Through a myriad of life and career experiences ranging from research and education to business and banking, in public and private venues as well as secular and religious settings, Shelley Aloi sees herself as being prepared for such a time as this.  She says that nothing is lost in the economy of God.  That is, everything, every success, every challenge, every joy, and every heartache can be used as a resource or stepping-stone for the next adventure in life.  

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In her current role as executive director of the Marriage Resource Center of Frederick County, a local nonprofit, she has the opportunity to use skills learned along the way.  MRC, as it is abbreviated, works in relationships, especially relationships between couples and families looking to build a strong foundation for a lifetime together.  In short, it is about creating a legacy, a powerful and positive family story for the next generation and beyond.  

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Shelley came to the Marriage Resource Center at a crucial time.  The founder was retiring, and a majority of nonprofits fail during this type of transition.  For her, the challenge of making it through has been fun, exhilarating, painful, rewarding, and at times, frustrating, especially with the added impact of the pandemic. Nevertheless, Shelley’s diverse skillset helped the nonprofit survive the transition of leadership and ongoing challenges, even with limited funding under the changing restrictions and guidelines.  

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The one thing that keeps her going is this.  Shelley has a passion for people and for problem solving.  Her role as executive director is a perfect match for those loves because MRC focuses on people, healing troubled relationships, reducing divorce, and creating strong and stable families.  The MRC mission, “Building strong marriages, families, and communities” is needed in this hour, and the ultimate goal is for children to grow up with a healthy outlook and experience positive outcomes. 

With a background in leadership, research, education, transformational life coaching, and spiritual formation, Shelley is able to quickly help people shift toward success in their relationships and other endeavors.  Every step of the process, whether building resilience or nurturing healthy communication and conflict resolution skills, is framed by the brain science of transformation, and with willing participants, the process always works.  

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For Shelley that means recognizing and teaching others to see “Every life has value,” and “We’re in this together.”  Then, it is natural to “Leave a legacy.”