Recently I wrote a post about Spokane’s “Earth Lovin’ Hotties” over on the Spovangelist. One of our very own Shrinking Violets was nominated so many times I thought it would be a good idea to do a member profile on the woman instead. The following is paraphrased from one of Selina’s many loyal friends, and is interspersed with links and pictures from another.
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Selina Shehan has become very dear to me over the past four years. During this time I’ve had plenty of opportunity to reflect on her seemingly uncanny luck. Organizations rain awards on her blonde head; companies are down-right giddy at the thought of giving her free products; and it wouldn’t surprise me if Publisher’s Clearing House has her on speed-dial. However, I’ve also come to see that Selina’s greatest accomplishments have nothing to do with luck and everything to do with her tenacious devotion, her rock-hard work ethic, and her boundless energy and charm.
I think it’s easy to lump Selina’s accomplishments into the luck category because she makes being an awesome person look so damn effortless. Being the Commute Trip Reduction coordinator for her company requires hard work that closely resembles organizing a small military campaign, but you’d never know that from how smoothly Selina’s program runs. When she won the most prestigious award a CTR coordinator can win, Selina accepted it with her usual good grace.
When she became interested in longboarding, she took her helmet in one hand and her gumption in the other and marched up to the first pack of longboarders she found. Less than a year later, she had organized them into a cohesive group of state-wide members with a website, regular meeting times, and sponsored competitions!
The two loves of Selina’s life, the environment and physical activity, got married and had a baby when Selina organized Spokane’s GreenSkate to promote longboarding as an eco-friendly form of travel and exercise. GreenSkate participated in Spokane’s 2010 Earth Day street fair and was hugely successful. Thanks to Selina’s mad grant-writing skills, she secured 100 helmets for GreenSkate give away to Spokane kids to promote safe boarding, and thanks to her networking abilities she was able to get local skate shops to donate stickers and boards as promotional items. The latest cherry-on-top was a workshop Selina taught in conjunction with GreenSkate for beginning female longboarders.
Selina is the lead vocalist for local rock band Cryptid.
None of this would have been possible had Selina sat on her laurels and waited for luck to find her. Instead, she chewed those leaves up, ate them for breakfast, and went out and conquered Spokane with little more than her striped stockings and a lot of heart. The longer I know her, the more I realize that Selina’s not the lucky one: it’s the rest of the human race that’s lucky to have her on our side.
Other fun facts about Selina:
1) She is a vegetarian.
2) She skateboards to work.
3) She runs and swims like the wind (and even manages to win medals at such prestigious local events as the Bare Buns Fun Run).
4) She owns a jewelry company called Spike and Lola, named after her viciously loyal dogs.
5) She is a Unitarian Universalist.
6) She does graphic design and illustration for renowned clients, such as Rings and Things Wholesale.
Do you know a Shrinking Violet that is doing great things in Spokane? Send your member profile to:
shrinkingvioletsociety [at] gmail [dot] com
