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Slma Shelbayah
Chief Communications Officer; CEO and Founder — Yardstick Management; Shelbayah Consulting
Slma Shelbayah is a Communications and Diversity Leader, Consultant, Adjunct Professor and award-winning former CNN Broadcast Journalist. In 2015, she won the CNN Diversity Ovation Award for her commitment to inclusion in news coverage. She is passionate about diversity, human uniqueness and unraveling taboo traditions and is dedicated to promoting voices of under-represented individuals. Her background includes more than 15 years of experience as a journalist, communication, and public relations expert in the media industry, including roles as reporter, show host, editor, writer, voice-over artist, and producer.
Shelbayah currently serves as Chief Communications Officer at Yardstick Management, overseeing the internal and external communications, company strategy alignment, marketing, public relations, branding and communication project management solutions for clients.
Additionally, Shelbayah is the Founder and CEO of Shelbayah Consulting and an Adjunct Professor of Business, Media and Communications for both Clayton State University and Herzing University. She teaches courses on public speaking, interpersonal communication, speech and business communication.
Her prior positions include serving as Director of Corporate Public Relations for Savannah College of Art and Design and a 7-year tenure at CNN serving n the capacity of Producer, Assignment Editor and Writer working across different departments including, CNN International, CNN Digital Newsource and CNN Homepage.
As the CEO of Shelbayah Consulting, LLC, Shebayah has trained executives, management leaders and employees in corporate, education, healthcare and non-profit sectors and supported organizational strategy development and execution across all verticals of communication. She has revolutionized the way businesses and brands approach messaging through her innovative storytelling narrative development and pitching strategies. Some of her past clients include The Carter Center and Atlanta Interfaith Broadcasters.
Shelbayah was inducted and graduated from LEAD Atlanta’s distinguished and highly selective leadership program of class of 2018. She holds a B.A. in Journalism with a minor in Sociology and an M.A. in Linguistics with a focus on cross-cultural linguistics of Spanish and Arabic, both degrees from Georgia State University. She also obtained a certificate from Oxford University, U.K., during which students were selected from 30 countries across the world to pursue a seminar on global media policy: technology and new themes in media regulations.
