Shankar grew up in Philadelphia and graduated from the Tisch School of the Arts of New York University.
[2] While in New York, Shankar performed improvisational comedy with the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre, wrote for the MTV News web series Decoded and the satirical website Reductress, and appeared in web videos for ClickHole and Funny or Die.
[3] In 2016, she created the web series Hustle, supported by crowdfunding on Kickstarter, which portrayed the life of struggling freelancers as a video game.
[5] She moved to Los Angeles and became the head writer for the company's CollegeHumor Originals web series.
[8] She has hosted Dropout shows such as Celebrity Slumber Party in 2018, Erotic Clubhouse in 2020, and Smartypants in 2024, in which performers put on comedy PowerPoint presentations.