| Shelly was born in Gainesville and has lived in the 49th District her entire life. She was raised in the Tadmore community and graduated from East Hall High School. In 1999, Shelly married Drew Echols, a lifetime Lula resident and farmer. They have two children- Chloe (17) is a Junior at Lakeview Academy, and Cohen (13) is a 7th grader at North Hall Middle School. Echols serves on the board of Choices Pregnancy Care Center in Gainesville and the Avita Community Partners Board of Directors. The family are active members of Level Grove Baptist Church.
Shelly attended Gainesville College and North Georgia College & State University (currently UNG) where she received her Bachelor's of Science. She taught high school social studies at East Hall and Johnson for 5 years before joining her father's business, Daniel's Charters.
In 2007, Shelly started her own business, Daniel's Educational Tours which plans standards based educational field trips for schools all over Georgia. Shelly formerly served as the Director of Human Resources at Daniel's Charters, who employed approximately 75 people in Lula.
In 2018, Shelly was elected as the Hall County Commissioner for District 3. During her tenure, she has delivered results, that include keeping taxes low, putting hardworking county employees first with updated policies and benefits and pay increases, supporting our law enforcement and first responders, all while ensuring fiscal responsibility.
As a County Commissioner, she has never increased property taxes. She also worked to increase employee pay and benefits to retain those employees and become an employee first employer. The county has upgraded parks and opened previously closed parks. Shelly has always been attentive to constituents of her district as well as the whole county and assisted them whenever and wherever possible. She has not been afraid to "pump the brakes" on growth and development in her district to ensure that the best developments are allowed. |