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Projects

The Spider Trainers’ Nexus

Cyndie Shaffstall, serial entrepreneur

Cyndie Shaffstall has been a member of the publishing and print industries for more than three decades. Her career spans many interests, specialties, and job verticals, but first and foremost, she is an entrepreneur.

In 1991, Cyndie Shaffstall was a corporate trainer for companies looking to upgrade to a Mac-based workflow from traditional typesetting and pre-press workflows. Her clients at that time included reputable in-house and commercial publishers such as United Airlines and the Clarinda Company. In 1992, she self-published her first book, QuarkXPress: Making the Most of Your Negative Experiences.

Functioning primarily as a trainer, Shaffstall founded The World-wide Power Company, LLC, or ThePowerCo, as it was known. In 1998, Cyndie Shaffstall acquired the assets of XChange US and their publication, X-Ray Magazine. For a period of about two years, the companies were operated separately but in 2000, merged to form ThePowerXChange, LLC. In 2009, ThePowerXChange.com was acquired by Distributor X.

In 2005, Shaffstall resurrected X-Ray Magazine as a vehicle for the launch of QuarkXPress® 7. In 2006, the bi-monthly printed issues were discontinued and X-Ray Magazine was established as an online-only publication, with occasional printed special editions. In 2010, X-Ray Magazine's web site was also acquired by Distributor X. Cyndie Shaffstall remains a contributing author.

 

In summer of 2006, Shaffstall invented and applied for a patent for StrappyArt. At this time she also founded StrappyArt, LLC, as the primary distributor of this women's fashion accessory. In addition, Shaffstall released her first commercially available software product, data2date.

With consideration for her position in the extensions-technology industry, in 2004, Quark, Inc., contracted Shaffstall as the lead of their XTensions® developer program. In 2005, she assumed the helm of the entire QuarkAlliance™ program, continuing until April 2007, when she joined Quark as the full-time worldwide director of the QuarkAlliance program — a position she still holds today. In addition, Shaffstall was drafted to the Quark Promote team in 2009, to establish and manage the output-provider network.

Also in 2009, Shaffstall became the SEO/SMO advisor for Spider Trainers, a project established to parlay the power of search engines to optimized professional visibility for the executive and entrepreneur.

Shaffstall's current project, Today's POV, is an extended foray into social-media marketing with a beta-launched web site dedicated to attitudinal and psychodemographical data aggregation.