Sharon grew up in Macon County, North Carolina, on her family’s farm in the Burningtown community and graduated from Franklin High School in 1974. She was employed at Nantahala Lumber Company in Franklin from 1975 until 1992. In her position as Purchasing Manager from 1979 until 1992 she was responsible for maintaining building material inventories for retail sales. Sharon resumed her formal education at Western Carolina University in 1993, graduating in 1996 with a B.S. in Natural Resource Management, with concentration in Water Resources.

From 1996 until joining the Land Trust for the Little Tennessee in 2001, Sharon was employed by the University of Georgia as Research Technician on the Long Term Ecological Research Project at Coweeta Hydrologic Laboratory in Otto, NC. Her duties included collecting forest ecosystem data, personal research, and public outreach through civic organizations and education. From 1996 until 2005, she served on the board of the Little Tennessee Watershed Association, a grassroots conservation organization dedicated to improving water quality and habitat in the Little Tennessee River watershed. She currently serves as Co-Chair of the Folk Heritage Association of Macon County, a non-profit organization whose mission is to "provide living history experiences and to preserve the folk heritage of Macon County for generations to come."