The youngest of three children, Surilla Shaw was born on July 18, 1956 in Poplar Bluff, MO. Currently, she resides in St. Louis, MO. and is the proud mother of Jaqui and Abraham. Surilla views her children and her education as the highlights of her life. She obtained her bachelor’s degree in nursing in 1980, and her Master’s degree in the nursing of children in 1997 from St. Louis University Graduate School of Nursing. Surilla returned to school during the summer of 2009 to study professional counseling. She has since utilized the intersections of her education, careers and experiences to serve in numerous roles—always with the aim of improving the health and well-being of the communities she serves.
Surilla has effectively used her accumulation of knowledge to design the Parent Preparedness Theory, and launch her own platform called Parent Build, with the theme of Improving Parent Efficacy Together (IPET). Even more, she is the co-founder and Director of Blessed are the Bereaved—an organization that provides grief support to under-served community members in the St. Louis Region.
