What do visibility and cybersecurity have in common? A lot more than most entrepreneurs realize.

In today’s episode, I’m joined by Lori Crooks, founder and CEO of Cadra, Inc., to break down the world of cybersecurity compliance — in human terms. Lori shares how building a trusted brand starts with protecting your systems, your clients, and your reputation.

We cover:

• Why entrepreneurs can’t ignore compliance
• The link between visibility and trust
• Lori’s journey from corporate to consultant to CEO
• How she mentors women in cybersecurity
• Practical steps to protect your small business (without tech overwhelm)

If you’re building a brand others rely on, this episode is a must-listen.

🔗 Learn more at cadra.com

💬 Connect with Lori on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/lori-crooks

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Follow Visibility Strategies for Women Entrepreneurs for more conversations that help you get seen, heard, and hired.

Welcome to the Visibility Strategies for Women Entrepreneurs

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Podcast where we empower female business

owners to step boldly into the spotlight

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and claim the recognition they deserve.

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I'm your host, Tori Barker.

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I'm passionate about helping women

like you transform your visibility

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into tangible business success.

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Each week on this show, we'll dive deep

into game changing strategies, share

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inspiring success stories from women.

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Who've mastered their visibility and

offer practical, actionable advice

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you can implement immediately.

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Whether you're just starting your

entrepreneurial journey, pivoting

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your business model, or ready to

elevate your existing presence to new

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heights, you'll discover effective

approaches to create exciting

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opportunities and expand your reach.

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So let's harness the power

of strategic visibility and

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grow your business together.

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Welcome to the show.

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Hello everyone.

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We are back on the show today

and I'm super excited to

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introduce our guest, Lori Crooks.

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Lori, how are you today?

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I'm doing good.

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How about you, Tori?

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I am doing awesome.

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Super excited to jump

into our conversation.

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You know, we, we always have

the, the fun, the fun green room

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conversation to kind of warm it up.

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So I love the, the energy that we bring

to the, the actual interview process.

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It's always good to have that

kind of intro with, with you

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and I, uh, starting it off.

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Good.

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Lori Crooks: Yes.

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No, it was fun.

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Fun intro conversation.

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So I can't wait to talk more and all

about all this fun stuff, cybersecurity,

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and whatever else we cover.

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Tori Barker: Yeah, absolutely.

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So let's jump in and talk about

what was the turning point for

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you leaving like the corporate

world and starting your business?

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Cadra,

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Lori Crooks: it was, I got to

a point where I was overworked.

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Um, I was not meeting deadlines anymore

because I just couldn't keep up with the

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workload that I was getting and I could.

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How my body was wearing down.

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Um, honestly, so it was like a

bunch of those like little things

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all at once where I was kind of

like, I can't do this anymore.

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And the timing worked out really great.

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Where I left my organization, was able to

go subcontract directly for somebody else.

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And from there I was like, I can do this.

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And opened up my own organization

and it's been almost nine years now.

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So it's been a, it's been a journey.

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Tori Barker: Yeah.

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And tell us what, uh,

what you do at Cadra.

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Lori Crooks: Yeah, so we do

cybersecurity, uh, consulting,

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um, really around compliance, um,

assessments and compliance audits.

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We help our small to medium sized

customers get ready for any third

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party audits they might have, or we

help them with their cybersecurity

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compliance policies, procedures,

technical writing, that sort of thing.

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Tori Barker: So what type of like ent,

like do entrepreneurs need cybersecurity?

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Why is it so important?

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What, you know, verticals

is it most important for?

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Just kind of talk about how that, uh,

intertwines with the entrepreneurs,

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you know, listening to the show.

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Lori Crooks: Yeah, of course.

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So it all depends on the

type of data that you have.

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Um, there are different verticals.

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Um, for example, like if you're dealing

with healthcare data, PHI, you're gonna

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have to deal with like a HIPAA compliance

if you're dealing with credit card data,

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depending on how much credit card data

you have going through your system.

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You have to deal with PCI, um, or if

you are working with governments and

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you have governmental contracts and

the government's sending you data,

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they're gonna require you to follow

some certain standards as well.

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So it's really about kind of just

taking a step back and seeing what

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data you're getting from your customers

or sharing with your customers

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and determining if you have to be

compliant with any of those standards.

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Tori Barker: Yeah, I mean, a lot of, I

mean, I feel like a lot of entrepreneurs.

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In that space, definitely know

that they have those compliances

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that they need to meet.

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And it's probably something that they

try to, you know, turn their head

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and not look at as much as they can

until they get to that breaking point.

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Right?

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Yes.

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Yes, exactly.

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Like, why is it so important?

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I mean, I'm, I'm assuming it's

supports and, and helps the security

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not only for the business owner.

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For legal purposes and that sort of thing.

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Mm-hmm.

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But also the consumers coming in and

then the types of businesses that they

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can get, like you said, federal, um,

contract work and that sort of thing.

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Lori Crooks: Yeah, exactly.

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It's really around protecting the data.

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You wanna protect your brand

name, your organization.

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Um, if, heaven forbid I'm

knocking on wood, if something

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happened, you got breached.

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Your unfortunately name

is gonna be out there.

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Meaning you've heard

about the target breach.

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Um, there was a CrowdStrike breach.

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You know, everybody's been

breached, even larger organizations

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at this point in time.

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So it's just a matter of trying

to stay outta the news by, uh,

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protecting your data, but also

protecting your consumers because.

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You know, you, you build a trust with

your consumers and your customers.

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You want them to know that

you're keeping their data safe.

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Um, because if you're not, then they might

go find somebody else, unfortunately.

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Yeah.

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And then there's always like

legal fines and stuff too.

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Yeah,

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Tori Barker: yeah, yeah.

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You wanna be that trusted source, right?

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If you are building your brand and

people know you for, you know, uh,

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being trusted, you definitely have

to hold up your end of the bargain

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on those types of things as well.

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Lori Crooks: Definitely, definitely.

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And some things are contractual too,

so you have to kind of pay attention

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to your contracts and make sure.

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You know, if they say you have to

be compliant with certain things or

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have certain security, uh, practices

in place that you are doing that.

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'cause if not even be a breach of contract

too, which again is gonna cost you.

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Tori Barker: Yeah.

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How do you help, uh, business owners

like understand cybersecurity, maybe

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like in layman's terms, or like humans

speak or whatever you might be like,

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because it's, it's probably not something

as a business owner that you are like.

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Robustly understanding the, the language

and that sort of thing, how do you

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help them like normalize, understand

and, and really put that in place

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so that they can build upon that

for their, their business security?

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Lori Crooks: Yeah,

that's a great question.

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Especially small businesses,

they don't really know what

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security is or compliance.

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They might, but you know, typically they

struggle with kind of understanding.

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What am I supposed to do with all this?

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What does a security

policy actually consist of?

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So we like to try to take that

and break it down into, as I

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like to call human, speak like

normal, speak as much as possible.

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So we kind of give them examples of,

you know, sometimes compliance is

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like driving down the road and you hit

a red light, you know what happens,

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you know, with that sort of thing.

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So we try to break it down and make it.

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Easy to understand.

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Um, so they understand and

they also understand the impact

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to, again, their organization.

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So,

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Tori Barker: yeah.

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And what was the, one of the biggest,

uh, surprises that you had or maybe

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like obstacles that you had to overcome

when starting your own business?

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So you went from like a corporate

situation to contract work, and then

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now as a business owner for your

own business, what was, uh, some of

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those obstacles that you may have

encountered in your own business growth?

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Lori Crooks: I would definitely

say putting myself out there,

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um, and getting new business.

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I'm very much an introvert, so the

thought of like networking or like

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doing sales calls, like scares me to

death, but I know I have to do it.

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So that's been an obstacle I've

been working on the last couple

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years and changing my mindset around

sales and marketing and all that.

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It kind of.

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Teaching myself that I'm not

actually selling, I'm actually

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out there trying to help people.

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Mm-hmm.

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Um, and to me that makes it a

lot more manageable of, because

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that's really what I wanna do.

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I wanna help people understand this,

that they might not, and kind of fill

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that gap, um, within their organization

if they don't have that experience.

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Tori Barker: I mean that, that's a

perfect example of, uh, visibility, right?

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So there are challenges that many

entrepreneurs have when it comes to

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visibility, either the internal visibility

struggle that they have, like confidence,

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the clarity of a who and what they, they

do, who they work with, what they do.

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Um, but also just building their own

visibility, confidence to put themselves

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out there and understand that they can

be the forefront of their business, and

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that it will only just propel their growth

when they do put themselves out there.

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Um, so I love that you, you share

that because I think a lot of us

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can, can really relate with that.

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Um, and yeah, it's just, you know,

it's something that we have to.

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Either a muscle we have to, uh, work

through and something we grow, you know,

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over time and experience and repetition

and all of those things that just help us

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to become better leaders, more visible,

you know, with our ourselves and for our

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brands and our companies that we, we own.

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Um, so yeah, and, and I love the

point about like the whole sales,

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like there's so, there's so much

conversation that I hear, and I

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similarly, when I started my business,

I was like, I'm not a sales person.

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Like I'm not that salesy

type person, right?

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And I agree that, that you have

to reframe your mindset around it

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because it's a service that you offer

and that you can provide to people.

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And so you have to be able to put yourself

out there and ask for the sale in a.

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You know, non-salesy way.

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Yeah.

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From a service perspective.

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Right?

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A service.

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Exactly.

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Yeah.

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This is a service that I offer

and that becomes so much more,

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um, natural, uh, in conversation.

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And then it's like, if you don't

ask them for the business, it's

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a disservice to them, right?

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They could be benefiting from what you

have to offer and how you can help them.

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So.

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I love that you mentioned that.

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Yeah, that's a great

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Lori Crooks: point.

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Thank you.

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Thank you for summarizing

it so nicely as well.

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Yeah.

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Tori Barker: So one of the other things

that I noticed that you do is you

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also mentor women in cybersecurity.

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So tell me a little bit about that,

the mentorships that you have there

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and how you help, uh, other women in

a typically male dominated, uh, field.

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Lori Crooks: Sure.

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So, um, I've had over the years a

couple ladies reach out to me or

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women reach out to me, um, who are

younger and, you know, just kind of

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struggling and kind of next steps.

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And so just kind of.

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Help them kind of find their voice

and probably help them provide

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some direction for themselves.

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Um, and then formally I joined Women in

Cybersecurity and they had a mentorship

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program where I could join as a mentor.

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Um, so I have three wonderful people

that I mentor on a regular basis.

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We meet at least once a month.

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Um, and there's usually through women

in cybersecurity, there is an agenda.

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So like this month we're talking about

leadership, um, and how women could

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be better leaders, especially in a.

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It male dominated world of how

do we kind of find that balance

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of still being our female selves?

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Yeah.

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But not being, I, I mean, we all know kind

of the context of like, if a woman might

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stand up on her own, people might call

her bad words, but if a man does it, it's,

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oh, he is a strong, you know, person.

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So,

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Tori Barker: yeah.

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Lori Crooks: Yeah.

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We just kind of talked through

different things of how we could.

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Conquer that, um, and work through that.

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And it's been great.

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You know, I learned just as much as,

um, I hope that they do, and it's been

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great to kind of give back and help

others, uh, throughout the process.

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Tori Barker: Yeah, I mean, I feel like

I hear this more and more now that there

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are these, these groups for women in

industries that are typically known for

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being male dominant, like construction.

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Mm-hmm.

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Right.

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There's a big push for women in

construction and it, and tech,

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like, there's all these different

organizations that are, are coming

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together to really enhance, uh,

women leadership and uh, community.

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Around those specific industries.

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And so I love it.

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And just like there's so much benefit

to not only women coming together and

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supporting each other, but for recognizing

women and the advancements that they

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can make in certain industries that

they may not have been prominent in.

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And I always love to think

about like the, the new.

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The new ideas that come from women are

the new ways to implement things in

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these industries that may not have, uh,

been considered before, and how that's

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gonna change and evolve over time.

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Yeah, because as women we

approach things differently.

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It's just how we are,

who we are, how we work.

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And so it's so cool.

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You know, when you think about like.

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If we become stronger together and

standing alone individually stronger, uh,

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what changes that's gonna make for the

certain industries that we're now becoming

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more prominent in, uh, as we grow and,

and you know, how things evolve over time.

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Lori Crooks: Definitely.

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It's so exciting to see.

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Um, you know, I started out in

this industry about 20 years ago.

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And just being able to see now how

many women feel comfortable enough

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to kind of take those leadership

roles and management roles and

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be a part of it is very exciting.

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You know, we still have a long way

to go, um, in cybersecurity, but

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it, it's exciting to see in the

meantime now watching it growth.

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Tori Barker: Yeah.

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And for you, as you're kind of growing in

your, your confidence and your standing

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secure in, in who you are in this, this

industry, what are some of the ways

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that you find yourself showing up, um,

for building your thought leadership?

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Like, do you, do you do

speaking opportunities?

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I know you do the mentorship, but

are there any other ways that you

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help to make yourself visible,

uh, in this, this industry?

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Lori Crooks: A lot of

it right now is online.

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Um, so I do a lot of LinkedIn

and we post some stuff.

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I do try to attend some conferences.

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I have spoken once or twice before.

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Uh, I'll be honest, this is not my

forte, but it is something that I

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am actually actively working on.

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I'm joining Toastmasters tomorrow night,

so it's something that, you know, I, I

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know I have to do, um, in order to kind

of move my business forward is I have to

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put myself out there because I'm gonna

be the one that's gonna make the change.

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So.

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It's, it's gonna be exciting,

hopefully year as I grow myself and

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push myself out there even more.

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So

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Tori Barker: I love that.

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Well, I'm excited that I get to follow

along and be a part of this journey.

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Thank you.

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To give you a platform to, you know,

speak and, you know, um, build that

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confidence and share your expertise.

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That's, that's what it's all about.

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And that's why I love podcasting because

not only do you get to meet new people.

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You get to help, uh, elevate others,

you know, bring their brands and

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voices and all these things to

light to different audiences.

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And so it's, it's such a great opportunity

and, and opportunity to meet you as well.

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Lori Crooks: It is.

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Yes.

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No, that was awesome.

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Thank you.

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Tori Barker: So, uh, let's kind of

talk a, let's wrap it up a little

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bit with a few questions, so, sure.

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Are there any like myths about

cybersecurity that you think

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people should know or that you're

like, I always hear this, and

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it's like, oh, that's so not true.

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Yeah.

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Lori Crooks: Probably the

biggest is I'm a small business.

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I don't need cybersecurity.

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Like no one's gonna hack us.

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Um, unfortunately that's not true.

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Usually small businesses are targeted

because they don't have the security.

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Um, the ransomware, I don't know if you've

heard of that, was like a big thing a

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couple years ago where they shut down

like tons of small businesses and small

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businesses had to pay out their pocket to.

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Get out of it, you know, because they

didn't have the proper security in place.

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So yes, small businesses

definitely need cybersecurity.

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Just because you're small doesn't mean

people aren't gonna find you out there.

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Tori Barker: Yeah.

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And then final question.

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So what are some tools or habits

that you personally use to keep

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yourself grounded, uh, as a busy, uh,

entrepreneur, business owner yourself?

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What are some of those habits or

tools that you use for yourself?

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Lori Crooks: Yeah.

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Uh, walking outside a lot

just to kind of calm my mind.

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Um, and then I, I like to say

I'm a collector of hobbies.

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I like to try different

things, um, in my free time.

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So you'll find me either knitting

or I just started watercolor.

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We were talking about your

painting before we started, so I

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like to try different things and.

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You know, learned.

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I love learning and I like stretch,

stretching that creative, uh,

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side of my brain when I'm not

working on security policies.

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Tori Barker: That's probably

a good balance, right?

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You've got the technical side

of everything and then Yes.

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You know, kind of relaxing through.

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Lori Crooks: Exactly.

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Yeah, exactly.

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I'm like, oh, I'll do puzzle.

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You know?

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Yeah.

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I like those sort of things.

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I'm such a nerd, but yeah.

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Tori Barker: Well, Lori, it

has been so nice to, uh, chat

344

with you and get to know you.

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Uh, how can people get in touch with

you, uh, to learn about, you know,

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their cybersecurity needs or if they

have a need for it, you know, what's,

347

what's the best way for them to reach

out and learn more about what you do?

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Lori Crooks: Yeah, sure.

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Um, I have a website, uh, Cadra, CADR.

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a.com.

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Um, or you can feel free

to email me as well.

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Um, Lori, LORI dot crooks,

C-R-O-O-K s@cadra.com,

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and I'm also on LinkedIn.

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Tori Barker: Awesome.

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Well, like I said, thank you again

so much for being a guest today.

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Uh, it's been a pleasure to share

your story a little bit about what

357

cybersecurity is, how uh, people can,

uh, learn about you and, and just being

358

able to, to meet you and, and help

you along your visibility journey.

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Lori Crooks: Yeah.

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Thanks so much Tori.

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This was a great conversation and I hope

you know, I hope somebody in your audience

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as well, but love talking to you further.