Supporting women — and wellness — in cybersecurity
Supporting women — and wellness — in cybersecurity
Publish Date: 2026-03-08 12:52:00
Source Domain: newsroom.cisco.com
Cybersecurity and wellness initiatives don’t ordinarily go together. But then Jothi Dugar is no ordinary cybersecurity leader.
A longtime expert in cybersecurity, mostly in the healthcare industry, Dugar is the author of “Chaos Loves You: So Let’s Love It Back,” which teaches us to embrace challenges and grow from them. And she’s the driving force behind numerous wellness and mentorship initiatives in her organizations, especially for women.
In honor of Women’s History Month, we spoke with Dugar about the unique gifts that women bring to tech, her own journey as a woman and single mom, and how to create better work environments for all.
Thank you, Jothi! In your book, you talk about embracing chaos and finding strength through life’s uncertainties. How has your own journey — navigating chaos and growth — inspired you to empower other women?
Thanks, Kevin. I came up with this book because we all face chaos. Most of us, including me, have generally tried to avoid it; or they are disgruntled as to why it’s happening to them. But I learned early on that it’s something to embrace. Because without the chaos, you’re not going to grow and evolve and expand. If you’re living in a comfort zone, it doesn’t give you the opportunity or even the need to expand and evolve. So, I started looking at chaos in a different way.
So, embrace the chaos and grow from it.
Yes, you can’t invite in the new without letting go of the old. So, I talk in the book about how to embody and embrace the chaos and then get to a state of clarity. Once you go through the chaos, you’re a lot clearer: “Oh, that had to happen that way for me to go on to this next level and do bigger and better things.”
This applies to pretty much everyone, but you have a unique message for women.
Yes, for women and especially for the moms out there — and even more so the working moms or single moms that are trying to do it all — I would say, it’s not selfish to take…
