Sherkat was born in Isfahan, Iran. She holds a bachelor's degree in psychology from Tehran University and a certificate in journalism from Keyhan Institute, also in Tehran. Since 2002, she has been working towards her master's degree in women's studies from Allameh Tabatabai University.

Shahla Sherkat is the founder and publisher of Zanan magazine (English:"women"), which focuses on the concerns of Iranian women and continually tests the political waters with its edgy coverage of everything from reform politics to domestic abuse to sex. Zanan was the most important Iranian women's journal after the revolution. After Zanan magazine was banned after 16 years of publication, she opened Zanan-e Emruz.^[1]

Sherkat had had to appear in court on several occasions when the Iranian government considered Zanan's content pushing boundaries too far.^[1] In 2001, she was sentenced to four months in prison for attending a conference in Berlin at which the future of politics in Iran was discussed following the success of reformist candidates in a parliamentary election.

• 2005 Louis Lyons Award, The Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University
• 2005 The Courage in Journalism Award from the International Women's Media Foundation (IWMF)

• Women's rights movement in Iran

• Shahla Sherkat, Iran, International Women's Media Foundation

• Farideh Farhi, The Attempted Silencing of Zanan, Informed Comment: Global Affairs, Friday, February 1, 2008, [1].
• Amal Hamada, Zanan: An Iranian Reformist Women's Magazine, IslamOnline, Tuesday, February 17, 2004, [2].
• Zanān (Women) Magazine: [3].