Sheyene Gerardi (Born April 13) is an Italo-Venezuelan former

actress An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), li ...

, producer,

media proprietor A media proprietor, media mogul or media tycoon refers to a entrepreneur who controls, through personal ownership or via a dominant position in any media-related company or enterprise, media consumed by many individuals. Those with significant co ...

, and

mining Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of these deposits for raw material is based on the economic ...

executive. She is the Lead of Robotics Outreach at

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil List of government space agencies, space program ...

(CLASS), where she co-founded the NASA´s Planetary Landing Team in 2018. Gerardi is the founder of the Sheyene Institute, she operates two philanthropic organizations through the Sheyene Gerardi Foundation. The Sheyene School, to address technological literacy. The Sheyene e-health, an electronic healthcare information delivery network for rare diseases, after becoming a survivor of an unclassifiable splenic hairy small B-Cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma, a rare cancer. Sheyene is member of The

International Political Science Association The International Political Science Association (IPSA), founded under the auspices of UNESCO in 1949, is an international scholarly association. IPSA is devoted to the advancement of political science in all parts of the world. During its histor ...

(IPSA), the

American Society of International Law The American Society of International Law (ASIL), founded in 1906, was chartered by the United States Congress in 1950 to foster the study of international law, and to promote the establishment and maintenance of international relations on the ba ...

and member to the

Women's International League for Peace and Freedom The Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) is a non-profit non-governmental organization working "to bring together women of different political views and philosophical and religious backgrounds determined to study and make kno ...

She is working with governments introducing

robotics Robotics is an interdisciplinary branch of computer science and engineering. Robotics involves design, construction, operation, and use of robots. The goal of robotics is to design machines that can help and assist humans. Robotics integrate ...

education into low-resource communities or conflict affected areas, such as rural

schools A school is an educational institution designed to provide learning spaces and learning environments for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is sometimes compulsor ...

refugee camps A refugee camp is a temporary settlement built to receive refugees and people in refugee-like situations. Refugee camps usually accommodate displaced people who have fled their home country, but camps are also made for internally displaced peop ...

, non-formal

school systems State schools (in England, Wales, Australia and New Zealand) or public schools (Scottish English and North American English) are generally primary or secondary schools that educate all students without charge. They are funded in whole or in pa ...

and

prison system A prison, also known as a jail, gaol (dated, standard English, Australian, and historically in Canada), penitentiary (American English and Canadian English), detention center (or detention centre outside the US), correction center, correcti ...

Early life and career

Entertainment

Her career as a professional model began in conjunction with her medical education; prior to attending university she represented her school in mathematics and chemistry competitions. Sheyene studied medicine at the

Universidad Central de Venezuela The Central University of Venezuela (Spanish: ''Universidad Central de Venezuela''; UCV) is a public university of Venezuela located in Caracas. It is widely held to be the highest ranking institution in the country, and it also ranks 18th in ...

. She worked as a model part time and participated in the

Miss Venezuela Miss Venezuela (Spanish: ''Organización Miss Venezuela'') is the national beauty pageant of Venezuela, traditionally held in September. It is preceded by two or three months of preliminary events, with the awarding of corporate prizes. The fi ...

Pageant. During her time at the university, the school plunged into turmoil, reaching the verge of closing as students protested. Around that time, a TV producer discovered Sheyene, and she garnered a starring role on a popular

soap opera A soap opera, or ''soap'' for short, is a typically long-running radio or television serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term "soap opera" originated from radio dramas originally being sponsored ...

series that was broadcast internationally. Sheyene is known for her work in more than 30 countries, including

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = National seal , national_motto = "Firm and Happy f ...

Ecuador Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechua: ''Ikwadur Ripuwlika''; Shuar: ' ...

, Colombia, and

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and unincorporated ...

. Given her influence on the culture, a non-profit charity foundation in

Barlovento, Venezuela Barlovento is a sub-region of Miranda state, Venezuela. During Spanish colonization of the Americas, Barlovento was developed as estate owners founded cacao haciendas. The work on the estates was done by African slaves brought from what is now t ...

— the Sheyene School — is named after her. Gerardi has won several awards such as the Emmy Award, the 2 de Oro award, She has received the key of the city in Barlovento, the Meridiano de Oro award and the

Imagen Awards The Imagen Awards are administered by the Imagen Foundation, an organization dedicated to "encouraging and recognizing the positive portrayals of Latinos in the entertainment industry." To be considered for an Imagen Award, a media piece or person ...

. The actress has also credits in roles as a TV host. In 2016, Gerardi was named a Mogul Influencer in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

Later career

Sheyene is the founder of the Sheyene Gerardi Network (SGN), a variety of mainstream entertainment forms, dedicated to foster awareness related to the space revolution. On March 9, 2020, Sheyene began hosting a TV show documentary entitled " To the Moon and Back with Sheyene Gerardi" distributed through cable television, where Sheyene aims to educate about leading-edge technological developments. Sheyene is also executive producing this series.

NASA

Sheyene Gerardi is working with

Kennedy Space Center The John F. Kennedy Space Center (KSC, originally known as the NASA Launch Operations Center), located on Merritt Island, Florida, is one of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) ten field centers. Since December 1968 ...

Swamp Works and the Florida Space Institute (FSI) to teach

Planetary engineering Planetary engineering is the development and application of technology for the purpose of influencing the environment of a planet. Planetary engineering encompasses a variety of methods such as terraforming, seeding, and geoengineering. Widely ...

and creating

competitions for low-income children through Sheyene School. In 2018, Sheyene was appointed as the Lead for Robotics Outreach at

's Center for Lunar and Asteroid Surface Science (CLASS), the

Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute The Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute (SSERVI), originally the NASA Lunar Science Institute, is an organization, established by NASA in 2008, that supplemented and extended existing NASA lunar science programs. Supported by t ...

(SSERVI) and the Florida Space Institute (FSI). Gerardi co-founded the NASA´s Planetary Landing Team, a node of the Center for Lunar & Asteroid Surface Science (CLASS) at the

University of Central Florida The University of Central Florida (UCF) is a public research university whose main campus is in unincorporated Orange County, Florida. UCF also has nine smaller regional campuses throughout central Florida. It is part of the State University ...

(UCF). Her role infusing scientific progress into robotics outreach includes to develop a series of robotics competitions for universities and to develop robotics for constructing landing pads on the Moon. She is working with governments introducing robotics education into low-resource communities or conflict areas, such as rural schools, refugee camps and non-formal school systems. The program is serving prison systems providing assistance with education to people who has been wrongfully convicted.

Wealth

Gerardi acquired her wealth after her mother and father were killed in an automobile accident, leaving Sheyene with no living relatives. Sheyene`s family has owned and operated a mining company, since 1954. Gerardi serves as a CEO of GEMS corporation, she took over the company after her parents died, one of her first major actions following the death of her parents was to implement automated mining. GEMS is acronym that stands for Gerardi, Edgar (her father), Marina (her mother), Sheyene. The family office, which opened in 2009, serves as the private investment vehicle for Sheyene. Sheyene's lands are in the Orinoco Mining Arc, in the same area of the Cristinas and the Brisas mine, which, according to a business valuation, the property may be worth more than $1 billion. According to Roberto Mirabal, former minister of the Popular Power for Ecological Mining Development, the Orinoco Mining Arc has tons of reserves of

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile me ...

copper Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkis ...

diamond Diamond is a solid form of the element carbon with its atoms arranged in a crystal structure called diamond cubic. Another solid form of carbon known as graphite is the chemically stable form of carbon at room temperature and pressure, ...

coltan Coltan (short for columbite–tantalites and known industrially as tantalite) is a dull black metallic ore from which the elements niobium and tantalum are extracted. The niobium-dominant mineral in coltan is columbite (after niobium's original ...

iron Iron () is a chemical element with Symbol (chemistry), symbol Fe (from la, Wikt:ferrum, ferrum) and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 element, group 8 of the periodic table. It is, Abundanc ...

cerium Cerium is a chemical element with the symbol Ce and atomic number 58. Cerium is a soft, ductile, and silvery-white metal that tarnishes when exposed to air. Cerium is the second element in the lanthanide series, and while it often shows the +3 ...

lanthanum Lanthanum is a chemical element with the symbol La and atomic number 57. It is a soft, ductile, silvery-white metal that tarnishes slowly when exposed to air. It is the eponym of the lanthanide series, a group of 15 similar elements between lant ...

neodymium Neodymium is a chemical element with the symbol Nd and atomic number 60. It is the fourth member of the lanthanide series and is considered to be one of the rare-earth metals. It is a hard, slightly malleable, silvery metal that quickly tarnishe ...

thorium Thorium is a weakly radioactive metallic chemical element with the symbol Th and atomic number 90. Thorium is silvery and tarnishes black when it is exposed to air, forming thorium dioxide; it is moderately soft and malleable and has a high ...

and other minerals and it has a potential of about 2 trillion dollars, which would make it the second biggest gold reserve in the world. Another one of her businesses include a robotics product line for commercial use and the Sheyene Gerardi Network (SGN), a variety of mainstream entertainment forms, such as films, magazines and TV channel, that focus on various projects and activities within

, including the

International Space Station The International Space Station (ISS) is the largest modular space station currently in low Earth orbit. It is a multinational collaborative project involving five participating space agencies: NASA (United States), Roscosmos (Russia), JAXA ( ...

, robotic missions and international

Space launch Space launch is the earliest part of a flight that reaches space. Space launch involves liftoff, when a rocket or other space launch vehicle leaves the ground, floating ship or midair aircraft at the start of a flight. Liftoff is of two main ...

Business career

Sheyene Institute

After becoming involved with

Sheyene founded the Sheyene Institute, a company that works on technologies to mining and manufacturing on the Moon, Mars and asteroids. The institute conducts applied research and development in Autonomous Navigation Technologies (ANTs).

Sheyene Gerardi Technology

Sheyene is active in the area of robotics towards autonomous mining and self-driving cars. In 2017, Sheyene established a robotic company spun out of the Sheyene Institute to commercialize her robotics product line for industrial and commercial uses. Sheyene's firm is a government solutions provider. Headquartered in

Silicon Valley Silicon Valley is a region in Northern California that serves as a global center for high technology and innovation. Located in the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area, it corresponds roughly to the geographical areas San Mateo Coun ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

, the company products are available for commercial, industrial, enterprise and university research applications. Sheyene Technology is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Sheyene Gerardi Family Office with additional offices in

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flowin ...

, China and

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

Activism and Politics

Politics

In April 2020, Sheyene enrolled in the

University of Naples Federico II The University of Naples Federico II ( it, Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II) is a public university in Naples, Italy. Founded in 1224, it is the oldest public non-sectarian university in the world, and is now organized into 26 depar ...

to acquire a degree in

Political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...

. Sheyene is currently working along with governments and international organizations to introduce robotics education into low-resource communities or conflict areas, such as rural schools, refugee camps, non-formal school systems and prison systems in concert with entertainment productions for social change to educate the public and guide them to take action.

Human rights and Peace activism

In 2020, Gerardi joined the

and became involved with the

. Sheyene has been a featured speaker at several international business and technology forums, including the

World Economic Forum The World Economic Forum (WEF) is an international non-governmental and lobbying organisation based in Cologny, canton of Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded on 24 January 1971 by German engineer and economist Klaus Schwab. The foundation, ...

, the

World Government Summit The World Government Summit is an annual event held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. It brings together leaders in government for a global dialogue about governmental process and policies with a focus on the issues of futurism, technology innovati ...

and the

Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; sv, Nobelpriset ; no, Nobelprisen ) are five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." Alfr ...

Summit. In the "Sheyene Institute founder´s letter", Gerardi stressed the importance of the role of entertainment with a long-standing interest in social issues such as technological literacy and the space revolution, as well as settlement work to uplift misrepresented people to Spurring Participation in Aerospace Competitiveness and Entrepreneurship (S.P.A.C.E), a movement intended to promote citizen participation in, and broadened ownership of, space industry.

Institutional affiliations

Sheyene is member of the American Political Science Association (APSA), member of the

(IPSA and to the committee on professional ethics, rights, and freedoms. Gerardi is member of L'association française de science politique (AFSP). Sheyene is also member of the

; and member of the

. Sheyene is both member of the Law and Ethics of Robotics committee group and strategic advisor of the Next Generation Committee of The Robotics Society of Japan, member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and the

IEEE Robotics and Automation Society The IEEE Robotics and Automation Society (IEEE RAS) is a professional society of the IEEE that supports the development and the exchange of scientific knowledge in the fields of robotics and automation, including applied and theoretical issues. ...

(RAS).

Education

Gerardi graduated in art from institutions such as

Charles III University of Madrid University Charles III of Madrid ( es, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid) (UC3M) is a public university in the Community of Madrid, Spain. Established in 1989, UC3M is an institution with a distinctly international profile. It offers a broad rang ...

(UC3M),

Sotheby's Institute of Art Sotheby's Institute of Art is a private, for-profit institution of higher education devoted to the study of art and its markets with campuses in London, New York City and online. The institute offers full-time accredited master's degrees as wel ...

and

Central University of Venezuela The Central University of Venezuela (Spanish: ''Universidad Central de Venezuela''; UCV) is a public university of Venezuela located in Caracas. It is widely held to be the highest ranking institution in the country, and it also ranks 18th in ...

. Sheyene was accepted to a master's degree program for space

In situ resource utilization In space exploration, in situ resource utilization (ISRU) is the practice of collection, processing, storing and use of materials found or manufactured on other astronomical objects (the Moon, Mars, asteroids, etc.) that replace materials that ...

(ISRU), offered by

Center for Lunar and Asteroid Surface Science (CLASS), she earned a master certification in Space Resource Utilization with 100% final grade, in 2018.Sheyene entered the

in 2020, to study

and to a

Monte Carlo method Monte Carlo methods, or Monte Carlo experiments, are a broad class of computational algorithms that rely on repeated random sampling to obtain numerical results. The underlying concept is to use randomness to solve problems that might be determi ...

program at Stanford University.

Personal life

Sheyene Gerardi was born in

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

, she holds dual-citizenship with

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

, from where her mother hails. In 2006, her mother and father were killed in an automobile accident, leaving Sheyene with no living relatives. A year later, she received a diagnosis of advanced

lymphoma Lymphoma is a group of blood and lymph tumors that develop from lymphocytes (a type of white blood cell). In current usage the name usually refers to just the cancerous versions rather than all such tumours. Signs and symptoms may include enla ...

stage IV, a very rare type of cancer with only 60 cases reported worldwide with no survivors. The cancer was spread throughout 85% of her body and doctors gave her three months to live. Sheyene was treated by Dr. Humberto Caldera, in Florida. During her chemotherapy treatments, Gerardi worked in two films in

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

, first, starred in La virgen de la caridad del cobre. Six months later, in Santa Juanita de los lagos. Gerardi underwent three years of chemotherapy, she suffered no hair loss. Sheyene grew up an avid fan of racing, her father was a race-car driver in Venezuela; he had five consecutive wins before he died. Sheyene has spoken about her passion for sailing, she is a certified yacht captain and owns a yacht, named after her in Florida.

Philanthropy

Sheyene operates two philanthropic organizations through the Sheyene Gerardi Foundation.https://www.charitiesnys.com/RegistrySearch/show_details.jsp?id= The Sheyene School, a non-profit branch of the Sheyene Institute, to address technological literacy in robotics and STEM related fields, for low-income children in underdeveloped regions; and Sheyene E-health, which provides free medical consultations via Internet, email and via phone for people suffering from

rare diseases A rare disease is any disease that affects a small percentage of the population. In some parts of the world, an orphan disease is a rare disease whose rarity means there is a lack of a market large enough to gain support and resources for discove ...

Filmography

Awards

References

External links

* *
CNN interview

CNN interview

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gerardi, Sheyene Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Venezuelan people of Italian descent Venezuelan philanthropists Venezuelan women in business People in the space industry Space advocates NASA people Life extensionists Businesspeople in information technology Silicon Valley people Stanford University people Stanford University alumni American technology chief executives American technology company founders Businesspeople from the San Francisco Bay Area World Economic Forum Young Global Leaders Businesspeople from New York (state) People from Palo Alto, California Members of the United States National Academy of Engineering Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Businesspeople in mining Women in mining Mining in Venezuela Venezuelan billionaires Italian billionaires Central University of Venezuela alumni

Alumni Alumni (singular: alumnus (masculine) or alumna (feminine)) are former students of a school, college, or university who have either attended or graduated in some fashion from the institution. The feminine plural alumnae is sometimes used for grou ...

Venezuelan actor-politicians 21st-century Venezuelan women politicians 21st-century Venezuelan politicians People associated with identity politics Political artists

Women human rights activists Pacifist feminists South American pacifists Venezuelan women activists Venezuelan feminists Venezuelan human rights activists Mass media owners in Latin America Venezuelan mass media owners Actresses from Caracas 20th-century Venezuelan actresses 21st-century Venezuelan actresses Venezuelan female models Venezuelan film actresses Venezuelan telenovela actresses Venezuelan television actresses