Shari first became passionate about sharks in 2014 when she caught and tagged Port Jackson sharks (H. portusjacksoni) in Jervis Bay, NSW for a network and connectivity PhD. She worked towards her goal of becoming a shark researcher by completing a bachelor's degree in biology with a thesis on behavioural responses in fish, which she carried out at Macquarie University and continued on with a master's degree in marine science at JCU in Townsville.

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Shari found her way to the Physioshark lab and the Fish and Fisheries lab in 2019 through Dr Jodie Rummer and Dr Andrew Chin who supervised her master's thesis where she worked with stakeholders to analyse the effects of abiotic factors on sharks in Hawai'i. Since completing her thesis, she has worked with numerous researchers on plenty of different projects in various fields. So far, Shari has worked up seagrass samples and analysed many hours of BRUV footage for The Centre for Tropical Water and Aquatic Ecosystem Research (TropWATER), sampled countless corals across the Great Barrier Reef, caught, tagged and taken samples from big sharks for the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS), as well as small sharks and rays as part of studies carried out through the ARC Centre of Excellence. Most recently, Shari spent 5 months in French Polynesia as part of the Physioshark long-term monitoring program.

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Shari is interested in the physiology and behaviour of sharks, particularly in response to extreme weather events. During her master's degree, Shari also realised the importance of social science and community engagement, particularly with Traditional Owners, which she is keen to explore and engage in more in future projects.