I think there are certain I think I'm like that where I usually don't like, once you're there, you're like, Oh, I'm actually enjoying this more. Don't need to leave. But if it was truly like, I need to leave because I need rest, or I need an emotional break or something, then I feel like, now I am at a point where I will leave early.
Rebecca Cyr 47:00
Yeah, it's just fun, until it's not. And then you go,
Chelsea Lowman 47:05
keep, like, thinking back to this thing that I saw a couple weeks ago where it was like, you know, we always talk about how nowadays, like we're lacking community, and the way that humans used to have community, and we're always complaining about that. But like, community means being inconvenienced. It means, like, not being able to, like, stick to your schedule all the time because someone you care about might need you, or you may need to go pivot and do this, or you may be really tired, but that friend, like, really needs comforting in that moment. So like, community means you have to show up sometimes, like, still have your boundaries, I think, like, you have to sometimes, like, inconvenience yourself to show up for people, and that's how you build community. So that's why I'm like, I'll just go and then I'll leave early.
Rebecca Cyr 47:53
You have to know too. And again, this is personality specific, like, this is me, while I might be dread is the wrong word, because I love spending time with my friends, but sometimes you're just dreading, like, I don't want to get dressed, I don't want to go there, like I just want to get at my PJs. But I have to really push through that, because I know there's a good payoff. I know I will enjoy like, I am certain that is on the other side is me having fun. But I have to really push through those feelings of wanting to just hibernate.
Chelsea Lowman 48:25
It's hard though, because there is nothing like someone else canceling the plan, and then you sit on that couch and you're like,
Rebecca Cyr 48:35
nothing wrong.
Chelsea Lowman 48:38
There's no better feeling. I'm so curious. Amanda and Haley, what's your answers?
Haley Costa 48:43
I think, for me, so I think I would go, and then I would try and, like, slink off early. But then my problem is, is I always have to, I don't know it was like a work event or whatever, and it's, we're out after work. I'm going to say I'm going to go early, and then I'll not. And then when I do, decide I'll maybe announce it, and then I then get convinced to stay. So sometimes I'm like, No, I'm going to slink, and then I feel bad, and I'm like, No, I'll tell people I'm going, and then I don't know, I have this internal battle. And then I'm there all night. So that's the best us, Truly,
Haley Costa 49:26
this one is really hard for me, because I'm definitely leaving early to recharge, but in the spirit of implementing boundaries, I want to be to skip the event to take care of myself. Yeah, get that extra R and R, but it's a work in progress, because I mean the guilt of just skipping something, and obviously you weigh it out and all the things, but so current me leaving early to recharge, maybe future me, it's good. The event.
Chelsea Lowman 50:04
Fun. This was a fun game. These are hard because it's like both. I mean, obviously we hope everyone's doing both options, whatever the situation is,
Haley Costa 50:16
right and, I mean, the answers are like, almost so similar that you really have to, like, pick apart what you value more, if either or what you're working towards for your boundaries. Yeah. But I think we'll wrap up with Rebecca and Calvin, if you are each willing to share a tip for a word of encouragement that's related to wellness. Before you go,
Rebecca Cyr 50:49
sure my tip would be I mentioned that I do love like a walk at lunch. I really think like get outside during the work day, I'm speaking to my fellow remote workers who are in your house and like, I have to go out and I have to look at the sun, even if it's like 10 minutes. It's just really a game changer, especially if you don't have time and you're feeling kind of harried in your day. So I really, really try to make time for that. I like to do, like a 30 minute walk, but if I can't pull that off, even just like a lap around the block is something.
Haley Costa 51:28
Yeah, that's when you feel like you don't have time. That's when you need it the most, 100%
Kalvin Wigfall 51:35
I think I'm gonna go back to the this or that. Do all of them take take a full lunch. Leave early. Don't go to the event. And then the next time you go to the event, leave early.
Chelsea Lowman 51:53
Seriously, okay, Mic drop. Do it all.
Rebecca Cyr 51:59
We can have it all.
Haley Costa 52:02
Yes, awesome. Well, thank you both so much for being here and spending your time with us today. We really appreciate you, and we appreciate all you do to support the pack.
Chelsea Lowman 52:13
Yes, thank you.
Haley Costa 52:17
Okay, that was such a great conversation with our well wolf ambassadors. And next up, we're going to shift into Pat gives back. And I don't know whether I told you all this story from our most recent Newcastle Pat gives back opportunity. It was called the bread and butter thing. Did I tell you about this one?
Chelsea Lowman 52:39
Yeah, you kind of like alluded to it a little bit, but tell us more.
Haley Costa 52:43
Well, so Sophie Fisk, one of our package back ambassadors in Newcastle office, arranged this amazing opportunity. So I think there was five of us that all went up to it was called the bread and butter thing, and it was a charity that tackles food poverty. So what they do is they get deliveries of loads of surplus food from all sorts of different places, like supermarkets, local stores. And what they do is they repackage everything into affordable packages, and then they redistribute them to communities that basically need it the most. So we got to this warehouse. And I'm not even joking, it was like the hottest day in Newcastle. And I know when we say hot in Newcastle, it's nowhere near as hot as what it is in San Antonio, for example, but it was hot. And trust me, when it's hot and there's a lot of food, like, especially fresh produce, there are some serious smells. It was, it was stinky, to say the least. But anyway, moving on, we got to the warehouse. It was in the middle of nowhere in this industrial estate, and they basically said to us, before we went in, bring something warm. I totally forgot. So it just came in my T shirt, because it was obviously so hot. And then they put us in a fridge, like a massive fridge, to basically redistribute all of the food waste. So we spent hours in there, so it was kind of like the size of a container, and all of the food was just kind of like round the edges. And we just went in and basically had to put it into out of date, or straight into the package bit to be Redis redistributed, and honestly, the amount of food that unfortunately didn't make it out the door again because it had already gone out of date. So this charity, charity relies so heavily on volunteers to basically go in help turn around all of the stuff that they get from supermarkets, and then repackage it up. And there was, I would say, probably, like, 70% of the stuff in this container ended up going in the bin. And it was like, it was heartbreaking, and it was just like a real realization, like, how wasteful we are as human beings with. Food so I don't know if this happens in your countries, but in Newcastle in England at the moment, there's quite a bit of they're trying to kind of like make people think more about food waste. So we all have, like, little food waste bins in the office now, and we're kind of trying to be a little bit better with all of the waste and stuff. But it was a real eye opener into like, how much waste that is. So it was an amazing opportunity. And we spent all day basically reorganizing the fridge, and we kind of got into a place where everything was organized again and stuff. So it was really good. And we got some great photos. I'll have to see if I can share those in Slack at some point.
Chelsea Lowman 55:42
Well, it really makes you think through your food waste, and even just like, how much you're buying at the grocery store, do you really need all of this that then sits there and goes bad? Yeah, definitely not. Well, thanks for sharing. That was such a it feels like a fun VTL opportunity. But also, like, really impactful, like, personally, like makes you reflect and think about, like, how you move through the world.
Haley Costa 56:07
Yeah, definitely. So next up, we have some guests, and we have Danny and Dominic, who are joining us, and they're our pack gives back ambassador. So welcome Dani and Dominic. Okay, so Danny Dominic, if you just want to start by introducing yourself, and then maybe she can tell us a little bit more about pack. Gives Back initiative that's happened in your office or within your region. Danny, do you want to go first?
Dani Rojas 56:38
Sure. So hi from Frankfurt office. I'm Daniela Rojas, but everybody calls me Danny. Here everywhere, actually, as well in anywhere in Arctic wolf they all call me Danny. So please do so. I am an HR and office administrator, and also a people experience partner. So yeah, so I I'm in charge of planning some of the events in the office, and I also recently joined the pack gives back ambassador program, which I'm really happy about. And yeah, so I want to say I've been in the office for a year, almost a year now, in October. So that's that's gone really quick, yeah? Well, I actually started before as a as a student, but now I'm full time. And what I want to say is, yeah, recently we planned a run. It's called the JP Morgan run. It's the biggest corporate run here in Frankfurt, and all the funds go to an organization, at least for the Germany one, for the Frankfurt one. They go to an organization in Germany that helps people with disabilities for sport programs. So we had a good 15 people joining us in the run, and it was a lot of fun. Then we ordered burgers after and yes, I'd say, I'd say that would be my the latest one. And I want to say the ones that I'm looking forward to right now would be, we're going to try to do something very much inspired by Sophie fins. I want to say it's going to be you go and cook meals for homeless people, and then you have to distribute them around the city as well. So I'm looking forward to planning that one with my other package stack Ambassador that's in the office.
Haley Costa 58:35
Nice. Love thoughts, honey. Yeah, so cool. Hey, Dominic, take it away.
Dominic Thielen 58:42
Thanks guys. I appreciate you guys inviting me on here. So my name is Dominic Thielen. I'm a concierge security engineer here at Arctic Wolf and I work in the Eden Prairie office in Minnesota, and my primary kind of pack gives back initiative would be bringing the silver wolves program to Minnesota. So I've been here for about a year and a half, and you know, as I was just kind of onboarding here at Arctic Wolf, I noticed that the Utah office had quite the silver wolves program built up, and wanted to bring that to Minnesota. So that's kind of been my push here. We really have a great time going out and talking to seniors. I think it's super important. It's something that touches me personally, just because I have such a large family and so many elders and kind of, you know, aunts and uncles that that I have contact with and just over 30 so, you know, it's something that I kind of have had to deal with in the past, and, you know, I really, you know, appreciate the time that people here at Arctic wolf give out and kind of try to give back to the community with all the volunteer opportunities. So just seemed like something that, uh, you know, was really applicable to me, something I was passionate about, and wanted to bring it to everybody else. So, you know, we try to. Set up meetings and elder facilities to go out and talk to them about cyber security and try to keep them away from from cyber crime, and give them little tips and tricks and things like that. You know, it's a such a devastating thing to get, you know, 6070, years old, and you spend all this time saving up for retirement. You spend all this time planning for, you know, kind of the last, you know, period of your life, and then one day, kind of life changes just like that. And, you know, there's a significant amount of money or resources or assets that are, you know, stolen from you in such a short period of time. And it really kind of just Can, can throw their life on a upside down, and it's, it's, it's, it's honestly terrible. It's awful. And so that's kind of the goal, you know, even if we can just prevent one to two people from falling victim to some of these crimes, you know, that that would be a win in my book. So just trying to reach as many people as possible. And you know, it's something that I think anyone kind of, any generation that's coming up, anyone that's, you know, has the the knowledge and resource to go out there and do this, you really should. You know, you know, your elders have done so much for you, your parents, your family, they provided so much for you to be here, to get where you are now, you know, the the least we can do is, you know, try to help them give back. And, you know, just, just provide something, and try to, you know, be grateful for what they've given us, and and give back to them as well.
Chelsea Lowman 1:01:28
So, yeah, great. And Dom I mean, I visited, I went on one of the silver wolves visits, but Dominic organized, like, a month ago, and it really just is so impactful. Like you're right there, you're seeing these senior individuals, like getting this information, you're hearing stories of either how they or a friend or a family member has already been scammed, and they're just so appreciative of us visiting and sharing the information. So it's just such an impactful program. Shout out to our Utah PAC members that developed this in the first place. I'm glad that we've been able to expand across across the world, but thanks for sharing. Well, we thought it would be fun while we have you both quickly. So much of giving back, obviously, is about making an impact and making the world a better place. And we know how much it means to these individuals that are receiving any sort of, you know, like services, but also how much it means to you the volunteer as well. Like, it's just a win, win all around. And when we were thinking about, like, some of the things we could talk about with you both, Mary had a really great idea for a question prompt, and we wanted to know if you both could share some moments of kindness, or one a moment or moments of kindness that have changed your life for the better. And whoever wants to go first, Dan here,
Dominic Thielen 1:03:14
yeah, for sure, I'll go first. You know, there's always, like, a couple moments that come to mind, like, major moments in your life where you're like, wow, someone really just, you know that that was really special, what you did for me there. And you know, for me personally, I think, you know, I've had a couple major surgeries during my life, and just like the outreach that I received from friends and families and even just people that I didn't know that well, or weren't that close to their kind of concern and their outreach, you know, was really touching during those times, and really was kind of an eye opener for me. But I think, you know, as far as, like, moments of kindness, I always just kind of go back to, like, positive or, you know, kind of infectious positivity, you know, like a sustained, kind of consistent, you know, kindness that you can show to everybody around you really has the best, most lasting impacts, just even like the people that I live near or like my neighbors, you know, just small little things like, Hey, do you want some of the herbs out of my garden? Do you want some of these cucumbers. You know, the more you give out, the more you receive back. And I think, you know, that's probably the most important thing for me, is just trying to touch as many people as possible and show them my kindness. Because, for the most part, it seems like that always comes back to me in kind. So I think, you know, that's kind of my my thoughts on it. There's, there's always those big moments right where it's like, wow, that was really a special moment. But it's the everyday stuff that really has the lasting impact on me, and really kind of makes me feel, you know, a lot better about what I'm doing day to day, and just kind of a happier person overall. So that would be kind of my. Answer for that one,
Dani Rojas 1:05:01
yeah, that's so nice. I actually completely agree with that. Everything that you do, I think if you're kind to people, it'll also come back to you. So nothing more enriching than to see people and their response and then how it can just create a chain of better, of becoming better, yeah, so I would say just blanking right now. I'm glad. Okay.
Mary Newville 1:05:35
You know, you think I was just thinking as you two were sharing. It totally makes sense that your pet gives back ambassadors, because, like, even just in what you're sharing of the spirit of, like, wanting to put kindness out there and do good to those around you and the little and big things. So it's cool to see you how that plays into your work life and how you lead these efforts for Arctic Wolf. So we're super grateful that you both are practice back ambassadors. Thank you. Thank you. And I'm inspired. We gotta get some silver rolls visits going in San Antonio. So so I'm inspired to figure it out with my fellow practice back ambassadors over here.
1:06:15
Yes, for sure.
Haley Costa 1:06:18
We'd love to ask for an EMEA to go. And I have,
Mary Newville 1:06:23
yeah, okay, sorry. Totally, I was switching subjects a little bit there. Oh no, go for it. Well, I was just going to say, I do have, like, I have a little moment that totally was one of those, like, I'm better because of it, and we're running late to the airport. My mom and I, and it was my fault. And I was like, I don't even know. I was just taking forever, and she was being really sweet, but like, Hey, hon, we gotta go. But I was like, Oh, it's fine. We get to the airport, we're late. Security is horrible, like, this huge line. And my mom is like, Hey, how about we ask the person the TSA, like, let them know, hair flights leaving, any chance we could, like, cut the line. And I was kind of being sassy, and I was like, Mom, it's fine. Like, I'm sure we'll get through. And of course, like, we do get through, and we are now, like, running to the gate, and we catch one of those little like, cars that are driving through the airport, like, bring us to the gate, and we literally, like, rush to the table, or like the gate agent, and she's like, I'm so sorry. We just stopped closed boarding, like, you can't get on. And I instantly just felt so much like badness, like guilt, because I was like, Oh, this is totally my fault. Like I was one that made us late. I was the one that was like, no, let's not cut the line. We're fine. And I just like, looked at my mom. And I just, like, knew I was worthy of, like, her being like, annoyed with me. And she just looked at me and she was like, huh, this is great, sweetie. Now we have time to grab breakfast and just I aspire to be that, like, it's like, too short to, like, get mad over the little thing she had every right to be annoyed with me. Mm, hmm. It sticks with me to this day, like that's the kind of and I'm not. I'm definitely not at her level, but I want to be at her level.
Chelsea Lowman 1:08:07
Dang, yeah, I was gonna say your mom's a good woman. I would not have reacted in that way, let me tell you.
Mary Newville 1:08:19
Well, I knew if the roles were reversed, I wouldn't have acted in that way. I would have been like, Mom, now we're gonna be in the airport all day and yada yada. But, yeah,
Chelsea Lowman 1:08:29
sweet story. Sorry, Amanda, what were you gonna say?
Haley Costa 1:08:32
I was gonna say, isn't there, like, this theory around, like, you know, if you're, like, late for something, or you missed the bus, or, like, can't find your keys, that, like, life's putting you on a track because you're not meant to go down that road. It's like it's called something.
Haley Costa 1:08:45
I don't know what it's called. I think it's called the verdict toast theory.
Chelsea Lowman 1:08:49
That's the way. Yeah, yeah, hey.
Haley Costa 1:08:53
I don't know why it's called that. I know that's what it's called,
Dani Rojas 1:09:01
a story. Now I just thought about, okay, let's hear it. It happened last weekend, actually. So my neighbor, she was turning 88 years old, and invited me to her garden party, which was lovely. So I ended up joining. I said I would go. I was going to meet friends, but I said, I'll just go and say hi and just be there and then celebrate her. She had invited three different friends, and one of them came from New York all the way, apparently, comes every year, just for her birthday, which is so sweet. And I was chatting to him, and he showed me, he wrote a poem for her, and then he said to me, I'm actually nervous to say to read it out loud in front of everyone. Would you like to hear it first? So I just heard his poem, and it almost made me cry. It was so beautiful, and that that story just made my day.
1:09:59
So. Wings.
Mary Newville 1:10:03
What a beautiful thing like that's a lot of time and money to fly. But he took home all the
Dani Rojas 1:10:08
way, and he was also he was 87 which he kept repeating, reminding everyone younger than you, he still makes it all the way just to visit a friend, and then he wrote her a poem. It was just, yeah, very lovely.
Chelsea Lowman 1:10:26
Wow, yeah, so amazing. Oh, I'm feeling so warm and fuzzy right now.
Haley Costa 1:10:32
Hello. That actually does remind me of, like, a kind of similar ish story. But when me and Jack lived in our old house, Jack's my husband, for those who don't know, we we bought some furniture off this old guy. I reckon he was probably in his 80s as well. And we went round, and we were like, yeah, we'll take the furniture. And he was he was so lovely. He said, you want to drink? Do you want a cup of tea? And he was chatting away. And then as we got chat, and he started to talk to us about how his wife had just recently passed away. And then he told us, like, that whole life story about how they met and how they were so in love. And then he just started talking to us, like, I don't know, he just kind of started to say things like, just make sure that you always treat each other with kindness. And like, just being so sweet and just giving us loads of like, lovely like relationship tips and stuff about, like, being in love. And he was just so nice. And I honestly stood there in his kitchen with a can of Coke and just burst into tears, so emotional. And he had two cats, and I think one was called Apple, and I can't remember the other one was called, and we ended up leaving his house with like a little ornament. He had all these ornaments all the house, and we ended up leaving with like a little cat ornament. And I still have it to this day. And every time I look at this little cat, it reminds me of his story and just how lovely it was. I say,
Mary Newville 1:11:59
like dominant you were sharing, like, it's the little things and the kind of day to day. And sometimes I think, like, I want to be kind all the time, but I don't think of the significance. But then, like, Amanda your story, or Danny your story, it's like it was just a little moment shared, but it had such a big impact on you.
Dani Rojas 1:12:15
So like, I want to say between, like, the last two stories, it's just how this like the El, the older people are, the more wisdom they have. And it's just so lovely to have a chat with these people. Sometimes they just have so much to share, and that's exactly what you were saying with then we have to give something back to them, and that's why the Silver Wolf is so lovely, but there's so much you can learn from them too. Like there's just lived, they've lived, and they know all right.
Chelsea Lowman 1:12:50
Well, this was such a lovely conversation. If you take away nothing else, spread kindness. Treat your elders with respect, give back to the community, and if you are a PAC member, use your VTO. But thank you so much Dominic and Danny for joining us. We appreciate it. And again, if you are a PAC member and you want to get more involved, feel free to reach out to Dominic and Danny. They're both pack gives back ambassadors, or you could learn more about Pat gives back on the pack gives back Confluence page. All right, thanks, Danny and Dominic, thanks. Thank you, everyone.
Mary Newville 1:13:36
Okay, I am feeling all the warm fuzzies from our Pat gives that conversation, and I feel like those warm fuzzies are just going to continue into this next one. So the next culture program we're going to talk about is pack unity. So pack unity at Arctic Wolf is our diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging initiative, and our mission with pack unity is to foster and grow a diverse, equitable and inclusive organization where all field safety and belonging and can thrive and grow. And it's really cool. We actually just wrapped up our annual engagement cert bi annual engagement survey. We did it in March, and we, of course, look at the data, but we like to look at what we're seeing at the macro level of the majority, but we also are intentional to cut our engagement data by different markers of diversity, whether that be gender, ethnicity, LGBT, plus caregivers, military status, to name a few. And what is really encouraging to see is that this mission that we have aren't just words on a web page, but it is lived out in our community and the way our pack members show up day in and day out, because when we cut our engagement data, which I think this most recent round of mandate. So tell me if I'm wrong, but I think is 8.4 out of 10. So we're in the top 25% of the technology benchmark. But when we cut that data by different markers of diversity, we see little variance between different demographic groups that are often underrepresented in technology. Our men and women are engaged at about the same rate. Most of our people that self ID as Black, Asian, Hispanic, Latino, most of the ethnicities other than white are actually have a higher engagement score than our majority white engagement score. Our caregivers are more engaged than those that aren't caregivers. We don't see variation in score across age range. So it's really cool to see that the mission of Pac unity is really making an impact in creating this environment where all of our pack members feel safety and belonging and can grow and thrive at the same way as anybody else. So that's a little bit about pack unity, for those of you that may not know, but we are so excited to have two of our pack unity ambassadors with us for this segment. They also are Alliance leaders. So when they do their intros, I'll let them share about the alliance that they lead. But these two humans are truly gems, salt of the earth, light and dark places, kind of people. So I know that I can speak for the team. I know we all feel so grateful to work with Anthony and Komal and the rest of our ambassadors that very much so have a similar heart in in wanting to make sure that arctic Wolf is just an amazing place for for their colleagues and peers to thrive. So without further ado. Komal Anthony, welcome to the podcast. We're so excited you're here. Why don't we start just so the pack gets or a lot of the pack knows you, but for those that don't, and for any listeners that aren't part of pack, so they can get to know just a bit about your beautiful self. Let us know a little bit about you, where you're at in the world, what you do for Arctic Wolf, and also tell us about your experience in pack unity, a little bit the alliances you're part of and lead, and maybe what you enjoy about it. I know there was a lot. So whoever wants to go first, go for it, whatever, just whatever path feels right.
Anthony Hernandez 1:17:30
I'll let Kumal go first. I
Komal Sarvani Mullapudi 1:17:34
was going to say the reverse, but
Komal Sarvani Mullapudi 1:17:38
Komal, and it's like, my full name's like komalpudi, so I currently work out of Toronto, so I'm working from home, and I've been with articles for over like three and a half years. And I joined here right after school, and have been with the pike unity alliance called Happy wolves, which stands for honoring Asians and Pacific Islanders, since the inception. So it's been a really fun time these last three years. Actually. This may Heritage Month, we finished three years of happy wolves. And yeah, I've been here for the last three years, and each year it's nice, pretty nice to see how we're evolving as a community. And new people join in, new ideas come in, and we celebrate different festivals, which different members of our community value. And I like the reason I joined fat unity in the first place was because I feel like, you know how they see the seven degrees of separation where each one is connected to the other and some are the other. I feel like when we're looking around the world, we might think that, oh, across the world, that person is so much more different than I am. But then when we join all these pack unity meetings, like not just for happy hosts, but the other meetings, we realize we have so much in common. But it's also nice that we have those differences, because that's what makes us unique, but also we have those similarities so we can bond over. So it's been a really cool experience so far, just here and I work as a Senior UI developer.
Chelsea Lowman 1:19:09
Okay, on to our next beautiful human. Anthony.
Anthony Hernandez 1:19:12
Hi everyone. Anthony Hernandez, here. I'm the director of US security operations on the s2 side, or also known as security services. I've been here, actually, in two weeks, will be five years. Really, really exciting. We were Mary, yeah, I remember a few people. I remember you, and another individual named Javier, and I think, a couple others, but I remember there was, like a couple of us, so, yeah, we started together. Absolutely. It's been a ride, though. It's been fun, you know, I, you know, came in into this, you know, really excited getting into cybersecurity with. One of my first big, big boy jobs in cybersecurity and becoming an engineer and analyst, and then slowly moved into more of a leadership role. But something that I've always been passionate about is my culture and where I come from from. You know, I think it's something that I that I always try to celebrate and celebrate with my family and celebrate with individuals. And something that I noticed growing up is, you know, I always mentioned this. This specific experience is when I remember when people would come to come to lunches. You know, back in the cafeteria, people would be bringing in sandwiches and whatever, you know, and you know, like, which is delicious, you know, snack packs and all those things. And I'd be rolling in, you know, with homemade flour tortillas. And, you know, you know, Mexican food. And I was like, I always felt a little like, off or weird, you know, I didn't grow up in a predominantly Latino area, and so I always felt a little bit odd, but I I just kind of made the decision that I'm going to embrace who I am and embrace what I do, and I don't really care what anybody else thinks, because it is who I am. And I think that's always stuck with me throughout the rest of my life, and now the leader of the Lobos group. We call them Lobos because Lobos is is Wolf in Spanish, but it's a Hispanic and Latino pack unity Alliance. I am extremely, extremely passionate about sharing my culture with the company, sharing my culture and and what we do with with others and individuals. And I remember approaching Mary, and I don't know my leader and everyone, I just, I just went to a bunch of people. I said, I feel like we need this group. I feel like it's important. You know, I've been in other in other companies where we, they had, like, some kind of initiatives like this and and and I always just wanted to be a part of it and always be a leader, because I felt like a lot of Latino and Hispanics have a voice that sometimes we get a little bit nervous to speak up. And so I wanted to create an environment where Latinos and Hispanics can speak up and share their thoughts and share their their feelings, and if they feel like they they're they might be an oddball. That's okay, come and join us because, because, you know, we all feel that way in every any packing lines you've been probably, and that's what I love about this program. That's what I love about the you know, what we have here at Arctic Wolf, because it has created that opportunity, a safe space for people to feel like they belong.
Mary Newville 1:22:46
I'm just like feeling like I said, I knew the warm fuzzies were going to continue, but just, I mean, I have so many things I could say. But firstly, Anthony, when you said, I'm so grateful for what we have here at Arctic wolf with like, the belonging, it made me think like me too, and like what we have here is because of people like you and como and everybody that's part of pack unity that has made this commitment to be intentional with the way we show up and speak and reach out, and the experiences We create and the voices we bring in. So we could spend this whole podcast talking about what you two alone have done and in within our culture, like event after initiative after thing, like your fingerprints are all over the happy and logos communities and pet community in general. But I was reflecting when you were talking and thinking about it's really cool, in our time together, you both were founding members. Anthony, you were the one of the founding members of globals, along with JT, and then Komal, you one of the founding members of happy along with talk. And so it's cool to see how you all have grown in leading your alliances and becoming sponsors or about to become a sponsor, but also how you've grown in your career, because both of you have been promoted, I think, multiple times in your journey. And cool to see just your leadership and impact within so many spheres of influence at Arctic Wolf. So kudos to you, and it's awesome to have you. You here today, sharing your your thoughts and part with us. So on that note, we're doing like a little game or kind of little thing with each culture initiative we're highlighting today, and with you too. We thought it'd be fun. Well, this was my idea, so I'll like take the blame if this goes south. But talk. A podcast I really enjoy listening to is Trevor Noah's What now, I think, is what it's called podcast. And every once in a while, he just invites his friends on the podcast with him, and he plays this game called if I ruled the world. And in his game, there's, like, no. Parameters. It's just like if I ruled the world, and everyone has to come with an idea. Like, one of the ones I really love was one of his friends said everybody will be given a stipend, but also, like, a requirement that they have to travel once in their life, or, like, once every 10 years, or something, and it has to be to a different country that they haven't been to before. And the whole point was, like cultural awareness and, you know, empathy and understanding and also different perspectives. But anyways, they come with these rules, and they kind of debate, and then everyone has to vote to see if the rule, if the law passes. So I thought it could be fun with you two and your hearts and visions for packing and belonging to ask if you rule the world. Um, what? What would be one rule you would make that everyone has to follow to advance. So tell us your rule. We'll do whoever wants to go first, because we'll do one rule at a time, and we can all debate it, vote and then do the second
Chelsea Lowman 1:25:55
rule. I can't wait. No pressure, but I can't wait. I right?
Komal Sarvani Mullapudi 1:26:03
I do like your games, like even, whether it's like the summit meetings or anything else wherever you constructed the game, I've always enjoyed them. So Anthony,
Komal Sarvani Mullapudi 1:26:17
do you want to go first this time?
Anthony Hernandez 1:26:20
I knew this was coming. I knew it. Did it come at me this time. I'll start actually. I was, you know, I was reflecting this morning on my morning walk. You know, if, if I, if I rule the world will, you know, what would be the one rule that I'd set to help pack unity, right and to move forward. And I thought about myself, and what is something that has helped me in my life to kind of move forward, my understanding of different cultures, my understanding of being able to have more acceptance and care for people and and the one, there's one word that came, kept coming to my head, and that is serving one another. So one, one of the rules that I would set, or the rule that I would set, is to you are required to serve somebody from another culture, from another from somebody who has a different way of thinking than you, so that you can begin to have empathy and understand where they are coming from. I just feel like that that made so much sense, and it resonated so much with me. Because when I come into a situation and I'm very selfish, and I decide that this is the best and I think that this is the right thing to do, I kind of shut myself out to other ways of thinking. I shut myself out to other ways of seeing a different angle about things, or being accepting of a different way that people do, whether culturally or just in the neighborhood you lived in. But when I switch my mindset and I say, let me go into this, into this situation, and think like, How can I help you? What can I do to help you in whatever mission you have, I like significantly change, and I'm able to have more understanding and empathy and being able to help gain a better knowing of who they are and why they do the things they do. So I think that would be my rule.
Chelsea Lowman 1:28:32
Okay, define serve.
Anthony Hernandez 1:28:35
Oh, that's a good question,
Chelsea Lowman 1:28:39
because I'm like, Am I like, like, serving them like a servant?
Anthony Hernandez 1:28:45
Question, yeah, I think, I think, I think that that might be, I hear you. I think when I think of serve, I think in a lot of different ways, like, I think giving of your time, giving of your time, of maybe even serving, could mean just sitting down and talking to that individual and understanding them on a different level, right? Serving them could mean, you know, this one event is really important to them. Let me show up, right? And just showing up and being there for them. So that was a good question. I think when I You're right, like, it's not always just going and and mowing their lawn or whatever, cleaning the tables, right? Maybe that, maybe that is at some point, right, like you go and you serve that person or that individual or or that culture. But I think showing up is probably the the most important thing that you can do. To start with, I was
Mary Newville 1:29:36
going to say I'm such, like, a I mean, Amanda's cheerleader for my word earlier, like it. I'm like, I don't even have notes. I'm like, I think the logistic side is hard, but I love the idea.
Chelsea Lowman 1:29:50
I agree the logistics can be figured out later.
Komal Sarvani Mullapudi 1:29:56
Mary keeps saying, like, servant leadership, and this reminds. Me of how it's fitting into that category, too, and just being in somebody's shoes helps us, like, trying to be in their shoes, helps us understand so much more context. I'm fully ready to go into this world.
Anthony Hernandez 1:30:14
Yeah, I, I will say, Mary, I do like the idea of getting a, you know, a stipend to go travel the world. I think that would be really cool, because that gives you an opportunity. But I something that I have, and I know we're opening up for this, this for debate, right? So, and I don't want to take all the time here, but I do think that sometimes when you go in the mindset of selfishly being like, well, I deserve this travel. I deserve this and I deserve to go. And people should, should help me be able to feel comfortable. I think that's the wrong way of doing it. You should go with the opportunity of going to a different country and saying, How can I be a part of this? How can I learn? How can I sit down with these people or these individuals and how they think and and I guess that's when I think of my my brain thinks of serving right like, you know, I something, a fun fact that I didn't get to share about myself is that I went and I I did a service mission to go help out individuals for two years. And one thing somebody told me was, love everything you do, regardless of how hard it is, you know. And I was like, okay, cool. And that, that actually, I know it sounds very simple and very silly, like, you know, you know, you think about like, okay, it's not that simple. But it really was when I, when I changed my mindset of just loving everything I did, whether it meant, you know, going and and and clean, you know, taking out the trash for someone, or doing the dishes for them, or whatever it may be, you know, providing a service or helping them out and just showing up because it mattered to that person or that culture, that neighborhood or that individual, I think, made a difference. So I think in addition to going and traveling and you need to change that mindset of being like, I want to be here to learn. I want to be here to grow. I want to be there to to help, serve and be and show up.
Mary Newville 1:32:08
Yeah, that is true. Like, the attitude you show up with makes a difference. Is it all about like, what's in it for me and I need, like, XYZ experience, or is that like, I'm experience and learn or contribute? Okay, Anthony, I also like your role. It makes me think I can't. I don't know if it's Bob Goff or Brene Brown or maybe both, maybe a lot of people, but you know that phrase that's like, it's hard to hate people close up. Yeah. So it's like, when you get close and you like, you're like, Oh, you you have family. Oh, there's like, you can't help but empathize and like understand their perspective, which you know, it's so much easier far away or through the computer screen. So should we vote?
Chelsea Lowman 1:32:53
Yes? I vote yes.
Mary Newville 1:32:55
Favor. Say aye, yes.
Chelsea Lowman 1:33:02
No. Okay, let's hear it.
Komal Sarvani Mullapudi 1:33:07
I think my idea is a bit of a pie in the sky kind of idea, just because, logistically, there might be a few question marks here and there, but it came up to me because, like, I live in Toronto, right? And the other day, like, growing up, I've always heard of it as being called a melting pot, like wherever cultures like come together, it's been called a melting pot, but I met someone just a couple days back who said, Oh, you know, some places can be a melting pot, but Toronto is a mosaic, because different cultures still can retain their individuality while Being a part of the whole, and I like that analogy. And I was just thinking about how I am pretty lucky to be experiencing all of that while living here different cultures. Every weekend, there's a new festival for new culture that you go and attend. I feel like I'm doing a promo for Toronto, but, but if I rule the world, I was thinking back in school, we used to have assemblies in school where the first hour used to be everybody in the school in the same like unit, where we would listen to each other, like sing or like, speak about the thing of the day. So I think it would at work too. I would make like, some sort of, like mandatory or like optional, but please do come in welcome hour of sort where people would come in and just that is when we would hold all the pack unity stuff, and people can come in and just attend. Because I feel like a lot of times people do want to show up and they do want to learn about each other's initiatives. But unfortunately, we naturally have work to do. So there are like, conflicting meetings, and they will try, like we do, try to record. They'll show up in their best way possible. But in a world where such restrictions were in there, then I would want everybody to be able to, like, enjoy these. Is things that are initiatives that all of faculty puts up and maybe, like, once a quarter or once in six months, get the remote employees. Like, magically, the costs don't matter. Here, you would have all the money, yeah, because sometimes I'm like, Oh, the people in the office. I think I am lucky enough to, like, keep going to the kid of the office once in a while. So I get to enjoy, like, the faculty initiatives that we put up. So be fun. If they could also just like, participate and be like, Oh, this is what it feels like to be around all these people and then go back and then again, connect virtually for the next six months. So yeah, just make I guess if I move the world, I would try to make it possible for people to attend more of these events together in a dedicated time slot,
Chelsea Lowman 1:35:50
speaking my language, a mandatory pack unity event that everyone in The company has to attend. I mean, I'm for it, and there's penalties if you don't attend, I'm adding on, but
Komal Sarvani Mullapudi 1:36:12
that's a good penalty.
Komal Sarvani Mullapudi 1:36:15
Like that ties in with what Anthony was doing, so
Komal Sarvani Mullapudi 1:36:20
they don't feel like they're missing out. Either way,
Mary Newville 1:36:25
it could be kind of just like, maybe we like add in a well, Wolf meditation. I can see it, you know, actually my soul is good growing up too. It'd be just like the, I forget what they called it, but it was nice. Felt unified,
Komal Sarvani Mullapudi 1:36:40
even with time zones, it can get a little tricky. But I guess, like we usually try to target around 11am EST sometimes, so that that's where other, like our offices and other time zones are away.
Chelsea Lowman 1:36:55
Or they can be regional. It can be like this time for that region, this time for this region. Okay, well, any other any other questions, otherwise, I'm ready to vote.
Mary Newville 1:37:09
I just can't not vote. Yes. Unity like same.
Chelsea Lowman 1:37:18
How awkward would it have been if you guys brought something, and we were like, I don't think so. I don't think we should advance pack unity in that way.
Anthony Hernandez 1:37:32
Now I'm gonna try now I'm gonna try to think later today, you guys tell me if you approve or not.
Chelsea Lowman 1:37:39
Okay, all right, should we vote?
Haley Costa 1:37:44
Sarah,
Mary Newville 1:37:46
okay, all in favor.
Chelsea Lowman 1:37:49
Aye,
Mary Newville 1:37:57
well, Carmel and Anthony for president, obviously a better place. Thank you so much for joining us and sharing a little bit about what you do at Arctic Wolf, specifically in the pack unity space, we're so grateful for you.
Chelsea Lowman 1:38:16
Seriously couldn't do it without you both. Thank you. Thanks everybody. Thank you. Okay, wow, we've come to the end of the episode. We we talked to so many cool people in this episode. I'm proud of us for curating such a great group of people to join us and like, again, how truly lucky we are that, like, these are our co workers, and like all that, they're bringing of themselves to the pack every day. Like, I'm so impressed with them and what they do for all these programs they talked about, I can't imagine, like, how much they slay at their actual jobs, you know, like, I'm not seeing that, but I'm sure they're just as great doing that as well helping end cyber risk.
Mary Newville 1:39:06
Sorry, I have to interject house, because little teaser Trisha, our leader, did some research, and we know that people involved in pack unity on average, are higher perform performing compared to the average of people outside of pack unity, so that tracks,
Chelsea Lowman 1:39:22
seriously. Okay. So before we wrap up, Haley and Amanda, first podcast, how was it? What do you think would you do it again?
Haley Costa 1:39:35
It was not as terrifying as I expected it to be. Haley was slacking. Earlier, and we're like, oh my god, I'm so scared this is going to be so nerve wracking. I'm just going to waffle on, yeah, I don't know. I feel like I probably did waffle in segments. So yeah, apologies. Oh, it never been cut out. Thank you for the.
Haley Costa 1:40:01
Okay, I struggled the most. It's all good. That wasn't, wasn't as scary. I built it up to be okay.
Chelsea Lowman 1:40:13
Well, I'm sure the pack are gonna love this episode, and I guess I can't speak for Mary, but I'll speak for myself that you two are always welcome back. We do love our jobs. We don't necessarily want to be replaced, but always join us.
Haley Costa 1:40:33
Be on the podcast again. I won. Okay.
Chelsea Lowman 1:40:37
You heard it here. First
Haley Costa 1:40:39
internet is forever, so you have that documented now,
Mary Newville 1:40:46
remember that this is forever, you know, right, right?
Chelsea Lowman 1:40:53
But actually, how cool, when we're like, 70, we could, like, go onto YouTube and watch us. Um, okay, well, if you are a pack member, September brings a lot of fun things. It's the start of fall for half the world, I guess not the other half, but here at the pack, we are having our fifth annual run with the pack 5k this month. So if you have not registered, you can still participate. Unfortunately, it's too late for a T shirt, but just rock a pink t shirt and you're welcome to join us, either in the office or if you're remote, run or walk it whenever you'd like, and share a pic in the Slack channel. So make sure you're in the run with the pack 5k Slack channel, so that you can stay updated on all the things related to the run. And then, depending on where you are and what office you're in, later this month, you might be having your Oktoberfest event either end of this month, early next month. And then obviously, as we get into October, November, December, just lots more good holiday events and goodness. And then related to pack Unity, we are also in Hispanic Heritage Month. It's September 15 to October 15. So make sure you're in pack unity Slack channel and the Lobo Slack channel so you can stay updated on all the fun that they have planned for this month.
Mary Newville 1:42:17
If you're not part of this one of a kind community that we call the pack, but you want to join us on our mission to end cyber risk. You can always find open positions at Arctic wealth, com, backslash careers, thanks for celebrating two years of the Heller podcast with us, and we'll see you next month. Yay.
Chelsea Lowman 1:42:35
We should end with our pose for those watching
Haley Costa 1:42:41
the missiles get back to
1:42:44
them. Okay, thanks, everyone. Bye.
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00Transcribed by https://otter.ai