As one of three children reared by her single father, Shiri attributes much of her success and positive outlook to his unyielding support. Born to Israeli parents, she is a citizen of both Israel and the United States. She is a competitive distance runner, an accomplished collegiate sportswoman and a motivated athlete who is driven by challenges, adventures, and opportunities. She holds an MA in sports management at George Washington University and a BS in marketing and actuarial science from New York University, and is applying these business acumen in her pursuit of a career in the humanitarian and development field.

Shiri learned of the Blue Planet Run during a lecture in a class on the management of the Torino Olympic Games. The speaker mentioned the Run and the cause, piquing Shiri's interest to learn more and become involved. Having previously spent time living in Sri Lanka, working with the Sewalanka Foundation, a non-profit focused on livelihood development and social mobilization, Shiri knew first-hand the effects of the water crisis. It was also in this job, while helping to develop women-run savings and credit programs, that she first learned the major impact that strong women with ability and resources can have on their communities. As the clean-water crisis largely affects women tasked with the daily chore of water collection, she was excited to see how the funds raised from the Run could be used to free up time so more women could be empowered and equipped in a greater role to build their communities.

Looking back on the run, she describes the experience as "a wonderful once-in-a-lifetime opportunity where people from different backgrounds, countries, and ethnicities were able to use a shared passion for running to come together and help rally support for such an important and universal cause."

After completing the finish in September, Shiri moved over to India for work. She spent several months living in Delhi, helping a non profit organization called the Micro Insurance Academy to conduct research on community-based microinsurance in India's rural villages. She then took time off to backpack through Nepal and the north-Indian state of Sikkim, two places she describes as "heaven on earth", before relocating to south India. She is currently living in Mumbai, working with a local financial company called Fullerton India, and helping conduct an impact assessment on their rural microfinance products. In her free time, when not busy travelling anywhere and everywhere she can, she enjoys photography, cycling, meditation and yoga, discovering new music, and cooking exotic cuisine.