Making things work.

About Shawn Terry

Today I build digital products, write fiction, create immersive websites, and work with local AI. The thread through all of it is the same: understand what should exist, work through the hard parts, and make it real.

I came to this work through operations, security, manufacturing, and running a business. Here’s the experience behind that approach.

The foundation

Three generations of my family were Marines before me. I didn’t plan on being the fourth, but in 1992 I enlisted as a military policeman. I served at El Toro Marine Corps Air Station until my honorable discharge in 1995, working gates, patrol, and 911 dispatch.

After the Corps, I spent eight years at Motorola and later ON Semiconductor, moving into the emergency management control center. I helped coordinate responses to security, fire, and life safety incidents in a manufacturing environment where mistakes could have real consequences.

That work built habits I still rely on: pay attention, understand the system, and take responsibility when something goes wrong.

Learning to lead and build

I joined GoDaddy in 2004 as the third person in a new security department. Over the next nine years, I moved into broader operations leadership, running multiple departments and taking responsibility for critical parts of the business.

While still at GoDaddy, I took on an opportunity with Metris, a defense contractor. I became a certified Facility Security Officer and helped design and build a cleared facility, following it from construction through certification. It was a chance to turn a difficult set of requirements into something that worked.

The path wasn’t always smooth. Contracts ended, layoffs happened, and I started a business during one of those transitions. Those experiences are part of the story too.

At YAM Properties, I helped establish facilities and construction operations across a commercial real estate portfolio, managing security systems, energy management, and tenant build-outs.

Operations at scale

At Stitch Fix, I worked across the warehouse before becoming the operations manager over inbound for the women’s and kids’ business lines, leading teams totaling around 300 people.

That’s where Lean Six Sigma and process improvement became a discipline for me. Improvements I developed in Phoenix were adopted nationwide. I learned to look closely at how work actually happens and build changes people can use.

Running a business

In 2022, I co-founded ForemostEV, converting classic cars to electric. I ran the business end to end: finances, vendors, the shop, customers, and builds. One of our builds was featured at SEMA. We sold the business in 2024.

It brought the work together in one place. Every decision eventually showed up in the product, the customer’s experience, or the numbers.

What I’m building now

Since January 2025, I’ve been the senior operations manager at Edco in Gilbert, overseeing warehouse, production, purchasing, order entry, and HR.

Alongside that work, I’m building products like Mantis Craft Notebook, writing fiction, and exploring what I can create with local AI and the web.