Zelinda was born in Fiji and immigrated to Tasmania in the mid-1980s. She is a mother of two, holds a Bachelor of Arts/Law degree, a Masters in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages and is a final year PhD candidate. Zelinda lived and worked in Japan for nearly 14 years, where she was highly regarded for providing leadership in the field of English language education and she is an elected Councillor for the Hobart City Council.

Since the inception of the Hobart City Council, over 150 years ago, Councillor Sherlock becomes the first woman of non-European heritage to win a seat on Council. Within this role, she serves as a positive role model and communitarian who takes up the challenge of tabling some of the issues of the marginalized in her community, and strongly advocating for equity and access. During her time on Council, she has spearheaded, in collaboration with other Councillors, successful motions such as the first Housing with Dignity Reference Group to include individuals with lived experience of homelessness, and a first of its kind Social Inclusion Index that serves to support and measure the impact of, and potential actions for homelessness in greater Hobart. She has also initiated successful motions at Council that seek to investigate the English language services for the migrant and refugee community, and additionally, a motion for the Hobart City Council to consider, potentially being one of the first cities in Australia to explore a sister city relationship with a city in India.

Zelinda is also an Education Officer for the Multicultural Youth Tasmania program at the Migrant Resource Centre Tasmania. In this role she creates and implements education and mentoring based programs for the refugee and migrant community. Zelinda also teaches English for Academic Purposes for UP Education at the University of Tasmania.