Janet Rita Bashen (

née A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...

Emerson; born February 12, 1957) is an American entrepreneur, business

consultant A consultant (from la, consultare "to deliberate") is a professional (also known as ''expert'', ''specialist'', see variations of meaning below) who provides advice and other purposeful activities in an area of specialization. Consulting servic ...

, and software inventor. Bashen is best known for patenting a web-based EEO software application, LinkLine, now known as Nalikah, to assist with equal employment opportunity investigations and claims tracking. Bashen is regarded as the first African American woman to obtain a web-based software patent.

Personal life

Janet Rita Emerson was born on February 12, 1957, in Mansfield, Ohio to James Lucker Emerson Sr., a garbage collector, and Ola Mae Emerson, a nurse. Emerson's family moved to

Huntsville, Alabama Huntsville is a city in Madison County, Limestone County, and Morgan County, Alabama, United States. It is the county seat of Madison County. Located in the Appalachian region of northern Alabama, Huntsville is the most populous city in t ...

, where Emerson went to a segregated elementary school until the fifth grade when she entered Fifth Avenue School, a previously segregated school in

. She married George Steven Bashen in 1988. They have two children.

Career

Bashen attended Alabama A&M a Historical Black College and University but did not graduate. Emerson enrolled in the

University of Houston The University of Houston (UH) is a Public university, public research university in Houston, Texas. Founded in 1927, UH is a member of the University of Houston System and the List of universities in Texas by enrollment, university in Texas ...

and graduated with a degree in Legal Studies and Government. Dr. Bashen attended

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

. Bashen is also a graduate of

Tulane Law School Tulane University Law School is the law school of Tulane University. It is located on Tulane's Uptown campus in New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,USC USC most often refers to: * University of South Carolina, a public research university ** University of South Carolina System, the main university and its satellite campuses **South Carolina Gamecocks, the school athletic program * University of ...

's Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work. After graduating from the University of Houston, Bashen worked for an insurance company handling claims related to Equal Employment Opportunities. Bashen would later receive a $5,000 loan from her mother and in 1994, began her own company, Bashen Corporation, to investigate discrimination claims filed by employees. As her company grew, Bashen became aware of the need for better ways of storing and accessing the data related to claims. With her cousin, Donnie Moore, a Tufts University computer science graduate, Bashen began developing a software. This was the genesis for the software Nalikah, previously known as LinkLine. In January 2006, Bashen was awarded a Patent No. 6,985,922, B1, making her the first African-American woman to earn a web-based software patent.

Congressional testimony

In May 2000, Bashen testified before the

U.S. House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

that civil rights and employee misconduct investigations should be exempt from the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bashen, Janet Emerson Living people 1957 births 21st-century American inventors African-American business executives American women business executives African-American inventors American women inventors 21st-century African-American businesspeople 21st-century African-American women 20th-century African-American businesspeople 20th-century African-American women