Shirley has a Bachelor of Liberal Arts and a Master of Arts in teaching from Oregon State University. She has taught in Key Stages 1 and 2, as well as Early years in the US, France, and Morocco. She began teaching at BISB in 2006, first as the EAL and Nursery teacher, then as the Reception teacher. She left the school in 2011 when her family relocated to New York. Back in Brussels since 2015, she rejoined BISB in 2022.

Shirley loves working with emergent readers and writers and is fascinated with how the brain acquires language. She loves hiking, cooking, interior decorating, reading and travel. Her two grown children study in the UK where she travels frequently with her husband.