Growing up, Shalini had a wonderful start to her childhood under the protection and care of her grandmother. She grew up with her cousins and aunts, and studied in a private English medium school. But when Shalini was in class 5, her grandmother died, and her whole world changed. Everyone and everything at home changed suddenly. She was moved from the private school to a government school, and the sudden change of environment troubled her deeply. She eventually dropped out of school and started taking up odd jobs to survive. Later, she was referred to BOSCO for further studies and rehabilitation in 2014.

Shalini appeared for her class 10 board exams and secured a score of 49 percent. Afterwards, she was sent to BOSCO Vatsalya Bhavan, where she was enrolled for 1st PUC. During this period, she started working with OASIS, an NGO, where she became a resource person for their life skills training programme. While working with the organization, she was sent to Gujarat and many other places for conducting training programmes. After her 2nd PUC, she did a Diploma in Hotel Management and successfully completed the course. Since childhood, Shalini has faced many obstacles and problems in life, but she is determined not to let that limit her future. She wants to do a degree in Hotel Management and pursue her dream of becoming a chef in a seven-star hotel in Dubai. Shalini also wants to pursue her interests in sports and painting.