Overview
#039 – Today’s guest is Paula Balmori Beltrán, Global Director of Security Design and Integration at Brivo, President of the Secure Building Council, and Director of the U.S. CPTED Association. Paula is a recognized leader at the intersection of architecture, security, and PropTech. Her background spans architectural design, risk consulting for military bases, and security leadership for global enterprises.
In this episode, we talk about her journey from design to security, how she’s leading the development of the SHIELD certification for secure buildings, and why CPTED and PropTech are essential to building safer, smarter environments. We also dig into lessons learned from enterprise projects, strategies for aligning stakeholders, and the growing role of AI in security design.
Highlights from This Episode
- Security Must Be Integrated Early: Security design should be embedded into the earliest architectural decisions, not treated as an afterthought.
- Design with Risk in Mind: Contextual risk—like proximity to roads or cultural/security/etc climate—should shape architecture, not just aesthetics or function.
- Resource Constraints Drive Innovation: Her work in Kenya taught her how to design effective solutions with minimal personnel and limited budgets.
- PropTech is Part of Security: Modern security design isn’t just cameras and card readers—it includes sensors, temperature controls, and open API ecosystems.
- User Experience Matters: Security professionals should focus on how users actually interact with systems and spaces, not just hardware specs.
- Stakeholder Alignment is Crucial: Facilities, operations, legal, and safety teams all need to be part of the security design conversation.
- CPTED is Foundational: Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design is the baseline knowledge every architect and security designer should have.
- SHIELD Certification Fills a Major Gap: The industry has lacked a comprehensive security design certification—SHIELD is aiming to change that.
- AI is a Daily Tool: She uses AI (including ChatGPT) as a personal assistant to write, brainstorm, research, and problem-solve.
- Young Professionals Should Cross-Train: Security people should learn design and project management; designers should learn security systems.
Memorable Quotes:
- “Ever since then, I couldn’t look away. This is the problem I want to solve. – On discovering the gap between security and architecture.
- “Architecture has allowed me to understand how to take into consideration context and concepts in order to design in the most elevated way—not as an afterthought.”
- “We’re not just designing barriers—we’re designing experiences and ecosystems.”
- “If you come from the security side, learn about architecture. If you come from architecture, learn about security.”
RESOURCES MENTIONED
Books:
- ZBeta blog posts on security design
Websites / Tools / Platforms
- ZBeta (implied, for blogs)
- ChatGPT (used extensively for ideation, document breakdowns, summaries)
People
- Art Hushen – Founder of the U.S. CPTED Association
- Macarena – CPTED advocate in Latin America
- Lee Odess – Recommended follow for PropTech updates
- Zack and Debra – Key contributors to the SHIELD certification at the Secure Building Council
Organizations
- Secure Building Council (SBC) – Launching the SHIELD certification
- U.S. CPTED Association
- Brivo – PropTech
- Z-Beta – Security consulting firm with great digital publications
- Training / Courses
- CPTED training courses, such as NICP (highly recommended)
- AIA (American Institute of Architects) – for architecture-related continuing education
Events
- GSX – Global Security Exchange (ASIS)
- ISC East / ISC West
- U.S. CPTED Association Conference – Held annually in February
Use CONTROL + F to search the transcript below if you want to learn more!
Transcript from this episode
*Note: this transcript was generated using automated software, and may not be a perfect transcription. But I hope you find it useful.
Travis: Welcome to the Security Student Podcast...
Travis: Paula, I'm very excited to chat with you today. I know we first met almost three years ago at ISC West, so it's kind of cool to catch up once again. We're both involved in many different projects since. And one of the main reasons I really wanted to bring you onto the podcast, one, of course, you're a leader in many different industry groups, but also you have a really unique background in architecture, which I think is just so cool because so few of our colleagues have that same perspective. So Paula, I really appreciate you joining. Welcome.
Paula: Thank you. And thank you so much, Travis, for having me. Yeah, I can't believe it's been already three years. I feel like the time just goes by faster and faster. But yeah, thank you so much for having me. Excited to chat with you today.
Travis: Thank you. And I think one good place to start, Paula, could you share a little bit about your career path and what led you to where you are today with Brevo?
Paula: Yeah, absolutely. So my name is Paran, I'm actually originally from Spain, some of you might know that. But I've been living in the US on and off for almost nine years now.
My background is as an architect, but very early on in my career, some of you might know this already. But I met a lot of Navy SEALs that they started telling me about their lives overseas, their living conditions. And I was, wait a minute, you guys are risking your lives and still living those poor conditions?
I feel like myself as an architect, I could help a lot like improve the security standards around their living conditions to, for these people to be safe. And that's when I realized that there was actually a gap, a big gap in architecture and security. So ever since then, I couldn't look away.
I was like, this is the problem I want to solve. And I started putting all my love, time and effort into bridging that gap between architecture and security. And so I work in all different sides of the table with all the different stakeholders involved in the security design process. Real architecture firms, engineering firms, and user side, integrator side. And now most recently, in the manufacturer side, I'm the goal director of security systems design at Brevo. And what that means is that I help assist the AAC industry, architects, engineers, construction companies, and security consultants, understand what the best security design solutions or security technology solutions are for their projects. And yeah, just very excited to continue to do what I love and continue to help the industry in any way I can.
Travis: Thank you. Yeah, that really helps me kind of picture your career path. So what specifically could you or could you share a little bit about some of the specific projects that you work on today or some of the projects that you've worked on in the past that have kind of led to your current role?
Paula: Yeah, absolutely. So I will highlight some of the ones that, I guess, mold me or shape me in a way to do a lot of the things I did today in the way I do them. I did work for the Spanish Embassy in Kenya for a while in helping the, well, we needed to move the embassy into another location. And also the ambassador was relocating embassy. And then a lot of the work that we did was also with the United Nations, because every embassy, you need to work with United Nations when you're overseas.
Anyways, the longest resort is that you need it to do a lot with very little. When you're in those third world countries, it's not like you're like, oh, let's pull in marketing, let's do this, let's bring this up, that resource. No, there you're, how do we solve this issue? We have one guard, this technology, and maybe this little budget to put a few cameras. So you need to be very resourceful. And the risk assessment portion was very crucial in all that process. So I would say that was one of the projects that shaped me the most.
And then currently just working in the total opposite spectrum with larger enterprise global customers. It's all about the details. And because they request our, you know, you have to track so many little things.
You get requests one for seven, I will say having the two things, having the capabilities of transforming their vision that sometimes they don't even know what they want and to design solutions and technology design strategies. That's what I love doing. It's helped the customer and our clients understand how to not only bring security to their buildings, but improve their operations and the user experience. Because what I always say security is not only security anymore, we bring, we create smart spaces with our technology at Brevo. And one of the things that again that I love is just help our clients complex environments improve with our technology solutions and our security design strategies. And again, all of that requires a lot of very detailed project management in order to not miss anything. And yeah, those are the two sides of the coin that I would like to highlight from it for your question.
Travis: Yeah. And you mentioned two really important ideas. And I think it applies in really any security environment that you're working in. Your first was around having very limited security resources, but then trying to figure out how can we, how can we take the optimal approach with like you mentioned, maybe you have a handful of security officers, you have the ability to have a couple of cameras, and trying to find some creative solution where you could at least establish some baseline. I feel like that's so important. And it's going to come in handy for every security project you have, because we're always trying to prioritize these things for our clients. And then second, you mentioned helping the client establish a vision. And I think even in consulting, this is so important because often, often maybe there's lots of policy documentation and some of these other things and the organization has been involved in all these programs and projects over the years. But do they really have, have they really articulated a vision that everyone else in the organization, including the security department can really, that can really guide their risk assessment and their implementation of all their technologies. So even though it seems like a very, I feel like there are very few security books that are going to talk about helping a client establish a vision and to like create a picture of what their ideal is, that's just such an important area.
Paula: Yeah, no, absolutely. And honestly, I feel like we're starting, I've started to finally see that more and more practitioners are taking this approach of understanding the business operations of the clients, because for so long, again, it's like, oh, okay, how many doors? Okay, this is what you need. But no, okay, like, are people going to enter this room at all? Do you need to do any additional reinforcement here because there's a lot of IP in this location? What is it? So yeah, I understand asking the right questions since the earliest stages is key to build the right solution.
Travis: And one of the consultants that I work with, I remember he put it in a way that was something like this. He had asked about how some of my projects had gone at other companies, and he was like, wait, so you're basically just telling the client what they need, you're not really facilitating any types of in-depth discussions to uncover all of the other background context, all the other challenges that they're facing. So I thought that that was really interesting. And there's definitely a way of applying a lot of unique ideas to technology and software, such as like, minimal viable product and like, so many of these other techniques are maybe using stuff like Scrum, like these iterative approaches to the way that we do security projects. There's definitely like a very unique way of integrating some of those technology ideas into security. So that's just something that I was thinking.
Paula: Yeah, that's why I like to get creative here and do like walkthrough exercises, like, okay, walkthrough, how are people going to enter this space? And also, bring the right stakeholders in the room. Like, I know you guys are the security team, but does the facility management or real state group need to be involved? Do like, you know, the director of operations need to get in here?
Is there like someone from the liability side of the house that also needs to be involved or from the safety department? Like, we need to have the conversations with the right stakeholders, because what's going to happen if we don't do that, then we take a solution. And then, first of all, either they will fight the budget, because it'll be like, the ridiculous, I'm like, well, but you're not understanding that this is helping streamline the start of the operations of the house and cut down in time for the delivery services. So again, bring the right people to not only champion for the solution that's need to be put in place, but also to uncover maybe other areas that we are not seeing because we're not hearing what problems they're facing.
Travis: Yeah, and I think that's a really important way for a lot of security practitioners to think too. It's about thinking about user experience. What does, like, at least using technology, it's like, what path of clicks is the user taking?
Insecurity, what path is the end user taking? I feel like that just helps inform our designs so much better. And Paula, since you did go to school for architecture, and that's such a unique space, I wanted to hear about how that's influenced a lot of your security projects. Absolutely.
Paula: So architecture, it's a very romantic practice. And what I mean by that is we like to take into consideration a lot of things to make decisions, which is great. Sometimes it can be too redundant or too much. But when we are tasked, like, okay, we need to build a school or an office in this location.
We need to do a context analysis, which in security should be done too, like a context or risk analysis. Why? Because we need to understand the neighbors. We need to understand the landscape.
Are there any restrictions? We really need to understand the context of where we're building. It's like the number one step that you need to do before building. Then in order to decide what the shape of the building is going to be, what the looks, the feels, all these little details of a building, you tend to follow two concepts. And concepts can be foreign follows function, meaning you're going to base the functionality of the building to shape the actual building form.
It can be materiality. You're going to be big on materials, the shape and sizes of the walls that are traparine walls. That's what's going to tell you the height of the ceiling, things like that. And normally, architects design with two concepts in mind.
Which is great. But what I have realized is that there are certain projects that instead of designing with materiality in mind of, oh, this is traparine wall, it's going to tell me how high do I need to design. Actually, you should be considering what security needs, how they should be shaping your space, meaning, well, I might need to put a thicker wall because this is facing a very major road. And in case of like a car crash, like this wall needs to be reinforced in some way. Or there are like a high risk or bombing or some type of other threat that it's going to shape your building or should be shaping the design of your building. So architecture has allowed me to understand how to take into consideration context and concepts in order to design in the most elevated way and not as an afterthought, but early on in the beginning of the design process.
Travis: Yeah, that's really interesting. For me, architecture is something completely new other than maybe like random novels that we had to read in high school where some of the authors are obsessed with architecture. So it's very interesting to hear your perspective. And could you maybe give an example of you applying some of your architecture insights on different types of projects?
Paula: Yeah, absolutely. So one of the things that we've been continuing to perfect, or I've continued to perfect in my practice is that layer approach of going from the external perimeter to the closer gate to the facade to the interior of the building. And each one of those layers, they have different elements. You might have the external fence, you have the lighting in the parking, you have the facade materiality or even the cramped prevention through environmental design techniques to apply into the design of the building itself. So some examples have been, again, depending on the risk that the building had, it was the type of fencing that we were choosing, the type of lighting that was going to go in the perimeter, especially in areas where there were cameras, you know, needed a little bit of extra lighting or areas that had higher vulnerability because there were not many natural surveillance, many like, you know, people's eyes on certain corners of certain spaces. So I guess like those are some examples of a few things that we tend to look at most of the projects are, tend to look into most of the projects as well as the path of travel for the main entrances and exits on how people enter and exit the space. Because a lot of the times what I see is that people are like, okay, entrance, exit, car reader, camera, car reader, camera.
I'm like, okay, but this might not do anything. If there is not a proper, like, if the fence that you're car reader on has actually a huge hole next to it that the people can just walk through it. Like, you know, little things that people are just trying to check the list without putting the proper care to it. And so, yeah, those are, I guess, some of the examples that I tend to see or work on.
Travis: Yeah, I was going to say that's very helpful. And I think for me, some of the things that stand out to, like, in my day to day now, I do many reviews of architecture and engineering drawings because we're trying to identify what other assets are in these drawings, what vulnerabilities do we see, how might some of these designs lead to additional vulnerabilities. I could definitely see that type of architecture knowledge being applied here, where for me, at least initially, it was very much a struggle learning to digest some of these drawings. And then, too, there's other more technical stuff, too. For example, there have been some projects over the years where a client gets a blast analysis done. And if you've ever read one of these, it is incredibly technical, other than skipping to the conclusion and seeing, okay, what's the impact going to be? What are the recommended mitigations? So I could definitely see some of that knowledge around architecture and engineering being super useful in that area.
Paula: You're reminding me. So for my master's, I did a thesis where I designed kind of like a security software to improve the security design in FOPS, like, forward operating bases, military bases. And I remember one of the things that I did was reading a lot of these blasting analysis. And I didn't understand anything. I was like, what is this? But I'm like, okay. But yeah, it's something that, again, we were talking a lot about it, because for SHIELD, for the Secure Building Cancel, because those are things that are definitely potentially need to be taken into consideration for SHIELD 3, where you're performing a risk assessment. And maybe one of the components is doing a blast analysis, a blood-resistant analysis.
Travis: I think that's a perfect intro into the work that you're doing with the Secure Building Council. I've been following you all online for, I don't know, I guess the last two years or so. And I'm just curious what projects you all are working on, what are some of your big goals or objectives for the year?
Paula: Yeah, I know it's been now almost three years as we've launched. For those of you listening to this podcast today, the Secure Building Council is a nonprofit, creating the first security certification for buildings. I can't believe how fast the time has gone by and how much we've been able to accomplish in these last three years. We are nearing the finish line or the finish of the beginning, if you will. And it's been a phenomenal three years where we have almost 4,000 members of SBC and we have 40 direct contributors and a great instructor in the organization that is helping move things forward. Shout out to the technical committee for all the hard work that they've been putting on the development of the certification.
Sak and Debra have been phenomenal at leading all of that part of the initiative. And yeah, we are about to launch it at the end of the year beginning of 2026. We have some big, big, large organizations that are going to be the main cases studies for the certification.
And after that, yeah, we're ready to go. We are also getting a few security consultant firms and engineer firms that are becoming officially SHILs certifiers. And can't wait because, again, it's been, well, three years in the making, but what it feels like an eternity of something that I personally been craving in my career to have that guidance. And I know because of obviously all the traction that this has gained everybody else has been wanting to see come to life and have those guardrails and in guidelines to understand how to best secure a facility in a building. And to also get the recognition that security deserves because, again, this is how we work as a society.
I always say this to everybody. Unfortunately, if we don't get the recognition, we tend to not do things. So whether that is because you are truly passionate to secure a space or just you feel like your organization needs the security design recognition, I feel one way or another people are going to certify their projects and their companies with SHIL.
Travis: That's really fascinating. So the end product is really like a standard that people can follow. You'll have some people who are, I don't know how to say it, certified and certifying other organizations or you have like a third party group that could certify.
Paula: The vision is as we know and we're actually talking amongst the group on what the best process will be is to follow the same structure that LED like LEED has followed for the sustainability certification for buildings. And is that the nonprofit like Secure Building Council will certify organizations like, again, we have some of those larger names that are part of as we see now and will certify those organizations and then they'll certify the buildings and then will obviously be the ones approving that certification and certifying it officially.
And that will be the process and that's what we can wait to see because again sustainability is ahead of us and now security is closely behind it to continue to create better and more livable environments.
Travis: Very cool. And if you're allowed to talk about it, can you share a bit about some of the subtopics within the certification? Is it? Absolutely.
Paula: What I like to highlight is that the structure of the certification, we have four main pillars. We have the actual physical security design, the doors, windows, finishes, etc. Then we have the technology portion of security, cameras, car readers, etc. Then we have the operational component.
Just to put an example, maybe the path that a guard needs to do in certain areas or you have personnel at the main entrance, Secure Certain Spaces, that will be the operational component also based on the actual type of building that it is. And then the fourth component is the liability because sometimes, a lot of the times, organizations what they don't know is that they don't follow certain security requirements. They enter a potential risk in liability that can affect the entire organization if they don't put the right measurements in place.
Travis: Yeah, liability is a great add too because I feel like so few security publications really talk about it and explain it explicitly. So you get many organizations that might do, they might make amateurish mistakes in their signage and they're deploying them to security officers and where they put security offices in their policies and procedures. So that is something that is just so critical.
Paula: Yeah, no, for us that has been a huge big component because we have, again, people in the best way concern in questioning a lot. Okay, what happens when you put this certification in place, who is liable for what, what are going to be the main impact that this can have on individuals or on the organization certifying this spaces. That's why we've had people, again, with legal experience in all of these aspects, help create this certification as well as organizations that are specialized in forensic security, which has been huge in helping us understand what things we need to look at in the development of SHIELD. And again, very, very proud of what the team has accomplished and what where we're at and just really, really, really excited to see this comes alive because I can't use this certification. I can't wait to see all the work and effort of all these security organizations and security technology companies being recognized at the level that they need to be recognized because what we do for this world, like the security industry, again, it's not truly being recognized. And this is giving us the chance to be more proactive in the development of buildings and security around the world and be recognized and be, and help people understand more the impact that we are having in spaces.
Travis: Yeah. I really like that idea about recognition because security is one of those areas where I feel like just the average, when the average person thinks about security, they don't associate it with with what other professions would be associated with. When you think of a CPA or a legal counsel who are informing the standard that you all are creating, when you think about some of these very professional professions, security is just so vastly different. And I think the average person just associates security with the security that they see every day, which is a couple of cameras. It's a security officer outside of their bank. They don't conceptualize it in the same way that you would other professions. So I think being able to recognize it and show that really that we hold ourselves to the same standard as so many other professions, I think that is such a great idea.
Paula: Yeah, no. Again, all the people that we've been speaking with and that have approached us, it's been such a beautiful journey to hear other people's experiences. And I don't know if it's beautiful is the word, but to hear their struggles because it made us all feel less alone.
And be like, okay, we're this huge strive of people that we've all been struggling with the same issues and we're all coming together from all different aspects and careers and companies coming all together to create this thing that is just going to help not all of us, but an entire generations after us to do that guidance that we didn't have. So very excited.
Travis: Yeah, that is so cool. And I know you're very far along in the process with technical committees and working groups, but can people still join to be a contributor or to do a small part in any way?
Paula: Yeah, so I know the technical committee or the technical subcommittee is looking for some individuals to join their chapters, to join the development of certain parts of certain chapters. So I know that those spaces are open for contribution and I know we are about to close out. We might, if anybody's listening, I don't know when this episode is coming out, there might still be one opening to join the commercial committee and one opening to join the outreach committee. But yeah, that's where we're at the moment.
Travis: Okay, awesome. Yeah, I think someone who's on my team at work, I think they applied for one of the committees and they got a message from one of your peers. So hopefully they will be joining soon. We'll see.
Paula: That'll be awesome. And like I always say, those are the official ways of contributing to SBC, but we also love doing partnerships and engagements. And even if you were like, Bala, we want to do a webinar to talk about this topic that you're very passionate about. We love partnering and bringing value again to SBC and to the security industry. So the doors are open to collaborating in any way you guys think.
Travis: Awesome. Yeah, I love that idea of being able to collaborate on any number of topics. So I will definitely consider that. And Pauly, you're also a leader with US SEPTED. For those that are less familiar with SEPTED, Crime Prevention through Environmental Design, for me, this is something once I finally did a series of, I don't know, very educational, professional SEPTED courses. After taking those, I really saw SEPTED in every project I could possibly be involved in. And even this year, I got to work on one project that was just purely SEPTED, which I think is incredibly rare that an organization does just a purely SEPTED assessment. So ever since I did that first SEPTED course, it's something that I just see everywhere. And I think it applies to all aspects of security. I should have done a SEPTED course like a decade ago or more. So can you share a little bit?
Paula: No, absolutely. And Art Denguel are the founders of the US SEPTED Association. They are phenomenal individuals. I always say Art was one of the first mentors I looked up to when I started studying SEPTED and anything related to Crime Prevention through Environmental Design. And yeah, to your point, and this is what we were talking about early in the conversation about how security design should be part of the early process of the design, and architecture, SEPTED has created that foundation of the elements and things that need to happen in architecture design to secure spaces. So I'm always a big champion to any architecture school, any architect listening to this to get educated and SEPTED, because that's the bare minimum that you should know if you want to be in the security design industry.
Travis: Yeah, and for me, it's something that's highly applicable in transportation as we're designing. Transportation centers, parking rides, transportation platforms, it just applies everywhere, especially all over the country where you see lots of quality of life issues. There are many things that can't be solved through security. So when it comes to designing the environment so that we could help our clients maintain cleaner or more presentable environments that make their users feel like they want to use their services, it's just, I don't know, it's just so critical.
Paula: Absolutely. And what you're saying of certain environments that they might not be able to even invest in technology or things like that, there are some minor changes when it comes to, for example, I would say landscape or even the visibility and lighting you bring to certain areas that can make a huge impact in the filling of security also for certain communities. I know there's one of also the big advocates of SEPTED in Latin America, her name is Macarena. She always talks about involving the community in doing, for example, mural arts, again, because we bring and activate certain places or certain streets with community involvement that can really shift the way people see or feel in certain areas, which ultimately, that's what we want, we want people to feel safe because if you don't feel safe, you're not going to leave us freely, you're not going to enjoy as much your neighborhood. And unfortunately, there are certain communities that that's a luxury, like the filling of safety, it's a luxury. So yeah, I love what you can achieve with SEPTED Fundaments.
Travis: Yeah, so I highly encourage anyone out there, it doesn't matter if you're working in close protection and physical security, and if you're doing anything that's designing environments, you absolutely have to take a SEPTED course. And as far as, are there any opportunities with the US SEPTED for people to get involved, contribute?
Paula: Yeah, absolutely. They have different chapters depending on the that you want to contribute. So I would say we try to dwell or just like the email if they use SEPTED Association. Getting involved is again, the people, they also, they have webinars, I think like monthly or every two weeks that are also extremely educational. And I again, highly recommend to also join that group as well.
Travis: Yeah, and I think they have, I forget, is there a conference at the end of the year?
Paula: It tends to be in February actually.
Travis: February, that's right. Okay, yeah, so people can also look out for the upcoming conference for next year as well. And let's see, other than SEPTED, I also wanted to ask Paula, could you, for the audience that's less familiar with PropTech, could you share a little bit about that side of our industry?
Paula: Yeah, PropTech stands for Property Technology, and that's related to anything related that like the word says for any type of smart devices in buildings. And that can be just, that's more than just security. It can be sensors, it can be thermostats, it can be lighting adjustment features. And again, the security technology industry should truly understand that this type of ecosystems, because again, security again is not just creating barriers for people to enter exit spaces, but it's about creating efficiency and smart environments. And like we see it at Brevo, at Brevo we have, we're an open API, which means that we can connect with all types of integrations that sensors for ID server rooms or for factories that they need to control certain temperature standards for whatever reason. For apartments like you know the thermostat regulators and things like that that you can also control from your phone.
Again, all that you can think for smart building devices, that integrates now with a building security technology. And it's honestly for me like so fun, because you get this wide canvas and you can be like, okay, what do you want? What do you need? What's the experience that you want to give to the users? How smart do you want to create like, you know, create your spaces? What are some of the same points? And then you just start, you know, drawing in the white board, like what are all the problems? What are all the potential solutions in matching one thing with the other? And creating this, you know, custom solution to for the client.
Why? Because again, for real, in the case of Brevo, we're open source, and that just allows us to create this perfectly crafted solution based on the needs and the requirements. And that's why people need to understand PropTech because it's an ecosystem of different technology, smart technology that is part of the build environment these days.
Travis: Yeah, it's definitely very critical because it's related to so many things. And then also even something as simple as temperature, when we think about protecting data centers, something as simple as the data rack getting a couple degrees warmer, that is going to influence everything. So even just those small changes can have such a big impact. And Paula, for people that are less familiar with building management systems with PropTech, are there any resources or organizations or LinkedIn follows you think would be useful for someone that wants to get further down that path to learn more?
Paula: Yes, I, oh my goodness, I'm blanking on this. I mean, obviously, anybody that follows Leo Desk, he just like the latest and greatest updates about like the building security industry and the PropTech industry. Naox Labs, that's another good one for PropTech. Those are my two top recommendations that I would recommend. And also just maybe once a month or once every two months, just ask chat GPT, hey, what are the latest PropTech and get a little news newsletter.
Travis: That's a great idea too. Yeah, I've been experimenting with chat GPT a lot more, trying to create some, trying to create some of my own GPTs, like one where I feed it a lot of extremist literature about different types of tactics that would probably be used against transportation systems, or even just using it to give me summaries of very dense standards and articles. So I'm finding so many also creating like detailed spreadsheets, if there's anything that I need to look at in like a very narrow way. Are there any ways that you've been using chat GPT that are new ways that you've discovered recently, something?
Paula: It's my unofficial assistant. We do have one thing of the art. For anything related to work, we do have Brebo Genius, or we have like our, if you will, like our company, chat GPT. But for anything outside of the organization, or even like the one for Brebo, like if I need to write any emails, because English is obviously not my first language, what it is like, hey, I need to say this, this, this, like, and it just takes me 30 seconds instead of maybe like three minutes to write an email. So that is like one of the first things.
And also like if I need to pick someone's brain, like, hey, if I did this, right, which one would you think like based on data, like factual data and analysis and like which one would make the most sense? Or if a client asked me like a weird request of like, is there, does this, does this thing exist? Like, I just search it and like, hey, this is exist.
And I see like if it's out there, but yeah, it was said as a whiteboard for my brain. It bounds a lot of ideas and optimized processes. It has tremendously helped me be super, super efficient and do a lot more things in my day.
Travis: Yeah, same. Definitely for ideation, it's been very useful. For example, if there's ever a type of facility or organization that I'm less familiar with, just being able to brainstorm, okay, what are what are some unconventional threats that I should be aware of? What are what are some historical incidents that have impacted similar organizations or, yeah, or actually lots of technology questions? Also, it's been super helpful for Microsoft Word and Excel. When I run into issues, that has helped me troubleshoot a thousand times faster because Microsoft Word is just impossible.
Paula: I know, I hate that one. Yeah. No, absolutely. Like any technology blocks or if I have any issues, like how do you solve this? How do you do that? Boom, boom.
And in 30 seconds, like you have it solved. Like, no, it's amazing how it's changed my life. And I've talked to like C-suite professionals and other people in higher positions, like, hey, how have you been using, you know, AI technology, all those things. And it's incredible.
Like, people are people are putting reports and putting it and making them into a podcast. Like, okay, I don't have that. Can I listen to this entire QBR while I'm on the treadmill?
Travis: Like, yeah, it's incredible. You could do. I mean, even for me, I've taken my podcast, upload the transcript and say, okay, write like a summary. That saves several hours of time. It's kind of amazing. And Paula, I wanted to ask too, is there any advice that you have for young professionals who might be pursuing a similar path to you?
Paula: I would say, so depending on the side of the industry that you come from, like, if you come from the architectural engineering side, educate yourself on the security portion, like take courses, be a study the technology. I feel like studying technology, security technology now is very important to under, you know, the do's and don'ts and how it truly works. And but if you come from the security side, if I will say, learn about architecture, learn about design, learn about engineering, because the way what I realized is that a lot of people that come from the security industry don't understand the basics of construction project management. And that is in that that's a bare minimum to understand how to insert security efficiently in the AC world. So that would be my number one recommendation. And then just be curious, like, I think staying in the learning curve, it's going to make you a better professional.
Travis: Yeah. And you mentioned for security professionals getting more involved in trying to develop some education and credentials around architecture and construction project management. Are there any publications or groups that you like particularly that you think some of our listeners should check out?
Paula: The AIA has a lot of great courses. But to be quite honest, now with chat GPT, like, I know we're all about credentials and credentials and getting more credentials and put this thing on my level. Like, if you ask the right question, and I understand sometimes you don't understand the right question, so I will say connect with someone that is in the shoes of where you want to be or things like a very smart, you know, professional that you want to continue to learn from and ask them, like, what are top three things that I need to learn? You need to learn about the construction project management steps, design process, like what are the different stages of the design process. And you need to learn about the, for example, I will say like the most conceptual design phases of a designing architecture.
Let's say those three things. Put that in chat GPT, tell and create in depth or a short summary however you want to consume the content. And then you can hit the podcast, create into a podcast and listen to that and study it and listen and listen and listen and listen and ask another question and listen to it and educate yourself.
Again, nowadays, like knowledge is free. And so you just need to spend the time learning through that. And I would say always connect with individuals that you think you can learn from because that is going to ultimately also give you the validation and new insights that sometimes it's hard to just get through chat GPT.
Travis: There are so many opportunities with chat GPT, even I've experienced just finding like manuals online that has some type of drawing and just taking a screen capture, putting it in chat GPT and saying, what am I looking at here? And then it'll actually break down some very, it'll take all of the acronyms that I didn't understand and it'll give me like a very real explanation.
Paula: Oh my goodness, you have no idea. I've asked like those books that were super famous like they Spanish for dummies or whatever. Like I asked, okay, explain this like, you know, architecture, like, well, this technology architecture, like systems architecture in an extremely dumb way, you know, and I don't, again, that there are things that are about my paper grade. So I'm like, I just need to understand it. And I just get that simple explanation. And then after that, I can actually explain the complex version. But first thing, that dumb or down version of a concept. And yeah, everybody.
Travis: Yeah. And that's one of the best ways to use it too. It's, hey, explain this thing to me like I'm a high schooler and then like I'm a college student. And now if I'm a professional, and it's just so it's so useful in the learning space. And Paula too, I wanted to ask, are there any books that you've recommended the most over the years to your fellow colleagues or to young professionals? Are there any that really stand out?
Paula: So I read a lot, a lot, a lot of books. Because again, both of my pieces were about this topic, and about physical security design and first protection design. And no book that I read was able to capture exactly like the perfect balance of security and design.
Like every book that I read either just came from one perspective. There is one, and I'll send it to you, I'm blanking on the name that did have some useful information and on these I did quote that book. So I look for it and tell you the name. Unfortunately, no, where I found a lot of great, I guess, readings was actually in and shout out to Sak and his team in C beta. C beta is like the security consultant firm that they did a lot of blogs about security design and how you can frame it from the architectural point of view.
And I think that was like a very educational material. But unfortunately, not really from that security design perspective, there wasn't anything. And that's why we're creating shields. And that's why we're developing this certification for security design, because we will eventually hopefully have a book that can help people from all sides of the industry and stakeholder views like understand in the most holistic way how to do security design.
Travis: Yeah, that's a very cool idea. And I feel like there's so many, there's so many similar gaps like that in the security industry, where we kind of have to create some of our own standards, whether it's in buildings, whether it's close protection, whether it's even critical infrastructure. I was looking at I was looking at some of the other professional organizations work there and there's no standard.
There's not really a whole lot of guidance that exists right now. So there's so many of those gaps. And I think that's like opportunities for people like you and other listeners to take advantage and really to like make their mark on this industry.
Paula: Yeah, no, we're very excited. And I don't know, are you going to go to GSX?
Travis: Yes, it's in New Orleans in September, right?
Paula: Yeah, we're going to be doing like a little happy hour. So if anybody's listening, come at the row C rooftop. And then I don't know if you're going to ISE, but we're also going to be doing our animal pre-launch shield party. And at the sales force tower. So if you're all around the city that time, like, yeah, it will be great to see you there. And anybody else that's listening? Awesome.
Travis: Yeah, I will definitely be there at GSX. So I will see you and your team. Probably not ISE East, but definitely West when that comes back around. Any other topics that you wanted to cover or maybe anything we might have skipped over?
Paula: No, I think like we've touched pretty much everything. I think, you know, like it's just if anybody wants to like contact me or have questions, like I just want to say like, it can reach out to me anytime and I can leave my email. Well, I know you will post this on LinkedIn. So I'll put it there. Definitely.
Travis: Yeah, we will leave links to reach out to you to secure building council, US sept. at Brevo so that people can come find you at ISE East and then also GSX. So yeah, I will definitely leave links to those. And then plus a lot of the resources you mentioned, like from Z beta, I know they have a lot of really cool stuff that I've seen also. So yeah, Paula, I really appreciate you taking the time with me to chat to share more about the projects you have with US sept. with secure building council.
I think for listeners out there who are interested, they should get involved and reach out to those groups and see how they could be contributors, even if it's in their own small way through one of the chapters. So Paula, I really appreciate it. And I was just able to learn so much. And this was just a fun conversation.
Paula: Thank you, Travis. And thank you for everybody else listening. Feel free to reachout to me anytime. And yeah, we'll chat soon. Awesome. Thank you.
