Shamblin was born in Charleston and graduated from Nitro High School before earning a bachelors degree from West Virginia University and a masters from Marshall University. He is a history and civics teacher at Nitro High School and a minister at Nitro Church of Christ. Before being elected to the state legislature he served three terms on the Nitro City Council. He has stated that a large portion of his motivation for running for public office was to counter the population decline amongst young people in the state after realizing that over a third of his high school’s graduating class had left the state. He has also stated that much of his motivation comes from working within the state’s public school system and the desire he has to see it improved.