Shimada graduated from the Department of Education at Waseda University. In 1981, when she was in her third university year, she learned that Toei Douga was recruiting new employees and took an exam to become a trainee director. The studio's policy at the time was not to employ women as directors, and although she scored top marks in the exam, she was encouraged to try writing screenplays instead. She made her debut with a script for episode 42 of Dr. Slump: Arale-chan, which was aired on 10 February 1982. After that, she established a successful career in scriptwriting. On 15 December 2017, she passed away at age 58 from an undisclosed disease.
