Shayla Rivera Speaker Biography
Breast Cancer Survivor, Comedian & Former NASA Engineer
Shayla Rivera is a force of nature—an aerospace engineer and former NASA rocket scientist who traded equations for empathy and boardrooms for big laughs. Today, she is an internationally acclaimed breast cancer survivor keynote speaker, TEDx speaker, comedian, and master storyteller who blends science, psychology, and humor to spark awareness, inspire growth, and move audiences to action.
Renaissance Woman Speaker on Leadership, Diversity & Personal Growth
While her résumé reads like a catalog of careers—NASA engineer, corporate trainer, technical salesperson, television and radio host, actor, writer, producer, and professor—Shayla prefers a simpler description: a spiritually irreverent Mystic and Awareness Expert. A true Renaissance Woman, she uses humor as a powerful tool to explore leadership, diversity and inclusion, communication, stress management, STEM, education, and personal growth, delivering keynotes that are insightful, motivating, and laugh-out-loud funny.
From Puerto Rico to NASA: Aerospace Engineering & Psychology Background
Born and raised in Puerto Rico, Shayla grew up fascinated by how things work—both machines and people. Encouraged to pursue higher education, she attended Texas A&M University, earning a Bachelor of Science in Aerospace Engineering while also immersing herself in psychology. After graduation, she joined McDonnell Douglas Space Systems at NASA’s Johnson Space Center, where she spent five years working on the Space Shuttle and Space Station programs.
Corporate Trainer & Motivational Speaker Focused on Human Behavior
Despite the prestige of rocket science, Shayla felt drawn to a deeper question: what makes people tick? That curiosity led her from NASA into technical sales and then corporate training, where she facilitated stress-management and leadership seminars for executives nationwide. As her speaking career evolved, an unexpected talent emerged—her natural gift for comedy.
Award-Nominated Comedian & Creator of “Rocket Science and Salsa”
Encouraged by audiences who kept laughing just a little too hard, Shayla took a leap into stand-up comedy. That first five-minute performance became a turning point. She soon became a regular at comedy clubs nationwide and created her critically acclaimed one-woman show, Rocket Science and Salsa, directed by Debbie Allen and earning a NAACP Theatre Award nomination for Best Lead Actress.
Television & Film Personality with National and Latino Media Reach
Shayla’s career expanded into television and film, including hosting the Lifetime Real Women Network series You’re Not The Man I Married and appearances on Comics Unleashed, Comedy Central, HBO Latino, Univision, Telemundo, and more. She was named “Funniest Latina Comedian” by Latin 2015 and has been speaking and performing bilingually in English and Spanish for over 27 years.
International Keynote Speaker, TEDx Speaker & Global Performer
Shayla’s impact extends far beyond entertainment. She has delivered keynotes for Fortune 500 companies, educational institutions, nonprofits, and conferences worldwide, including a TEDx talk at Texas A&M University. She is especially proud of performing comedy and motivational programs for U.S. servicemen and women stationed around the globe.
Professor of Practice at Texas A&M University & Engineering Educator
In 2017, Shayla returned to her alma mater as a Professor of Practice and Director of ENGR[x] at Texas A&M’s College of Engineering. Through this innovative program, she helps future engineers develop professional, communication, and life skills that prepare them to thrive beyond the classroom.
Inspiring Audiences as a Breast Cancer Survivor & Motivational Speaker
A breast cancer survivor, educator, performer, and relentless optimist, Shayla Rivera defines success on her own terms. With authenticity, resilience, and humor, she connects deeply with audiences. As she says, “My number one goal is to inspire—through laughter.”
Shayla Rivera Speaking Topics
Surviving Breast Cancer: Finding Strength, Humor, and Purpose Through the Unexpected
In this powerful and deeply human keynote, breast cancer survivor Shayla Rivera shares her personal journey through diagnosis, treatment, and recovery with honesty, insight, and humor. Drawing on her background as a former NASA engineer, educator, and comedian, Shayla reframes survivorship as more than endurance—it’s about awareness, adaptability, and reclaiming joy in the face of uncertainty. With compassion and laughter, she explores fear, resilience, identity, and the emotional toll of “being strong,” offering audiences practical perspective shifts and emotional relief. This talk leaves listeners empowered, connected, and reminded that even in life’s most challenging moments, humor and humanity can be lifesaving tools.
“ABC – Awareness Begins Change”
Speaker Shayla Rivera believes, indeed knows, that anyone can accomplish anything they would like to. “In fact, they already are” she says. Her knowledge springs from the evidence she hShayla Puppyas found through her own life experiences. There is only one wonderful requirement for living unlimited possibilities and that is, know what you believe. “The one thing I have learned is that it is the external sources in our lives, namely our upbringing and conditioning, that continues to determine and influence our lives and our achievements,” she says. The biggest impediment to positive change is our lack of clarity about what we truly believe. What we have to do is realize that we are on auto pilot about what we continually choose to do and believe. Indeed, our beliefs are not ours at all, they are simply a result of our conditioning. They stay around because we have decided to agree to keep them. Once we become aware that we are in control we can begin to change our direction. Then make choices that aim at the desired results for our lives.” Shayla uses her own life story to help her audiences laugh their way to inspiration.
Personal Improvement
Nothing is as powerful nor important as the individual. Becoming clear about the obstacles in our way is paramount to Personal Improvement. When we explore our conditioning we begin to see how our seeming limitations are simply what we were conditioned to believe and now agree with. The work at hand is to begin to be honest in identifying the obstacles in our way, and seeing how they are kept in place by our own selves. Once we are able to stop denying this self-blocking, then we can begin to remove, go around, or jump over them to clear our paths and open up to new and exciting opportunities. This is the only way to a more fulfilling life.
Humor
The Value of Humor in our lives cannot be overstated. A person who cannot find fault within and then laugh at themselves is a very poor soul indeed. It is amazing to me how we have made it somehow a fault when a person tends to be gregarious and laugh a lot. We deem those people as not capable to be ‘successful’ somehow. I say take what you do seriously, but don’t take yourself so seriously. Finding where we all trip in life, then being able to laugh about it is the very genesis of all good things. I can Laugh at myself…and yes, I can also laugh at you.
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
Diversity is a ‘hot button’ topic in America right now. However, this subject is mostly being approached from the perspective of fear about our differences instead of from the opportunities brought forth by the same. Fearing what we don’t understand only promotes limitations in our growth. What we must remember is that the very strength of our nation is reflected on the writing of our National Seal, “E Pluribus Unum” – Out of Many, One.
Leadership
Like everything else, leadership begins with the individual. A leader is not defined by a title or a position of leadership but by their ability to inspire others to work towards a common goal. Traits of leadership such as having a vision, setting goals, charisma, communication skills, character, intelligence, and many more, can be found within every person. I focus on helping individuals recognize and strengthen these traits within themselves. Then give them the tools that will help them do the same for others.
