CyberWire Daily — Danielle Jablanski: Finding the Path to Success

Podcast: CyberWire Daily
Host: N2K Networks
Guest: Danielle Jablanski, Operational Technology Cybersecurity Strategist, Nozomi Networks
Date: November 30, 2025

Episode Overview

In this episode, Danielle Jablanski shares her career journey from an early interest in advocacy and international law to a passion for operational technology (OT) cybersecurity. The discussion centers around her unexpected career pivots, lessons learned about finding satisfaction and impact in one's work, and advice for navigating the cybersecurity landscape. Listeners get an inside look at how she found her "dream job" and the core motivations that guided her along the way.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

Early Influences and Shifting Career Paths

• Legal Beginnings and International Perspective

  • Danielle describes being encouraged toward law as a child, even crafting persuasive arguments as early as age 7.

    "I made a PowerPoint because my mom told me I couldn't go to a friend's house. And then I articulated and argued why I should be able to go." (02:16)

  • An eye-opening study abroad trip to Rwanda fundamentally changed her outlook, exposing her to global crises and leading her away from local law toward international relations and human rights.
  • After working as a victim specialist advocate and interning at a prosecutor’s office, she found the scope too narrow for her ambitions.

• Graduate School and the Shift Toward Security

  • Danielle enrolled at the University of Denver for peace and human rights studies.
  • A mentor recognized her security-focused mindset:

    "You're actually a security student. ... Talk to me about maybe your thesis... And we came to the consensus that my draw was always conditions of a state that would lead to international crisis or that would allow for civil conflict to occur." (04:36)

  • She pivoted to Middle East studies, rapidly learned Arabic, and studied abroad in Jordan.

Entry into Cybersecurity

• Burnout and a Fortuitous First Job

  • After intensive graduate studies, she joined the Stanley Foundation (now Stanley Center for Peace and Security) in Iowa, stumbling into cybersecurity via nuclear policy work.
  • She found cyber uniquely dynamic:

    "Cyber to me was so fresh and all of the theoretical frameworks that we know to be true... there's actually more day to day decisions and impacts unfolding in the marketplace that we don't even think about in academia." (06:48)

• Finding Her Niche in OT and ICS

  • Moved from nuclear to cybersecurity at Stanford’s Cyber Policy Center, working with nuclear policy experts but craving more direct, tangible impact ("missing the boom").
  • Took a risk by leaving academia, becoming an analyst, and entering the world of Operational Technology (OT) and Industrial Control Systems (ICS)—a return to her roots in impactful technology and security:

    "Nuclear weapons cybersecurity is operational technology. We just don't call it that because it's a weapons system. ...it's actually a homecoming now that I've gotten back to industrial control systems and that, you know, big boom kind of world." (07:46)

Guidance & Reflections

• Impact versus Prestige

  • A pivotal reflection from a mentor:

    "Danielle, you're not motivated by prestige." (08:21)

  • Danielle realized she’s drawn to impactful work rather than visible accolades. Her career throughlines are making a difference, focusing on state-centric risks, and improving the world—even behind the scenes.

• Advice on Career Development in Cybersecurity

  • It's valuable to spend years learning what you don’t like, rather than always searching for your “bullseye”:

    "It's okay to spend a number of years figuring out what you don't like doing, rather than always feeling like you have to know exactly what you want." (08:58)

  • Career paths are often non-linear; building out a "target map" and gaining diverse experiences—even in less enjoyable roles—can help clarify your goals.
  • Her graduate director’s encouragement:

    "You'll be successful at anything you do." (09:26)

  • The importance of moving from existential conversations to actionable, solution-oriented work:

    "For me, I really needed to drill in and say, well, where can we then create solutions, create impact, create a moment for people to care about things that have real world impact." (09:36)

• Arriving at Her Dream Job

  • Danielle describes her current OT cybersecurity strategist role as her “dream job”—the culmination of a career motivated by making a difference, constant learning, and the thrill of contributing to a field still defining its own rules.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Early Advocacy:

  "I made a PowerPoint because my mom told me I couldn't go to a friend's house...and I was able to go." (02:16)

• Defining Career Motivators:

  "I've always been motivated by impacts. ...There's no glory for doing things alone. ...It was always like this group think, how can we make the world a better place?" (08:29)

• Advice for Navigating Cyber Careers:

  "You build out that kind of target right where you want to be. And understand that getting to that point might mean doing things you don’t enjoy for a number of years. But figuring that out is another way to get to that target." (09:09)

• Transition to OT Security:

  "We just don't call nuclear weapons cybersecurity ‘operational technology’ because it's a weapons system...So I joke that it's actually a homecoming now that I've gotten back to industrial control systems and that, you know, big boom kind of world." (07:46)

Important Timestamps

• Early Influences and Law to Human Rights: 02:10 – 04:36
• Grad School—The Road to Security: 04:36 – 06:02
• Entry to Cybersecurity (Stanley Foundation): 06:02 – 06:48
• Draw to Day-to-Day Cyber Impact: 06:48 – 07:46
• Transition from Academia to OT/ICS: 07:46 – 08:21
• Career Advice and Impact: 08:21 – 09:46

Summary Takeaways

Danielle Jablanski’s story emphasizes that success is not about following a straight line but about accumulating unique experiences, learning from what you don’t enjoy, and anchoring decisions in your core motivations. Her journey from legal studies to OT cybersecurity highlights that impactful work often lies beyond prestige—and that the constantly evolving, complex world of cybersecurity offers a place for diverse backgrounds and purposeful careers.