LAKE FOREST, Calif. — Nicola Oakie certainly never dreamed of a career in the security industry when she grew up as the daughter of a police officer in Scotland or as she became a professionally trained ballet dancer, but fate intervened in the form of a Help Wanted sign–and, the rest, as they say, is history.
Here’s how Oakie’s career path took her to being the vice president of sales for Netwatch North America as we continue our celebration of International Women’s History Month.
Security Sales & Integration: How did you get into the security industry?
Nicola Oakie: I am from Scotland. My father is a policeman, which everyone thought would be my career path. I came to this country at 23 years old via a whole different career; I was a professional dancer, ballet trained with the Royal Academy of Ballet.
My husband advised that I couldn’t dance forever; I was still young, but he had a point. A sign on a suite door close to his business, said, “Help Wanted.” Remember the days without AI HR filters? I interviewed with Margaret Curry, a branch manager of a “small” company called ADI, for the warehouse position and got the job.
Several years later, I was internally promoted and became the branch manager of ADI’s Las Vegas location. I continued to dance in Bally’s Casino, Jubilee and The Tropicana, Les Follies Bergere in the earlier years, working 18 hours a day and loving life! I found a new passion, one that has lasted 30 years!
SSI: Have you encountered any difficulties or obstacles in your security industry career?
Oakie: As you can imagine being based in Las Vegas and my career diversity, it was very complex sometimes. Need I point out the male dominance in the electronic security industry? Attending ISC West was a given since ADI Las Vegas was the center of all vendors visits during that period.
We were a showcase branch because of our location. However, I had been the “booth model” and now I was the representative of a large corporation with very few women in roles of leadership.
My previous career taught me very valuable lessons: hard work, tenacity, always show up, “the show must go on.” There is NO down time in show business; there is ALWAYS someone better. Imagine having to re-interview for your job every six months. That was what I was used to. So, I focused on relationship-building, studying the technology and always getting back to people, honing my skills.
Always showing up and willingness to adapt and learn something new is one of the keys to success. When I left ADI to embark upon my own rep firm business, W.I.T. Marketing Group (acronym for Whatever It Takes), a professional sales and marketing security company, this was a big step for me, my family and committing to entrepreneurship without the backing of a corporation.
The relationships I had built prevailed and set us up for good standing and a successful launch quickly representing many brands. Samsung 360 (now Hanwha), OpenEye, Keyscan Access, Securiton, HES, GRI and Ditek Corp were a few we had the pleasure of supporting and marketing in the western U.S.
SSI: Whom would you point to as the most influential and helpful mentors in your career? What did they do to help you?
Oakie: I have genuinely been fortunate to have many and believe it is an essential part of learning and being open to mentorship which in event keeps you humble. Early on, Margaret Curry provided me the opportunity to enter this career path and female leader.
However, the most pivotal was learning from and partnering with Larry Folsom. He offered me an opportunity to learn the business of recurring monthly revenue through starting at the bottom and earning the position of general manager and partner of a traditional integrator he and his wife acquired and where he also launched and developed the baseline of I-View Now, a cloud-based video verification service for central stations in the U.S.
He always challenged me to think bigger, challenged my actions and encouraged me to focus on what matters amongst the craziness that comes from being an alarm dealer where “everything” is important, and gave me the freedom and mentorship to be all of me and trusted me to do so.
My husband and my business partner at WIT Marketing, Jeff Oakie, was immensely supportive as I was invited to speak in front of larger crowds as remote video monitoring became of interest in our security industry. Believe it or not, I could not speak to more than the four people in a meeting face-to-face. I had a “funny accent” and that led to distraction and made me self-conscious.
When I was on the board of PPVAR, Joey Russell showed me amongst the male-to-female norm ratio on the board of directors how to be strong, diligent, educated and passionate and get the point over respectfully, a skill that is often challenged by being “too emotional” in some cases. We are emotional, we are women, and it should be revered, not feared.
Fast forward to today under the most incredible leadership and mentorship of Kurt Takahashi, CEO of the Netwatch Group.
His relationship-building skills, the sheer style in which he can quickly communicate the importance of staying focused on the business but still have this relatable, humble and personal relationship and make you feel unique and important to the big picture and adequately equipped to speak up and genuinely in “creating a fearless environment” is an incredible feat as a CEO and something I aspire to be able to do for others daily.
A coach knows his team, makes the plays, and brings the right players forward at the right time.
SSI: What is your proudest career accomplishment?
Oakie: My proudest career accomplishment was being able to transition to the security industry at all. Change is hard.
As I continue to grow within it and sustain the passion and drive for excellence every day, I could not point out just a single proud career accomplishment selfishly because I am doing this with the support of so many in the industry and not forgetting my family, three children who have had countless hours of patience installed as I battled the “actual” that happened at all times of day and night but to hear the words of “I am proud of you, Mum,” is everything. Balancing career and family is tough.
SSI: What do you love most about working in the security industry?
Oakie: This is easy. I am so excited to be part of an industry that never stops trying to do the right thing. It speaks to my core of being a policeman’s daughter and having a career where perfect is unattainable. Finding ways through technology and leveraging it with the aim of protecting life and assets that is no light task.
Going to sleep at night, knowing you did the best you possibly could provide a level of service or a word of advice that ultimately could save a life, a building or someone’s hard work being compromised from their assets being taken is a passion.
Of course, none of this is possible to enjoy without the relationships created along the way, the friends and family that I look forward to seeing again at ISC Wes so many years later.
SSI: How can the security industry become even better?
Oakie: The security industry can become even better by continuing to support opportunities for inclusion and diversity that will lead to more opportunities of growth, bring forward new thought leadership and to break down the barriers that exist today.
Some of this answer is in the schools, vocational or otherwise, that can alert graduates of the industry and that it is an opportunity. We are weak in general for newcomers, techs, admins, future C-Suite. I believe having the seeds planted at the collegiate levels will afford us all a greater pool of talent and to seek the right person, right job and not stay with the status quo.
We need to get uncomfortable to bring in the new fresh skillsets and fresh ideas to continue the implementation of the great technology being developed.
Click here to read our entire Women in Security Q&A series!
