United Support of Artists for Africa (USA for Africa) was the name used by 45 U.S. artists (joined by Canadian Dan Aykroyd and Irishman Bob Geldof) when they recorded the phenomenal hit single "We Are the World" in 1985. Profits from the project went to the USA for Africa Foundation and was used for the relief of famine and disease in Africa. The endeavor opened people's minds to the idea of performers speaking out, of entertainers using their fame to take a stand and using it for a good cause. The magazine show Photoplay tackled this subject in one segment of their September 25, 1986 episode - using footage from the 1985 USA for Africa music video hosted by Jane Fonda. Shelley Hack, Charlton Heston, Whoopi Goldberg, Carroll O'Connor, Ed Asner, Howard Hesseman and Barbra Streisand appeared in the segment, with words to say about the subject.
In the Photoplay episode, Shelley had this to say about the subject:
"I think I'm a person who takes stands on public issues. I'm always a little confused by the idea of a performer who takes stands on public issues. I must say that I think that people who are in my business have an enormous gift in that we deal with the media and the media is enormously powerful. And you can use it for entertainment. You can also use it for education and for good. And I think it could be used for all three things at the same time."
Shelley began delving in grassroots politics and political fund-raising in the 1990s. In 1994, she set her sights on a county Democratic Central Committee seat in the Westside and San Fernando Valley district but was disqualified due a signature-gathering technicality (She came down with the flu and her surrogate signature-gatherer didn't live in the district.) She would receive her MBA from the New York Institute of Technology (NYIT) and, in 1997, she formed Shelley Hack Media Consultancy (SHMC), a media consultancy firm that worked internationally in pre- and post-conflict countries. She would go into war-torn countries and help them establish democracy through media. She worked extensively in Eastern Europe and Western Asia and traveled all over the world. She became a member of the Pacific Council on International Policy (PCIP) whose mission was to give a more effective voice to West Coast perspectives on critical global policy issues. She also spent two years working with the largest media conglomerate in Eastern Europe helping to develop and build the infrastructure for a new state of the art film studio complex in the region.
