Diversifying Revenue Streams with NASA Alum Aisha Bowe
Written by Erica Jeanine
Aisha Bowe is the founder and CEO of STEMBoard, a platform leading a workforce of engineers and managing execution on a multi-million dollar pipeline of federal contracts. Prior to STEMBoard, Aisha was an aerospace engineer at NASA, working at the AIMS research center. She has also been featured in Black Enterprise, Ebony, Forbes and has shared with us how important representation is as entrepreneurs and how we can diversify our revenue especially in times of crises like we're in.
NOW YOU’RE A NASA ALUM AND A FOUNDER. WHATS THE MISSION OF STEM BOARD?
Aisha: The reason why came to me when I realized there are a lot of things that we don't get to accomplish in life because we don't believe we can and we don't see ourselves as those things. In my experience, I remember feeling like I wasn’t doing what I should be in life so I set a goal to apply to a four years school and become an engineer and that was it. I didn't think I could be an engineer I never saw engineers that were like me. I never met an African-American female rocket scientist let alone anyone from NASA. After realizing that, I made a list of all of these things I thought coudln’t be done and I challenged myself to do them. In the end, I graduated with an aerospace degree. After graduation I started working at NASA and it was an amazing experience but then I told myself I want to do more. Truthfully I wanted to become an entrepreneur so I had to begin learning how to make that happen. I combined engineering with a mission to empower other black women, young girls and people who are non-traditional in their field to be entrepreneurs and technologists. The result was STEMBoard, we are responsible for data analytics and IC transformation, where you learn testing of various clouds. We literally work to make data from an organization actionable, the other 20% of the company is focused on education and outreach. At STEMBoard we also develop content and curriculum for schools, host workshops and train students, to not only become engineers but also expose them to technology. With our training they can understand that every single market vertical that they decide to pursue in some way. Our goal is for student to be touched by our resources and increase their skill set.
WHAT DID YOU LEARN FROM WORKING IN A HOMOGENEOUS ENVIRONMENT?
Aisha: My first lesson was that I was enough and had been enough even before I entered the field. The first three years I worked, I never felt as though I was successful or had as much to offer as my colleagues. One of the things that I want to encourage all entrepreneurs who are reading this right now is that you are enough. You are more than enough, and when you recognize that, you’ll operate from a position of power in everything you do. So because of that, I stopped trying to outperform and started embracing the things that made me different. These things also made me more effective and when we were solving problems, I would rely on people that I worked with but I would often try to do it differently. I engaged in new groups, would go out and find new people and new ways of doing things. All of this work was making my organization better but it eventually got to the point where I felt like the same things I thought were disadvantages. This work also provided me with opportunity to think differently and that was a big advantage for me. It was hard then, and it's hard now so my hat's off to all the engineers and the entrepreneurs out there in the world because it's no small feat.
“I’ve combined engineering with a mission to empower other black women, young girls and people who are non-traditional in their field to be entrepreneurs as well as technologists ”
HOW WOULD YOU ELUCIDATE THE VALUE BETWEEN RENTING AND OWNING YOUR WORK?
Aisha: Great question… For me the value of owning my work is rewarding because I have the power to change an outcome in a community that I cared about. As a minority female I had the opportunity to invest in the black community, create camps, educate people for free and impart our skills and knowledge in a way my people would benefit from. The only person I had to compete with was myself, that's one of the things that’s important to pay attention to. Whenever you empower diverse entrepreneurs you're not just creating a business, you're creating a revenue stream. When I empower others I’m also creating an individual that can donate to a political campaign, purchase and become homeowners and vote on the community.
All of these things are derivative of my ownership and what the company has empowered me to be able to do. Now, because I own 100% of the company, with no outside investment, the company is profitable and has been sustainable. I don't have to compete with a board who will say “Aisha you can't do that because that's too feminine or that's too black or can't do that because you're too young.” Aisha does what Aisha thinks is for the best of the company and community I come from and for the individuals I want to serve.
HOW DO STARTUPS BUILD A TEAM WITHOUT GIVING UP OWNERSHIP?
Aisha: Because I was an engineer I had to learn how I could get people to pay me to be an engineer. We begin taking minimal contracts in both the education and engineering side. I didn’t just leave NASA and tell myself I’m going to start a business. That’s a lot of people’s number one mistake; when you need a lot capital to get started your’re left with having to pay people to help you build in the absence of other revenue. It was a gradual transition into my first year, I told myself I would work at NASA, get up earlier and stay up later. I told myself I’m going to work on my company for 2 hours in the morning and 2 hours in the evening and that’s how we built it. I put in place an outside work agreement so that nothing I did had any legal ramifications. I feel that is the best way to start a small business because you have the security of your day job, but you also have the future of your new venture. You can do it in a way where you’re not putting your life totally at risk.
After two years, it was two other people who I paid to do engineering and myself. We’d say, okay, we can start to evolve then can afford now hire a 3rd person. It wasn’t until the 4th year when I started bringing in multi-year contracts because I went out and sought mentorship. And that’s another thing for you guys, go-to people at these big companies, like Johnny for example and say, hey can you put me or will Google buy my product? If you build something, people will partner with you, and it can without a doubt happen. So myself and team went out and found an engineering company that had about 500 people. They had a female founder who had a similar story, and she was able to put us on the contract. Then I had the opportunity to hire more people, and that’s how I was able to build and continue to expand this without investment. I started thinking of how I could make money to cover those who want to work for me instead of giving equity to anyone. Now I understand not every business can do that, but regardless of your product, business or service, in business, it’s good to have both. Meaning many companies don’t have product or service revenue and can find a combination of both, you will better as a business for the long term.
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO YOU TO SHOW UP AS THE HIGHEST VERSION OF YOURSELF?
Aisha: The most important thing is to love myself and treat me with the upmost care so that I am seen. I get up in the morning, and I write down what I’m grateful for and my personal affirmations. I pray before interacting with my team or the world, and I try to level and ensure that I’m coming from the best place. I watch my diet. I watch my sleep and mindful of what I watch and consume. I pay attention to who I spend my time around because when I started this company nobody in family really believed in me. I had to alienate myself from anything and anyone who didn’t think I would be who I am today. And you must protect your mind at all cost.
HOW DID YOU GO FROM COMMUNITY COLLEGE TO NASA?
Aisha: I never thought in life that I was going to be an engineer or much of anything. I wasn’t focused enough in high school and didn't even apply to college. I didn’t submit applications to a four-year institution because my grades in high school were terrible. I looked at people I knew who were around me and in the National Honor Society, they had all these accolades while getting themselves together. I’d think to myself, they made their bed when they got out of bed in the morning, and they were determined. That was not me, I had a lot of other stuff going on at home. My parents had gotten divorced, I wasn't focused and school just wasn't a priority for me. I was doing my best just to exist, rushing to get done with the whole high school experience. For those of you who love that high school experience, I’m happy for you, but you couldn't pay me to go back to high school. College maybe, but not high school.
So, I found myself in community college, and it was actually an incredible experience for several reasons. One, I needed to grow, and two it was where I experienced failure, met people and had circumstances that helped me turn things around. So you know how the story goes is that my first semester I’m thinking I’m going to be a business student because why not! I take econ and get a C, and that grade totally destroyed me. The reason being was because I already wasn’t successful in high school and even though I graduated it wasn’t anything to brag about. Now, I’m in community college and I’m not doing as well as I intended to, so I went home and had a conversation with my father. He was an engineering major and received his degree at 40 years old. After having been married and divorced having three kids. He suggested I begin taking a math course and that was the beginning for me.
I started my engineering degree with pre-algebra in community college and it wasn't an easy upward thing. I didn't take algebra and think I was genius, no not at all. It was the opposite I told myself. “okay if I can do this, what else can I do?” After that, I just kept incrementally moving forward.
“Whenever you empower diverse entrepreneurs you’re not just creating a business, you’re creating a revenue stream. ”
WHAT CAN WE LEARN ABOUT OURSELVES FROM THE VIRTUAL WORLD?
Aisha: I believe there is a lot to be learned from that industry. I have learned that I’m a lot more creative than I thought, so I'm loving the isolation because for the first time in a long time I get to hyper-focus. Usually, during the day I’m running around going form meeting to meeting. Now I schedule a time to be present, not only with myself but with the people who mean the most to me. I recently had a 12-hour conversation with my grandfather, have more time to spend doing things time journaling and gaining clarity on who I am and where I’m taking my business. Also have been able to add four streams of income, we didn’t have a product before so was able to create. Now we have one focused on providing medical and PPE supplies to African-American country like in the Caribbean or Bahamas couldn’t get access to those supplies.
Are you interested in connecting with Aisha Bowe?
Email: aisha.bowe@gmail.com
Want to learn more about STEMBoard?
Website: stemboard.com
Instagram: @stemboard + @stemlingoco