Shayla Rivera

"IMAGINATION = I'M-A-GENIE-IN-CREATION"

Shayla Rivera is an Aerospace Engineer and former Rocket Scientist with NASA turned corporate trainer, Keynote Speaker, TV & Radio Host, Emcee, Writer, Facilitator, Moderator, Actor, Comedian and Awareness Expert.   As of 2017, Shayla is also a Professor of Practice as well as the Director of the ENGR[x] program for the College of Engineering at Texas A&M University.

However, none of these labels tells you much about her.  She best describes herself as a spiritually irreverent Mystic and Awareness Expert.  What many would call a Renaissance Woman.

Shayla was born and raised in Puerto Rico.  After obtaining a degree in Aerospace Engineering with a minor in Psychology at Texas A&M University, she spent 5 years working with NASA’s Space Shuttle and Space Station programs.  From there she moved on to technical sales where she sold analyzers and water treatment chemicals to the chemical and refining industries. It was in sales where she found her passion for speaking. Shayla then moved into corporate trainings for stress management and motivational speaking. This is where she discovered the comedic talents, which led her into Standup Comedy.

She shares her expertise as a speaker with corporate, non-profit and educational clients around the world.  Her performance credits include a great number of TV and Theater appearances and hosting the 13 episode TV series “You’re Not the Man I Married” for the Lifetime Real Women Network. However, Shayla is most proud of her multiple tours to entertain U.S. troops around the world.  

A self-proclaimed Awareness Expert, Shayla has come to know one basic truth, “The best way to learn, grow and change - in other words become enlightened - is to lighten up.”  Approaching very serious subjects with a very light heart, Shayla helps young and old alike become clear about the personal perspectives that might be getting in the way of their real desires.  

With numerous awards and accolades throughout her speaking and comedy careers, Shayla is not easily placed in just one category or class, she defines her own. Shayla has been speaking and performing in both English and Spanish for over 27 years and always uses the power of the humor she has found in her own life story. She wants to help you do the same.

Shayla says, “My number one goal is to inspire through laughter.”