Typically when we’re introduced to other members of the BASF family, we get to see just one side of them: attorney, staff member, volunteer. Dig a little deeper, and we discover how extraordinary each person is, with unique skills, talents, interests, and (some would say) superpowers.
To facilitate the getting-to-know-you process, we’re introducing a new column, one that will celebrate people who often work tirelessly behind the scenes on BASF committees, projects, or events. This is a chance for us to learn more about them personally and professionally through brief introductions plus answers to a handful of thought-provoking questions.
We’re delighted to feature Tonya Saheli in our first profile. As owner of Saheli Legal Mediation since 2011 and Associate Mediation Counsel with BASF since June 2020, Tonya has mediated contract, property, and landlord-tenant disputes, and divorce and child custody cases. But a career in mediation wasn’t her original goal. Tonya earned her undergraduate degree in biology and was working on her masters in regulatory science when she was first introduced to the legal aspects of the field and how the FDA regulates the drug industry. She earned a certificate in cell and molecular biology from Stanford University, School of Medicine (while working as a research scientist on the human genome project in the genetics department) followed by a JD from John F. Kennedy University School of Law.
“I have a love for science that cannot be quenched,” she says, which is why she took a pause from mediation in 2016 and accepted a three-year position with a biotech company. In 2019, she jumped “full-throttle” back into mediation, accepted the full-time position at BASF in 2020, yet continued volunteering at a lab doing experiments.
“I was still very connected to this world,” she says, “when I got an email in 2020 asking for folks with experience with sequencing RNA.” She volunteered during her free time on weekends and evenings, working with a team of scientists to determine the sequence of the COVID virus before it started morphing. That information was then forwarded to the scientists who developed the vaccines.
It was Tonya’s contributions to the development of COVID vaccines that inspired her colleagues to “nominate” her for this column. Here are her answers to our questions:
BASF: What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
TS: Sometimes you have to give your time away/volunteer in order to get in the door and get paid to do what you love.
BASF: Can you share a little-known fact about you?
TS: I love to research and write. I have published research papers in Science Magazine and legal journals in New Zealand and Australia. I also published a memoir in 2012 [The Memoirs of a Young Millennium Preacher’s Wife].
BASF: What traits do you feel are necessary for someone to be “great”?
TS: I think the three traits necessary to be a great human being—which will in turn help one to be great at everything else—are (1) humility, (2) being teachable, and (3) being able to apologize when you are wrong.
BASF: What was your last great adventure?
TS: In 2017, I went to New Zealand to present a legal paper to a group of attorneys at the University of Auckland School of Law in New Zealand. I traveled to New Zealand alone, met a lot of great attorneys, and learned about the court system and dispute resolution program there.
BASF: What advice would you give to your younger self?
TS: I would tell my 18-year-old self to start investing and, particularly, to buy a lot of Amazon stock and invest in Bitcoin early.
Kathleen Guthrie Woods is a long-time contributor to San Francisco Attorney magazine. Previous articles include “Miranda at Fifty” (Fall 2016) and “Understanding—and Embracing—the Gig Economy” (Spring 2017).