Cybersecurity Fellow | Detection & Response | Cloud Security | Creative Technologist

I design, document, and defend systems at the intersection of cloud security, automation, and creative thinking.
Current focus: building real-world SOC workflows and documented AWS security labs that hiring managers can actually read, understand, and trust.

• Cybersecurity Fellow – The Knowledge House (Innovation Fellowship 2025)

  • Phase 2–4: advanced projects in cloud security, SIEM, and incident response
  • Heavy emphasis on documented labs, GitHub-driven portfolios, and team-based architectures

• Data Quarantine / Automation Engineer (Team Projects)

  • “SOC it to ’EM SIEMlessly”
    • Multi-tenant security monitoring project with a focus on log ingestion, enrichment, and detection logic
  • “Global Viral Research Defense Center (GVRDC)”
    • Designing data-quarantine-focused architectures on AWS for security monitoring and incident response

• Creative Consultant & Pet-Care Entrepreneur

  • Translating skills from fashion, costume design, and brand storytelling into:
    • Clear technical documentation
    • Human-friendly security narratives
    • A long-term vision for “The Pawtier House”, a luxury pet-care and wellness brand

Security & Cloud

• AWS: VPC, S3 (logging & versioning), CloudTrail, GuardDuty, Security Hub, Lambda
• Logging & Detection: CloudTrail logs, VPC Flow Logs, Athena queries, basic detection use cases
• Identity & Access: IAM roles/policies, least privilege mindset, basic security baselines

Dev & Automation

• Infrastructure-as-Code concepts (Terraform basics for AWS resources)
• Git & GitHub: branching, pull requests, README-driven documentation, evidence folders
• Basic scripting and CLI usage to support repeatable lab setups

Foundations

• CIA Triad (Confidentiality, Integrity, Availability)
• Defense-in-Depth thinking (layers: network, identity, logging, training, process)
• Email & domain protection concepts (MFA, filters, DMARC at a conceptual level)

Repo: [aws-cyberrange-lab] (https://github.com/ldodson10/cyber-range-lab-aws)

A guided AWS lab where I:

• Simulated a compromised EC2 instance using controlled scenarios
• Enabled CloudTrail, GuardDuty, and Security Hub to surface findings
• Practiced triage, documentation, and cleanup with AWS Free Tier in mind

Highlights

• Focused on cost-aware security – enabling services for the lab, then disabling to avoid surprise bills
• Produced step-by-step screenshots and README sections for:
  • Environment setup
  • Attack simulation
  • Detection & remediation
  • Cleanup & lessons learned

Repo: [aws-s3-lambda-ingestion] (https://github.com/ldodson10/aws-s3-lambda-ingestion)

A small but practical serverless pattern:

• S3 used as an ingestion point
• Lambda automatically triggered by new objects
• Designed for scalable log or data processing

What I practiced

• Event-driven design (S3 → Lambda)
• Writing clear, reproducible instructions for others to clone and deploy
• Highlighting security considerations: IAM roles, least privilege, environment variables

Repo(s): [SOC it to ’EM SIEMlessly] (https://github.com/ldodson10/SOC-it-to-EM-SIEMlessly)

Problem space: How can a small SOC (or MSSP) provide repeatable, multi-tenant security monitoring without drowning in manual work?

My contributions

• Helped design and reason about:
  • Log ingestion flows
  • Detection logic tied to practical attack scenarios
  • Evidence and architecture documentation
• Collaborated with a cross-functional team of fellows, pairing technical setup with clear write-ups (what we did, why it matters, how to extend it)

Repo: [gvrdc-aws-infra] (https://github.com/nyahhepburn/gvrdc-aws-infra)
Scenario: A global research defense center needs a secure, well-logged cloud footprint.

My focus

• VPC and S3 setup for logging and “data quarantine” concepts
• Ensuring CloudTrail and VPC Flow Logs were wired into a logging S3 bucket
• Contributing to architecture diagrams and compliance/governance views:
  • CloudTrail → S3 (log bucket with versioning)
  • (Planned) Glue + Athena for queryable logs
  • DynamoDB / other stores for future state tracking

Key strength: When AWS permissions blocked certain pieces, I still documented the intended architecture, constraints, and next steps like a real-world engineer would.

Before and alongside cybersecurity, I’ve worked in:

• Fashion & Costume Design – Peabody & Satellite Award–winning productions
• Art Direction & Visual Storytelling
• Pet-Care & Luxury Service Branding – The Pawtier House (concept in progress)

What this adds to my security work:

• Strong visual communication (diagrams, flows, layouts)
• High standard for how documentation looks and reads
• Empathy for non-technical stakeholders who need security explained in plain language

• CompTIA Security+ vs. AWS Certified Security (deciding the best first move and aligning with my AWS background)
• Deeper SIEM workflows: enrichment, correlation rules, and practical dashboards
• More robust Terraform usage to fully codify my AWS labs
• How to merge cybersecurity, branding, and pet-care into a sustainable, multi-stream career

I’m open to:

• Entry-level and apprenticeship-style roles in Security Operations, Cloud Security, or Detection Engineering
• Projects where I can:
  • Stand up or document security labs
  • Clean up chaotic GitHub repos & READMEs
  • Help teams tell a clear, compelling story about their security posture

Let’s connect:

• LinkedIn: (https://www.linkedin.com/in/latdod/)
• GitHub: @ldodson10
• Email: (latrishadodson@gmail.com)

If you’re building security programs, training pathways, or creative tech projects and need someone who can own both the work and the documentation, I’d love to talk.