Serena Chen

serena.nz/now

“Everything is a skill, and thus everything can be learned, improved on, and mastered, given enough time and effort. This includes things that you might not think of as skills, like being good at feeling bad, or being good at failing.”

Location:

New York, New York, U.S.A.

Professional title:

Cyber Aesthetics Doctor at Chrome

What do you do?

I help bridge the gap between information security and behavioural design.

Why?

The security industry, as much as I love it, as a pretty gnarly culture of shame. The Thing To Do is to shame people for being idiots, shame them for not knowing obscure security practices, shame shame shame. Which is understandable, but unhelpful. I want to encourage a kinder and more inclusive approach to security and trust.

What should we read?

Why Does He Do That? by Lundy Bancroft. Crucial reading for everyone — whether this topic is close to you or not. Debunks a lot of myths around abuse and gives practical advice to those in all positions, without once blaming the victims. It's a taboo topic hardly ever spoken about, which is all the more reason why everyone should read this book. I certainly learned a lot about a topic I knew very little about (yet is statistically all around me).