We had the good fortune of connecting with William Sims and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi William, can you talk to us a bit about the social impact of your business?
CyberXE is shifting the dynamic and transcending the next generation of underrepresented youth and communities and providing digital skills, training, leadership and resources to those who need it most. We’re very passionate about DEI as well as bridging the talent and wealth gap by leveraging a field with unlimited earning potential and an industry that has 0% unemployment and that has proven to be bullet-proof, pandemic and recession proof.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
I like to consider myself to be a cybersecurity leader, visionary and advocate for underrepresented and underserved youth and who are interested in securing a future in cyberspace but don’t know where to begin. Growing up 200% below the poverty line and raised by a single mother, my family experienced extreme impoverished conditions which forced me to identify skills that were not disposable in the age of information technology with the hopes of liberating my family from poverty. I stumbled into the field of cybersecurity out of desperation. This led to the birth of my baby, CyberXE.

CyberXE is a leading online Cybersecurity EdTech company that specializes in Cybersecurity and Professional Development skills training for the top high school students across the globe. Our brand, vision and movement is to expose, educate and empower the next generation of underrepresented tech scholars and professionals by leveraging hands-on interactive learning using the latest cutting edge technologies taught by the top experts in their respected field.

We are a lot different from other EdTech companies out there because we are really honing in on the bigger problems that aren’t being addressed this space. The biggest issues are DEI and early career exploration/talent discovery. Traditional firms and bootcamps are penetrating at layer 7, but the problems we face in this industry really need to be addressed at the root level, or layer 1. That’s why we choose to partner with high schools. We believe that if we reach the BIPOC youth earlier in the pipeline, we can produce an employable student-professional who can become an effective contributing member on global Cybersecurity Incident Response Teams (CISRT) by the time they graduate. This allows us to solve the DEI issue since 90% of our students are BIPOC, and also addresses the talent shortage since we are producing qualified, trained and vetted talent for Fortune 500 companies who are desperately in need.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I’m a huge foodie. Anyone who comes to visit me knows how much I love going out to eat. Some of my favorite restaurants to eat and grab some drinks in the city are Katana LA, Nusr-Et and Bossa Nova. There is nothing better than doing work in a great environment accompanied by great food. I also love going to the beach and making a day of it.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Shoutout to Wasim Hajjiri, a Forbes Executive Career Coach, great friend and business colleague of mine has been one of my greatest advocates and inspirations. Our mission and purpose have been in alignment from day one and every chance he gets he goes out of his way to push me to become a better leader so we can impact more lives. Recently, Wasim joined our team as a Senior Executive Director or Career Services to oversee our Career Services team and ensure students success which includes Professional Resume and CV Writing, LinkedIn Development and Optimization, Interview Coaching, Job Strategy and more.

Website: https://www.cyberxelite.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/williamtjsims/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/williamtjsims/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/cyberxepro

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/williamtjsimsiv/

Image Credits
Alejandro Basalo

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