She has practiced speech-language pathology for more than 12 years. Shatonda specializes in adults and geriatrics with neurogenic communication and swallowing disorders with a particular interest in stroke survivors and their families. Shatonda earned her bachelor of science degree in speech-language pathology (with minors in Spanish and psychology) from the University of Tulsa, her Master of Arts degree in speech language pathology with an emphasis in medical speech pathology from the University of Iowa, and her doctorate of philosophy (PhD) in Therapeutic Science from the University of Kansas. She is a Certified Brain Injury Specialist Trainer through the Academy of Certified Brain Injury Specialists (ACBIS) and also completed the Stanford University Internet Based Successful Aging Mini-Fellowship (iSage) in ethnogeriatrics.