About Shelly

Shelly Sindland worked for many years as a broadcast journalist in Maryland, West Virginia, and her home state of Connecticut.

 

“People were always surprised to see how tall I was when I met them in person,” she said smiling. “I guess being 5’10 didn’t really translate well on T.V.”

 

In college, Shelly’s height played out prominently on the volleyball court as a middle blocker. She played Big East Volleyball at Seton Hall University, and also worked for the Sports Information Department. Being part of a team, and working in collaboration with others to promote all of the university’s division one teams, gave Shelly real life experience in public relations and journalism at an early age.

 

“I was torn between going into a career that was sports related or news related. In the end, I picked news because I knew every day would be different; every day I would met new people; every day I would visit new towns and cities; every day I would learn new things, and I did.”

 

As a journalist, Shelly won numerous awards from both the Associated Press and The Society of Professional Journalists. Growing up in a small town, she was always amazed and appreciative of the opportunities her career presented her including interviewing notable people like President Bill Clinton, President George H.W Bush, former Vice Presidents Al Gore and Dick Cheney, and former First Lady Laura Bush, just to name a few.  In 1997, she traveled to Chernobyl, Ukraine to cover a humanitarian mission comprised of local Connecticut residents set out to help children still being impacted by the worst nuclear meltdown in history. Shelly wrote and produced five award-winning stories from her trip abroad. Her coverage won her a first-place award with The Society of Professional Journalists and an Emmy nomination.

 

Other accolades include an Associated Press first place award for her continuous coverage of a mayor’s federal corruption trial. In 2005, Shelly also won a first place Associated Press award for her coverage of serial killer Michael Ross. Her coverage was featured on Fox News, CNN, local affiliates, The New York Times and The Hartford Courant. In 2010, Shelly's coverage of the Ross execution was featured in The Hartford Courant as one of the top ten news stories of the decade.

 

Shelly also worked as a political reporter and is skilled at breaking down complex issues into simple, understandable terms. She launched the show The Real Story on Fox 61 and was the first anchor/producer of the popular public affairs show.

 

In 2010, Shelly left television news to work for herself.  As a mother with a young daughter, she needed more flexibility and control of her schedule. She got it. In 2011, she launched Shelly Sindland Media and Photography, which was recently rebranded as Sindland Strategy.

 

Shelly has a deep understanding of local and national media needs and has a proven track record of getting her clients and their stories covered by the press. She represented Charla Nash—the Connecticut woman who survived a brutal chimp attack and received one of the world’s first face transplants.  She successfully restored Nash’s image as a champion by launching worldwide coverage of how Nash was helping military members with similar injuries by participating in a study. Her story was covered around the globe by thousands of media outlets and was the most highly viewed story of the day for the Associated Press.  Shelly also launched a social media fundraising campaign to help Nash get prosthetic hands and a robotic arm.

 

 

Shelly has also done work for many political campaigns, policy-based issues, non-profits, trade organizations, business owners, Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun casinos, several attorneys, and healthcare providers.

 

Shelly lives in West Hartford with her daughter and their pets. She enjoys giving back to her community by working as a substitute teacher. She is also a Justice of the Peace for the town of West Hartford.

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