Shelley D. Smith is a best-selling author, consultant, and Founder & CEO of Premier Rapport consulting firm. Her experience over the past 35+ years has earned her a reputation as the Creator of the Culture Inquiry in businesses all along the east coast, and beyond. Her success stems from the strength of her personal approach, asking tough questions to hone in on pain points and areas of growth opportunity.

A highly-sought after speaker and business culture inquiry consultant, Shelley asks tough questions to hone in on pain points and areas of opportunity for companies to grow. The most recent of her five published books, titled How to Avoid Culture Big Fat Failures (BFF), has rattled and disrupted corporate America in a highly effective manner. Her culture approach includes four phases: inquiry, analysis, creation, and curation. Numerous C-suite executives have tapped Shelley for her sharp insight and professional recommendations to shape the culture they’ve envisioned, increase profitability, decrease employee turnover, and retain top talent.

Companies of all sizes are taking note of Shelley’s ability to put out fires as well as cultivate a company culture which is more fire-resistant moving forward. The Premier Rapport consulting firm delivers authentic, focused, actionable, and measurable results in a timely fashion, with an emphasis on long-term solutions.

Find Shelley’s advice and wisdom in various publications, podcasts, DisruptHR events, SHRM events, and culture conferences, as well as her blog.

Born into a family of entrepreneurs, Shelley has been working since the age of 11 at the family restaurant, auction, and flea market. The family motto is “never work for anyone else,” a lesson that Shelley took to heart. After 25 years of working for others, Shelley had experience in every aspect of a company, yielding a deep understanding of the inner workings of the corporate and small business worlds.

Shelley also holds certifications through Marriott International in Leadership Development, Strategic Thinking, Revenue Management, Teams & Collaboration, Managing Profit, Sales & Marketing, Supervisor Development, SDP Development, Task Force Management, Opening Strategies, and Feasibility Studies.

The Culture Curator Is …

• Passionate: Fueled by all things culture, Shelley’s waking hours are consumed by brainstorming strategic culture messages to help companies improve, engage, and grow.
• Bold: Shelley tells it like it is. Direct yet compassionate, call on Shelley when you’re ready to say goodbye to yes-men and hello to a fresh start.
• Prompt: Accountable and aware of your needs, limitations, and deadlines, Shelley keeps her commitments, meets her goals, and consistently exceeds expectations.
• Trustworthy: Reputation is everything in business, and Shelley's is pristine. When your walk and talk are synchronized, everything else follows naturally.
• Customer-Oriented. Enough about me, let’s talk about YOU.

Davis Smith, SVP of Operations for Premier Rapport, Inc, a workplace culture consulting firm, partners with company leaders to hire the right people for the right roles, manage and motivate teams more effectively, and build high-performing teams that are aligned with their mission, vision, values and most importantly their culture.

Davis serves as the main contact for day-to-day operations in Premier Rapport, and the overall client support and services. He helps them maximize the potential of their most important asset – their people. His experience and passion were formed early through ongoing exposure to both startups and franchise businesses – his entrepreneurial upbringing. 

His expertise ranges from sales, customer support, logistics, distribution, onboarding, training and more. His previous work includes leadership roles inside Fortune 500 companies and serving in the United States Navy.