A leading, full-service communications and event management firm that generates solutions, inspires action, and adds value for clients.
My journey to business ownership is different from the typical path. I’m not the original founder. My mother founded this business. I only assumed the leadership role in 2008 when she passed away.
Leading BETAH Associates is not a role I was groomed or prepared for. In fact, I did not want it. I did not want to do government contracting – it wasn’t in my life plan. My background is in television and film production. I wanted to use my skills in creativity to raise awareness and to educate and affect change in communities.
I was born in Pennsylvania, outside of Pittsburgh. We came to the County in 1979, so I have been a MoCo resident for most of my life. I went to John F. Kennedy High School. (Go Cavaliers!)
My beginnings at BETAH were as a video producer, long before I took over the company. I left an associate producer job at National Geographic Television to help my mother produce a satellite videoconference with then Surgeon General David Satcher, looking at the state of HIV-AIDS in communities of color.
At that moment, I realized I could merge my creative talents with data, science, and research to bring awareness and affect change.
Throughout several years I worked with BETAH in a creative capacity, and my mother and I agreed that I would not be the one to take over the company. When her health began failing, she tried to relieve me of the burden of obligation by seeking outside offers. At a point, there was an acquisition offer on the table, and she went so far as to sign an LOI (Letter Of Intent). She told me to let the company go and live a life of creativity. However, I did not listen. The acquisition structure wasn’t a good deal. One of her trusted financial advisers took me aside and strongly advised against the “deal.”
The thing is, I believed in the company. So ultimately, I felt compelled to carry forth her legacy and not abandon what she had created. Now here I am, in year 15.
My mother would say: “Businesses are started because the house is on fire, or because there’s a fire in the belly.” In this case, it was ultimately both. There was really no one else who was positioned to take over the company. And I discovered that I did have that fire in the belly because I believed in what my mother had created and could see the impact we were having.
So, initially, my “why” was to continue her legacy. She had sacrificed so much to give me a good life and to impact individuals and communities. For years, that was my why – to push forward the vision that she had laid out.
But in 2018, a moment came when I realized that, from a leadership perspective, I had to evolve. Many associates had stayed with the company, had walked alongside me, and believed in the original mission. But new associates were coming in and were not necessarily motivated by that vision. My mother’s legacy was not enough of a driver for new associates. So I had to step back. I realized I had to finally wear my own heels and stop trying to fill my mother’s shoes. I needed to stop walking in her vision and move forward with the one I had set so the team could embrace and run beside me.
Today the tenets of the company’s founding mission of transforming the lives of individuals and communities still hold true. However, we’re charging forward as a leading, full-service communications and event management firm that generates solutions, inspires action, and adds value for our clients that ultimately transforms the lives of individuals and communities.
Today at BETAH Associates
Today, BETAH Associates is #18 on a list of the top 100 marketing and communications firms in the government contracting space. I feel really good about that, and I want to carry that vision forward to become one of the leading Black woman-owned MarCom firms in all of government contracting.
I look at where I started, not knowing anything about running a company. (All I knew was that if your financial bottom line was negative at the end of the month, that was not a good thing!) We were operating at a significant loss when I assumed the company. So I’m excited to see where we are now, from a revenue and profit standpoint, and I like to believe that my mother would be very proud of me, though I went against what she would have wished as far as letting the company go.
Lessons Learned
You have your own heels to wear.
For the first few years after assuming the leadership role at BETAH, I tried hard to emulate my mother – and that about killed me. She had her purpose, talents, and strengths. Then, there was a moment when I said: “No, Michelle. What do YOU want to do?”
That was when I stopped looking to the left or the right to ask what she would have done or what other successful CEOs were doing. I realized that we are all purposed and gifted to do amazing things – and we have to figure out what those things are and then move forward. You do want to seek out mentors, read books, and more: but don’t minimize what you’re bringing to the table. You have your own heels to wear.
Your mistakes don't diminish your magic.
Mistakes can be devastating – but more often, we learn from them. They often help take you to that next level. It’s a mantra that I have: your mistakes don’t diminish your magic. At some point, I realized that I am where I am because of those mistakes…and there will be more!
We have to go through challenging moments to get to the better moments that lie ahead.
Don't panic. Just prepare.
A lesson from my mother: I had to present training to a room full of rockstar women. It was an “I can’t, I can’t” moment. She let me rant for awhile, then quietly said, “Don’t panic. Just prepare.”
Those words resonated with me throughout the years, especially during the pandemic – and I encouraged my team to hang on to them too. We did the work early on to prepare and think through shifting strategies and pivoting some of our services. We ended up thriving during the pandemic.
The lessons you learn now are preparing you for future challenges. So when those moments come – don’t panic. Prepare.
Surround yourself with "gladiators."
I’m referencing the TV show Scandal here. Remember Olivia Pope’s crew, her “gladiators?” I’ve found it invaluable to have my team around me that I know has my back, and they’re willing to get in this arena with me – and, yes, sometimes it is a battle! My advice is to cultivate and gather your protective forces. You want to pick gladiators that will not judge you if you stumble; they will help. They can be from within your company, or they can be external mentors. They can be in mastermind groups, peer-to-peer exchanges with other business owners, or even your family. But have a team around you that you know has your back.