22-year-old weapons tycoon tells Mike Rowe why he hired his mom — 'the most interesting dynamic I've ever seen'

When Dirty Jobs host and skilled-trades advocate Mike Rowe recently toured Thornton’s facilities, he met the engineers and got a look inside the operation. Then he met the company’s director of communications and marketing: Tamara Thornton, Ethan’s mother.

The two joined Rowe on his podcast, where Tamara shared what it was like to watch her son walk away from a full-ride scholarship to bet on an idea that was anything but a sure thing. Rowe acknowledged that most people might be fascinated by the company’s rapid growth or by the fact that a 22-year-old is running such a consequential business. But what caught his attention was something more personal: Thornton’s relationship with his mother.

“This is the most interesting dynamic I’ve ever seen in my life,” Rowe said.

Working with mom

For Tamara, working alongside her son comes with an unusual complication.

“This would be my dream job if it wasn’t my son’s company,” Tamara joked. While she described the work as highly fulfilling, having her son at the center of it adds another layer to every decision. In communications and marketing, she has to consider what is best for Mach while also looking at everything through the lens of how it could personally affect Ethan.

“I don’t care if you’re 90 years old, your instinct is going to be to protect your kid,” she said on the podcast. At times, that means deliberately fighting her own instincts. “There are times when I have to suspend that, like intentionally suspend that,” Tamara said, acknowledging that balancing the two roles can be “a little complicated.”

One area of tension is how she markets the company itself. Tamara acknowledged that if Ethan weren’t her son, a typical marketer might lean heavily into the attention-grabbing combination of a 22-year-old founder and a $2 billion company. But she said there is much more to Mach’s story than its young CEO.

The Thorntons may have an especially unusual version of the family-business dynamic, but mixing work and family is hardly rare. Family-owned businesses accounted for 27.3% of U.S. firms and employed roughly 42.3 million workers in 2021, according to the U.S. Small Business Administration.

When conflict follows you home

Working with family can come with built-in advantages, including a level of familiarity and trust that can take years to develop with other colleagues.

Giulia P. Davis, LMFT and founder of Mycelia Therapy, told Moneywise that relatives often already understand how one another handles pressure, makes decisions and communicates when problems arise.

“You already have an idea how the other person will handle difficult situations, make decisions and how they communicate when anything comes up,” Davis said, adding that an existing foundation of trust can make it easier to take risks together.

But that familiarity can also raise the stakes when things go wrong. With a typical co-worker, walking away from a difficult professional relationship may simply mean changing jobs. Family relationships are harder to leave at the office.

“You can’t leave your mother but you can leave your job,” Davis said.

Kristi Daeda, CEO of The Family Business Consulting Group, says that’s why clearly separating personal and professional roles matters.