Rayla Buckner was born on November 9, 2004 in Fairfax County, VA to Raymond and Latasha Buckner. Rayla has four older brothers, Darnell, Antonio, Raymond, Treyyon and an older sister, Cassandra. During Rayla’s spare time, she enjoys shopping, dancing, Taekwondo, having girl time with her friends, and makeup artistry. Currently, Rayla is an honor student at International Virtual Learning Academy and she will graduate from high school in 2023.

When Rayla was four years old, her mother noticed her pulling herself up on the doorknobs and holding the position for long periods of time. Her parents took her to the little gym and within a month, the owner suggested we take her to a real gym because she was too advanced for her gym. We took her to Paragon Gymnastics in Virginia for a recreational gymnastics class and the instructor insisted for us to let her tryout for the developmental team. She tried out and was trained under the watchful eye of then Head Coach Craig Tetreault and Coach Char Polanosky on the TOPs program.

Rayla started competing as a level 4 gymnast in the 2011 season where she finished second in the all-around with a 38.175 at the State Championships. She also placed first on balance beam with a 9.700, second on uneven bars scoring a 9.600, third on vault and fourth on floor exercise. Under new coaches, she completed level 5 in 2012 and 2013. At the 2013 State Championships, Rayla finished seventh in the all-around and earned bronze medals on vault and uneven bars. At the 2014 State Championships, she earned a gold medal on uneven bars with a 9.850 and placed fourth in the all-around with a 38.200. Rayla was named America's Top 100 on uneven bars and balance beam in level 5.

As a level 7 gymnast in 2015, Rayla earned her personal bests at the Pink Invitational where she scored a 9.750 on vault, 9.925 on uneven bars, 9.750 on balance beam, 9.825 on floor exercise and 39.200 in the all-around. At the Level 7 State Championship, she placed fourth in the all-around with a 38.950, second on balance beam scoring a 9.750 and fifth on uneven bars with a 9.750 in a very tough age group. Rayla, once again, was named to America's Top 100 on uneven bars, floor exercise and in the all-around (twice) in level 7. During the summer of 2015, she competed a move up meet and obtained the qualifying score to move from level 8 to level 9. Due to a few knee injuries, she completed an event or two during the 2015 competition year in level 8. She re-injured her knee a few days before the State Championships. Even though she struggled with injures, she still earned America's Level 8 Top 100 award on uneven bars.

In the summer of 2016, Rayla's parents made the decision to move her to Stafford Royals Gymnastics in Stafford, VA to be coached again under Head Coach Craig Tetreault. While still recovering from her knee injury, Coach Tetreault decided it was best to compete level 8 to help the healing process. At the Level 8 State Championship in 2017, Rayla earned a silver medal on uneven bars with a 9.800. She qualified to the Region 7 Championships where she won the uneven bars title with a 9.675. Rayla was named America's Level 8 Top 100 on uneven bars. In 2018, Rayla earned a bronze medal on uneven bars with a 9.800 at the Level 8 State Championships. At the Region 7 Championships, she placed first on uneven bars with a 9.800 and third on floor exercise. Rayla was named to America's Top 100 on uneven bars twice.

In 2018, Rayla finished in the top ten in the all-around and third on uneven bars with a 9.800 at the Level 8 State Championships. At the Region 7 Championships, she earned a gold medal on uneven bars with a 9.800 and a bronze medal on floor exercise on floor exercise. Rayla was named to America's Top 100 on uneven bars three times. Rayla moved back to Paragon Gymnastics in October 2018. In 2020, Rayla qualified to the Level 9 State Championships but was unable to compete due to COVID-19 pandemic.

Rayla trains 20 hours per week at Paragon Gymnastics in Fredericksburg, VA under coach Ryan Goen. Rayla's long-term goal is to obtain a Division I college gymnastics scholarship.