My name is Shanti Sosienski and I have been involved in the World Wide Web since the early 90s. In Journalism school I used to play around with this thing called IRC (Internet Relay Chat) and write articles by interviewing people in places like Iceland (being a remote country they were super early adopters of the Internet because their government thought that would keep people from feeling cut off from the rest of us!)

In 1994 I worked at Men’s Journal and Newsweek where I started playing around with Nexis/Lexis for researching pieces, then in 1996 I was hired to work on one of the first online snowboard magazines in the world. I spent the next few years gallivanting around the world taking pictures of snowboarders with GIANT digital cameras that looked like this.

That led to video production and TV, and eventually working mainly as an online editor for magazines. After the internet meltdown of 2000, I found myself turning away from internet and action sports mags, and moving toward mainstream magazines like Men’s Journal (yes, I worked the fact that I had sepnt my early intern/job days there to land me some sweet freelance gigs), Marie Claire, Self and Outside.

In 2007 I saw a whole in the content management business because online content was again seeing a big surge. I established SOS Communications to help FUEL TV manager their content, then other companies started to enlist me to help out. Over the years I have worked with Red Bull, athlete Steve Fisher, MTV’s The Buried Life, Spyder, Dakine and Quiksilver.

As with all small businesses, in 2009 SOS Communications saw the marketplace changing and quickly moved in a new direction that was calling. Shanti became incredibly interested in the impact social media could have on a small business, as well as the fact that building websites no longer had to be a $15,000 investment for a business. She learned how to use WordPress, got Photoshop savvy, and spent far too many hours Tweeting and Facebooking (hey, it’s for work!)

Since then SOS Communications has built over 100 websites and consulted with companies like Hilton Hotel and Road Runner Sports, she has built custom sites for local businesses like the Egyptian Theatre in Boise, ID and renowned artisans like Chandi lighting.

SOS Communications loves working with small businesses! This may not bring in the big paychecks, but there’s nothing more satisfying than knowing you are supporting creative entrepreneurs, artists, musicians, actors, jewelers, life coaches and more in finding their voice when it comes to the online world.