Mashantucket ― Intent on beefing up its presence in cyberspace, the Mashantucket Pequot Tribe has been preparing to launch a new website as well as new social media accounts on X and Instagram that will complement its existing Facebook and LinkedIn accounts.

The effort coincided with the creation of a new tribal government position: digital communications manager.

Some say the job had Shaquanna Sebastian’s name written all over it.

Despite her youth, the 27-year-old Sebastian has years of experience in tribal government. She’s a former chairman of the tribe’s youth council ― an elected body that represents tribal members ages 24 and younger ― and served on the staffs of tribal councilors before joining the tribe’s public affairs department.

Her effervescent personality and enthusiasm for all things Pequot also promise to serve her well as digital communications manager.

“Shaquanna is a born community leader,” tribal Councilor Matthew Pearson said. “Her generation grew up at the same time as social media evolved, which has provided her many years of experience as well as an innate skill in how to utilize it as a communication tool.”

Sebastian, a niece of former tribal Councilor Richard E. Sebastian, said she’s been involved in tribal activities all her life. She said she’s long been a spokeswoman for her peers, and in her new role will seek to spread awareness of the tribe on a grand scale.

“My job is to build our presence on social media ― Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter (X),” she said. “Wherever Pequots are doing something ― speaking on panels, receiving awards. We want to show the tribe from all angles.”

Sebastian will collaborate with the social media teams at the tribe’s Foxwoods Resort Casino and the Mashantucket Pequot Research Center and Museum “to provide interesting and entertaining content about our tribal history, culture, community initiatives and business efforts,” Lori Potter, the tribe’s director of public affairs, said.

“Shaquanna is a bright rising star in our community,” Potter added.

A member of the 100 Million U.S. National Planning Group, Sebastian spoke in September 2022 at a Transforming Education Summit held in conjunction with the 77th United Nations General Assembly in New York. She opened the event, reading a land acknowledgment recognizing the Indigenous tribes who originally inhabited the city.

Sebastian also participated in a 2020 University of Connecticut-sponsored discussion of Indigenous rights and decolonization, describing her experiences as a person who is both Black and Native American.

Back in 2013, while in high school, Sebastian was one of three tribal youths and a chaperone who accompanied a Mystic Aquarium researcher who traveled to the Arctic to conduct research on beluga whales and connect with Point Lay, Alaska, students who had visited the aquarium.

An inveterate traveler, Sebastian, who lives off the Mashantucket reservation in Ledyard, has enjoyed cruises that have stopped in such locales as Haiti, Trinidad and Tobago, the Bahamas, Mexico and the Dominican Republic.

Sebastian believes people inside and outside the tribe will find tribal activities and accomplishments interesting.

“So many things go on here each day,” she said. “Seeing the community thriving fulfills me.”

b.hallenbeck@theday.com