Shaya Bryant: Who Is Kobe Bryant’s Sister?
Kobe Bryant‘s sister is named Shaya Bryant Tabb.
The NBA superstar, who died with his daughter, Gianna Bryant and seven other victims in a California helicopter crash on January 26, was the younger brother to two sisters, Sharia and Shaya.
Shaya is the middle sister between Sharia, 43, and Kobe, who was 41-years-old when he died.
As children, Shaya and her siblings lived in Italy while their dad, Joe “Jellybean” Bryant, played pro basketball for clubs in the Italian league. As a teen, Shaya lived in Philadelphia when the family relocated to their hometown, and she later moved in with her parents to Kobe’s house in Pacific Palisades, California, when he first signed with the Lakers right out of high school, per the Los Angeles Times.
Shaya Lives & Works In Las Vegas
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Like her sister Sharia and the Bryant parents Joe and Pam, Shaya lives in Las Vegas with her husband and three kids, one daughter, and two sons, according to In Touch Weekly.
Shaya’s LinkedIn lists that she has served as the Group Dining & Events Manager at ARIA Resort & Casino since May 2018. She has also worked as Director of Revenue Management for Invest Hospitality.
Her LinkedIn reveals she has lived in Las Vegas since at least 2004 when she worked as a hostess at a high-end steakhouse in the city. Her resume includes a 10-year stint at the famed MGM Grand Hotel & Casino.
Kobe was extremely proud of his sister Shaya’s career accomplishments. In 2016, The Player’s Tribune published a letter Kobe wrote to his younger self in which he reflected on how his decision to stop helping out his sisters financially because he feared it would hold them back from having their own ambitions.
“They’re very smart, college-educated [women],” Kobe wrote of Shaya and Sharia.”I’m really proud of them. They were able to get their own jobs, get their own lives, take care of themselves.”
She Played Volleyball In College
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Shaya attended her father’s alma mater, La Salle University, where she studied International Business. The middle Bryant sibling also played volleyball, just like her sister Sharia, who played the sport for Temple University. Shaya’s stats from her volleyball career at the Philadelphia-based college in the mid-1990s can be seen on the website for the LaSalle University Explorers Volleyball team.
The volleyball “gene” was also passed down to Kobe’s eldest daughter Natalia, who currently plays for her high school team.
Like all of the Bryant siblings, Shaya likes to keep fit in her 40s. While she keeps her Instagram account private, in 2017 Shaya took to Twitter to share her review of her favorite indoor cycling studio In Las Vegas.
“Amazing instructors, great music, super clean,” she wrote. “Get ready to shed lbs!!”
She Is Close With Her Sister Sharia
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Kobe’s sisters are extremely close. Not only do they live in the same city, but they appear to spend quality time together as a family. In a poignant Instagram share last October, Sharia Bryant Washington gave a shout out to her baby sister Shaya, describing her as “one of the hardest working women” she knows.
Sharia previously posted an Instagram pic from back when the sisters took a last-minute trip together to Disneyland California Adventure to celebrate Mother’s Day.
On a much sadder note, last month the Shaya and Sharia released a joint statement on behalf of the Bryant family as they mourned their beloved brother Kobe’s death.