Shelly Cihan, of Saranac Lake, NY, is the founder of Rooted Rock Marketing, a full-service marketing agency located in the Adirondack village of Saranac Lake, NY. She has a passion for the environment and actively volunteers for several charitable environmental organizations. Over the years these have included Northern NY Audubon, the Audubon Council of NYS, National Audubon’s Christmas Bird Count, the Ausable River Association, Adopt a Highway program, Adirondack All-Taxa Biodiversity Inventory, All About Lakes, and Adirondack Wilderness Advocates.

For the past 8 years, Shelly has served on the board of Northern NY Audubon in the roles of President, Vice President, and the fundraising chair. She uses her unique marketing background to reach potential members through creative fundraising endeavors. Her initiatives have included protecting the endangered NYS Spruce Grouse population through the launch of Spruce Tip IPA at a brewery popular with local hunters within miles of known nesting grounds, bird-themed trivia nights, and initiating Birds, Brews and Beauty an annual gathering.

Shelly also serves on the board of the Audubon Council of NY which is dedicated to bringing the local Audubon chapters across NYS together for networking and collaboration. During her time on this board, she founded the boards Birds of a Feather program. This informal digital monthly gathering allows chapters from across the state to deepen their knowledge while further amplifying the mission of Audubon. Over the past year, Shelly has led discussions on topics such as leading effective board meetings, how to engage younger members, how to amplify your mission through marketing, board succession and planning for the future, and running successful annual appeal campaigns. 

Shelly graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Science in Natural Resources & Environmental Sciences from Paul Smith’s College. She lives her very energetic dog Nico and her partner Brendan who is the Senior Research Scientist for Paul Smith’s College Adirondack Watershed Institute.