Justine Shapiro was born in South Africa and grew up in Berkeley, California, where she lives today with her young son. She attended Tufts University in Boston where she studied history and theater. She moved to Paris to study theater with Phillippe Gaulier and later went to Hollywood where she appeared in films and television movies including "I'll Do Anything" (by James L. Brooks), "Storyville" (20th Century Fox), "Floodtide" (Granada Television), and "SeaQuest DSV" (Amblin Entertainment). During four years in Los Angeles, Justine taught English to immigrants, and their stories inspired her to take the next step in her life.

Justine returned to the San Francisco Bay area and became involved in several documentary projects, including Voices from the Storm about Gulf War veterans and IDG Film's Nagasaki Journey. In 1995, Justine began producing an independent documentary film titled "Promises", featuring seven Israeli and Palestinian children in Jerusalem. Rather than focusing on hard news, "Promises" offers a human portrait of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. The film was nominated for a 2002 Academy Award for best documentary. It won News and Documentary Emmys for best documentary and for outstanding background/analysis. The film also received audience awards at the San Francisco, Vancouver, Sao Paolo and Rotterdam film festivals, as well as juried awards at the Hamptons, Valladolid, Locarno, Munich and Jerusalem film festivals.

With Globe Trekker, Justine has nearly conquered her fear of flying as the show has taken her all over the world. Justine loves to travel and has explored much of Europe, Israel, Mexico, Morocco, and the Palestinian territories on her own. She speaks French and Spanish.