A Day in the Life of Optiv Cyber Security Superheroes: Keyana Jones

Creating Confidence for Optiv’s Worldwide Employees

Keyana Jones, Senior Training Specialist, Human Resources

Keyana’s mantra of ‘unlocking tomorrow’ is clear when she enters the room at the Opt-In New Employee Training session. She wastes no time dispersing her energy into the crowd of new hires, eager to soak up her enthusiasm. She begins by describing Optiv’s purpose; to create confidence in a more connected world, and then she encourages her audience to repeat it, until they get it right.  She lightheartedly shouts, “C’mon people, louder, louder!”

It didn’t take long for Keyana to move into the role that was meant for her. When she started with Optiv five years ago, she took a position in HR as a recruiter where she focused on building successful relationships with candidates-for-hire.  From there, she moved into the role of HR specialist, before moving quickly into training. Nowadays, her major responsibilities include conducting Opt-In Training sessions for new employees, leading the new person orientation webinar and teaching Management Essentials to Optiv’s managers.

Be Proud of Your Team

Referring to her colleagues from recruiting and HR administration as family, Keyana tells us that everyone within the department knew that training was her passion, so they helped her develop a roadmap for getting to where she wanted to go. It was everyone she came in contact with—her managers being the biggest support—that continued to point her in the right direction.  Keyana says, “I’ve been at Optiv for five years. It has not been five grueling years; it’s been five lovable years. It’s the family that keeps me here.” 

Be Proud of Your Contributions

Keyana is really proud of the new management course she helped launch, called Management Essentials. It teaches managers how to lead with perspective, how to lead the Optiv way, and it guides managers and aspiring managers to set expectations for their employees and measure them.  The biggest thing, Keyana will say, is making sure that everyone is in alignment with our purpose, and our purpose is to create confidence for a more connected world. So, what Keyana does to move them forward is to instill the purpose into managers, instill the values into their employees, and make sure that whatever Optiv does when it comes to training, we’re consistently thinking about our purpose and our values. 

Be Proud of Your Impact

Just as her managers helped Keyana to unlock her tomorrow, she wants to keep paying it forward. It is how she will make the biggest impact here at Optiv. She explains that, unlocking tomorrow is really about finding a way and giving good energy. With her, energy is her biggest strength. So, this asset comes in handy when she teaches Optiv’s next-gen employees to think beyond the ordinary. She goes into a room, especially if she’s facilitating a class, and she tries to give it her all, tries to give it 110 percent. She always wants to make sure she’s exhibiting Optiv’s values, giving good energy, and sticking to her mantra, “We can always find a way!”