Born and raised in the picturesque island of Saint Lucia, Shartoya’s spark for the performing arts ignited from the age of seven. She has represented Saint Lucia at numerous regional and international Cultural Dance Exchanges, and has performed and choreographed for national events, the Caribbean Premier League Saint Lucian cheerleaders and multiple Soca artistes. Her dance styles extend from contemporary, modern to African, Caribbean dance and Traditional Saint Lucian folk.

When Shartoya is not performing, she can be found in the theatre or the design studio. Shartoya’s interest in design stemmed from her mother’s career in interior and commercial design, and it peaked during her undergrad education at Towson University. Currently, Shartoya is a first year MFA Scenic Design candidate at the University of Maryland. Local credits include Sweat (Towson University), Antigone(Towson University),  P.Nokio (Imagination Stage) and By The Way, Meet Vera Stark  (University of Maryland), Assistant Scenic Design credits include Beastgirl (The Kennedy Center) and Choreographer, Assistant Director for Bob Marley’s Three Little Birds (The Hangar Theatre).

In her spare time, she enjoys philanthropy, teaching dance classes and creating dance concept videos that merge the worlds of choreography and scenic design. Shartoya’s classes and concepts can be found on her Youtube channel – shr758. One of her biggest accomplishments to date is “The SHR Experience” – a one-day dance workshop where international choreographers visit Saint Lucia to teach various dance styles, and in turn, learn a Saint Lucian cultural dance. The proceeds from The SHR Experience are injected into the Saint Lucian dance community by purchasing equipment for dancers and dance studios that lack the basic necessities for training.