Shayla Rivera is an Aerospace Engineer and former Rocket Scientist with NASA turned salesperson, corporate trainer, and now Int’l Keynote Speaker, Comedian, and as of 2017, Director of the ENGR[x] program and Professor of Practice with 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.
Born and raised in Puerto Rico, Rivera grew up with an avid interest in human behavior, science, machinery and fixing things. Her parents always made it clear that going to college was the way to go in order to have a successful personal and professional life. Rivera attended Texas A&M University, earning a Bachelor of Science degree in Aerospace Engineering with a great number of additional credits in her other passion, Psychology. After graduation she joined McDonnell Douglas Space Systems at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, where she worked on the Space Shuttle and Space Station programs for five years.
Rivera left NASA to pursue her abiding interest in psychology, trying to figure out what makes people tick. This pursuit took her through several years in Technical Sales of environmental systems and water treatment chemicals, financial products and finally guiding her onto becoming a corporate trainer. While conducting seminars and giving speeches, Rivera discovered her comedic skills. Encouraged by many of her clients she signed up for a weekend seminar on stand-up comedy, at the end of which she performed a five-minute routine. It was a personal turning point. “I knew I’d found what I was looking for,” Rivera recalled.
Rivera says, “My number one goal is to inspire, through laughter.” She has seen, first-hand, the impact the Latino population and culture has had in all levels of American corporations, organizations and education, and is focused on helping make this merging occur as smooth as possible. She jokes, “We are all the same, only different…once we understand this, we will be able to seize the opportunities that lie in our seeming differences.”
Shayla was thrilled to accept faculty and staff positions at her alma mater, Texas A&M University. Shayla, who is a true Aggie, is very excited to bring her expertise in self-development and awareness to the engineering students at Texas A&M as a Professor of Practice and as Director of ENGR[x], a new program with the objective of providing undergraduate engineering students with professional skills and experiences beyond their engineering degree requirements, making them more attractive to employers. Helping students become better prepared for life, not just as an engineer but as an individual, which is her greatest purpose.
Shayla Rivera is not easily placed in just one category or class, she defines her own. She finally remarks, “Now I even can add Breast Cancer Survivor to my resume. I am grateful.”