Shelley Wascom has been the Executive Director of Community Shares of Tennessee since 1996 and was the Associate Director for one year prior to that.    She came to Community Shares from Save Our Cumberland Mountains (SOCM) where she worked for 10 years doing rural community organizing and grassroots fundraising. Shelley received her Master's in Social Work in 1985 from the University of Southern Mississippi and her BA in Social Work from Southeastern Louisiana University. She has been active in the peace movement (specifically working against nuclear weapons production in Oak Ridge, TN and against war), the LGTBQ movement, and in issues related to justice in Central America.  She is a white, lesbian, native southerner and has a Masters of Social Work degree. Originally from Baton Rouge, Louisiana she has called East Tennessee home since 1985.