Shade Ashani is a Columbia University English department graduate who is currently pursuing a Master's in Public Health at Tulane University in the city of New Orleans. She has worked extensively in the field of HIV/AIDS prevention, is a Goodwill Ambassador to the Gambia and founded the non-profit organization, Kids International. She is a Christian and the proud sister to four siblings. The memoir, In Search of My Father, is her first work.

Shade currently speaks at churches, conferences, workshops, women's and youth groups and other events

regarding healing from fatherlessness, sexual assault prevention and recovery and her testimony. She is a member of the RAINN Speakers Bureau.