Creating a Stonington Business Community Online and Off

Wendy Fox van Breems slips into the effortlessly greeting staff and patrons. With her trademark vest, scarf and wavy hair it’s easy to recognize the 35-year-old in the Stonington community, and it is quickly becoming just as easy to spot her in the online one.

Fox van Breems is the force behind many of the local businesses’ Facebook pages in Stonington and Mystic. Follow the Yellow House, , or and it’s likely it’s Fox van Breems you’re interacting with.

She officially launched her company FoxBook Marketing Solutions in November 2011, but the business is the product of years of marketing experience mixed with a little personal uncertainty.

Fox van Breems handled the marketing for her and her husband’s sailing school in Norwalk, Conn., for years but after the fifth-generation Stonington Borough native moved back to the area in July of 2010 she was looking for a change of pace.

“I wasn’t going to work for anyone else,” Fox van Breems said as she scans emails and texts on her iPhone quickly posting the Yellow House’s lunch specials on Facebook. “I wanted flexible hours to be available both for my clients and my family.”

Sitting in the borough staring out at the water, Fox van Breems said she thought about what to do with the rest of her life, and about how marketing herself for jobs was like creating a personal brand.

So, when Liz of Elizabeth’s Hair Studio asked if Fox van Breems would create a Facebook page for her business in exchange for hair cuts, she said yes. Shortly after Fox van Breems created a different deal with the Yellow House, and before long she was saying ‘all right I can do this.’

Today, she has 17 clients locally and will soon also have some in Fairfield County. She’s considering holding classes on social marketing at and says her ideal client is someone she can set up with a Facebook account, show them how to use it for a certain amount of time and then have them take it over.

“I do best when a business gives me full range,” Fox van Breems said. “It’s personalized marketing.”

It’s personal and very local. Fox van Breems tries to make sure each page reflects the personality of the business owners while supporting the entire local business community.

“We’re all in this together,” Fox van Breems said. “We work hard to make the economy strong.”

It’s something she puts to practice in her daily life. She did all of her holiday . And when she's not online you’ll frequently find her at the where the duck, scallops and oyster dishes are her favorite.

In the summer she’s out in the harbor sailing or at home spending as much time as possible with her four kids and her parents, who still live in the area.

“There is something so absolutely special about the borough,” Fox van Breems said. “There’s no other place like it.”