AUG 31, 2025

There are corridors of power, and then there are the tunnels beneath them. Deep within the majestic, classified vaults of Washington D.C., a place where history is etched into the very walls, Sheyene Gerardi is, by her own admission, ecstatically happy. “It’s like my soul found its spirit animal in D.C.,” she says, her voice alight with a passion that seems to echo through the subterranean passages. “The vaults… the tunnels… this is so majestic! I’m pretty sure I’ve left a little piece of my essence down there.”

It’s a long way from the film sets of Venezuela and the glamour of an international acting career. But for Gerardi, this path—from screen icon to a global strategist working with teams at the Pentagon and NASA—is not just a second act. It’s a second life, one she had to nearly die to begin. Just a year before being given three months to live, she lost her entire family in a car accident. Alone in the world, her fight against cancer became a solitary battle for survival, making her current chapter of joy and purpose all the more extraordinary.

“When I got sick, every single doctor told me it was too late,” she recalls, the memory still sharp. “They gave me only three months to live. That was a long time ago,” she adds with a wry laugh. Diagnosed with an exceedingly rare and aggressive cancer, her future seemed written. “Until,” she says, her tone shifting, “I found one amazing doctor in Florida who believed in the impossible.”

What happened next is the kind of miracle usually reserved for movie scripts. Sheyene became the first and—to this day—the only survivor of this particular cancer. But her story of defiance had only just begun. While undergoing three years of intensive chemotherapy, she didn’t just survive; she thrived. In an almost unheard-of feat, she never lost her hair. More than that, she refused to let her diagnosis define her.

“I did two movies in Mexico and took tons of sexy pictures during that time,” she says. It was an act of profound rebellion, a refusal to be seen as a patient or a victim. She was still Sheyene: powerful, vibrant, and in control of her own narrative.

This resilience was something instilled in her from a young age. “My mom used to say: ‘Some people follow the references; others become the reference.’”

That philosophy became her anchor. Having been given a second chance at life, she made a conscious decision. “Everything in my life has to be extraordinary, fun and sublime,” she explains. “Or at least have one of these elements.”

Her new routine is a testament to that creed. Her days are a whirlwind of high-stakes, deeply classified, and, to her, utterly thrilling work. “My brain is constantly doing the cha-cha,” she laughs. “NASA? Check. The Capitol? Check. Pentagon? Double-check.” This isn’t a job; it’s a calling that fulfills every part of her being. “I can’t tell you how desperately happy my heart is every time I am on my way to those meetings. My biggest struggle is to suppress my Italian roots and ‘act normal’!”

Working with elite teams whose daily mission is to make the impossible possible, she feels perfectly at home. “We’re not just following the textbook; we’re writing a whole new one,” she says, echoing her mother’s wisdom.

It is this profound sense of joy and purpose that makes her story so compelling. She walks into the most serious rooms in the world, carrying not the weight of her past, but the light of her survival. She even has plans for the afterlife.

“Even after I die, I’m planning to haunt those tunnels!” she declares with a grin. “In fact, I know there will be haunted history tours about me. Paranormal investigators will try to capture the faint echo of my ghostly laughter and the clacking of my heels. ‘Was that… the Tunnel Queen?’ they’ll whisper. ‘Legend says she never truly left.’”

She says it with a wink, but the sentiment is real. Her profound appreciation extends beyond the majestic architecture to the people she works alongside. When asked to describe the leadership at the Pentagon, she doesn't give a guarded, political response. Instead, she grins and cues the soundtrack to her new life: Dido’s classic hit, “Thank You.”

“Honestly, it’s that song,” she says with genuine emotion. “‘Thank you for giving me the best day of my life,’” she quotes. “'Just to be with you is having the best day of my life.’ That’s how I feel.”

It’s a joy she earned, a destiny she fought for. “I could live this time on repeat for the rest of my life,” she reflects.

“Certainly,” she concludes, her voice softening with profound gratitude, “this new life is exactly what I fought Cancer to have.”