Sharon Shepard earned an undergraduate degree from Penn State University and taught Special Education at the WIU, and Derry Area School District for over 30 years before retiring in 2007. She has found many outlets for her creativity. She has spent her retirement making beaded jewelry inspired by travel with her husband. Sharon is a member of the Pittsburgh Society of Arts. Her jewelry is exhibited at the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts, the Latrobe Art Center and also at ArtWorks of Park City, Utah.