Alexis Cierra Vaughn: Preventing cyber crime with Cowbell

On this episode of the Scouting For Growth podcast, Sabine VdL talks to Alexis Cierra Vaughn, the Senior Director of Agency Marketing at Cowbell and the producer and host of the Cowbell Factor, a podcast ranked at the top of its category across several key international markets. Alexis is an outstanding professional and mum, with a passion for business and for enabling the success of others.  Alexis has been in the insurance sector for 13 years and has built a strong expertise in explaining, in simple terms, what Cyber security means AND why one needs to protect oneself against cyber risk. During the course of the podcast, they discuss three main topics: 1) Alexis has been in insurance for 13 years. SO Let’s discover a millennial’s path into insurance, 2) Cowbell's journey to becoming a cyber security risk prevention leader, 3) How the product works and why it is essential to educate the user and... 4) the Cowbell Factor! KEY TAKEAWAYS I started my 13-year career in insurance as an agent, and within my first three years, I made a significant impact by being great at relationship-building. My background was in retail sales. I was asked to get into the insurance industry several times, but I thought it would be boring. I took a leap of faith and studied for a license to see if it interested me… I immediately fell in love with it. It was perfect for me. I then thought: “How do I help other single moms do this?” I didn’t want to keep all the diamonds and jewels to myself. I wanted to ensure I shared the wealth. So, I went independent and started my own agency with 26 single moms, teaching them everything there is to know about success in the insurance industry. I focus on creative approaches and ways to get the message out about the importance of cyber insurance, specifically to the small-and-medium-sized business market – anyone from $0 to $1 billion in revenue. Cyber includes phishing emails, phishing text messages, and how people use QR codes and swap them. In a post-pandemic world, we are all connected to the internet in some type of way. We’re literally in an interconnected environment where we’re always on our phones, iPads, laptops and moving so quickly that we’ll miss tiny things like one letter change in the domain – for example, websites with .co instead of .com. That’s so important. Your first line of defense is always your employees. You want to make sure you have multi-factor authentication in place. It might take an extra 5 minutes to log in, but I’m telling you, it’s so much better to spend that extra 5 minutes rather than fork out $5 million because you’re a victim of a ransomware attack. BEST MOMENTS ‘I took a networking approach, and within the first two years of having my agency, I grew my business from 25 to 1,165 clients off pure networking and building relationships in the community.’ ‘I break everything all the way down and make such a complex product topic, like cyber insurance, become digestible for agents, brokers, and policyholders.’ ‘I believe that the direction cyber insurance is going in should be the life insurance for a small business. If they don’t have cyber insurance and they are a victim of a cyber attack, it could put them out of business.’ ‘As a millennial, our biggest thing is we want to make an impact on our community and globally. We’re constant learners, and the insurance industry really creates a space where there’s always something new on the horizon, every product is ever-changing, and the cyber landscape changes on a daily, if not hourly, basis.’ ABOUT THE GUEST Alexis is a 13-year Award-Winning Insurance Expert and Senior Director of Agency Marketing at leading InsurTech Cowbell, where she oversees all agency engagement efforts for 18,000 producers appointed with Cowbell. Alexis is also the Host & Producer of "The Cowbell Factors" Podcast she created to bridge the gap between the Cybersecurity and Cyber Insurance industries. The show is ranked #28 in the US, #16 in India, #35 in the UK, #20 in Israel, and #100 in Australia on Apple Podcast Business News. The show is now available on iHeartRadio for national distribution after only five months on air and can be found on Spotify and all other streaming platforms. She is also a highly sought-after Cyber Educator in the agency community. Cowbell is a pioneer of Adaptive Cyber Insurance, a leader in providing coverage for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that adapts to today’s and tomorrow’s threats and provides advanced warning of cyber risk exposures. Alexis was recently named by "Insurance Business America" as one of the top 85 trailblazing Elite Women in Insurance for 2022 and, in 2022, as a top "Influencer" on the "Top 100 Insurance Innovators" list. Alexis has over 16 years of experience spearheading sales, fundraising, recruiting, and marketing for companies in the midst of transition uplifts. Alexis has a very diverse background in Insurance, Cloud-based Technology, Benefits & Human Resource Consulting industries. Alexis has also managed Global Business Development Teams in the USA, Canada, and LATAM markets. Alexis has led countless marketing initiatives that increased market awareness, generated leads that have resulted in significant revenue in the Oil, Film & Entertainment, Government, Insurance, Logistics, Human Resources, Retail, Higher Ed, and Technology industries.  ABOUT COWBELL-CYBER Cowbell is the leading provider of cyber insurance for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and the pioneer of Adaptive Cyber Insurance. Cowbell delivers standalone cyber coverage tailored to each business's unique needs. Our innovative approach relies on AI for continuous risk assessment and underwriting, while delivering policyholders a closed-loop risk management approach with risk prevention, risk mitigation, incident preparedness, and response services.  ABOUT THE HOST Sabine VanderLinden is a corporate strategist turned entrepreneur and the CEO of Alchemy Crew Ventures. She leads venture-client labs that help Fortune 500 companies adopt and scale cutting-edge technologies from global tech ventures. A builder of accelerators, investor, and co-editor of the bestseller The INSURTECH Book, Sabine is known for asking the uncomfortable questions—about AI governance, risk, and trust. On Scouting for Growth, she decodes how real growth happens—where capital, collaboration, and courage meet. If this episode sparked your thinking, follow Sabine VanderLinden on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram for more insights. And if you’re interested in sponsoring the podcast, reach out to the team at [email protected]