Shelly Hokanson

Web & UX professor by day, beauty YouTuber and nail slinger by night, gaming geek 24/7, Shelly’s got good vibes and deep dives for days!

Shelly holds a Master of Fine Arts in Independent Film & Digital Imaging from Governors State University (University Park, IL), a Masters in Education from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and a Bachelor of Business Administration degree with a Computer Information Systems major from Robert Morris College (Chicago, IL). She has earned many technology certifications including the CompTIA A+ and Network+, Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer, World Organization of Webmasters Professional Designer, Developer, and Webmaster, CIW Professional Web Site Designer and Certified Instructor, and Hootsuite Platform and Social Marketing certifications. She is currently working on her Master Makeup Artist certificate from the Online Makeup Academy (New York). 

She currently lives in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia and teaches web and user experience design as an associate professor at James Madison University. She’s an Independent Senior Stylist with Color Street and an avid Ultima Online gamer. Her cats Daffy, Polly, and Ziva make frequent guest appearances in her videos on Geek Out of Water, a YouTube channel focused on makeup and skin care for people with dry skin over 40. She has seen 56 Dave Matthews Band concerts to date, is obsessed with her Jeep, and hopes to retire to Galway, Ireland someday.