SHELLI PELLY
Founder, Influencer – Annie Parker Confidential
Shelli Pelly is a Published Author, Influencer and Founder of Annie Parker Confidential, a Healthy-Living Blog & Brand inspiring women to connect, engage and live their most amazing life, on their own terms.
Formerly an award-winning leader in the corporate world, she is known for her refreshing candor, laser-insight, humor and optimism. Shelli has personally coached women of all ages towards becoming an authentically confident, stronger, more empowered version of themselves.
Shelli lives in Solana Beach, CA with her husband Oliver and their 2 dogs, Emma and Logan (Logi for short!) A trained ballerina and lifelong health & wellness advocate, she loves Boot Camp, yoga if it’s not too slow, sushi date-night every Friday and spending plenty of time with family!
Who is Annie Parker?
Annie Parker isn’t one woman in particular. The two names, for me – have always evoked feelings of warmth, approachability and realness (Annie) – but were also undeniably strong, confident and grounded (Parker). That is the essence of the Annie Parker brand and our quickly growing community of Annie Parker women.
Annie Parker Confidential is the Ultimate Living & Lifestyle Blog
Annie Parker Confidential is the ultimate Living & Lifestyle Blog for modern, forward-thinking women who thrive on consistently learning, evolving and loving life as the best version of themselves – at every stage of life. Like lots of women, I’ve got what I call my “Oprah” side on one hand + my “Cosmo” side on the other. Instead of arbitrarily choosing between the 2, I’ve combined them into a truly comprehensive lifestyle that speaks to both our insides and our outsides. Think cake plus frosting!
On the APC site – I share knowledge & best finds on everything from: Health & Wellness + Living your Best Life + Creating Healthy Relationships + Business – to all of the pretty, sparkly, fun stuff we love like Beauty + Make-up + Gorgeous skin + Fitness + Healthy recipes and everything in between.
You’ll also love the Interactive format: Comment + Share + Interact in a NO-Judgey-Eyes-Zone!
Ever finish reading a super cool article, want to comment or share something with others – but there wasn’t an available avenue to share your thoughts? Me too! That is exactly why I didn’t want APC to just be a one-way road, where I blog – you read. That is not how we all grow & learn!
The APC site is an interactive community of women, who feel welcomed and free to share input, experiences, questions, suggestions and feedback in a non-bitchy-no-judgey-eyes zone!!! Please comment, share and interact with other women on our Message Boards – or just chill, browse, read and enjoy.
However you want to enjoy APC and the APC community – I love that you are here! Welcome!
xoxo,
– Shelli
Ever tried boiling your life down to a few entertaining paragraphs without:
A) Boring the crap out of everyone – or
B) Sounding like you just can’t get enough of your amazing self?? Queue the violins as I take a stab at it….
Raised in a super loving middle-class military family, I moved from Seattle to San Diego to attend the University of San Diego, where I studied Media Communications and Philosophy. After college, I spent 15 years in the corporate world in both telecom and software, starting on the ground floor in sales, eventually holding senior sales leadership positions. Hashtag baller.
I’ve been into health & fitness my whole life! I studied classical ballet on scholarship from ages 3-18 – but I wasn’t exactly a child dance prodigy. Case and point: Age 3 – my summer dance recital. There were 10 of us on stage dancing to “Me and My Teddy Bear.” Well, 9 of us were dancing. I stood in the middle of the stage crying, scanning the audience looking for my mommy, clutching my teddy bear & sucking my thumb. Sigh…. At least we knew I could multi-task.
Anyway, since then I’ve been heavily into running, boot-camp, yoga, pilates, weight-training and pretty much anything athletic! Oh, I’ve been in a few fitness videos (Jillian Michaels) and infomercials. Every once in a while someone will say….”Heyyyy…. you look reallllly familiar…..”
Personally, I’m a Type-A. Type AAA…..Plus. Soup-can labels that face different directions make me break out in hives. Seriously, uniformity people! Friends would say I’m alarmingly candid and direct, kind & generous – sometimes to a fault. There are no back doors or ulterior motives with me. I yam-who-I-yam.
I started Annie Parker Confidential because I wanted to create an interactive lifestyle community for women to learn, grow and evolve on the inside + look gorgeous, healthy, fit and amazing on the outside. In other words – the whole package! Think “Oprah” on one hand + “Cosmo” on the other. That is the essence of the APC Lifestyle and the APC woman!
My #1 priority for the APC website, is to create a fully interactive community where women can like + comment + share feedback and interact with other women on the site. You can also Ask me questions, plus see what others have asked as well.
I hope you’ll love everything from health & wellness + life strategies + empowering yourself + career + beauty + skin + make-up, fitness + recipes + books & more.
Welcome to the community!
xoxo,
– Shelli
Food & Work-outs!
This is the #1 most asked question I have gotten, for as long as I can remember. Like most of us, my view on food has evolved over the years as we begin to understand the powerful connection between the food we eat and our physical, mental and spiritual health.
It used to be all about just “being thin” – dieting, calorie restriction, low-calorie, low-fat, low-carb, low-sugar, chemical laden fake-foods…..with little to no concern as to what we were putting into our beautiful bodies, as long as we were losing weight, staying thin and adhering to an arbitrary calorie count…..and I was completely a part of that. Truth.
Today, I think of food as an incredibly powerful medicine for our mind, body, skin and spirit.
It is about nourishing the body with fresh, whole foods that make us feel strong and beautiful as a lifestyle not a restrictive diet. There is a direct connection between the foods we eat and our state-of-mind, our mood, whether we feel happy or depressed, empowered or weak, healthy or ill, hopeful or hopeless. Consistently nourishing your body with fresh, whole, unprocessed, foods will literally make your skin glow like a light – and you will feel as amazing as you look! Food is powerful. Once that connection is made – it is life changing.
What I eat 90% of the time:
The vast majority of the time I eat lots of fresh leafy greens (the most powerful foods on the planet), fresh organic fruits and veggies, fresh fish, lean proteins, some dairy – then a healthy but limited amount of good fats like nuts, avocados, olive oil, as well as a limited amount of whole grains, seeds and beans.
I don’t count calories, but I am mindful of my portions. We need good fats, but sparingly and mindfully. I find that the healthier I eat, the more satiated I feel with fewer cravings. Hydration is super important for our skin and our insides. I never drink soda or sports drinks. Ever. They’re sugary, chemical-laden and just crappy for you, IMO. I drink water – specifically carbonated water because it feels fancy. Ha! Coffee? Uh – YASSS!!! Just a latte in the morning.
In moderation – the remaining 10%:
Coffee, alcohol, sweets in moderation. Most nutritionists would say that ideally – all 3 would be completely avoided, but honestly – do we want to live perfectly or joyfully? My vote is joyfully!
Coffee
I have a latte or macchiato every morning with a couple shots. Ok, THREE. First – because I like it, but also because Oliver always makes it for me so it’s kinda part of our ritual. Awww!
Alcohol
Ugh. Ok – I have to be a serious buzzkill for one second…….The thing is, alcohol is really gnarly on your skin and body. It also impedes the ability to get restful sleep, it’s not great on the liver, it’s a depressant, dehydrating, impedes next-day productivity, kills your gym vibe AND it greases the tracks to eating crappy that night and the next day …..been there!!!!
That being said, I fricking love champagne and martini’s every once in a while. Specifically, pink champagne and Belvedere martini’s straight-up with 2 olives. I got that from my grandma. It was “her drink.” She used to come to our house for dinner with grandpa, walk through the door snapping her fingers like she was dancing and say “Who’s making me a Mar-Tooni Jerry!?” (My dad). If you asked her how long we should leave the pot-roast in the oven – she’d shrug her shoulders and say “For about 3 martini’s.” I digress… On average, months will pass and I don’t have anything to drink, other months there will be 2-3 nights out where I have a couple glasses or so. Either way, if I want to – I do.
Sweets
Cakes, cookies and Sees candies are my jam. Pun intended. Seriously. If I really crave it – I eat it. Then I have a major migraine and am reminded why it’s not a daily thang! The main message is to eat mindfully, focusing on identifying the foods that leave you feeling light, energetic, clear-headed and happy. Live joyfully and with purpose.
You are what you eat the majority of the time.
WORK-OUTS
Aside from diet, the 2 things that will have the biggest influence on getting & maintaining a healthy, fit body – however you define that for yourself, are these:
#1 Consistency and
#2 Doing the type of workout that you like
Ideally – the most effective types of workout routines are those combining cardio & strength-training. Other than that – pick a type of workout that you like and do it consistently. Really – that’s the secret. That is the special-sauce. When you get bored of what you’re doing – and you will, switch it up. Try something else. Don’t quit working out just because you’re bored OR you don’t like what you’re doing. That’s not an excuse. Find something else. The key is to be consistent.
What is consistency? To me, it’s working out 5-6x a week no matter what. For others it’s 4x a week. Point is, you’re the boss of you. Make your own decision then stick to it. Be consistent.
I change-up my workout routines – depending on what interests me at the time. For a long time, it was super high-impact choreographed aerobics. Lol – with those THONG leotards!!! hahaha!! Ok, anyway…. then for a long-time it was cardio at the gym followed by weight-training, Body-Rok which was like Pilates on crack set to music, spinning – which I quit because I hated those padded bike shorts. NOT cute! Finally, running – as in 1/2 marathons. Except one year I ran the Triple Crown in San Diego. That means you run 3 specific 1/2 marathons during the year. I dislocated my toe, continued running on it & had to have surgery with a pin stuck through my toe. That was the end of THAT.
Now, I am into Sculpt classes.
These are basically HIIT (High-Intensity Interval Training) classes, held in a heated-hot yoga room – on a yoga mat, set to music. You have light & heavy weights and it’s a full-body workout with lots of compound movements, burpees, push-ups, lunges with bicep curls – you know. I walk out literally drenched. It looks like I took a dip in the pool – but it is SO cathartic and amazing! I get cardio plus weight-training in one efficient, 1-hour class. One and Done.
Regardless of what workout I’m into at the time, the one thing that has never changed throughout time has been the consistency. 5-6x a week, pretty much no matter what.
I work directly with select brands & influencers that align with my aesthetic and are the right fit for Annie Parker Confidential. Throughout my site you will only find high-quality products and services that I have personally curated, used and absolutely love! The guiding principle when it comes to any product or service that makes it onto the APC site, lies in offering best finds that I would just as easily share and recommend to my own family.
Collaboration enquires:
