Gabrielle
was born in 1957 at the Columbia Presbyterian Hospital in
downtown New York City. She has three boys and one daughter.
Her daughter, Jill, is 20 years old and is the oldest. The
other three boys range in the ages from 16, 10, and 6 years
old. Yes, she is married, but has been separated for 5 years
now.
Gabrielle became a journalist as she stated, "I joined a local paper as a proofreader and before I even walked in the door the editor asked if I could cover some meetings and then I got story ideas. I really enjoyed doing this work and it took off from there." No one person influenced her starting in the journalism field. She believes that more people should become journalists to get the correct story out to the readers. Hearing the accurate news is very important to Gabrielle as a journalist. Writing has always been a personal favorite pastime for Gabrielle. She has been writing since she was a little kid. She had much support going into the journalism field, but she states, "there were mixed feelings." Being out of the house, made more of an impression than her actual job. However, her family thought it was neat when they saw her stories in the paper.
To prepare Gabrielle for the journalism field, she took photography in high school. However, she does feel that college would be a valuable addition to learning the journalism field, but feels that journalism is mostly hands on experience. She does comment, "do not discount college." Gabrielle does recommend a business, writing, photography, or human services degree to assist in journalism. As one lasting impression on our interview, she stated, "If I had one chance to start again, I would still choose journalism. I really feel that I was born to do this."
