Kimberly Shumate, the youngest of six children, lost her mother to cancer when she was only seventeen. Her father quickly slipped into rehab for depression and a rekindled alcohol problem. With no one to stop her, Kimberly dropped out of high school and spent the next year with an unruly band of street kids smoking pot, stealing from department stores, and indulging an understandable anger issue. But when her brother died only one year later, the anger turned into rage.

Moving to Atlanta, Kimberly was greeted with open arms by the Punk Rock community who embraced her outrageous looks. She slam danced in mosh pits, pierced her ear eight times (with a sewing needle), but still she found little relief from the hole left in her heart. A move to Seattle would supply a bit more stability, but it was her arrival in Hollywood in the late eighty’s that provided the melting pot of humanity she craved.

During this time Kimberly worked at perhaps the most prestigious salon in the country, the Jose Eber Salon on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills. While there, Kimberly came to terms with her life and the dismal failure it had become. It was during this time she gave her heart to Jesus.

With God now in her corner, Kimberly began to live a life she thought would forever be out of reach. She moved back to her hometown—with so many bad memories—to reconcile her past and begin anew. Thanks to her new Love opening the right doors, and some good ole fashion elbow grease, Kimberly’s night classes and determination finally began to pay off.

She is a screenwriter of eleven years and has eight screenplays registered with the WGA. She serves on the television ministry at her church. She has contributed to Standing on the Promises by Susan Wales and Stories for a Teen’s Heart by Alice Gray both books published by Multnomah. Her magazine articles have appeared in Youth Walk, Believe, Christian Singles, CCM, and Today’s Christian Woman, to name a few. Her articulate and genuine presence on radio is always well received, and her testimony has appeared several times on the 700 Club with popular response. Kimberly is a gifted public speaker with a heart for women of all generations.