It is the 5-year anniversary of me becoming self-employed. So I thought I would do a little introduction to the people that are new here. So 5 years ago, in October of 2020, I resigned as the assistant to the editor-in-chief at Architectural Digest. I'll never forget when I was little and I watched the double wears product and I was like, yep, that's going to be my future. That's going to be my life. So I guess that's like the first thing about me. I grew up in Miami, both my parents were born in Cuba. I was definitely a very dramatic kid in the way that I always like had these stories going on in my head. And then when I got older, probably like middle school, I started writing a lot. And I didn't even realize like what it was that I was doing, but anytime I was going through something, I would write these essays or like letters to whoever I was upset about that I would never send. And it really became my way of coping. And it wasn't until high school, I was like, oh, like A, I'm good at writing. And B, I can make this a career. And see, this is like an incredible outlet for me. Like, who fucking knew? So while we're on the growing up topic, I am the youngest in my family. We love younger sister over here. I'm like, what else do you need to know? Oh, very important. The big three, Taurus sun, Capricorn rising, Aries moon. Anyway, fast forward, I go to college. I went to school in DC, I went to George Washington University, which I loved. I applied early decision, knew I wanted to go there. Throughout my time in school, I interned every single summer, pretty much every single summer in New York. And I interned at fashion magazine called Interview. And it was the most fun, grueling internship that really solidified the fact that I wanted to work at a magazine and that the dream that I had in my brain, like we got to figure out how to make this a reality. Fast forward, I ended up getting the job as the assistant to the editor in chief at Architectural Digest, which was a dream. A dream in the sense of, like, I didn't know anything about design and architecture. I just wanted to learn. So I definitely did feel like Andy from The Devil Wears Prada those first couple of months. I was like, I'm going to learn. I'm going to figure out how to make this a reality. So I learned so much about fashion, about design, about architecture, and I learned so much about the industry. And then I realized, like, I don't want to be an editor. I want to be a writer. And I want to be a storyteller. And I want to be on camera. And that was something that I had rejected for a long time. I was like, I want to be Oprah. Like, just, just I want to be Oprah. And so during the pandemic, I was like, Gabby, clearly you need to get your priorities fucking straight. And if this is something that you love to do, life is too short to be embarrassed to try something new and to stray from your career path. So since I left AD, I write for Berty and the Cut and I've been published since I moved here. I do a lot of moderating and hosting panels and summits. I got to interview Becky G on the main stage at Create Cultivate this year. And I also have my own show, which is called Irregardless. And I shot six episodes for our first season with the most incredible talent shaping culture, our first episode was with the amazing Lauren Rangley, my fellow Miami girl. For me, like anything that I do, all of my content, whether it's on here or it's on my YouTube channel or it's on my substack, like I just want people to expand their perceptions of what's possible for them. And I want people to, you know, see somebody doing something that you want to do, having somebody who you can relate to, who's even doing something that you want to do, unlocks a different layer of creativity and expansion for you. And also, like, not feel alone in this process. Because especially like if any of you guys out there are self-employed or, you know, are entrepreneurs or whatever. You can feel isolated. So if any of that is remotely interesting to you, I would love it if you joined me on this journey and we could, you know, be each other's hype women, cheerleaders, whatever the fuck you want to call it. And yeah, just a little bit about me. So I just swallowed so much perfume. Okay, I got to go. I'm sweating a lot.
