40 UNDER 40: Shannon Roman

Shannon Roman isn’t afraid to make bold choices. 

When her team at Amazon Web Services learned they’d have to move to an office location in Seattle or another city, even though they’d been a remote team for more than five years, Roman and two of her coworkers decided to leave and start their own business. 

Version4, an editorial services and event content management agency, was born. 

“I come from a Christian household and my parents raised me to know that God always has my back and loves me, so I didn't need to be afraid to charge forward in life and set goals that might seem impossible or against the grain because I always have someone in my corner helping me along the way and, if needed, picking me back up when I fall short,” she said. 

Communication and visual design are two of Roman’s greatest interests and their intersection is one of her biggest strengths. 

During her time at AWS, she said she rediscovered her love of events and event management and was able to start doing more of that work. 

“I love the atmosphere of corporate events, and having the opportunity to travel and see new places while I helped produce breakout session content for them was such a fun experience,” she said. 

She said her goal for the coming years is to keep doing what she’s doing professionally and have more the freedom to give back to the community that’s helped shape her. 

On top of being involved in 4-H and the state fair in her local community, Roman and her business partners have a “passion project” of building up the editor community because there is little cohesive support and professional training available for editors locally or nationally. 

“We’d love to be able to start building that up and give our time to improving conferences and educational/community-building events and mentoring new editors,” she said. 

Looking back on her teen self, Roman recalled others expecting her to enter a field like medicine because of her academic success. 

“I would tell my younger self not to let herself think that she was defined by her future career goals, and not to let herself think that your future, your ‘dream job,’ is what defines you as a person,” she said.