Chiletam Ogbu

I’m Chiletam, and this is my story.

I am a Senior Security Consultant working in cybersecurity where I specialise in offensive security and penetration testing. I work with clients from all over the world helping to diagnose, and find solutions to, their problems.

As a child growing up in Nigeria I already had that passion for finding out how things worked. When I was very young, the projector at my family’s church broke, and I just had this intuition that I could fix it. Everyone was looking at me strangely: how could this small girl fix this? But I did it.

I was really interested in mathematics and computing too. They’re like brother and sister: mathematics is abstract and computing is object-orientated. I used to represent my state in mathematics competitions and win prizes when I was at school, but computing brings numbers to life, and I love that.

I chose NTU because of the amazing support.

I came to Nottingham Trent International College (NTIC) first, and then NTU as a mature international student, and a mum of three. My youngest child was just eight months old when I started and I had to balance my studies with working to pay the bills. But I had an incredible support system: at university, in my community, and from my family.

My neighbours used to get together and work out a rota for when they could help babysit so that I could focus on my course. It felt like every week there was someone new turning up to help me. It was such a friendly environment at NTU, the support from all of the lecturers was amazing. It felt like they were getting us ready for the real world.

I’m a product of grace. People have poured into me, so I want to always give back.

My university experience perfectly prepared me for what came next.

NTU helped me to develop the technical skills I needed for my career, but it also really helped to nurture those crucial soft skills. It taught me that there are always humans behind the screens, and they don’t want to feel judged or have a finger pointed at them. Really, my job is to take care of the person on the other side of the screen.

I got my first job offer in my final year while I was still studying. I had been on a work placement and was exhibiting some of the work I had done there as part of my final year showcase event for my course. At that showcase event, I was approached by someone who had seen my work, and I got accepted onto their graduate programme. I’m still so grateful to NTU for that start – it was a real blessing.

After graduating I realised how male-dominated cybersecurity is.

There’s a need for more women in cybersecurity, and as a black person I see that we are underrepresented in the field as well. But the problem isn’t necessarily the people, it’s more the systems we’re working in and the prejudices that are part of those systems. AI has only reinforced those biases, but that’s changing, slowly but surely those processes and systems are evolving.

We thought that by 2030 we’d have a 50:50 balance. I don’t think that will quite happen, but we are getting there.

The best advice I could give is that you have to show up every single day.

I had to sacrifice so many things to come to NTU, and work hard every day to get to where I am now. But I enjoyed it all. It was something I had to go through to make me stronger. I wanted my children to see me as a role model, to know that anything is possible when you work hard and keep learning.

I will never forget my time at NTU, it taught me so much. Now I am enjoying my career and I want to give back to the community. I run coding classes for children, and volunteer as a youth mentor. I’m a STEM ambassador, and I do a lot of work helping to break down barriers for underrepresented groups in tech industries. Some people socialise in the pub. Some people social socialise in the gym. For me, I socialise by learning and by being part of a community. That was how it felt at NTU, and it’s how I will always feel.