User:Tedcantu

Ted Cantu - The Late 80's
Ted Cantu got his start in the arts at an early age. In college he double majored in Graphic Design, Telecom and Film. This extensive study led him in the direction of 2D graphics and computer aided design. He had many strong influences at the time including MTV, the BBC, John Peel, and independant punk label music.

During a tumultuous semester at EMU, (Eastern Michigan University) he took some time off to as he says, "Grow up and see the real world". This led to an amazing summer of self discovery in the streets of Chicago and New York City.

1989 - The Fall of The Great SOHO, NYC
Inspired by issues of Art News and as he puts it, "Anything I could get my hands on.." Cantu jumped on a train and took off to New York City to visit SOHO. At the time, SOHO was the big art neighborhood in NYC and considered by many to be the center of the art world. Once there Cantu studied the works of Max Pappart, Kostabi, Warhol, Harring and became heavily influenced by independant film and music.

"At this point I had no intention of ever returning to formal education. I was part of an amazing movement, it took a lot to bring me back to Michigan. I only came back to finish my degree... Later when I found out what Corporate America had to offer I knew I had made a serious mistake" he admitted in a recent interview.

Cantu was trained in graphic design by legend, Doug Kisor at EMU and was exposed to Rick Valicenti, (famous for Chicago based THIRST) and Charles Spencer Andersen who he met in Chicago during an AIGA portfolio review.

1990 - The Ann Arbor Artist Co-Op
Near the end of 1988 - Cantu answered in ad in the Ann Arbor News and that connected him with flamoyant extremist Rene Lemar and the Ann Arbor Artist Co-op. This non profit organization resided in Ann Arbor, Michigan in its first location on Main Street. The group grew to 500 members including such notable artists as Dan Godston, Jay Pinka, Orin Buck and Steev Hisse.

"The original idea was to get a storefront and sell trinkets. That didn't go over well with me. I was all about SOHO at the time and I wanted a place with track lighting and a live band on the weekends. I wanted a beer bash every month with press people walking all about... and I wanted to sell canvases of stuff I created... not trinkets." said Cantu on a radio interview on WCBN in 1991.

"I was trying to slug my way through an institution, (EMU) and I wasn't eager to throw myself into another one. I wanted the walls to come down -- literally" said Cantu.

The Roving Gallery
Through Cantu's influence and working together with Dan Godston and Rene Lemar the group set out to put local art into Ann Arbor retail spots. The idea of a gallery was viral and alive. Placing artwork in different venues opened up local art and freedom of expression into the public.

The group went defunct after 5 years. People graduated and left Ann Arbor and eventually Ted Cantu moved to Chicago. Around this time Cantu dropped his interest in painting and experienced life and gathered screenplay ideas.

Capital Records in Chicago
Cantu worked with a group called DIGIZINE. This was an entertainment CD-ROM that boasted 10 hours of entertainment on it and was sold in record stores. The CD had such acts as X, TripleFastAction, Menthol, The Goo Goo Dolls and Howard Finster. Cantu worked on a lot of the production art for this entertainment magazine with the Black Dot Group and Chicago legend Bob Ahrens.

The Failed Dot Com Movement
Ted Cantu was a part of the failed Dot Com movement. This included web site promotions in Chicago and New York City. The search engine technology we have today did not exist in the early 90's. Web sites were promoted using offline media such as bus banners, subway billboards and radio and television commercials.

"The Chicago Transportation Authority was our search engines" said Cantu in a later interview with Goddess Ezine. "A lot of money was lost on promotion -- nobody could find the kinds of sites we were building during the dot com era" said Cantu.

Cantu worked as a production artist and an Art Director during the Dot Com movement. While in Stamford, CT he took up a job with the WWF, (the World Wrestling Federation - now known as the WWE) where he create web sites for the notable talent on such shows as RAW and Smackdown.

While working during the day, Cantu took another job at night, "just to see what would happen..." with the Oprah funded, Young Peoples Film Maker Co-op. The group was funded by Levar Burton and Cantu assisted the group with teaching young inner city kids how to make claymation movies and puppetry.

After the tragic events on 911, Ted Cantu moved back to his native Michigan and created his own company.

Life After 911: The SEO Gurus Emerges
After 911, Cantu moved back to Detroit Michigan and created a new company. This one focussed on search engine technology and delivered high ranking Google results. The idea for this company was to not use PPC methods, (pay per click) and to use solely organic rankings.

Cantu co-authored a book called, "The 30 Day Total Business Makeover" and has sold this on Amazon.Com. In the 2000's he has appeared in over 50 industries online including everything from cosmetics, franchises, wholesale groups, import companies, financial, real estate, mortgages, industrial, hotels, restaurants, golf, extreme sports, and many more.