The eldest of five children, Shanell Shanay White, hails from Silver Spring, Maryland. She left home to attend North Carolina Central University as a first-generation college student. She holds a Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting and a Bachelor of Science in Computer Information Systems. Later she decided that she wanted to become an Information Technology Auditor, so she enrolled in the Master of Science Information Technology program at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, from which she graduated Summa Cum Laude. Most recently, she graduated Valedictorian from Payne Theological Seminary with a Master of Divinity in May 2023.

Although called at the age of 16, Shanell officially began her ministry in October of 2019 and is on track to be ordained as an Itinerant Elder in the Western North Carolina Conference of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. She previously served as Youth Minister at Springdale African Methodist Episcopal Church under her mother in ministry, the Reverend Dr. Bridgette Gloster. Her ultimate goal is to bridge generational gaps within the church. While her title within the church has changed, the ministry is not new to her, as she tripled the membership and service organization within the Young People’s Division (YPD) at First African Methodist Episcopal Church, Gaithersburg, Maryland, during her tenure as YPD President.

She holds fast to Isaiah 43:19, “See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.”