“I would never recommend any of my friends to push their family aside. It is always the best time to raise your family and you need to learn how to live with the two worlds. It’s not easy, it took me a while,” said Galit Lubetzky, Co-Founder and CTO at Wing Security, and also a mother of four balancing work and life. “My kids see their mother putting a lot of effort in achieving her dreams ever since they were small and that is a lot of responsibility. When you want to do it you will find a way.”
Lubetzky grew up in Givatayim to an overachieving father who pushed her to learn physics, which she did, stating: “I knew it would open doors and I always did what my parents said.” She was then encouraged to study electrical engineering prior to entering the army. She would go on to spend the next 20 years in the IDF, ultimately serving as the Head of the IDF’s Cyber Operations. “I got to the unit (8200) and I remember it was my first day and I was called to an interview with the commander and he asked me if I wanted the last place at the officers course. I didn’t really want to go, but I said yes as I was raised to keep doors open.”
She founded Wing Security with Noam Shaar (CEO) in 2020. Wing is an SaaS security solution that helps customers discover all the applications they are using. Upon discovery, the company offers alerts on major threats and finally, assistance in solving the threats in a simple and intuitive manner. The company has raised $26 million to date and employs 35 people, including many women. “Nearly half of our employees are women, many in management positions as well,” said Lubetzky.
She believes that being a mother shouldn’t prevent women from doing what they love. “I wouldn’t recommend anyone skip or neglect their dreams for anything. When you have an urge to create you should not be afraid to pick the challenging way and go with your heart.”
CTech’s She-Inspires series follows the stories of various female leaders in Israel. The interviewees hail from various sectors: some work at high level positions in large organizations, some are founders, and some are key players in industries aimed at changing the world for the better. The goal is to learn where they came from, where they are going and how they are bringing inspiration to an entire sector making its way towards a glass ceiling just waiting to burst.
When asked if being a woman in the industry affected her in any way, Lubetzky replied: “Many times I was the only woman in the room and it affected me so that when I was very young I was more strict. I basically adopted the means and the culture that surrounded me.” Lubetzky smiles and recalls: “However, after my first child was born I changed a bit. I looked at it another way and managed to achieve better results without the fighting. I became more convincing, more understanding of the situation. Over the years, I have seen many different management styles and I think that using power is not beneficial.”
When asked what pushed her to success, Lubetzky replied: “I think that it’s very important to create your own keys for life. Math is a key, physics is a key, they open doors. When I was young I was building my own tools for life so I can use them later on to do anything I wish.” Lubetzky then went on to tell a story about her daughter. “She was a dancer from early on. When she was in 10th grade and needed to decide what else she would major in, I recommended physics. She decided to go for it, it wasn’t easy or intuitive for her but when she finished 11th grade she saw she could do it. She grew. That’s the important thing, we grow when we face challenges and we build our own muscles to cope. Then, when we look back, we understand we have developed and done the mileage.”
