Born in the Rostov region in the south of Russia, in 1950 Shcherbinina graduated from Rostov(-on-Don) Institute of Engineering and Construction. In 1950-1954, she worked on the planning of villages alongside the Volga-Don canal, where she became the head of projects. After working in Leningrad for one year, Shcherbinina then moved to Sevastopol in Crimea, following her husband, who was a marine officer. There, she worked in Sevastopolstroi, in the Sevastopol branch of Mistoproekt (from 1975 on, KrymNIIproekt), where she moved from the head architect of projects to deputy head for urban planning. 

In the 1960s, Shcherbinina worked on the planning of the center of Yevpatoria, the old town of Bakhchisaray, the planning of Belogorodsky, Pervomaysky, and Kirovsky regions of Crimea, as well as on the planning of villages in Kazakhstan. Most of all, however, she worked on the planning of Sevastopol (particularly the Karavella district); she headed the team of specialists working on the masterplan of the development of Sevastopol until the year 2000. 

During the 1990s, she had to reorient her work on designing individual villas in the suburbs of Sevastopol.