Shelly Bailey

My educational background is in psychology, with a bachelor's in behavioral science and a master's degree in human behavior organizational psychology, both from National University in San Diego. I graduated with honors magna cum laude and was on the Dean's List for two years in a row, obtaining a few scholarships along the way. During my undergrad, I had a professor who was protege to Dr. B.F. Skinner, and I got to do some follow-up work with Dr. Skinner's daughters, who published an article in Psychology Today about the baby crib or air crib, which Dr. Skinner called the baby box. It was very controversial at the time, but I got to do all the follow-up research, and Dr. Epstein and I published that follow-up research article in Psychology Today. He was my mentor and we did some fantastic things together, including the Loebner Prize Competition in Artificial Intelligence, where I got to go to Hollywood and pick up R2-D2 and bring him to the event in the back of my station wagon. I was the assistant director of this international competition in artificial intelligence, essentially trying to prove to the judges whether they were speaking to a computer or to a human being. I did that two years in a row - the first year as assistant director and the second year as a participant in the competition. Surprisingly, I did not go into the field of psychology. Instead, I worked for nonprofit and for government in the Department of Housing and Community Development, which is another one of my passions. We provided funding to nonprofit developers to build supportive housing and affordable housing for the disabled, for the homeless, for homeless youth as well. That was something I felt was very fulfilling in terms of a career choice with my professional background. I was going to school at night and on weekends while working 35 hours a week with two kids in elementary and junior high at the time. My husband was Mr. Mom and watched the kids at night for me. It was a pretty tumultuous time of my life - seven years of going back to school to get my master's degree, starting with junior college and then working my way up. I obtained my first two years at junior college, then transferred to San Diego State University but was not there for long because I could not get any of the classes I needed in my degree program, so I transferred to National University where they were able to meet my schedule so I could work to pay off my student loans at the same time. I was also part of Toastmasters International during that time and was vice president of marketing, which really honed a lot of my communication skills that I carried with me throughout my careers. Now I am retired and my main profession is writing and being an author. I'm currently writing my fourth book.