Mari Galloway joins the conversation to discuss launching a bookkeeping and cybersecurity consulting business while continuing a full-time role and leading a nonprofit. Her experience shows how a new venture can grow from skills developed elsewhere—and why time management, support networks, and an acceptance of early failure are essential when several responsibilities compete for attention.
Mari is the CEO and a founding board member of the Women’s Society of Cyberjutsu, a nonprofit community helping women and girls enter and advance in cybersecurity. Her career began in network engineering at Accenture and expanded across security architecture, risk assessment, vulnerability management, incident response, and policy. At the time of the interview, she was also a Customer Success Architect at Palo Alto Networks and an adjunct professor.
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Mari launched her own company during the pandemic, combining cybersecurity consulting with bookkeeping. The bookkeeping work came from her experience as treasurer of the Women’s Society of Cyberjutsu board before she became CEO. Managing the nonprofit’s money, budgets, and financial records revealed a problem she could help other organisations solve.
She saw particular value for small businesses, which may not consistently track income, expenditure, or overall financial health. The disruption caused by the pandemic made that discipline even more important. The venture also supported a personal goal of building greater independence and preparing to retire from traditional employment within several years.
Because Mari retained her full-time job, the business had to fit around it. She describes starting at about six in the morning to work on client books, research changes in relevant rules, and improve her knowledge of nonprofit finances. After exercise and her regular working day, she returned to business finances, advertising, training, and peer-group sessions.
The greatest challenge was not a single technical issue but finding enough hours for the company, her job, nonprofit leadership, continued learning, and family. Time blocking helped. She began placing lunch, breaks, and personal activities directly on the calendar rather than treating them as optional gaps between meetings.
Mari uses meditation and journaling to manage stress. Short breaks also matter: sometimes she watches light or creative videos simply to take her mind away from work. Family activities, bowling, swimming, dancing, and building Lego sets provide other forms of recovery.
These interests are not presented as distractions from entrepreneurship. They create space to decompress and return with more attention. Building Lego is especially appealing because it is structured, enjoyable, and produces a visible result while she listens to music or watches television.
Mari’s first lesson for mentees is to ask for help rather than trying to do everything alone. She was exploring outsourcing tasks such as social-media management because personal effort could not scale across every responsibility. Her second recommendation is to join support groups related to the business. She participated in groups for women entrepreneurs and for learning how to outsource.
Her third lesson is not to fear failure. A campaign may not produce sales or customers, particularly early in a venture. Rather than interpreting that result as a final verdict, she recommends reviewing what happened, changing the approach, and giving the business enough time to develop.
