In this episode of GovCon Unscripted, Christine Hopkins—CEO of ASCII and 2025 Alaska Small Business Person of the Year—shares her gritty journey from near-collapse in the oil industry to thriving in federal contracting. Discover how she navigated scams, remote business development from Alaska, and the whiplash of recent policy changes.

Key Takeaways:

🚨 Scam Alert: The predatory emails and contracts targeting new GovCon entrants (and how to avoid them).

🏔️ Remote Hustle: Building federal relationships from Alaska during COVID—and making it stick.

📜 Policy Whiplash: Overnight contract mods, scrubbed DEI language, and dodged greenhouse gas reporting.

🏆 Resilience Wins: How Christine’s "slow growth" strategy earned her a SBA award—and a shot at the national title.

Timestamps:

[00:00] - From oil crisis to GovCon: Christine’s pivot story.

[10:27] - The SAM.gov scam flood (and costly lessons learned).

[16:39] - The $120 NDAA guide that never arrived.

[24:47] - Winning Small Business Person of the Year—without self-nominating.

[34:27] - How admin changes impacted her contracts (good and bad).

[40:08] - Why she caps growth at 1-2 contracts/year to protect her reputation.

Links & Resources:

Christine Hopkins’ LinkedIn

Chelsea Meggitt's LinkedIn

ASCI Website