Sheila Wells Monroe was born in Cleveland, Ohio. At an early age, she moved to Sylacauga, Alabama with her parents. When she was six years old, she moved to Red Springs, North Carolina to live with her aunt and uncle. While growing up in North Carolina, she was baptized and joined the St. James A. M. E. Zion Church, Red Springs. She was very actively involved in the youth and children’s ministry of the St. James Church.

In 1973, she graduated from Red Springs High School. She later graduated with honors from Robeson Technical College, Lumberton, North Carolina. Shortly after her graduation, she married the Rev. Kenneth Monroe on May 24, 1975.

Since her union to the Reverend Monroe, she has been more actively involved with the various congregations and ministries from the six congregations and two presiding elder districts of Reverend Monroe’s ministry. Most of her ministries have included leadership positions in the Woman’s Home and Overseas Missionary Society as well as the Department of Christian Education. She has served as a Church School Teacher; Director of Children’s Ministry; Assistant Church School Superintendent; District Secretary of Youth Missionaries; and Coordinator of Young Adult Missionaries. She has served as Director of the Ecumenical Education Initiative while serving at the Metropolitan A. M. E. Zion Church, Hartford, CT. She has been employed with the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company and more recently, the East Hartford Middle Schools.

Currently, Mrs. Monroe serves as the Missionary Supervisor of the Eastern North Carolina Episcopal District, comprising of Albemarle, Cape Fear, Central North Carolina, North Carolina, and Virgin Islands  Annual Conferences. She is the mother of three children, Erica Monroe of Overland Park, Kansas; Kevin J. Monroe of Kansas City, Kansas and Adria N. Monroe of Charlotte, North Carolina; seven grandchildren, Destiny, Amond, Devin, Jayden and London, Kamyrn and Emaiya all of Kansas City, Missouri.