Shelli is founder of Yellowstone Journal Corporation & National Park Trips. In 1994, Shelli and her husband, with the help of her parents, started Yellowstone Journal Corporation. Over 15 years, Shelli and her team expanded the business to include 2 national magazines, lead generation, podcasts, direct & email marketing programs, the Webby Award-winning YellowstonePark.com and more. In 2008, Active Interest Media, owner of Backpacker, Yoga Journal, Climbing, & other magazines, acquired the business. From 2008-2010, Shelli was a contracted consultant for AIM, leading the company's expansion into Yosemite, Zion, Rocky Mountain and Grand Canyon national parks. Today, Shelli is building another business – this one, Epic Life, Inc.
Shelli completed her Coaches Training Institute courses to be a life and leadership coach. She is a Certified Professional Coactive Coach. Shelli coaches several clients from throughout the U.S. With Epic Life Inc., Shelli provides life and leadership coaching and consulting, including a special option to include a guided "epic adventure."
Shelli provides consulting in small business development, content strategy and development, personal branding, social media, "life streaming," marketing, work-life balance, family and adventure travel, prioritizing and goal-setting, nutrition and weight loss.
Shelli writes about travel and adventure, and other unique experiences on her travel blog, HaveMediaWillTravel.com. She is also a writer-for-hire, particularly when it comes to blogging about travel destinations and unique adventures. She has reported on a Grand Teton summit expedition with Jackson Hole Mountain Guides, a NOLS backpacking course in Alaska's remote Brooks Range, swimming with dolphins in the wild off Hawaii's Big Island, exploring the Marin Headlands, Napa Valley's Wine Train, and other unique experiences. Her newest blog, which is geared to life and leadership, is found on this site.
Shelli is often hired as a keynote presenter for leadership teams, organizations and conferences. “Epic Leadership Lessons Learned in the Field” is a high energy and inspiring keynote presentation. In it, Shelli shares wilderness images and stories about what she has learned from her work with her clients, and the leadership lessons she has learned in the field. These stories are metaphors for the skills leaders need in order to effectively lead, inspire, and engage their teams. The presentation “lights a fire” and inspires leaders to take stock of their life, their individual leadership style, and their impact. In addition to being a motivational speaker, Shelli is often hired to present on Wellness and Entrepreneurism.
Shelli has facilitated 2-hour, half-day and full-day leadership development trainings. She has worked with leadership teams ranging in size from 17-70 leaders. She also is often hired to provide leadership training and retreats and conferences.
Leadership Training & Development offerings include:
Team building
Leadership development (self and team)
Building trust
Embracing uncertainty
Change management
Emotional intelligence
Listening
Self Awareness
Mindset
Daring to Fail
and more
In 1991, Shelli received a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism from the University of Montana, with a minor in Marketing. She started her career at the Missoulian in Missoula, MT, before moving to Winner, SD, in 1992 to publish the Winner Advocate. In 1994, Shelli and her husband, Jerry, with help from her parents, started the Yellowstone Journal, an independent newspaper dedicated to Yellowstone. This business, after being expanded to include the Webby Award-winning YellowstonePark.com, two national magazines, podcasts and e-newsletters, was sold to Active Interest Media. Since 2008, Shelli has continued writing and publishing, primarily on her blog, HaveMediaWillTravel.com.
To become a life and leadership coach, Shelli trained with the very best – The Coaches Training Institute. She is a CPCC (Certified Professional Co-Active Coach), and is also a member of the International Federation of Coaches (IFC). As a life and leadership coach and consultant, Shelli founded Epic Life to provide coaching, consulting and guided epic adventure to help her clients discover and create their most epic life, and to become an epic leader in their life and their work. She dares her clients to go off-trail and uphill, to choose their way even if it's the hard way. To create and live one’s epic life – and to be an epic leader – takes heroic effort. As a coach, Shelli supports her clients in such efforts.
In August 2011, Shelli realized her dream of embarking on a National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) course. For 2 weeks, she backpacked some 60 miles in remote and wild terrain in Alaska's Brooks Range and Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Participating in the Brooks Range NOLS course was an epic undertaking – beyond scale and unforgettable. A long-time booster of NOLS – the world's leader in outdoor education and wilderness travel instruction, headquartered in Shelli's hometown of Lander, WY – Shelli views her NOLS graduation as a badge of honor. In addition to her many years of backcountry and wilderness experience, Shelli gained outdoor leadership skills that she plans to incorporate in her Epic Life adventure offerings.
In December 2011, Shelli became a certified Wilderness First Responder, which is the nationally recognized standard in wilderness medicine education. Taught by the Wilderness Medicine Institute, the WFR certification course provides guides and backcountry enthusiasts with the tools to make critical medical and evacuation decisions in remote locations. The certification covers Wilderness First Responder and CPR. Shelli spends considerable time in the wilderness, personally and professionally. This certification provides important expertise.
Since December 2010, Shelli has been an American Fitness Professionals & Associates (AFPA)-certified nutrition and wellness consultant. Shelli provides nutritional plans and strategies to help clients with weight and fat loss, and improve their health. An enthusiast with extensive firsthand experience when it comes to health and wellness, Shelli enjoys helping others become more healthy. Shelli's own weight loss journey is reported on here.
Shelli is a National Strength and Conditioning Association Certified Personal Trainer. A long-time athlete, Shelli is certified to train individuals in fitness and health. As an NSCA CPT, Shelli often provides customized training programs and workouts as recommended preparation for the guided Epic Adventures she leads clients on. She also helps people reinvent their health by sharing her knowledge and experiences when it comes to exercise and diet – and overall wellness.
PerkettPR is pleased to continue our series of “Persuasive Women” interviews with Shelli Johnson, a life/leadership coach, consultant and entrepreneur who lives on the Frontier of Wyoming. Shelli shares her thoughts on living life to the fullest and how she pushes herself and others to take on new challenges and pursue new goals.
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Age: 52
Married: 28 years
Mother: To 3 sons, Wolf, 20, Hayden, 18, and Fin, 13. We also have 2 amazing dogs, Buddy and Chewy.
Other: I am a Frontier girl. I love living on the frontier of Wyoming. I love the unspoiled wilds and big open spaces that surround me, and that I get to explore on a daily basis. My office is a 100-year-old Wyoming Sheepherder’s wagon.
I am one of the lucky 500,000 people to call the Frontier of Wyoming her home.
There are only 5 people per square mile here. Much of Wyoming is still considered "frontier."
I live in Lander, WY, in the foothills of the spectacular Wind River Range.
Lander, with only 7,000 people, is a small town. It is a wonderful place to live. I love my community here.
I have easy access to the Wind River Range, Sinks Canyon, the Red Desert, the Oregon Trail, the Popo Agie River, Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks, and other “wonders," which means every evening, and certainly every weekend, has the potential to provide me with a vacation and/or experience of a lifetime.
I love hiking far and fast. Every year I enjoy several day-hikes that range in distance from 16-50 miles each. My favorite epic day hike is hiking across Wyoming’s Wind River Range, from sunrise to sunset.
I love the power, speed and exertion that are required in skate skiing, and it's a great way to enjoy our long winters in Wyoming.
This is my favorite thing to do as a family. We have a rule in our family/home that goes like this: "If our fingernails aren't dirty, we aren't having fun." Camping is a great way for us to get dirty and enjoy the outdoors. I love it.
Big Horn 50k Trail Run.
Attempted the Tahoe Rim 50-mile, but due to heat-related ailments, I quit at mile 42.
Run to the Sun (37-miles) from sea level to 10,000', up Haleakala in Maui
Climbing the Grand Teton.
44-mile Rim-to-Rim-to-Rim of the Grand Canyon, in a day.
32-mile Traverse of southern Wind River Range, Wyoming, in 11 hours.
Skate skiing 50 miles in a day at the Equinox Ski Challenge, in West Yellowstone, MT.
50-mile Traverse day hike of Zion National Park, in a day.
An amazing off-trail, 22-mile exploration of the Roaring Fork region, including climbing Roaring Fork Mountain, a broad peak that provides us with panoramic views of some 20-30 lakes in the region.
31-mile Bears Ears-Lizard Head-North Fork, Wind River Range.
2 weeks of backpacking on a NOLS course in Alaska's remote Brooks Range and Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
I climbed Fremont Peak.
I climbed Gannett Peak.
Our family went on a month-long European trip where we explored 8 countries and made 100 train connections.
Our family van trip from Vancouver, British Columbia all the way south along the coasts of Washington, Oregon and California.
Our family backpacked and made a pilgrimage of Spain’s Camino de Santiago.
Our family had an epic 3-week vacation in Iceland.
Our 3 trips to Hawaii.
The many spring break family road trip/camping adventures that included much of southern Utah and northern Arizona.
and many more that are too numerous to mention!
I’m a voracious reader. Books are a source of learning and inspiration for me. I read about 60 books a year.
I’m a fanatic about my health and fitness. I want to be able to say Yes to any interesting adventure that comes my way.
I’m a morning person. I get up and start early on weekdays and this has served me very well.
Strong coffee, picnics, red wine, chocolate (especially truffles), almonds, s'mores, time at our cabin, red grapes, pears accompanied by aged cheddar, watermelon, popcorn on Saturday nights, Jerry's eggs for breakfast, cribbage, skipping rocks, board games, reading, music (but not country), Solitude, chunky peanut butter, books and reading, aspens, daisies, flying kites, sledding, Koltiska KO 90, cornhole with my parents, camping and playing outside with Jerry and the boys and our dogs, ice cream, chasing sunsets, Travel, and more.
People who aren’t afraid to be vulnerable, underdogs, hard-working people, people who have interesting stories to tell, survivors, people who chart their own course in life, people who are thoughtful, generous, and helpful, people who are disciplined, and others.
I played on a scholarship for a Division I basketball team, the University of Montana Lady Griz. I rode the bench, and eventually, it didn’t work out as planned. (The Lady Griz rock.)
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