Shepherd earned a Bachelor of Science in Nursing in 1996 from Jacksonville State University in Alabama, and worked as an RN in hospital cardiac units and pediatric emergency in Massachusetts and Georgia. Shepherd completed a Master of Science in Nursing/Family Nurse Practitioner at Emory University in 2001. She worked as an FNP at oncology, primary care and pediatrics clinics in Georgia before moving to Bozeman in 2015, where she worked at a reproductive healthcare facility before joining Bozeman Health.