Shaila Velazquez was born into a family of Christian musicians, singers, writers and poets who made their way from the island of Puerto Rico to Tampa, Florida, where Shaila was born and raised. Despite being born into a family of performers, Shaila believes that her love to perform came through her own personal experiences. Her acting journey began as a young teen at local churches in the Tampa area where she wrote, directed and acted in various plays. As she grew older, the possibility of pursuing an acting career never dawned on her and seemed like an impossibility so she pursued work in corporate compliance, where she worked in various compliance functions for 16 years. After going through a difficult circumstance in her life, and wondering what she would do to move on, she realized she needed to pursue what she loved most – acting!

For the past several years, Shaila has trained at the Patel Conservatory in Tampa and at Andi Matheny’s Acting Studio in St. Petersburg, FL. She has appeared in various student and independent films, including the feature film Home of the Brave, Sam and Elvis, Elfette Saves Christmas and the two-part short film, Pieces. She also acted in and was one of the writers and producers for the series Church Folks, staring Dorien Wilson and Christopher "Play" Martin. Shaila continues to have a love for the stage and has performed in two of the opening night plays for the Tampa Bay Theatre Festival at the Straz Center.

Currently, Shaila is writing and producing for a few projects that are in various stages of production. Shaila is married to drummer, Jonathan Thomas, and continues to live in Tampa with their daughters Bella and Penelope.