Shelli's alluring vocal style is partly due to intensive study as a jazz vocal major at William Paterson University in Wayne, New Jersey - a university that is nationally acclaimed for its jazz music program. She has studied and performed with such distinguished jazz artists as bassists Rufus Reid and Earl Sauls, guitarist Vic Juris, pianists Norm Simmons, Jim McNeely, Eric Olsen and Noreen Grey Lienhard, and drummer Horace Arnold.

She is noted for her pure tonal quality and has a special gift for conveying lyrics in such a fashion that one feels as though he or she is actually placed inside the story which the song depicts.

Although Shelli's vocal style cannot be narrowed down to any particular vocalist, in the jazz realm, one can detect the influence of such great jazz vocalists as Sarah Vaughan, Nancy Wilson, and Billie Holiday. In the pop realm, her vocal style emanates the influence of such artists as Carrie Underwood, Sara Bareilles, Bonnie Raitt, Sheryl Crow and Colbie Caillat.