Hi, I’m Gabrielle!

I’m a queer writer, graphic designer, Irish dancer, traveler, reader, voter, and as many more things as there are minutes in a day. I’m a proud native of New Haven, CT, graduate of Barnard College, and the oldest daughter archetype personified. I’m many things, but most of all I’m me, very much and all the time, and I’m committed to using what skills I have to work towards a world where everyone is empowered both systemically and personally to say the same.

I write on many topics, with a particular focus on queer issues and Irish dance. I’ve been published most recently in Teen Vogue, The Irish Dancing Globe and Hey Alma. To view writing pieces, click here, to get in touch, click here, to learn more about my design agency or new client inquiries, click here or the button below, to learn more about my story, keep scrolling, and to keep in touch with my day-to-day, follow me on Instagram.

My LGBTQ+ Story
I first realized I was queer at 11, in the broadly unaccepting early 2000s. At the time, the prospect of coming out wasn’t even on the table – the culture around me was terrifying, even in the comparatively accepting communities I grew up in, and I didn’t see a place for myself in the limited understanding I had of how, or who, queer people could be. I spent 10 years trying to logic away an increasingly undeniable truth, until I made a close bisexual friend in college who, leading by beautiful, unapologetic example, inspired me to come out first to myself, then family and friends at 21.

My initial coming-out process was messy, as so many are Being in my 20s, I felt very late to the party, and many of the frequent questions I got, even from well-meaning people, showed me how little I understood myself and how unready I felt to be Proud™ out in the world. While I never explicitly hid my identity from that moment on, it took me many years to be able to own my whole self beyond my closest circle.

An episode of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia made me realize that I would always feel incomplete unless I felt I could be wholly myself everywhere. I wrote this essay, originally on my business blog, and made my first public social media post about identity - the first step in a commitment to speak publicly about my experience, and bi/queer identity more broadly. I think of this as my second coming out – even though my identity hasn’t changed – and it’s one that I now see as a lifelong journey.

In the years since, I have learned that my queer community – even among people I’ve known my whole life – is bigger and stronger than I could ever have dreamed. Where once I couldn’t have fathomed living as I do now, today I am committed to being a resource to anyone my journey may help, whether through education, listening, answering questions, or simply living in a way that may empower others in the way my friend empowered me.

My Dance Story

When I was a junior in college, I took my sister, then 7, to try Irish dancing because we got a coupon for a cheap trial lesson. From the moment the music started, I was absolutely obsessed. I found a beginner class in the city, and before I knew it I was taking Metro North home every weekend to train in Connecticut. I swore I would never compete, and within months I broke that promise. I began competing in the “& over” category, and after nearly a decade of ridiculously hard work, I finally made it to the Open Championship level (the highest level of competition) in early 2022.

I’m a massively untalented dancer, to begin with, so starting as an adult and competing against teenagers – often half my age with twice as much energy – has often felt like an extremely uphill battle. My journey in Irish dance has taught me the magic of combining passion with delusion. It’s taught me how to accept the genuine limits and challenges of starting so late while not letting them limit my dreams and serious goals. And it’s taught me that when you love something enough, devoting yourself to it is, itself, a goal fulfilled.