| Janet Emerson Bashen | |
| Birth Name: | Janet Rita Emerson |
| Birth Place: | Mansfield, Ohio United States |
| Birth Date: | 12 February 1957 |
| Alma Mater: | University of Houston (BS), Tulane Law School (MJ-LEL), The University of Southern California (Doctorate) |
| Employer: | Bashen Corporation |
| Spouse: | |
| Children: | 2 |
| Known For: | First African American woman to patent a web-based EEO software (Nalikah, formerly known as LinkLine) |
| Occupation: | Software inventor, businesswoman |
Janet Rita Bashen (née Emerson; born February 12, 1957) is an American entrepreneur, business consultant, 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.[1]
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.[2] Emerson's family moved to Huntsville, Alabama, where Emerson went to a segregated elementary school until the fifth grade when she entered Fifth Avenue School, a previously segregated school in Huntsville, Alabama.
She married George Steven Bashen in 1988. They have two children.
Bashen attended Alabama A&M a Historical Black College and University but did not graduate. Emerson enrolled in the University of Houston and graduated with a degree in Legal Studies and Government. Dr. Bashen attended Harvard University. Bashen is also a graduate of Tulane Law School. Bashen received a doctorate from USC'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.[3] 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.[4]
As her company grew, Bashen became aware of the need for better ways of storing and accessing the data related to claims.[5] 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.
In May 2000, Bashen testified before the U.S. House of Representatives that civil rights and employee misconduct investigations should be exempt from the Fair Credit Reporting Act.