Kimberly grew up on a farm just outside the small town of Stewart, Minnesota (pop. 536). Her interest in music was sparked as a young child while listening to her dad play his guitar and sing songs like “Sneaky Snake” and “Greenback Dollar.” As she got a little older, she was a little disappointed to learn that he didn’t write those songs. However, she became fascinated by songs and enjoyed reading the songwriter credits on some of her parents’ albums at the time, such as Emmylou Harris’ Blue Kentucky Girl album, which had “Beneath Still Waters” – still one of Kimberly’s favorite songs.
Kimberly started taking piano lessons in first grade. Not long after that she started to “make up songs.” Her piano teacher frequently pointed out that she wasn’t always playing “the notes on the page,” but was encouraged as long as she “knew” the right notes to play. Throughout high school, Kimberly played Sundays in her hometown church, sang in the regional honor choir, played first base in softball, was on the yearbook staff and was vice-president of her senior class at McLeod West High School. She was honored that she had the opportunity to write and sing her high school graduation song, along with the senior girls. After graduating as co-salutatorian of her small 48-person class, Kimberly attended Winona State University her freshman year of college and then transferred to St. Cloud State University (SCSU).
Having an interest in music, marketing and communications, Kimberly wanted to experience as much as she could in college. She was a member of the SCSU choir and started singing in a local cover band that did weddings and small events. She was a member of PRSSA and a resident advisor at Sherburne Hall. She also decided to interview for a “committee coordinator” position for the University Program Board (UPB) at SCSU, which brought performing arts, concerts, speakers and music events to the campus. Kimberly became the coordinator of the coffee house “Spotlight” series and the performing arts series her junior and senior years. This was her first hands-on experience of event coordinating, promotions and working with volunteers, artists and agents. Little did she know that her involvement in UPB would be her direct link to moving to Nashville a few months after graduation.
During the winter of her senior year in college, she was sent as a student representative to the National Association of Campus Activities (NACA) conference in Nashville. It was there where she met Rundi Ream, who was the southern regional director of the Songwriters Guild of America (SGA) at the time.
Through a small series of unexpected events, Ream hired her six months later as the assistant regional director.
Kimberly spent nearly three years at SGA where she was instrumental in co-developing and executing several songwriter workshops, seminars, retreats and writers’ nights with guest publishers, hit songwriters and other industry professionals, including events such as SGA Week and Building a Songwriting Career. She loved connecting people and making them feel welcome, especially new writers.
Kimberly left SGA for a few years where she worked as a meeting planner at a non-profit agency and then as an assistant store manager at Havertys furniture in Brentwood, Tennessee. It was a bit of a detour from the songwriting community, but during this time she got back to playing piano again, writing and occasionally singing with her husband John Shaw III and Dan Drobac.
After being at Havertys for a few years, Kimberly was recruited back to SGA to fill the new Central Region Project Manager position, which allowed her to get back to developing and executing songwriter events and connecting with the creative community. In 2007 and 2008, she helped develop and execute “The Write Key” songwriting seminar held in conjunction with the Frank Brown International Songwriters Festival, and assisted with the “Twangin’ Tuesdays” series that was developed in conjunction with Sparkle & Twang: Marty Stuart’s American Musical Odyssey that took place at the Tennessee State Museum in 2007.
Due to economical restraints, Kimberly was laid off from SGA in May 2009. However, the months that followed allowed her to dive back into her own musical creativity, and also follow another passion for helping women. She is currently co-developing a workshop series with master counselor and certified life coach Kecia Burcham, which is designed to help empower women to identify their passions, overcome roadblocks and drive their own dreams.
Kimberly joined the team at Luna Chica Records in January 2010 and is looking forward to a great, new adventure!