Early Life

Thomasena Shaw was born in Dublin, Ireland on October, 4th 1970. She lived at home with her four siblings, mom and dad. She attended an all girls Catholic school. At the age of seven her father, Eddie Shaw, got a new job in a town called Athlone, so she moved there and changed schools. Athlone was quite different from what she was used to living in as it was inland and rural. Then, at the age of fifteen she moved back to Dublin and changed schools two more times.

"I don't really have very vivid memories of that time because we moved around a lot and it was difficult as a fifteen or sixteen year old to move high schools twice in 2 years. It wasn't until I went to College in 1988 that I kind of felt more settled and met people I made memories with." - Thomasena Shaw

Thomasena then attended Maynooth College located just outside Dublin. It was very common for students living in Dublin to commute to campus and live at home because of how close the school was. So, she would take the train to school every morning and then back in the evening. This is very different from the experience had by students at American colleges where its the norm to live on campus. The only people who would board at the universities in Dublin were those who lived out in the country for example, Galway or Cork which are a couple hours away. After Maynooth College she went to University College Dublin to receive her Masters in Social Science, this is also where she met her future husband Brian O'Nuallain. Brian was studying in the science field, and the reason why they ended up first moving to America.

"All of us lived at home well into our twenties which I think is so different to what life is like here for an American student. So, when I moved to America in 1998 to finish my education it was the first time I had lived away from home."-Thomasena Shaw