Her father, a math professor in Hong Kong, later became an electrical engineer in the United States at Argonne National Laboratory.

[3][9][10] In addition to her extracurricular activities, Shih founded Camp Amelia Technology Literacy Group, a nonprofit organization that creates software aimed at improving basic education in underserved communities in the United States and developing countries.

[4] In her spare time, Shih volunteered in East Palo Alto, California and taught low-income elementary students to become interested in math, science and technology.

The application turned out to be successful, and Shih recruited her old classmate, Steve Garrity, from Microsoft to develop Hearsay Social.

In December 2011, she was also elected to the Starbucks board of directors, replacing Facebook chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg.

[11][12] Shih has received several awards for her achievements, including recognition as one of the most impactful Asian by Gold House (2024),[13] a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum,[14] the Fortune 40 Under 40 (2012),[15] and the Ad Age 40 Under 40 (2012).

In this role, Shih replaced Bill Patterson, who moved on to be the general manager of Salesforce's overall CRM software business.