Business Women Awards 2025
WOMAN TO WATCH EDUCATION:
Shelby Perry, New England Institute of Technology adjunct professor
BROWN UNIVERSITY BECKONED. University of South Florida lured. But it was a college around the corner from where she grew up, in Coventry, that caught Shelby Perry’s fancy.
The week that the COVID-19 pandemic shut the world down in 2020, Perry began pursuing her master’s degree in public health at the New England Institute of Technology in East Greenwich.
Perry recalled how everyone was overwhelmed and thought the crisis would pass in two weeks.
While earning her master’s degree, Perry began teaching at New England Tech. In January 2021, the private technical school hired her as a teaching and research assistant, a position she held until a week after her September 2023 graduation. That’s when the school invited her to join its adjunct faculty – and she accepted.
“I chose [New England Tech] because it was close to home,” Perry said. “And ultimately, it worked out.”
Perry’s accomplishments include revitalizing New England Tech’s Society for Advancement of Management chapter, expanding its reach. She also helped raise money for New England Tech to send its largest group of students to attend the International Business Skills Competition. Perry also was named the 2023 International Collegiate Member of the Year – one of several awards she’s won – and coached and mentored students to successfully compete.
In May 2021, Perry launched the nonprofit Operation: LifeLines after watching a documentary about alleged sex-trafficker Jeffrey Epstein and a “Grey’s Anatomy” episode in which only one doctor treating a human-trafficking victim believed the patient’s story.
Perry saw the dearth of human-trafficking education and intervention. There is also a need to train health professionals and first-responders to better recognize and respond to the signs of human-trafficking in victims.
Her three-year research study probed the lack of human-trafficking education, which she discussed during presentations at regional and national conferences, as well as in her dissertation.
“I remember sitting on my couch crying and feeling really angry and sad for all the women it happened to, regarding Jeffrey Epstein,” Perry said. “Once I started doing more research, I got sad and angry and said, ‘OK, I really want to do something about this.’ ”
