In my previous post about why I personally became an NCL Player Ambassador, I talked about how I selected the title “Player Ambassador”.

When I fell upon the term Ambassador, I fell in love with it because of it’s synonyms: advocate, champion, supporter, campaigner, representative. This is what I would become.

I would represent the views, perspectives, ideals, and values of the players from their own voices. I would listen to what players had to say and I would advocate and champion for them when the NCL Board made decisions. I would offer my unyielding enthusiasm and support to every player because I know how much it can mean to have someone believe in you and support you. I would campaign for new programs and partnerships to help make sure that the NCL Scouting Report could help bridge the gap between curriculum and careers.

That being said, the program has grown so far beyond my initial goals.

We have more content coming out each week than I ever imagined. We publish multiple blogs per week, host a live coaching show on CrowdCast, and even created Ambassador curated Spotify playlists to jam to while you play the Games.

But the question I get asked all the time is, “What is a Player Ambassador?”

It’s kind of a strange question. What is this program that only really took off about a year ago? After about two months of soul-searching while trying to write this blog, I realized that ultimately, we are a group of NCL Players who loved the Games so much that we wanted to make sure that every student knows they can succeed in the Games if they try.

One of our players said it best:

But then I had to get all official and formal, so we came up with the following vision and mission.

Vision

All aspiring professionals should have a positive and approachable pathway into Cybersecurity with support, enthusiasm, and opportunity for success. 

Mission

Promote diversity and inclusion in the Information Security and Technology industry via outreach, guidance, compassion, through the NCL Games in a way that makes learning accessible to everyone.

Fancy goals, but how do we do that?

From the inception of this team, we have accomplished the following:

• 105 Blogs Published (and counting!)
• 41 CrowdCast Shows Produced
• 29,000+ Stickers Ordered
• 4,000 Business Cards
• 300 Game Coins
• 3 Trophies Sent to Schools
• 20 New Practice Challenges (available all year round!)
• 3 Partnerships Initiated/Established (WiCyS, CompTIA, and HBCU Scholarships!)

Just for this next season, we have the following scheduled:

• 30-50+ Blogs
• 15 Live Shows
• 500 Game Coins

But it doesn’t just stop there!

We plan to introduce a Feature Friday Program where we will feature a NEW author on the blog every week, but this person has to have less than five years of InfoSec experience so that we can give them a boost for their resume and help get their name out there!

Additionally, we are creating a Player Ambassador Diversity and Inclusion Advisory Board so that we can ensure true inclusion across all types of diversity. More information can be found here.

Ultimately, we try to have the widest arms and welcome the most people into our little community of future Information Security Professionals. But don’t just take it from me. Take it from our players:

We do what we do because we have the best players in the world. A Player Ambassador is just an NCL player who wants our community to be the best group it can be with as many friendly faces as possible.

Thank you all for your continued support, enthusiasm, and stories. They fill my heart with more joy and gratitude than I can ever express. I hope that what we do helps make InfoSec a little less daunting for newbies and a little bit more fun for everyone.

Happy Hacking,
Your Chief Player Ambassador, CryptoKait