Kelly Shropshire was born in Athens, Georgia and raised in the north Georgia mountains. After graduating from the University of Georgia, she worked as an intern on St. Catherines Island where she met Jeff. After her internship, she went on to travel and live in the Pacific Islands of Hawaii, Guam and Micronesia working as a biologist and archeologist. When she returned to Georgia in 1995, she went back to St. Catherines Island and worked as a zoologist for the Wildlife Conservation Society and earned her Master’s Degree in biology from Georgia Southern University. She and Jeff married in 1998 and moved to Darien, where she continues to work at the local level to ensure protection of the the coastal environment. In addition to her other activities, Kelly also serves as the Mayor of Darien.