About Me

Hi! I’m Shelli and I live on the frontier of Wyoming, in the small town of Lander, which is nestled in the foothills of the Wind River Range.

I’m 53, married to Jerry, and we have three sons, Wolf, 21, Hayden, 19, and Finis (Fin), 14. We also have two dogs, Buddy and Chewy.

I’m an entrepreneur, life and leadership coach, motivational speaker/presenter, travel consultant, writer, and adventure guide. My office is a 100-year-old historic Wyoming Sheepherder’s wagon.

In Fall of 1986, I attended college at the University of Montana, on a Division I basketball scholarship. Playing on the Lady Griz basketball team was one of my most informative experiences, even if in the end, it didn’t work out. I received a degree in Journalism, and my first career job was in advertising sales at The Missoulian, and after two years of that, I moved to South Dakota to be the publisher of a weekly newspaper. And then, two years later, in 1994, we moved to Gardiner, Montana, where, with a lot of support from my husband and parents, I started my first company, Yellowstone Journal and YellowstonePark.com.

In the beginning, we were a little newspaper dedicated to Yellowstone, but over the course of 15 years and with the help of an exceptional team, we expanded the business to include two magazines, interactive trip planners and itineraries, a direct mail “Yellowstone Trip Planner Kit” fulfillment program, podcasts and videos, international lead generation, and more. Our YellowstonePark.com site won the Webby Award (People’s Voice) award for best tourism site in the world in 2005, and in 2007, we won the entire category.

In 2008, we sold the company to Active Interest Media. At the time of the sale, Active Interest Media owned Backpacker, Yoga Journal, Better Nutrition, Climbing, and other lifestyle publications. As part of the sale, I stayed on as a consultant for 2 years, during which I helped to expand and replicate the business model to Yosemite, Zion, Rocky Mountain, and Grand Canyon national parks.

In 2011, I started my current company, Epic Life Inc., which provides life and leadership coaching, guided Epic Adventures, motivational speaking/keynote presenting, virtual group leadership programs, travel consulting and planning, and more.

With my first company, my mission was to inspire and help people have the vacation of a lifetime. With Epic Life, my mission is to inspire and help people have the life of their lifetime.

I guess you could call me a 30-year overnight success.

My favorite thing to do is anything outdoors, or involving travel, with my husband and our sons. I have traveled throughout the U.S., and to 12 countries. Some of my most memorable adventures include my family’s first European adventure, which was a 30-day, 8-country adventure that included hundreds of train connections, our family’s backpacking pilgrimage on the Camino de Santiago in northern Spain, an epic 21-day trip in Iceland, my “mother-son rite of passage” wilderness expeditions with each of my three sons the summer before each started high school, and my many ‘epic anniversary hikes’ with my husband.

I love to walk and hike, and I do a lot of it. In fact in the last 10 years, I walked 26,000 miles, the equivalent of walking one time around the Earth. The more I walk, the closer I get to myself.

And while I love people, and have many wonderful people in my life, I also love Solitude. Probably half of all of my miles are hiked alone and it’s not because I can’t find anyone to hike with. (I love the poetry of the late Mary Oliver, and as she so perfectly captured in her How I Go Into the Woods: “If you have ever gone to the woods with me, I must love you very much.”)

Some of my most unforgettable and transformative personal experiences include a 45-mile rim-to-rim-to-rim day hike of the Grand Canyon, my National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) course in the Brooks Range of Alaska, a 50-mile traverse day hike of Zion National Park, climbing the Grand Teton, and the many epic day hikes I’ve enjoyed in my backyard, the Wind River Range with my husband, our family, close friends, or myself.

I have a wide range of interests and books are a tremendous source of inspiration for me. I read 50-70 books a year. (Here are some of my all-time favorites.) I’m a good listener and I have an excellent memory. I love poetry, meaningful conversation, taking road trips, watching the sunrise, chasing sunsets, backpacking, skiing, camping, making s’mores, cribbage, and playing cornhole and disc golf with friends and family.

I admire bravery and humility. Compassion and generosity. Leadership and community. I look up to people who are kind, generous, and appreciative. I find it hard to be around people who are cynical or pessimistic.

I’ve been a writer for most of my life and I’m currently working on my first book.