Mission Control Blog

Yolonda Smith is the Head of Cybersecurity for sweetgreen, a fast-casual salad restaurant chain with over 100 locations across North America. In this role, she is responsible for the development and operationalization of security policy; building high-performing teams which instantiate security practices throughout core business functions and; assuring an exemplary, trustworthy, customer experience for sweetgreen's two million guests.

Yolonda spent 8 years in the United States Air Force as a Cyberspace Operations Officer with duties and responsibilities varying from Mission Commander, where her team planned and executed the first DoD Cyber Threat Hunting Missions to Flight Commander, where her team developed and fielded the first and only malware neutralization tool for the Predator Drone Weapon System in addition to numerous deployments in support of Operations Iraqi and Enduring Freedom. Yolonda holds B.S., Computer Science (University Notre Dame); M.S., Information Technology (c. Information Assurance, University of Maryland); GSEC, GCIH, & CISSP certifications.