When Shonda was born, her brilliant blue eyes made it apparent that her genetics were being strongly enhanced by nanites.  Like all children in the New American Union, she was destined to be taken by the New American Union's Department of Children to be raised in the state school system.  Her parents took Shonda and fled, hoping to make their way to the Free State of Florida where they would be allowed to keep her.  However, they were intercepted outside of Scranton, Pennsylvania where they were killed by officers of the Department of Children.

Shonda was raised at the New York State School for Exceptional Students where she was consistently at the top of her class.  She had a position at the Hoagland Institute reserved for her before she began her undergraduate work at Columbia University.  While doing her graduate work, she was assigned to Genome Integration working under the direction of Doctor Claire Hamilton.  After receiving her Doctorate, she became the supervisor of Nanite Insertion.