Shannon grew up in New England, where she earned her undergraduate degree in pre-veterinary medicine and MA in Broadcast Journalism.

She worked for more than two decades as a reporter for national shows on public radio, including Marketplace, All Things Considered, and Morning Edition.

Her writing has been published by The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The Boston Globe and Boston Globe Magazine among others, and her first book, In Other Words, Leadership, was published in hardcover in June 2023 and released in paperback in 2025.

In 2009 Shannon founded Broad Reach Productions to develop independent projects for the screen, stage and spoken word. Her first play, An Addition of One, debuted in summer of 2026. She is also a screenwriter, film producer and director, as well as co-host and editor of the podcast Character.

Shannon is a member of the Board of Advisers to the McGillicuddy Center for the Humanities at the University of Maine.

She is based in the U.S. on the East Coast.