Beyond the #ShareTheMicInCyber Fellowship at New America

In 2020, #ShareTheMicInCyber (#STMIC) was launched to meet the urgent need of the moment: increasing visibility for Black cybersecurity professionals whose vital work too often went overlooked. Social media became the platform to generate that visibility, build community, and amplify voices, demonstrating that diversity is not just beneficial but essential to cybersecurity.

This principle animated all five of #ShareTheMicInCyber’s social media campaigns. When the online movement concluded in late 2022, founders Camille Stewart Gloster and Lauren Zabierek set out to test this theory beyond the digital sphere—bringing it into the policy arena through the #STMIC Fellowship at New America.

Over three years, the fellowship produced research that sparked meaningful conversations, elevated new voices in cyber and technology policy, and led to actionable recommendations. In doing so, it proved the core idea that inclusion drives innovation and security alike.

As the fellowship chapter closes, #ShareTheMicInCyber enters a new season—continuing the momentum and evolving to meet the needs of this moment. Our work is far from done.

Our Impact

Over the past three years, the #ShareTheMicInCyber Fellowship has supported 21 Fellows in producing cutting-edge research publications. Our research has consistently demystified the connections between cybersecurity vulnerabilities and human harms. Examining the economic, psychological, and societal harms of technical choices have highlighted how necessary it is for innovation and safety go hand-in-hand. In addition to investing in this research, the #ShareTheMicInCyber Fellowship contributed valuable insights into the unique cybersecurity risks of emerging technologies, and introduced creative solutions to problems of the future. We've published research on the human impacts of augmented and virtual reality devices, brain computer interfaces, and artificial intelligence, while also presenting new solutions, such as data nutrition labels, legal frameworks for civilian cyber corps, and a schema to implement "policy as code." Our focus on understanding society's connections to technology and investing in solutions for the future crafted by future leaders set us apart.

Our impact was not simply in publishing research and raising awareness to solutions and emergent problems, but in the growth of the Fellows during their year. The vast majority of our Fellows started their time at New America with limited public speaking and writing experience, and little formal exposure to policy. After one year of workshops and mentorship, our Fellows released policy papers and briefs on consequential technology issues. As of October 2025, our program’s impact on the Fellows’ professional trajectories and on tech policy is notable:

• Fellows were featured in 32 public appearances across podcasts, events, and written media, where they spoke about their research projects and findings, or added expert commentary to current events related to their focus areas.
• 17 unique outlets featured our research or our Fellows, inviting them to speak or write pieces on their research. The outlets in turn reached audiences who were leaders in the tech and cybersecurity industry, policy leaders and researchers, and students and young leaders interested in the impact of tech in their lives.
• Fellows have spoken to private sector audiences through RSA Conference and Rubrik Zero Labs, to policymakers through written pieces in CyberScoop and POLITICO as well as meetings with Congress and Executive branch agencies, and to industry professionals through the Caveat by N2K podcast and CSO Online.
• Our reports garnered 16,831 views through the New America website, with several that were viewed months after their initial publication.

Moving Onward

As #ShareTheMicInCyber continues, the collaboration with New America has yielded valuable insights about the hunger for new perspectives, and the necessity to continue investing in research-informed action.

There is an appetite for new questions AND new solutions: Research disaggregating real-life harms from cyber vulnerabilities was, and is still, limited. Questions pertaining to future technologies, like extended reality devices or brain-computer interfaces, are still nascent and have not yet captured the public imagination. Our research not only broke new ground, but the interest from media and other industry experts shows that the field has unlimited space for new ideas. The work that #ShareTheMicInCyber Fellows conducted is relevant now, and will continue to be in the future as technology evolves and the regulatory landscape transforms.

Investing in research and action is not a zero-sum game. Investing in research is a complement to rapid response programs and solutions, especially in an increasingly inconsistent policy landscape. Our research on secure artificial intelligence, such as data centers security, consumer-centric data labels, and the impact of deepfakes on public officials are all areas of research that we know will become emergent as the U.S. moves towards a technology-dependent future.

There must be more pathways for outsiders to propose new policy solutions. More than ever, the public sector, industry, and civil society all need experts who can navigate ambiguous policy landscapes, craft compelling narratives, and conduct sharp analysis. Programs targeted at mid-career professionals can not only be vital opportunities for developing talent to meet these needs, but also opportunities for outside voices to pivot into policy and introduce new ideas and solutions.

The work will continue. To stay up to date with #ShareTheMicInCyber’s newest iteration, please visit https://www.sharethemicincyber.com/.