Speaker 1: 0:30

I'm Mary Toxey and this is Sarah Absher, and we are two of three owners of a company called Basis Path. Basis Path is a women veteran owned IT services company that focuses on modernization efforts and artificial intelligence, semantic layers and ontology, and we serve the Department of Defense, department of Justice and the intelligence community here in the northern MVA area Awesome.

Speaker 2: 0:58

All right, so I've got a list of questions I want to dig into with your story. So both of you guys came from really interesting, extraordinary beginnings foster care, military service how do you believe these experiences shape the leadership culture at Basis Path?

Speaker 1: 1:19

I think for me personally, I think I look for people that I work with, people that you know we pursue as far as, like recruiting employees you know other businesses that we work with I am looking more towards like their attitudes, their personality, what they're bringing to the table. I'm less interested in, like you know, where they came from or their background, because I have to know that you can be successful or you can go down certain paths many, many different ways, or you can go down certain paths many, many different ways. There isn't just one straight path to success or doing something that you really love, and that's part of what we do, so we love what we do, so that's super key. So we're like seek out those people that also love what they do as well. But, like I said, the key thing is is that we don't judge a book by its cover.

Speaker 3: 2:14

Yeah, you don't have to take the traditional path. You don't have to go straight to college at a high school type of thing where people think that that's the way that you get to success, Right? I mean, I personally made my way through college as a single working mother, so it's one of those things that you know, we take people from different backgrounds, different perspectives. I think that's really key. You don't have to just get someone straight out of college. You don't have to have. They don't have to be from some sort of Ivy league school or any of that, any of that kind of thing, you know.

Speaker 2: 2:41

Can you just touch on your story a little bit like fill in the gaps there?

Speaker 1: 2:46

Well, so we're, sarah and I are sisters, but we're also triplets. So we do have a third sister who isn't in our industry. She's actually in education, which is another whole other challenging industry in and of itself. And we were, we were in a large family of nine. We were the first born in that family and our biological parents struggled with addiction issues and so we were all put into foster care, but we were kept together, so we were always together, which, you know, caused a close, a closeness. We, you know, struggled a little bit as far as not necessarily having the most stable home environment, which is fine and then we were emancipated when we were 16 years old, so we kind of started that adult life or like a lot of responsibility at a very young age which, you know, when I think back on, it was like super scary.

Speaker 3: 3:41

Yeah, I think so too. I mean, I was a mother at 18. I look at 18 year olds now I'm thinking that was me. I just I don't even know how that's possible.

Speaker 1: 3:49

But, but it was also, you know, being emancipated, you know not, you know, in poverty is where we decided okay, we're going to join the military, because we always did have. You know, hey, we want a better life, we want something better. We don't want to just settle for. You know, hey, this is our circumstances, and so we all joined the Air Force.

Speaker 3: 4:10

I actually worked in a selling factory for two years before I joined the military. I did. I worked when factories were in the United States.

Speaker 2: 4:18

I was going to say are there some?

Speaker 1: 4:18

things you've done in the United States. Yeah, no.

Speaker 3: 4:21

No, because I was a single mother. It took a little bit extra for me to join the military. There's a lot of different things you have to do in order to go in as a single parent, so it took me an extra almost two years to join, while Martha and Mary were in. So I've worked in a sewing factory.

Speaker 1: 4:37

Yeah, but the Air Force was fabulous, yes, so it provided a structure and for me personally, it was one of the first times where I think I actually realized my potential. So prior to that, it was really a lot of like, you know, just kind of making it, getting through high school, graduating, and then you get into the military and they teach you leadership skills immediately. So that is one of the things about you know, I feel like we're advertising the United States military, but they will take young people and they will give a lot of responsibility to those young people and so you learn leadership skills and then all of your needs are taken care of, so your basic needs are taken care of and then you are trained.

Speaker 1: 5:17

You know, and specifically the Air Force is more academic and more technical in the fields that they offer. And so it was a wonderful, wonderful experience. You get to go and travel the world and you meet so many other people. I mean it does expand your view of life. So now, today people have the internet. It's much more prevalent. When we, when we went in and we were in rural Virginia, virginia, you know we weren't exposed to a lot. That was huge for us and I and like I said, I think that was when I was like, oh hey, wait a second. Like you know, I might be kind of smart.

Speaker 3: 5:49

I mean, it made me how to go to college. I had no idea really how to go to college until I was joined the military and they had an education center and I thought that the clouds had opened and the sun was shining this ray on top of the building. It was like education center, so it was. It was huge. The military is what got us through our master's degrees.

Speaker 2: 6:06

Yes, All right, let's tie it into founding your company. So when was the moment that you realized that you wanted to build something of your own and not just succeed militarily wise going down that route and that path?

Speaker 1: 6:23

So I got out of the military first after 10 years. I had a daughter as well, and while the military is wonderful, it is strenuous on families and you do a lot of deployments and a lot of time away from your children. And so at that point which is a very crucial point it's the tenure mark I decided that I would get out of the military. Sarah got out shortly after, and then we moved to the DMV area. I was a SIGINT intelligence analyst, so that type of work is in this area. I had been stationed at the Fort Meade area, so I was familiar and so that's why I chose this location.

Speaker 1: 7:00

I immediately got a job with Lockheed Martin out of the military and at the time I was just kind of like posting for jobs and I didn't really know. I was kind of like going to take any job, and it was the first time I was introduced to the IT field. Sarah did IT in the military, so she was already familiar with that. And then so we worked for the bigs. What company did you work for? Well, I started with Lockheed.

Speaker 3: 7:25

Oh yeah, that's right. Yeah, and then I went to SAIC, which I loved. Saic was great. They were good to me, yeah.

Speaker 1: 7:31

So learned a lot from both of those companies like a lot. And then when sequestration happened, which was when the government decided to do a broad you know 10 percent cut of the defense industry, a lot of things changed at those big companies and so we decided to go work for a small company because they can offer typically offer a higher salary and we had an okay experience with that.

Speaker 3: 7:57

And that is where I met our third partner, joseph Ponson who I was working with already at the time and had already he was already a friend of mine, a colleague of mine.

Speaker 1: 8:08

And so we all were working for this little, teeny, tiny small company I think there was like five people total, including us and it wasn't the best experience. And so then we thought to ourselves, okay, why don't we just take the jump and let's start our own company and let's learn from all of the things so everything we learned from the military, everything that we've learned from the big companies, and then this not so great experience with a small company and make it a company that we would want to work for. So that was our original purpose of starting the company is to create a company that we would enjoy working for, and so that's kind of the origin story of Basis Path.

Speaker 2: 8:44

I love it. So, speaking of Basis Path, like, what is the actual culture, the company, the business, what does that represent to you and your team?

Speaker 1: 8:55

What does that represent to you and your team? Well, we're definitely 100 percent employee focused. So we're driven about. Driven to not just recruit people but retain people. So we have everything from junior college hires to senior people that have been in the business for 20, 25 plus years. So for our junior folks, we really focus on their career development, which may be challenging for a small company, but I think that we've been very successful at providing development opportunities, training and one of the things that we really care about from a growth perspective. We've grown steady. So we've been in business for 10 years and we have about you know what like 52, 53 employees. At this point, was there opportunity for us to, like you know, kind of blow up? Yes, but we, what we've decided to do is be very picky about the contracts that we go after. So it's work that we want to do, that we love to do, that we're passionate about. Then, when we recruit those people, we're picky about what positions we want to place them in.

Speaker 3: 10:01

Yeah, we don't want people to be placed somewhere just because it's a, because their resume matches the job position. We want them to be happy where they're working.

Speaker 1: 10:11

Like that actually matters to us when they're working.

Speaker 1: 10:11

Like that actually matters to us, and so we'll do that, and then we will work with the employees on career development. Or maybe we've had a couple of employees that were working towards retirement, so we will work with them on that. The mid-level employees that we have, we want to also focus on their goals and and work with them on that. So I believe really strongly that we have a kind of family-like culture, but one that's very focused on high performance. We really push that learning, learning, learning um, and that you actually are happy and like your job, because we found that obviously you're going to be more productive if you're happy and you'll stay with the company if you're happy, right, right, and then we'll be happy, yeah.

Speaker 2: 10:57

My question is actually what does it look like to be a part of Basis Path? How do you build a workplace where people feel seen, heard and supported? But you guys answered that what I'm hearing is essentially making sure that each individual team member's goals are being met through work.

Speaker 3: 11:12

Yes, through work. And then from a company perspective, we also have managers that each. So instead of having everybody just kind of report to one person or anything like that, we've kind of divided employees among different managers so that they make sure that they're reaching out to them all the time, they're taking them out, they're meeting with them, trying to make sure that their training goals are met, you know things like that. And then, of course, there's an open door to us all the time. So we kind of have multiple levels to make sure that they have avenues in which they can talk to us, talk to our managers, and kind of make sure that and we can make sure that they are getting what they need.

Speaker 1: 11:50

Yeah, and I also think, like we, the owners, we're like genuinely excited about the work that we're doing. So I know I've said that like about 50 times, so then we get them like hyped up and pumped up about it too, because the customers that we serve are doing very critical missions and you know it's critical work that's going to, you know, protect the country, protect, you know, the United States citizens, and I'm not saying that lightly, it's like legitimately. That's the type of work that we're doing. We're providing support services for that, and so it's important for us to, when we are recruiting people, that the people not only are like geeks, you know that love IT work, but they also care about whatever mission it is that we're serving, and I think that that makes a huge difference.

Speaker 2: 12:33

It's qualifications Geeks that love IT work.

Speaker 1: 12:37

I mean, I guess we're geeks that like IT work too.

Speaker 3: 12:40

But you know what, ever since the military, we've always been very mission focused.

Speaker 3: 12:43

So I say mission in quotation marks because, whatever the mission is, on the program that you're working you want to be excited about and passionate about and if you are, then you're going to enjoy the work, and if not, then you know we look for other places that they can, you know, thrive, because not everybody's going to like the same, the same thing. So, and so that's why we try to also look for um, like Mary was saying, we're very particular about the kind of contracts that we, that we pursue and that sort of stuff, so that we can kind of offer um, a dynamic, um, I guess the dynamic area, area of where people can work. You know it's not just you're going to be stuck on this contract forever and we have nowhere else to move you, type of thing.

Speaker 1: 13:17

Yeah, we have a lot of flexibility for a small company.

Speaker 2: 13:19

Speaking of contracts, you guys have doubled your contracts and prime partners in the past few years. What do you think sets BASIS apart in such a competitive space?

Speaker 1: 13:28

Well, we've been looking at networks and we've also been lucky to hire some key people that have very specialized expertise. And then our ability to campaign and to advertise those skills and abilities. And then I have to circle back to our employees, because we do push top performers and I can confidently say that no matter where we go or whatever contract, whatever customer we support, whatever prime we support, we do have a reputation for top performers, reliability and top performers.

Speaker 3: 14:00

Yeah, people are very much needed. They would be missed if they were not there type of thing.

Speaker 2: 14:06

So we were speaking about mission and integrity. How do you keep a sense of mission and integrity while scaling a business in government and cybersecurity sectors? Slow?

Speaker 1: 14:18

No, how do you keep the mission? Well, I'm just saying it's about being steady, right. So again, you could have the opportunity, so technically, in the DOD space, because we're women and veteran owned, right. So there's a need for small businesses that are women and veteran owned. It's kind of a quota that can be filled. So technically, you could be placed on any any contract, right.

Speaker 1: 14:41

So, kind of circling back to what I'm saying is like where we care about the mission and integrity, that takes time. So it takes time in recruiting the right people. It takes time to make sure to foster that culture. It takes time in placing the right people in the right positions to make sure that you're in. You know continuing that.

Speaker 1: 14:56

So when I say slow, I mean taking your time and looking for the contracts and placing the people and applying solutions, things like that I think you can very easily. And I've gotten myself where I've stopped myself, like getting a little bit like excited or anxious, or like we must hurry, we must, we have to act fast, we have to do this, and I always take a step back because in the end it's better. I mean not to sound super cliche, but you know, slow and steady, right, when's the race and that is. You know, for me, a key component of it is just kind of like taking a step back and making sure that we're doing everything right. A key component of it is just kind of like taking a step back and making sure that we're doing everything right.

Speaker 3: 15:35

I don't know, if there's anything that's true, there's never. There's never a need to rush or to try to be super competitive. Um, there's plenty of work.

Speaker 1: 15:41

I mean, there's just so, sarah, when we first moved up to this area and you know, obviously you know we were kind of struggling a little bit just coming out of the military and and she found a mechanic.

Speaker 2: 15:53

I'm going to tell my mechanics, I'm telling you.

Speaker 1: 15:56

It's like. This is the story, I use this all the time. And he said the great. So we went there. You know we had some car trouble and I know for me specifically, he could have easily charged me a ton and made me replace the parts. I didn't know any better, you know I'm really young and he's like well, there's a recall on your vehicle, so technically you should go to the dealership and it'll be free, and this, that and the other. And then she had asked him, like what you know, and we'd had that experience with him a couple of times and he had said well, um, and Sarah was like well, most mechanics are, you know, apologies to mechanics out there, but do you have a reputation for kind of like ripping you off and he had said well, there's too much honest work out there to be dishonest. That has stuck with me. I always say that and I just I use that phrase all the time it's too much, you know. You know work out there, you know too much. Shout out to Marty yes To be dishonest.

Speaker 1: 16:46

Or again, to kind of be slimeball-y or rushing or to put Stabbing colleagues in the back. You know, that sort of thing we don't. We're not, because when you have that competitive feeling, you have to be able to hone in on it and actually, you know, use it to to, to move forward, because I think you can be competitive, and then it almost is backfire, backfires on you.

Speaker 3: 17:07

I believe we've actually helped lots of people start their own companies that's interesting.

Speaker 2: 17:12

Do you think that has anything to do with you two both being female, or you think that's just a? My next question is you you built a majority female owned tech company in a traditionally male dominated field. What advice do you have for other women looking to break through in it? Or cybersecurity what I'm hearing from you two, just so you know, in all of our conversations we've had with the hearing from you too, just so you know, in all of our conversations we've had with the, this type of stuff doesn't come up. Uh, I haven't heard too many of our male podcast guests in similar roles as you two really touch on that. There's, there's more than enough. So much, yeah, like you know what I'm saying yeah, maybe I don't know.

Speaker 3: 17:54

I mean I would say well, and if you, if you going back to your question about what would you, um, or what would you say to other biases? I mean confidence. I think a lot of when you're talking about women. In general we see this with candidates because we interview all kinds of people, but I think women a lot of times don't have as much confidence. For some reason They'll definitely play.

Speaker 1: 18:17

I've seen it where they will downplay their skills or be like is this okay?

Speaker 3: 18:22

I'm sorry.

Speaker 2: 18:23

Yeah.

Speaker 3: 18:23

Or yeah, especially when it comes to it comes to salary requirements and things like that. You'll have a guy. I want $500,000. I'm five years out of college and a woman will be like is it okay if I ask for you know?

Speaker 2: 18:34

It's negotiable.

Speaker 3: 18:35

It's okay if it's not okay. No, it's very much it can be like that, unless you get somebody who's been in for a while and kind of like. You know we do have our folks that are like us, like Lori. You know that they're more confident, but I do think it's just be confident.

Speaker 1: 18:51

And there is the other side of that. Don't go to the extreme, like you know, still be yourself. You know I always say, like, whoever you are as a core person, just make sure that you're always that core person, no matter what the circumstances are. So, like, if you're a kind person, still be kind. You know you can be firm, you can be confident, you can be, you know, knowledgeable and still be kind. And I think that that's super important. You don't need to come across as arrogant or be cutthroat to be successful. So I don't know if that's so much has to do with me being female, because I have no idea or more about how I try to raise my children.

Speaker 3: 19:32

So, you know, trying to teach them that, and then I try to like practice what I preach from that perspective, I also think, because we did come from like humble beginnings, that I would like to help others. Yes, like it's, like I don't, because I just feel like if you can help others along the way that I don't know, it's going to come back to you too. We've all had help along the way, different ways. You know different forms, so definitely I believe in helping others.

Speaker 2: 19:56

Just the fact that you recognize that that was a beautiful thing. You know like you have gratitude for that.

Speaker 3: 20:01

Oh, so much gratitude.

Speaker 1: 20:03

Yeah, a ton of gratitude.

Speaker 2: 20:05

You guys, keep it as part of your story too.

Speaker 3: 20:07

Oh, we don't hide it or skip it.

Speaker 1: 20:10

No, no. And you know, I did have that feedback once about my bio, almost as if like, are you embarrassed? And then I thought to myself I mean, it's my life, I don't want to be embarrassed by it, I don't want to, you know, it just is what it is and you know what, there's more of us like that that have come from humble beginnings than there are people who haven't. And so I think and it's just kind of just saying like hey, just because you might have this disappointment or this might seem bleak or this might seem like maybe you have to work a little bit harder, that's fine.

Speaker 3: 20:47

Because you might start out as an 18-year-old working in a sewing factory. Fast forward you're like what? Yeah, so I mean you know you can be anything you want. Really that sounds so corny, but it's true.

Speaker 1: 20:55

It is true, and I really do, and I think, because you know, my son just graduated high school, just this year, and I know that him and you know a lot of his friends, and there's this pressure. You know I must go to a certain type of school, I must do this, I must do this and I must do that, and I have always, you know, pressed to my children no, you do not, you know, follow the path that is right for you.

Speaker 3: 21:19

Don't ever, you know, some pressure is good, obviously you know, but you don't want to be a slack about in the basement playing video games.

Speaker 1: 21:25

But we don't want to go to that extreme, but you know, it's okay if you don't take the exact same path that I guess society has said this is the path to success. And I even find it hard in myself sometimes, like I know that I've lived a non-traditional path, um, but then I can even still tell myself like I'll find myself, like, oh well, maybe my son needs to do this or my daughter needs to do this, and so I have to remind myself like it's okay, it's okay, like you know. I think if you kind of like let go and let them kind of do what they're going to do, then it's probably the best way and just offer support and advice along the way. It's easier said than done.

Speaker 2: 22:06

Do you have any last parting words of advice for somebody? I've heard a lot of like tips. Uh, sounds like you know your values that you would sell on your children, your staff and your overall culture. Um, but do you have any specific parting words or advice that you would give somebody who's listening to this and maybe they're in a position of needing those words of encouragement?

Speaker 1: 22:36

Again, I want to go back to, like, my own feelings, where I have felt like super stressed or anxiety ridden in this business. Right, you know, where I've like felt like, oh, ok, if we didn't win this contract or this didn't come through, it was all over. You know you have to. Those thoughts are going to come in your head, no matter who you are, no matter where you come from, no matter what, and the advice that I would give is let the thought come in, let it go out. Do not focus in on that aspect of growing a business, the parts that are challenging, the parts that can be tough. I mean focus on it to the extent of, you know, learning from it, but then always, always, take a step back. You know like, breathe, remember why you're doing it, because you love it, and then also know that, hey, this is it, it will work out.

Speaker 3: 23:33

I just have to continue on Um yeah, and, and, and, then, and then take failures in stride, because no one's going to be perfect, that's for sure.

Speaker 1: 23:44

You know stumbling blocks, that sort of stuff, and I can honestly say every single you know what would be considered a setback or failure. Nothing but good has come from that. I can say that 100% business, personal life. There is not even one single example I can give of something that was negative in my life that didn't turn into something good.

Speaker 2: 24:07

At some point right.

Speaker 3: 24:09

Yeah, eventually yeah.

Speaker 1: 24:11

Absolutely. I can say that without fail Awesome.

Speaker 2: 24:15

Is there anything else that I didn't ask that you would love to leave or say before we wrap it up?

Speaker 1: 24:23

No, I don't think so. We love working together.

Speaker 2: 24:28

Is that a statement or is that a reminder? No, it's a fact.

Speaker 3: 24:33

I love my CSEs.

Speaker 1: 24:34

Yes, no, it is a blessing to be able to have a business. It'd be successful and be able to work with my sister. I don't know how Joe does it.

Speaker 3: 24:41

Joe's our third part yeah, he loves us though.

Speaker 1: 24:45

Yes, he does and people do.

Speaker 3: 24:47

Oh well, he will love us.

Speaker 1: 24:50

No, he's great. He really evens us out so that we wouldn't be able to be as successful.

Speaker 3: 24:57

If we didn't have him to balance us out, that's for sure, yeah.

Speaker 1: 25:01

Oh well, I guess that would be the one last thing. Partner, partner, partner. I think that's super key.

Speaker 2: 25:07

Which is crazy, because I've heard a lot of the opposite. What Don't bring on partners, what you have to have, the right partners.

Speaker 3: 25:16

You have to have people that like to do the things you hate. They compliment you, you have to compliment.

Speaker 1: 25:21

So the balances, and that would be of personality drive and the things that you like, and then when you come together, so then you're not all super stressed.

Speaker 3: 25:34

We have such a friendship. I'm telling you, the partnership that the three of us have is like a true friend. Besides Mary's, my sister, obviously, but with Joe I mean we have such a friendship. I mean we've argued, we've, you know, gone through life experiences together and that sort of stuff. So I think I would say you, you should partner, but it has to be the right partner and everybody has to be in it for the right reasons the right reasons together.

Speaker 1: 26:01

You know everybody has to do equal. If you establish that at the beginning, like, hey, we all, you know the right reasons together. You know everybody has to do equal. If you establish that at the beginning, like, hey, we all, we value these things, you're going to be good. I think so yeah.

Speaker 3: 26:09

I think what happens if people just like partner with someone and they feel like they're doing more work than the other, that kind of thing, it's just like anything else in life no-transcript work still got the A's. Similar thing If you have partners that aren't doing the same, you know that aren't doing as much. I think that resentment builds up and that sort of stuff. So I would think, if you don't have a partner, I don't know how you could do it all.

Speaker 1: 26:44

I don't know how you could do it either. There's no way. So, yeah, not really well, anyway, yeah, I don't think so I love it. Thank you both so much for being on the podcast sharing your words of wisdom.

Speaker 2: 26:55

Such an honor to talk to both of you.

Speaker 1: 26:57

Oh, thank you.