RSAC 2025 Scholars
Women in Security and Privacy (WISP) proudly partnered with RSA Conference (RSAC) once again to offer five scholarships to attend the 2025 RSA Conference, held at the Moscone Center in San Francisco from April 28 to May 1, 2025.
This partnership gave the WISP community the opportunity to attend one of the world’s leading cybersecurity conferences — a space known for cutting-edge conversations, innovation, and industry-defining connections. Scholars gained access to keynotes, technical sessions, networking events, and insights into emerging trends shaping the future of security and privacy.
WISP also partnered with RSAC to participate in their incredible College Day event, where recent graduates explored the field, heard from top professionals, and gained insight into what's next — including who’s hiring and opportunities to have their resumes reviewed by experts in the industry.
As part of the scholarship, WISP invited members to share what they hoped to gain from attending. See below to hear directly from each scholar about what they hoped to take away from the conference.
WISP is grateful to RSA Conference for their continued support in advancing women and underrepresented communities in privacy and cybersecurity — and for helping create meaningful pathways for rising talent to thrive.
Nagamani C Gunjal
Was really looking forward to using this scholarship to level up her penetration testing skills and get deeper into digital forensics and incident response—two areas that have always fascinated her. She was also eager to explore AI in cybersecurity, especially how machine learning is shaping threat detection and automated defenses. With so much happening in cloud security, she can’t wait to learn more about emerging threats and how to stay ahead of them. This is an amazing opportunity to grow, connect with like-minded professionals, and make a real impact in the field!
Sage Despeignes
At RSA this year, Sage looks forward to gaining deeper insights into vulnerability management and threat intelligence, learning how AI is shaping the future of cybersecurity, and connecting with professionals across the industry.
Kimberly Vides
Kimberly Vides is excited to attend RSA 2025 to explore strategies for empowering women entrepreneurs in cybersecurity, advance her knowledge in resilience building practices for small and medium sized businesses, and strengthen her expertise in AI driven security tools, penetration testing, and threat analysis.
Candace Lazarou
Candace was looking forward to the AI security framework discussions, the kubernetes security lab, and learning about new approaches to identity management.
