can't import custom python module in vscode

I'm trying to get my vscode project to mimic functionality that pycharm is able to produce. With pycharm, I'm able to create, via an XML, a custom pycharm project file that lists the various different sources of the different folder locations of the custom modules I need to have available.

In vscode, I'm going about this by creating a workspace file and adding these sources as folders in the JSON object. The workspace will populate properly in vscode, but when I try to reference an import, Intellisense is able to see the module I'm trying to import 1 but when I try to start a debug session, vscode barfs and says it can't find this module 2.

My folder structure is:

workspace

|--> obscura

|-->|--> obscura

|-->|-->|--> database.py

|-->|--> obscura_test

|-->|-->|--> mytestfile.py --- where I'm starting debug session

Here are the screenshots:

-- Intellisense shows what the module is

-- Vscode fails on debug