Shelley in a selfie, 2007
From 1997 to around 2008, Shelley was busy with Shelley Hack Media Consultancy (SHMC), a media consultancy firm she owned that worked in pre- and post-conflict countries. It was a company that internationally specialized on projects that focused on the intersection between media and the development of civil society. She would go into war-torn countries and help them establish democracy through media, which was often done with the help of televised political debates. "I have a consultancy company, and I basically do institution building in post-conflict countries" she told one reporter later. And in 1997, she started by producing the first-ever televised presidential debates to be held in Bosnia.
Shelley worked extensively in the Balkans and Western Asia. SHMC embarked on various projects including: the transition of the Bosnian State television to a public broadcaster; the development of ethnic balance within the Bosnian television sector; the production of television debates and public presentation training for politicians; and the Turkish-Armenian reconciliation through print and television. In 2006, the company became involved in strategic planning for the tender of a Balkan bank with a wide ranging portfolio of assets.
Also in 2006, Shelley Hack became a member of the Pacific Council on International Policy (PCIP). The non-partisan PCIP was and is a membership-based international affairs organization bent on understanding international affairs among others. The mission of PCIP was and is to give a more effective voice to West Coast perspectives on critical global policy issues. Shelley's expertise, experience and influence was one of the core resources of the council, whose membership comprised of leaders and innovators in all fields and from a variety of backgrounds, perspectives, and countries (this included prominent leaders in business, academics, politics, government, finance, technology, media, law, entertainment and the arts). Shelley's extensive work since the 1990’s in election organization and registration had qualified her membership into the PCIP.
For ten years, SHMC helped develop unbiased television, film, and associated media projects in war-torn and developing countries. Essentially, she helped develop television and film projects for foreign markets. And for two of those years, Shelley helped the largest media conglomerate in Eastern Europe develop and build the latest film studio complex in the region. "It's a huge, huge thing to do in a post-war country," Shelley told a reporter, "but if you move forward and enable people, people get it."