Nelly Shin is an entrepreneur, educator, humanitarian and musician. Her family immigrated to Canada from South Korea in the late 1970’s to flee political tension. Her parents opened a floral store where Nelly learned first hand the challenges facing the small business community. After fifteen years of hard work and perseverance, her family transformed their humble shop into an award winning floral design studio that hired multiple employees and serviced high profile events like the Queen’s Tour and G8 Summit.
While helping to build her family business, Nelly completed a B. Mus and B. Ed. Upon graduation, she worked as a public high school English and Music teacher. Her compassion and aspiration for social innovation was deeply cultivated while teaching in inner city neighborhoods, where family crisis, poverty and violence, including a stabbing of one of her students, profoundly shaped her humanitarianism. After serving the school board for seven years, she embarked on a journey of outreach to the hurting, poor and marginalized. Her experiences in the front lines gave her a personal taste of poverty, its impact on human dignity, and insight into the societal impact of family brokenness, mental health issues, and gaps in the system.
A professionally trained classical pianist, singer, composer, and conductor, Nelly Shin has received airplay on Adult Contemporary radio formats in North America and abroad as a recording artist. The scenic landscapes of the West Coast have inspired Nelly to produce multiple music recordings and the manuscript to her first novel.
