About Us | Company Overview
At Tokoni, we believe everyone has a story to tell.
Whether it's a family vacation you enjoyed thoroughly, a headline news event you witnessed personally, a health issue you overcame, or your journeys through the everyday trials of child rearing, you have a first-hand experience that's worth sharing with others.
Why? Because stories help people. Your mother's insight, teacher's point of view, friend's joke, or grandfather's recollection - just think how these voices of experience have been a source of comfort, guidance, entertainment and education in your life.
Now, imagine these meaningful stories of first hand perspectives, recollections and knowledge shared with a global community, one based on honesty and respect. Consider how valuable it would be to post your own accounts for the benefit of others. Think how worthwhile it would be to read personal points of view from people all around the world who've "been there, done that."
Welcome to Tokoni.
The Tokoni Story
We launched Tokoni in late 2007 to enable people to share stories and experiences within a vibrant and open community, where individual wisdom is celebrated and collective knowledge is valued.
At Tokoni:
The authentic act of shared storytelling is powerful. Life's diverse stories are intrinsically entertaining, informative, influential and inspiring. Beyond just the facts, Tokoni stories allow people to explore places, events, issues and points of view with greater understanding and appreciation.
Stories are as rich and diverse as the lives people live. There is breadth to the subjects and depth to the content on Tokoni, giving people one-stop access to various communities of diverse interests. Collectively, the power and passion of individual voices of experience make for a complete resource, minimizing the need to participate in numerous online blogs, groups and forums.
People want to connect with each other online in a more meaningful way. Unlike fragmented blogs and message boards where mostly one-way, narrow conversations are taking place or online social networks where people interact superficially with friends and acquaintances, Tokoni is an open community that helps people connect over shared experiences that matter most to them.
Everyone has a voice that should be heard. Tokoni members cultivate an inclusive and vibrant community where honesty and respect are honored and stories are shared, recognized and valued.
We welcome you to be a part of Tokoni where members can:
Whether it's a family vacation you enjoyed thoroughly, a headline news event you witnessed personally, a health issue you overcame, or your journeys through the everyday trials of child rearing, you have a first-hand experience that's worth sharing with others.
Why? Because stories help people. Your mother's insight, teacher's point of view, friend's joke, or grandfather's recollection - just think how these voices of experience have been a source of comfort, guidance, entertainment and education in your life.
Now, imagine these meaningful stories of first hand perspectives, recollections and knowledge shared with a global community, one based on honesty and respect. Consider how valuable it would be to post your own accounts for the benefit of others. Think how worthwhile it would be to read personal points of view from people all around the world who've "been there, done that."
Welcome to Tokoni.
The Tokoni Story
We launched Tokoni in late 2007 to enable people to share stories and experiences within a vibrant and open community, where individual wisdom is celebrated and collective knowledge is valued.
At Tokoni:
The authentic act of shared storytelling is powerful. Life's diverse stories are intrinsically entertaining, informative, influential and inspiring. Beyond just the facts, Tokoni stories allow people to explore places, events, issues and points of view with greater understanding and appreciation.
Stories are as rich and diverse as the lives people live. There is breadth to the subjects and depth to the content on Tokoni, giving people one-stop access to various communities of diverse interests. Collectively, the power and passion of individual voices of experience make for a complete resource, minimizing the need to participate in numerous online blogs, groups and forums.
People want to connect with each other online in a more meaningful way. Unlike fragmented blogs and message boards where mostly one-way, narrow conversations are taking place or online social networks where people interact superficially with friends and acquaintances, Tokoni is an open community that helps people connect over shared experiences that matter most to them.
Everyone has a voice that should be heard. Tokoni members cultivate an inclusive and vibrant community where honesty and respect are honored and stories are shared, recognized and valued.
We welcome you to be a part of Tokoni where members can:
- post personal stories and experiences on the site - be they compelling, cathartic, funny, helpful, inspiring or even absurd - that can inform, entertain and help others in a way that only first-hand, human-interest stories can do
- browse or search the site by category, hub, member or story to access the voices of experience to many of life's diverse happenings
- create a "collection" of stories, like a personal "play list," to group favorite stories or accounts from the same "life episode" (i.e. wedding stories, family stories, travel stories, etc.)
- connect with other members over shared stories of interest and experiences of others
- post comments and reward tokens to liked stories and authors
- link stories to hubs where groups of people can share stories and join discussions
- follow other users' stories of interest
- enhance personal posts by uploading videos and photos for an even more comprehensive story
Tokoni's management team consists of veterans from eBay, Apple, Sun and Intuit. Combined, this team possesses successful leadership experience within business management, internet development and operations, online community building and consumer marketing.
Management Team
Tokoni is funded by the company's founders, eBay Inc. and a number of well-known angel investors, including the founder of eBay and active investor in the participatory media space, Pierre Omidyar.
Management Team
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Alex Kazim, Co-Founder and CEO
In August 2007, Alex Kazim founded Tokoni Inc. with his wife, Mary Lou Song. In his role as CEO, he is responsible for the company's operations and strategic growth plans.
Previously, Alex held several top management positions at eBay Inc. during his nine year tenure. Most recently, from 2005 to 2006, Alex was president of Skype, eBay's internet communications company where he was responsible for product development and innovation of the company's offerings worldwide. He played a key leadership role in accelerating the company's product offering and its engineering infrastructure, as well successfully integrating Skype with eBay.
Other eBay positions included senior vice president, New Ventures, from 2004 to 2005, where he was in charge of managing the company's global classifieds properties, including Kijiji, Marktplaats and Rent.com. Additionally, he was charged with the responsibility of developing new business ideas for the company, including the acquisition of Shopping.com in 2005.
From 2002 to 2004, as vice president, Marketing and Business Operations, PayPal, the eBay-owned online payment company, Alex managed all revenue-generating parts of PayPal's global business, including eBay-related transactions and merchant services business.
In his roles as vice president, Solutions Group, Alex launched the eBay API and managed the eBay Developer Program, and as director of engineering, Alex managed various software development groups at the company, including the core auction platform, Search, Customer Support tools and Billing.
Before eBay, Alex was CEO of Ix Entertainment, a 3DO and PC Game Developer. His career began at Apple where he was a software developer for Mac Communications Toolbox and managed software add-ons for PowerBook computers.
Alex earned a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Rice University. He and his wife and business partner, Mary Lou Song, have three children.
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Mary Lou Song, Co-Founder and Vice President, Community
Mary Lou Song co-founded Tokoni Inc. with her husband, Alex Kazim, in 2007. It was Mary Lou who conceived the idea of creating a global internet community to help people share their first-hand stories and experiences and to connect with others through shared stories of interest.
In her active role as Tokoni's vice president, Community, Mary Lou oversees product marketing and community development where her key responsibilities are to grow the Tokoni community and help foster a breadth and depth of stories contributed by its members.
Mary Lou's career has focused largely on Internet community building, starting formidably at eBay where she was the company's third full-time employee. Charged to help foster an inclusive and active community, during her tenure from 1996 to 2002, she helped grow eBay's online community from 15,000 community members to then more than 20 million users globally.
In her eBay position as senior product manager, Mary Lou helped build a cooperative relationship between the company and the user community, combining traditional product marketing with online community marketing. She was responsible for the strategic direction of community products, for the development and implementation of community tools, and for community initiatives that impacted eBay's global community.
Following eBay, from 2003 to 2004, Mary Lou served as director, Community Development of Friendster, one of the first and now a leading global social network company, where she was responsible for the strategic direction of the company's community. In the position, Mary Lou helped develop initiatives to nurture the community, including features, advertising, sponsorships, acquisitions and international expansion.
Before founding Tokoni, Mary Lou worked as a community development consultant for several years, advising startup companies, including oDesk and MerchantCircle, on developing inclusive community relations activities to help drive successful product management and product marketing campaigns.
Mary Lou holds a BS in Journalism from Medill School at Northwestern University, and a master's degree in media studies from Stanford University. She is married to Tokoni co-founder, Alex Kazim, and together they have three children.
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Brian Sweeney, Vice President, Operations
As vice president, Operations, Brian Sweeney is responsible for the technical operations of the company's Internet and corporate networks. Leveraging his experience with world-class information systems design, Sweeney has designed and implemented the Tokoni systems with a focus on scalability and high-availability operations.
Noted as a seasoned operations expert in high availability Web and ecommerce infrastructure with both Fortune 500 and startup companies, Brian brings valuable technical leadership skills to the Tokoni management team.
Brian held various management positions in systems and database administration, site operations and technical architecture during his eight year tenure at eBay. From 2006 to 2007, Brian was responsible for retooling and improving the operational systems and procedures for eBay's then newly acquired internet communications company, Skype.
During the height of eBay's expansion into global markets, Brian served as director of International Development from 2003 to 2004. In this position, he provided technical guidance to the international business teams, as well as conceived, designed and implemented eBay's "Rest of World" system that simplified eBay's ability to enter new countries and geographies.
From 1999 to 2003, Brian was eBay's director of Operations and director of Technical Services. In these positions, he was accountable for the infrastructure and operations of running one of the Internet's highest transaction processing systems.
Brian lead efforts to build eBay's systems administration, database administration and crisis management teams, as well as integrating eBay's acquisitions, including Half.com and PayPal. Among his noted achievements at this time, Brian was directly responsible for increasing eBay's Web site availability to more than 99.95 percent, up from 98 percent, setting the bar for transaction-based systems on the Internet.
Prior to eBay, Brian held both executive management and consulting positions with various startup companies, including Ix Entertainment (multimedia game software), CoActive Computing (consumer networking hardware), Cottage Industry and WebFoot DataDesigns (boutique Web design), HSR, Resource Consultants and ECWS (environmental services).
Brian graduated in 1988 with a BS in Chemistry from Rice University. He is married and has two children.
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Patrick Dyson, Vice President, Product Development
Patrick joined Tokoni as vice president, Product Development in 2007 to oversee all aspects of the company's product development, including process, budget, schedule, quality and deployment.
Prior to joining Tokoni, Patrick held several management and engineering positions at Sun Microsystems from 2003 to 2007, most recently as director, Engineering where he was responsible for developing and implementing the company's enterprise software open source strategy. Also at Sun, Patrick oversaw the identity management development group, supporting a $50 million business.
Patrick held engineering and management positions at Waveset Technologies, an identity management software company, from 2000 to 2003, when the company was then acquired by Sun Microsystems.
From 1994 to 2000, Patrick was manager, Software Engineering at Splash Technologies, a maker of high speed PostScript printer controllers, where he managed a geographically distributed group developing network software.
As product manager at Coactive Computing from 1991 to 1994, Patrick helped develop a peer-to-peer, self organizing network system. While at Apple Inc. from 1998 to 1991, Patrick helped develop networking software, including the industry's first secure network booting solution.
Patrick graduated from Rice University with a BA in Mathematical Science in 1998. He is married with two children.
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Annette Goodwine, Vice President, Marketing
Annette Goodwine, vice president, Marketing, is responsible for the development and execution of the company's brand strategy, marketing communications, online marketing, and user acquisition and retention activities. With more than 19 years of experience in brand and consumer marketing strategy work, Annette is aptly skilled to help Tokoni grow its user base and generate purposeful brand equity with detailed consumer intelligence research, strategic brand positioning, and results-oriented marketing and merchandising campaigns.
Previously, Annette held several positions at eBay Inc, most recently as senior director, Corporate Communications where she was accountable for internal communications for eBay's then global employee community of 14,000. In this position, she established the company's first corporate marketing function and worked with executive staff on the internal brand and culture development.
As senior director, Consumer Marketing Annette was head of eBay brand management, including architecture, brand identity, research and brand tracking, and offline advertising for ebay.com. Notably, she led development of the company's first fully integrated offline television campaign in 2003. In the position of director, Merchandising and Promotions, Annette led development and execution of ebay.com site merchandising, promotions management and strategic partnerships.
Prior to eBay, Annette held positions at Levi Strauss & Co. including senior manager, Retail Marketing and Product Manager, Jeanswear Division. Among her responsibilities, she directed retail marketing programs and events for the company's first U.S. owned and operated retail outlets, oversaw public relations and event management for store openings, created in-store point-of-sale and merchandising systems, and offline advertising campaigns.
Annette holds a MBA from the University of Southern California, Los Angeles and a B.S. in Marketing from the University of California, Berkeley. She is married and has one son.
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- Alex Kazim, Tokoni Co-Founder, CEO and Board Chairman
- Mary Lou Song, Tokoni Co-Founder and Vice President, Community
- Rajiv Dutta, Former President, eBay Marketplaces, eBay Inc.
After a decade of service to eBay, Rajiv Dutta will be retiring from the company in October 2008. He had been serving as president of eBay Marketplaces and executive vice president of eBay Inc. since January 2008 where he had overall responsibility for eBay Marketplaces, a global business unit that contributed about 70-percent of eBay Inc.'s total 2007 revenue of nearly $7.7 billion. Rajiv is also a member of eBay's Board of Directors.
Since joining eBay in 1998, Rajiv has held a number of leadership roles within the company. Prior to his role leading Marketplaces, Rajiv was president of PayPal, overseeing a period of rapid growth and expansion, particularly in the company's merchant services segment.
Rajiv was also president of Skype, and previously chief financial officer of eBay. During his tenure as CFO, eBay's market capitalization increased six-fold; revenue grew from $750 million to $4.5 billion; and the employee base grew from just under 2,000 to nearly 12,000 employees. Additionally, Rajiv served as chief strategy officer and led the new ventures group, which oversaw eBay's entry into the global classifieds market and the acquisition of Shopping.com.
Prior to eBay, Rajiv was the worldwide sales controller for KLA-Tencor, and previously spent 10 years at Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc.
Rajiv received a BA in Economics with honors from St. Stephen's College, Delhi University in India, and a MBA from the Drucker School of Management, Claremont Graduate School, California.
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Tokoni is funded by the company's founders, eBay Inc. and a number of well-known angel investors, including the founder of eBay and active investor in the participatory media space, Pierre Omidyar.
Tokoni News
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September 25, 2009 Helzerman’s Odd BitsCupertino, CA based social site, Tokoni, is reaching out to businesses and organizations with a new set of offerings designed to help brands connect with the community through shared experiences. The company, founded in 2007 by two ex-eBay employees, has been operating with simple mission: provide a platform where people can share common experiences and offer support, advice, and an ear to others. Until now, Tokoni has been almost exclusively focused on individual, and not business, communities.
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September 23, 2009 Venture BeatTokoni launched its new Community Platform today, providing companies with the tools they need to create branded social networks and online communities for their customers. The Cupertino, Calif. company says that providing consumers with a social, interactive channel to offer feedback will inspire greater brand loyalty and eventually hike sales.
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September 23, 2009 BizReportThe Tokoni Community Platform helps brands and marketers created branded websites or dedicated hubs to connect with consumers. Websites could be used to promote articles or press releases about the company, including new product releases; they can even link to or provide feeds from social networks such as Twitter or Facebook. Meanwhile the dedicated hub platform allows brands to list-build more quickly by mining consumer information and presenting a uniform brand.
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April 21, 2009 SEO Search Engine NewsTokoni came out of a year-long beta in October 2008, and favorably impressed a number of reviewers with its approach. An interesting hybrid of social networking, blogging, and community, the site has been compared to Gather and Associated Content. It's a place for telling stories...so what story does it have to tell?
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March 11, 2009 ClickZThe impact of 2008 presidential campaigns is starting to take effect on the next crop of political candidates. Barack Obama's candidacy became synonymous with social media and online community building, but his campaign's efforts have gone beyond influencing fellow Democrats. Republicans and Independents are also looking to the Web to engage potential supporters through social media outreach.
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February 10, 2009 BlogTalkRadioAlex Kazim has an impressive roster of leadership with Internet staples including ebay, PayPal, and Skype. Together with his wife Mary Lou Song they have used their skills and talents to create the social internet community portal called Tokoni.
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December 31, 2008 A Storied CareerStory site Tokoni is soliciting stories about New Year’s resolutions:
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December 17, 2008 Fundraising SucessBig fundraising drives and galas might not be the best ways to raise dollars when the nation is suffering from a poor economy. Challenges that come with these tough times have forced fundraisers to think outside the box.
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December 16, 2008 StraightUpSearchWith the unemployment rate rapidly on the rise, and with over 300,000 more people in the U.S. expecting to lose their jobs in January, it's going to be a difficult time for families across the nation.
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December 12, 2008 Everything WomenWomen are able to post their stories, invite comments from community members, and engage in dialogue with others who share their concerns.
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December 11, 2008 ClickZOnline and offline retailers are waiting and watching to see how the recession impinges on their business this holiday season. They'll certainly feel the effects, but most will likely still enjoy a lucrative fourth quarter.
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November 17, 2008 Silicon Valley/San Jose Business JournalWhat they do: Tokoni Inc. is an online social network where users post personal stories, life experiences and opinions that incorporate multi-media, and interact with other users.
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October 30, 2008 Buzz LogicWelcome to BuzzLogic’s Vino Diaries, a bi-monthly video/podcast held at District Wine Bar (a second home to many a BuzzLogic employee) where we combine our love of social media and web2.0 with our wine addiction.
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October 23, 2008 HyveUp Web 2.0 Video CreationTokoni is the perfect place to easily share your most profound stories. With good content and a vibrant community, Tokoni is also a nest for professional writers. Matt Katz, who 'documents the life of an engaged male in modern America', shares stories on Tokoni.
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October 21, 2008 HyveUp Web 2.0 Video CreationWell today is story day. What is Tokoni's story? Its original story? It implies ducks at eBay. Intrigued?
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October 20, 2008 HyveUp Web 2.0 Video CreationThe best example is the WomenCount page on Tokoni. WomenCount is a non-profit political organization that gives women of all generations and backgrounds from around the country a powerful voice in the political process.
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October 17, 2008 HyveUp Web 2.0 Video CreationBlogs are now part of our daily experience online. In Technorati's 2008 State of the Blogosphere, a few interesting numbers explain the blogging trend:
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October 17, 2008 WISC-TV, Madison, WILife is full of stories, and so is the Internet. The two have converged on a new site, Tokoni.com, which blends aspects of social networking and blogging, allowing users to sound off on whatever topic their hearts desire.
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October 10, 2008 The Big Wave BlogOut this week from almost a year in beta is Tokoni, a social networking site where users create profiles and post their own real-life stories.
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October 07, 2008 Baby Bump DiariesTokoni, the Tongan word for help, is a social network which allows users to share their stories. It was started by the president of Skype and a few former eBay executives.
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October 07, 2008 Geek.comTokoni, the social networking site with a focus on story sharing, has come out of a 12 month beta period.
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October 07, 2008 Church CrunchLife is story, or a collection of stories perhaps. Sharing your story, especially the one that involved your relationship with Christ, is part of what we are called to do.
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October 06, 2008 Marketing PilgrimTokoni, is social network started last year by former Skype President Alex Kazim and former eBay execs including Mary Lou Song and eBay founder Pierre Omidyar.
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October 06, 2008 Tamar Search BlogTokoni, a site where users can share their stories in the form of notes, photos and videos, was formally launched yesterday.
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October 06, 2008 TNerdWhether it is web or books, we all get influenced by stories of real people.
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October 06, 2008 Rotor BlogGranted that everyone of us each have our own stories in life to tell with our friends and relatives, how far are we willing to go in sharing those stories to others?
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October 05, 2008 Tech ChroniclesThere's no shortage of places online to tell personal stories. Want to write about your children? Go to a mommy site. Your vacation? Go to a travel site. And so on.
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October 05, 2008 MashableTokoni may look and feel like a run-of-the-mill social network at first glance, but as you dig deeper it becomes clear that there's something different here.
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October 05, 2008 CNETTokoni, a community site for "sharing stories," has formally launched after nearly a year of public beta. It has taken investment backing from eBay as well as the auction giant's founder, Pierre Omidyar, and was founded by former eBay executive Mary Lou Song and Alex Kazim, former president of the eBay-owned Skype.
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October 05, 2008 VentureBeatTokoni, a site where users can share their stories in the form of notes, photos and videos, is formally launching today.
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May 25, 2008 FeedMyAppEveryone has a story to tell. Whether it's about a concert you went to with a friend, an event in the news that you witnessed or a family vacation, you have a first-hand experience that's worth sharing with others.
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May 23, 2008 Blogie BlogI've just signed up for an account on Tokoni, a Web 2.0 service that mixes blogging and social networking.
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May 22, 2008 Search Engine OracleEvery self respecting SEO amateur/professional has a blog, or two or many more.
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May 21, 2008 TechCrunchFeel like sharing? Two ex-Ebay/Skype execs have created Tokoni, a social story sharing site that they hope will become the web's virtual "front porch".
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May 21, 2008 Killer Start UpsRemember storytelling in grade school? How about sharing? You'd bring in a beloved, prized household object and tell a short but sweet story about how you went to Florida and brought back a vial full of sand.
Press Releases
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October 05, 2008
Contact Us
Please contact us at press@tokoni.com. This email is for press inquiries only. All other inquiries will not be replied to. If you need site assistance, please visit our help page.
Please contact us at press@tokoni.com. This email is for press inquiries only. All other inquiries will not be replied to. If you need site assistance, please visit our help page.