Erica's README

About me

• Personal goal: To help people build amazing things securely
• Security disciplines that I have experience with: Product Security, Application Security, Security Operations, Incident and Emergency Response, Detection and Response Engineering, Identity and Access Management, Anti-Abuse Operations, Coordinated Vulnerability Disclosure and Vulnerability Management, External Consultancy and Testing, Governance, Risk, and Compliance, Co-founder and General Business-Running Shenanigans
• Dual-citizen living in Pōneke (Wellington), Aotearoa (New Zealand); from Miami, Florida, United States
• Fan of: cats, craft / food / building related adventures, art of any form (especially video games and comics), space, volunteering and community building, weight lifting and exercising
• Values that drive me: Authentic, honest, kind, passionate
• Wrote a book: Security for Everyone

My role

• Joined GitLab in January 2026
• Currently a Manager of the Product Security Engineering team

Working style

• I do most of my work in standard New Zealand business hours (~08:00 - 16:00 NZDT / 19:00 - 03:00 UTC).
• My gremlin hours (time where I am absolutely ineffective) are 02:00 - 05:00 NZDT / 13:00 - 16:00 UTC. I will always deny meetings during this time (for both our sakes).
• With enough notice, I am happy to be flexible for meetings outside of normal business hours. My calendar is kept up-to-date.
• Best way to reach me directly is @ in comments, issues, and MRs; or @ in Slack / Slack DM
• I can adapt my working style based off who I am working with, or what the situation needs. At a minimum though, anything I am actively working on needs a clear plan and ownership for any outstanding actions/work.
• I am personally big on note taking, and prefer to use shared notes to make sure everyone is on the same page.
• My leadership style is to set general direction and a garden path (no fences or rigid structures), and let the team have control over how they get there. I default to high communication and high autonomy, and scale as asked or as needed (especially if the team is going too far off the garden path).