Somedays, a privacy professional might feel a little less like an expert in data privacy compliance and protection and a little more like a lighthouse keeper: Alone at the edge of the world.
Let’s face it: It can be tough to find peers to connect with in the data privacy world. And it’s lonely when you’re seen as the voice of “No” in a company. That also goes for privacy-adjacent roles that also focus on protecting data and minimizing risk: Security leaders, IT, GRC professionals, and more. For all of these specialties (whose roles often comprise privacy plus a few other jobs), it’s not only lonely—it’s also a detriment to growth and development.
ISACA’s State of Privacy 2025 Report revealed that 38% of privacy professionals cite a lack of competent human resources as a core challenge to achieving compliance goals. That’s not surprising considering the same report found that 47% of privacy pros believed a lack of training or poor training was the most common privacy failure across organizations.
Where does a new privacy professional go to cultivate their skills? Where can they find privacy experts willing to serve as mentors? Where can they share best practices and challenges with one another? And where can they go and hear those three words we all crave sometimes: “I get it.”
The privacy industry doesn’t have many places for professionals to connect and share their knowledge, ask for help, or explore their challenges. Sure, some communities and professional organizations exist, but clearly, there’s a need for more spaces to bounce ideas off your peers.
Privacy Needs Community: We’ve Seen It
“Ironically, the more successful your privacy program, the less you are seen.”
“Anybody from the UK here? Would love to connect and chat.”
“I would love to connect with anyone in the non-profit and/or healthcare industry.”
These are just some of the messages sent between attendees during our inaugural Privacy Pro Survival Summit last year. When we decided to throw a summit, we weren’t even sure if anyone would come.
But they did. We were amazed at the turnout—nearly 1,000 privacy professionals registered to attend our sessions on privacy program management best practices, dealing with burnout, trends in the industry and more.
The summit also validated something we’d been seeing for months. The comments and conversations between our attendees all boiled down to the same point: privacy professionals are isolated: within their organizations, and from each other. They often feel alienated from the industry where they have established careers. They’re hungry for ways to connect, network, and build a community.
Creating Spaces to Connect
As a B-Corp, Osano has always been as committed to driving positive outcomes for society as about achieving success as a business. Privacy professionals can’t protect their organizations and consumers as effectively without the ability to exchange ideas, information, and feedback with peers and experts.
Creating space for that exchange is very much in line with our mission to drive positive social change. That’s why, starting now, you’ll see more opportunities to use the Osano community as your space to learn, grow, and find your privacy community. Here’s what’s already on tap:
April 10: Our Second Privacy Pro Survival Summit
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Back by popular demand: After the success of the first Privacy Pro Survival Summit, we’re doubling down with the Privacy Pro Survival Summit 2: This Time It’s Personal.
This time, we’ll focus on the balancing act privacy pros must perform between the legal, technical, and human sides of data protection. We’re putting the personal in personal data, as requested by our fall summit attendees. We’re even letting you pick one of the session topics.
Attendees will enjoy a mix of CPE-credit educational sessions and themed networking rooms to connect with fellow privacy professionals. There may be surprises.
This time, we’re proud to be working with Woman in Security and Privacy (WISP) as our official Summit Pathfinder Partner, contributing to both our sessions and our networking rooms.
March 12: Our Second Monthly Meetup
Privacy is moving too fast to learn all there is to know from a textbook or even the occasional webinar.
To stay up to date with best practices, the privacy impacts of the latest tech trends, and the challenges posed by new laws and regulatory guidance, you need to be in active conversation with your peers.
That’s the mission behind our new monthly meetup series.
Every month, join Osano experts and your fellow privacy professionals for an open conversation around the topical developments in the privacy industry. Our first monthly meetup, a Women in Privacy event where we talked about dating apps and privacy, drew nearly 50 attendees and sparked several interesting discussions.
Our next meetup, open to all privacy pros, is taking place March 12. Titled Get Out of My Brain: Neural Data & Privacy, it centers, as you might have guessed, around the ramifications that neurotechnology may have on consumer data privacy rights.
To learn more about the March 12 meetup, check out the Events page, and sign up for regular updates to learn about future meetups.
Women in Privacy: Every Other Month
You can’t have a conversation about the privacy industry without women. Women represent half of all privacy professionals, and there can be high stakes around protecting women’s personal and sensitive data. We need women’s voices in the discussion around the future of privacy. That’s why we started our Women in Privacy series.
In this series of virtual and in-person events, any privacy pro who identifies as a woman can connect with other women to discuss the unique challenges and opportunities they experience in their privacy careers.
In January, we connected with Wednesday Women to co-sponsor their Women in Privacy series. Together, we highlighted 73 women leading in privacy today.
In February, we held our first Women in Privacy meetup.
And on April 22, we will be meeting in person in Washington, DC at the IAPP Global Privacy Summit (GPS) for an event co-hosted by WISP. If you’ll be attending GPS, please join us.
We’ll be holding a Women in Privacy event every other month: Sign up for updates on our Events page to be notified of the full schedule.
April 22-24: More Fun at GPS
Not necessarily a woman in privacy? Still in Washington from April 22-24 for the GPS?
We firmly believe there can never be enough community-building events in privacy. We will have plenty of opportunities to chat and connect with privacy professionals. In addition to our Women in Privacy event on April 22, we will be bringing the fun at our booth. Swing by, play games, and win prizes!
We’re also a proud sponsor of LGBT Tech's Defyning Privacy fundraising event. Get your ticket at lgbtqprivacy.org to join us at Pitchers on Wednesday, April 23rd, for a night of fun, community, and supporting a great cause.
Let’s All Build the Future of Privacy Together
We aren’t fortune tellers, but we’re pretty sure of two things: One, data privacy is going to play a critical role in the future. And two: We are stronger together when it comes to privacy protection and innovation. The more privacy professionals can collaborate, connect, and build a community, the brighter that future will be.
Join us at:
- Get Out of My Brain: Neural Data & Privacy (March 12th)
- And IAPP’s Global Privacy Summit (April 22nd to 24th)