My biography.

I started in marketing in 2015 as a content specialist. Before that, I worked as a grant writer at a non-profit organization and was attending college.

My journey to become a dedicated SEO strategist, start a marketing consulting company, and most recently take an interest in machine learning (and AI broadly) had several twists and turns.

Buy the ticket. Enjoy the ride. 😉

Small town childhood.

I was born and raised in Montana until my early teens. Imagine a scenic place where people pride themselves on being independent minded. Where as kids, we’d bump Tupac while driving past cow pastures on our way to the skate park or to go snowboarding or play frisbee golf. That’s the vibe.

In the early 1990s, Montana wasn’t like it is today. When I attended elementary school, I was living in a small town with a population of around 1,000 people.

Playing sports and traveling for games was how I got introduced to the wider world and ideas like hard work, pressure, and being part of a team. Skateboarding and snowboarding were later how I learned to explore avenues of independence.

After freshman year of high school, I moved from Montana to Phoenix, Arizona, where I went from a school of a few hundred students to one with over 4,000. It was a culture shock, and for some odd reason, that experience got me introduced to history and politics — like shaking Obama’s hand once at an event. That paved the way for my later interests in cultural anthropology and the social sciences in college.

Early professional life.

After graduating with a bachelor’s degree in the social sciences, I struggled to find a job. Miscellaneous jobs I had included editing film for a local TV show in Phoenix, sweeping up popcorn at a movie theater in Washington, D.C., teaching English as a second language (my first business), and I think I bagged groceries at one point, a throwback to my early jobs in high school.

My first real job was as a grant writer for Goodwill Industries of Southwest Florida. I got a call from a recruiter at Cox Automotive out of the blue asking if I’d be interested in joining the content team at Haystak Digital Marketing. The office had ping-pong tables, free Red Bull, and, most importantly, the hiring managers liked my whimsical writing sample. It was a good vibe.

Haystak later merged with Dealer.com, and both were cool jobs. My focus was content creation in support of SEO strategies, but I also learned HTML, CSS, and a little JavaScript, which partly led to this website. 🙂

I had already begun an M.A. program at Johns Hopkins by then, so I figured digital marketing would be a quick gig before I worked in government or the nonprofit sector as a career. I left marketing a few times to work for nonprofits, including living in a homeless shelter in Key West, Florida, both before and after Hurricane Irma.

I eventually went back to digital marketing at an agency in Gainesville called Jumpem, where I learned more on-page SEO and how to use tools like Google Search Console and Ahrefs.

At a certain point, I realized the SEO part was what most interested me, so I became an SEO specialist at Bayshore Solutions in Tampa. That’s where I really developed a passion for SEO.

The SEO bug takes hold.

Bayshore Solutions was the best agency job I had. I was promoted to a strategist role after a year and really got an appreciation for the breadth of SEO knowledge.

The agency was absorbed by Spinutech during the pandemic. I stuck around, left, came back, and then eventually left again to join an agency called Sagapixel, where I worked remotely.

After several years of remote work, I missed the experience of working alongside colleagues, so I relocated to Orlando and joined an agency called Designzillas (now called Avenue Z). I worked there for a while, but realized it was time to help clients directly.

In January of 2024, I started Ethan Lazuk Consulting, LLC:

It is my full-time focus and passion. I’ve since broadened from SEO to generalized marketing and brand-building strategies. 😉

New business adventures.

I started my consulting business with the help of my wife, Dania. We also got buy-in from our rescue dog, Wuffiyah.

The first thing I did was work for free. No, really.

I offer free marketing help to nonprofits and charities as well as artists, creatives, and musicians. Several people got in touch with me.

I ranked well in my local Orlando market:

But I’ve since broadened my services beyond just SEO to include holistic marketing strategies focused around brand storytelling and other digital marketing services like social media and PR.

Basically, I decided to go all in on my vision.

Life away from my desk

SEO and marketing have long been my passion, but lately I’ve been nerding out over deep learning and other AI topics, in addition to scriptwriting for a film. (TBD on that.)

I’m a big fan of music who listens to TOOL or Pink Floyd every day. I’m also building a nice vinyl record and CD collection, which has changed my listening experience like crazy.

I also love rewatching my favorite shows and movies, namely HBO stuff like The Wire, Sopranos, Entourage, and of course Coen Brothers and Sergio Leone spaghetti western movies.

With Montana roots, I also grew up hiking and camping and enjoy taking nature walks with Dania and Wuffiyah. I have a pretty healthy reading and writing habit, and especially enjoy taking my 50cc scooter out for rides around downtown.