Shin immigrated to the United States from Korea.[13] In 1983, Shin co-founded AIWA.[13] In 1991, Shin was among 301 delegates who convened in Washington, D.C. for the First National People of Color Environmental Summit.[14][5][15][7] The work of Shin and Pam Tau Lee, co-founder of the Asian Pacific Environmental Network, at the 1991 summit ensured that occupational health issues were included in the draft of "Principles of Environmental Justice" created during the summit.[15][16] This represented an important contribution to procedural justice and helped ensure that marginalized community members had a stake in environmental decisions that would impact their community.[15] Additionally, both Lee and Shin are reported to have infused English classes with political education to enable immigrant women to better communicate workplace and environmental hazards.[16]
In 2002, Shin was published in a report by Women's Environment & Development Organizations titled "a small world after all: Women Assess The State of the Environment In the U.S. and Beyond."[17]
In 2013, she was featured in the documentary Becoming Ourselves: How Immigrant Women Transformed Their World, which was directed by Gary Delgado.