Rivera was the fifth lady from Pureto Rico to win the title.She was crowned by Natalie Glebova, the titleholder of Canada. It was reported that Rivera fainted in the press appearance because of her heavy dress and heat exhaustion. Following this contest she was tied with Venenzeula, and she has even won the pageant for four times. It is very remarkable that she was the third consecutive person to get in to the top five of Miss Universe from Pureto Rico.

Rivera signed up to work for a minor role in spanish language named telenovela and Dame chocolate. She got an opportunity to represent the Miss.Universe organisation in the United States and also internationally. To her hometown of Salinas, she won the local pageant award before participating in the Miss.Universe contest. She was even the fist runner up of Miss Teen Pureto Rico. After then, she participated in Miss.Universe, 2006 and was one of the most youngest lady to won the title at the age of 18. She visited many countries like Russia,France,India,Czech Republic, Turkey, Brazil,Thailand, Greece, Kazakhstan, Japan and Indonesia, by the end of April 2007.

Rivera had to pass over her prestigious crown to Riyo Mori of Japan at the contest, Miss Universe 2007 which happened on May 28th 2007, in the Mexico city, Mexico.