A hands-on creative partner for the online presence, credibility, and marketing work your small business needs but rarely has time to get right

My name is Steven Llano, and I've been doing this since before I knew it was even an option for a career. Today I'm a Senior Designer at a global web hosting tech company, where I've spent nearly a decade working at scale across design, UI/UX, paid advertising, brand systems, and contributing to products used by millions. LlanoMedia is where I bring that same level of thinking, plus nearly 18 years of total hands-on experience, to small businesses that want to grow. That foundation wasn't built in a classroom. I grew up as the child of immigrant parents, and as an early teen I was the only one who could navigate both the language and the culture, so I became the person they leaned on for everything. I was fielding their business calls, negotiating with vendors, translating contracts, figuring out how to invoice on a computer, and doing whatever it took to help their small businesses look and operate professionally, because we couldn't afford to hire anyone else and everyone we knew was back in my parents' home country. We were here in the States starting life from scratch. On the side I was already designing print materials for my dad's network and invitations for my mom's friends, quinceañeras, baby showers, birthday parties. That hands-on necessity shaped who I am as a creative, someone unafraid of the unknown, quick to absorb, and relentless about finding the information and resources needed to learn and apply. I started dabbling in design when I installed my first design software from a CD on a Compaq. By late middle school I was building sites on GeoCities, things like a social network for my sister's friends to hang out at online. High school is where it all started clicking into place. I learned how to identify a problem, find the existing patterns that applied, and move fast enough to implement. From that point on no new challenge ever felt insurmountable. There were always resources, always a path forward. What wasn't always clear was what to call any of this, because when I was looking for a major in college, these fields didn't have an official name yet. So I harnessed what my parents had instilled in me as a kid and pulled that same resourcefulness back up, spending evenings and weekends after college classes absorbing everything I could find online, freelancing for free to gain real-world experience, and building a skill set the industry hadn't fully defined yet, all while working toward a degree my parents wanted for me. But I had my eyes set on working on and for the web. Nobody around me understood how there was money to be made there, but I was passionate and I kept going. After college I started freelancing creatively, and over the years that evolved into running my own creative business. Along the way I also held day jobs as a design and marketing contributor, managing teams at legal offices, immigration offices, and large volume auto dealerships. During that same stretch I was helping clients from around the globe, from ex-FBI directors and actors to construction companies, flower shops, ecommerce brands, and shaman healers, a range that speaks to the depth of difference in the work, and honestly at that age I just thought it was the coolest thing in the world to be connecting with people from so many different corners of the world, from my little town in NC. As I reached maturity in my skills and my work, that business grew into partnerships with organizations backed by global brands like Google for Entrepreneurs, Startup Grind, Creative Startups, and Wix.com. During the program's pilot phase I was selected as one of only fourteen Wix Ambassadors in the USA, before it opened publicly worldwide. I also worked alongside local organizations like Flywheel Coworking, The Center for Creative Economy, Wake Forest Innovation Quarter, New Ventures, and Venture Cafe. To date I've helped hundreds of brands go from rough idea to polished, professional presence, including branding, websites, marketing, event production, and the operational systems that hold it all together. Everything I know, I learned by being thrown into it. Every time I've been thrown in, I've figured out how to float. If you've got a business that doesn't look or feel the way it should, that's exactly what I help with.