K Royal, PhD, JD
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Bringing a practical and innovative approach to global & local business engagement.
Passion. Authenticity. Vibrancy.
Compliance with laws seems insurmountable, but getting employees or the general public to care is even more challenging. K brings a unique approach through practicality, humor, and building relationships and connections.
Bio Blurb
K Royal is a former registered nurse turned attorney with a PhD. She has over 30 years of experience in the health- and/or law-related fields. She was an RN when HIPAA went into force and as an attorney, naturally gravitated to health regulatory law, and by extension, HIPAA. She quickly moved into global medical devices out of Silicon Valley and into global privacy laws, being the first to submit a dual application for both controller and processor binding corporate rules to comply with European privacy laws. She is certified by the International Association of Privacy Professionals for Certified Internal Privacy Professional (CIPP) for both the US and Europe, a Certified Information Privacy Manager (CIPM), and as a Fellow of Information Privacy (FIP) – one of the first to reach such a qualification. Professionally, she serves on the board of several non-profit organizations, teaches privacy law at the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University, co-hosts the popular Serious Privacy podcast, and continues to work as a privacy practitioner. In addition, she frequently writes, speaks, and consults on various data protection, privacy, and cybersecurity for companies around the world.
In my own words . . .
Okay, here’s the thing… apparently, I was born to be in the privacy field.
Square peg. Square hole.
I just didn’t know it. It was not a career option when I entered it – now it is the fastest growing field. I have privacy war stories out the wazoo and talking to me about privacy is like asking a new mom about her kid. I have an absolute passion for the field, its possibilities and challenges. Unlike many privacy professionals, I believed in cloud providers from the beginning and I actively lean towards innovation and creativity. This means, when you ask me a privacy question… you are getting an answer backed by decades of experience and a desire to help you find the way to do whatever you are trying to do in a legal manner. That takes work. And it takes creativity, a helping nature, expertise, and intelligence. If your privacy lawyer (or privacy officer who is not a lawyer) doesn’t hit each one of those, you may be asking the wrong person. Oh, and I am also one of the most findable privacy people ever. I love sugar, shoes, and shopping – as well as dogs, classic rock, and my grandchildren. I compete in pageants (starting just before I was 50) and I cosplay – usually Maleficent. I am incredibly proud of my accomplishments – my backstory being no less traumatic than your average superhero. I have a low self-esteem but a high self-confidence. If you think those are mutually exclusive (as one of my professors did), you are wrong. So trust me… if I can do it, anyone can. And that doesn’t mean becoming a privacy lawyer, it means hitting your demons where it hurts and succeeding in spite of your naysayers.
No one can keep you down if you are determined to be up. or sideways. You do you. Because no one is a better you than you. Truth. You set your own bar.