Janet Emerson Bashen
| Janet Emerson Bashen | |
|---|---|
 JanetWiki.png | |
| Born | Mansfield, OH, USA |
| 🏳️ Nationality | American |
| 🎓 Alma mater | University of Houston, Harvard University, Tulane Law School |
| 💼 Occupation | |
| 👔 Employer | Bashen Corporation |
| Known for | Being the first African American woman to patent software (LinkLine) |
| 🏡 Home town | Huntsville, AL, USA |
Janet Emerson Bashen (born February 12, 1957) is an American inventor, entrepreneur, and business consultant, best known for patenting a software program, LinkLIne, to assist with web-based Equal Employment Opportunity investigations, and thus becoming the first African American woman to obtain a software patent.[1]
Early life and education
Emerson was born on February 12, 1957 in Mansfield, Ohio.[2][3][4] Her mother was an ER nurse and her father was a garbage collector.[2][5][4] As a child, her family moved to Huntsville, Alabama, where Emerson was raised.[2] She studied at Alabama A&M,[2][5] where she met her husband Steven Bashen. She then moved to Houston, where she studied legal studies and government at the University of Houston.[2][5][4] Following her graduation from UH, Bashen did further studies at Rice University's Graduate School of Administration[2][5][4] and Harvard University,[2][5][4] before graduating from Tulane Law School with a Master of Jurisprudence in Labor and Employment Law.[6]
Career
After graduating, Bashen worked for an insurance company dealing with claims related to Equal Employment Opportunities.[2] Bashen suggested to her CEO that they hire independent investigators to assess such claims, believing that they would be more impartial.[2][7][4] When the CEO refused, Bashen took a $5,000 loan from her mother and in 1994, began her own company, Bashen Corp., to handle EEO compliance and complaints.[2][7][4]
As her company grew, Bashen became aware of the need for better ways of storing and accessing the data related to claims.[2][7][4] With a cousin, Donny Moore, who was a computer scientist, Bashen began developing software to do this.[2][7][4] This service became LinkLine, "Bashen’s patented EEO compliance and case management software."[2][7][3][4] On December 20, 2007 LinkLine earned Patent No. 6,985,922,B1, making Janet Emerson Bashen the first African-American woman to earn a software patent.[2][5][3][4]
Bashen has also developed AAPLink, software which assists employers in meeting Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs requirements,[2][5][4] 1-800Intake, a fulltime, online service for employees to report complaints about their workplaces,[2][5][4] and other software.[2][4]
In May 2000, she testified before the U.S. House of Representatives that civil rights and employee misconduct investigations should be exempt from the Fair Credit Reporting Act.[8]
Bashen serves on the Women’s Leadership Board at the Harvard Kennedy School.[5][4][6]
Honors
- 2003 - Houston, TX Chamber of Commerce Pinnacle Award[2][4][9]
- 2004 - National Association of Negro Women in Business Crystal Award[2][4]
- 2010 - MIT Recognition at World Festival of Black Arts and Culture in Dakar, Senegal[2][5][4]
- 2012 - Named in Ebony magazine's Power 100 List of the most influential African-Americans in entertainment, politics, sports and business[10]
- Black Inventors' Hall of Fame[2][4]
References
- ↑ "Bashen Patent". Retrieved 20 August 2015.
- ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 2.12 2.13 2.14 2.15 2.16 2.17 2.18 2.19 2.20 "Bashen, Janet Emerson (1957- ) | The Black Past: Remembered and Reclaimed". blackpast.org. Retrieved 2018-12-17.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Caslin, Yvette (February 14, 2017). "14 Black inventors and their inventions we love". Rolling Out. Retrieved 17 August 2019.
- ↑ 4.00 4.01 4.02 4.03 4.04 4.05 4.06 4.07 4.08 4.09 4.10 4.11 4.12 4.13 4.14 4.15 4.16 4.17 4.18 Fourtané, Susan (May 24, 2018). "Black Inventors - The Complete List of Genius Black American (African American) Inventors, Scientists, and Engineers with Their Revolutionary Inventions That Changed the World and Impacted History - Part Two". Interesting Engineering. Retrieved 17 August 2019.
- ↑ 5.00 5.01 5.02 5.03 5.04 5.05 5.06 5.07 5.08 5.09 Dawkins, Farida (March 15, 2018). "[Women's History Month] Meet Janet Emerson Bashen, first black woman to patent a computer software". Face2Face Africa. Retrieved 17 August 2019.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Bellis, Mary. "Biography of Janet Emerson Bashen, American Inventor". ThoughtCo. Retrieved 2019-08-19.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 Lynn, Samara (February 9, 2016). "How Janet Bashen Became a Software Pioneer". Black Enterprise. Retrieved 17 August 2019.
- ↑ "H.R. 3408—THE FAIR CREDIT REPORTING AMENDMENTS ACT OF 1999". Retrieved 20 August 2015.
- ↑ "Pinnacle Award". Archived from the original on 25 September 2015. Retrieved 20 August 2015.
- ↑ "Ebony's Power 100". Retrieved 20 August 2015.
External links
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