From West Sacramento Streets to Wake Up X Podcast — Real Stories From the Next Generation of Cybersecurity | ISACA Sacramento Community Special
This one is different.
No studio. No prep. Just real people, real stories, and a microphone open to anyone willing to share their journey.
WakeUpX host Efren Salazar showed up to the ISACA Sacramento Appreciation Day and did what he does best — started conversations that needed to be heard. He opened by sharing his own story. Growing up in West Sacramento in the 1990s surrounded by gangs. Isolated. No siblings. Discouraged in school. The friends who pushed him toward computers instead of the streets. The reality check that changed everything. And the 10X Rule that turned a mindset shift into a movement — tattooed on his arm as a daily reminder to never settle for the original goal.
Then he handed the mic to eight people who are proof that the path into cybersecurity looks nothing like what you expect.
Irene Shaju started in astrophysics, pivoted to MIS and business analytics, and chose cybersecurity because of a clear-eyed view of where AI is heading. It's either controlled by the people who understand it — or it controls everyone else. She chose to understand it.
Harmanjot Singh was born in India, came to the US during COVID, earned the Cyber Corps Scholarship for Service, holds a Security+ and ISC2 certification, and had a US Department of Justice interview for a digital investigation analyst position the same week this was recorded.
Jared Holloway grew up as a former foster youth, interned at Golden 1 headquarters, and is finishing his MIS degree at Sac State while building toward a career that bridges cybersecurity and project management. Resilience isn't a word he uses lightly — it's how he got here.
Zankar Vaishnav transferred from Sierra College, joined ISACA his very first semester at Sac State, and is working toward his CompTIA Security+ after being pulled into the defensive side of cybersecurity by managers who let him shadow their work behind the scenes.
Kevin Bali is the student chapter president of ISACA at Sacramento State and president of the MIS Association. He's studying business administration, MIS, business analytics, AI management, and minoring in criminal justice — all in pursuit of one goal. Digital forensics. Bringing justice to families and making communities safer through technology. He said something in this episode that stopped everything in its tracks.
"The job can be really great. The duties can be really great. But if it's not the people you work with that you enjoy — then it's for nothing."
Solomon Lee moved from Chicago to Sacramento six years ago. He chased the CS six-figure dream, got rejected by big tech over and over, pivoted to cybersecurity, and never stopped grinding. He's building a SIEM lab on Azure, preparing for his CCNA, working a job that has nothing to do with cyber, and studying and labbing every single day anyway.
Jesse Telles came from software engineering and found his direction in cybersecurity through his love of architecture and system design. His focus now is supply chain security — the vulnerabilities that get baked into systems when AI automates supply chain creation at scale, and the knock-on effects that ripple across everything connected. Companies like Stryker are finding out in real time how costly those vulnerabilities can be.
Eight stories. Eight completely different paths. One community holding them all together.
This episode is for anyone who has ever felt like they started too late, switched directions too many times, or didn't fit the traditional mold of a tech professional. These people are proof that there is no single path. There is just the decision to start — and the drive to keep going.
▶️ Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/1axM1mSsAWo🌐 Full episodes: www.wakeupxpodcast.com
Special thanks to videographer Alvin Jue 🎥Huge thank you to ISACA Sacramento for making this event possible 🙏
Follow the guests on LinkedIn:Kevin Bali • Solomon Lee • Irene Shaju • Zankar Vaishnav • Jarred Holloway • Harmanjot Singh • Ethan Ng • Jesse Telles
