Shelley Lance was born in Chicago and graduated from the University of Washington before going to the California Culinary Academy and graduating in 1984. She then attended Madeleine “Kamman’s School for American Chefs” in St Helena, CA. in 1989, before migrating back up to Seattle to work at Cafe Sport, where she met Great Chef Tom Douglas.

When Tom decided to leave Cafe Sport and open his first restaurant, Dahlia Lounge, he asked Shelley to come with him to be his pastry chef, which she did as well as recipe development, and when Great Chefs arrived at Dahlia Lounge in September 1994 for their Great Chefs-Great Cities television series, Shelly prepared an Apple Dumpling with Cinnamon Rum Sauce.

Today in 2014, Shelley is still there developing recipes for all 14 of Great Chef Tom Douglas’s restaurants.