சுயசரிதை
The eldest of four sisters, Shondale grew up in the Texas Panhandle, spending much of her time fixing cars, playing sports, branding cattle, and listening to music. Always active, she was a cheerleader and enjoyed being in front of people. She participated in prose, poetry, and duet acting on her high school speech team, though she never viewed herself as an actress. "As a child, I dreamed of becoming a famous singer and dancer, but we couldn’t afford lessons."
Shondale attended West Texas State University, where she majored in business administration with a focus on accounting and minored in English. After graduating, she moved to California and worked in public accounting at one of the Big 4 firms.
Finding accounting unfulfilling, Shondale pursued acting and modeling training, earning honorable mentions in both runway modeling and dramatic acting at IMTA. However, after becoming engaged, she paused her career shift to raise a family and work in hospital administration and turnaround consulting.
In 2003, Shondale briefly stepped away from business to volunteer teaching English to students in grades 1-6 in Zhangjiagang, China. She lived there for six months with her daughter, Jaz Kemp. In 2005, she spent a year designing and building a ‘castle’ home and began Taekwondo lessons. This break from office work rekindled her passion for learning, creating, and sharing her creativity. While supporting her daughter’s emerging talents, Shondale became active in community theater, taking on both lead and supporting roles, reigniting thoughts of a career change she had entertained two decades earlier.
Today, Shondale enjoys working on set, performing on stage, singing, directing, and engaging in all aspects of the arts. She is a member of Inner Circle Theater, The Avery Schreiber Playhouse, and the LA Comedy Connection.
