Meet
Shandra terry

My mission is to move hearts, uplift voices, and inspire action through story.

My journey as a speaker started long before I understood the power of words. At five years old, I stood trembling but determined on a church soapbox, reciting "A Welcome Just for You" to an audience of one thousand. When thunderous applause filled the room, something ignited inside me, a spark that's never dimmed.

My mother saw a gift in me, nurturing it through poetry recitations and performances. By 18, I’d won the prestigious Elks Oratorical Scholarship, competing against speakers from around the world. Yet, even as my career took me far from Arkansas to Oregon and into environmental justice work with the federal government and tribes, I knew my heart belonged to the stage.

Standing Ovations was born from my living room in Southern Oregon, a promise to myself to carry forward the spirit of that first applause. Now, after nearly three decades, it's no longer just a vision, it's my full-time mission.