We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Gabriella Hart a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Gabriella, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you take us back in time to the first dollar you earned as a creative – how did it happen? What’s the story?

I love this question because I believe for most of us it happened early in life. When I was in fifth grade, I was living in Virginia. My uncle played tennis every morning before work and had tons of tennis ball cases out on the back porch. I saw an opportunity and asked if I could have them. I ended up decorating them and selling them as pencil cases to a lot of the kids in my grade. I definitely made quite a bit of fun dip money from those cases.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I am an east coast, turned midwestern woman. I was born in DC and raised in both Kansas City and northern Virginia. I went to college and grad school in Kansas and Missouri, respectively. For undergrad I studied Philosophy with a minor in Business and Studio Art. I have a Master’s degree in Human Resource Management. I always tried to follow what I thought was the “right” course. I have always been extremely creative and outgoing. I spent most of my life trying really hard to follow the path that I was told was more practical, but I believe that God intervened many, many times along the way to guide me in the right direction. In 2018 I began to surrender and that is when things began to flow in my life. I would have never imagined that I would be in Los Angeles doing what I love and having the patience and provision to see it through. I am in the process of producing a Ride Share thriller that I am looking forward to shooting soon. This world can be a dangerous place for everyone, and particularly women. I want my work to show women that we can use our emotional intelligence, intuition and soft skills to feel empowered in potentially sticky situations. We don’t need to live in fear. We can use that fear to inform and empower us.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

I have been a caregiver my entire life and it has taught me so much. First, to my mother and now to my father. I also shared in the honor and responsibility of caring for my grandmother while she was in hospice and was there when she transitioned. I was also with my mom when she crossed over a year and a half ago. Losing your mother in the physical is one of the most painful things you can experience in this life, but I feel blessed to have received her love and care my entire life. I also feel honored and blessed to have been able to care for my mother and grandmother in their most difficult times as well. Life can be so brutal, but we have to be there for each other. We must be resilient. We must persevere.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

Honestly, the most important thing to me is my connection to God. I have experienced so much comfort and peace from learning how to pray and surrendering my worries to God. The way God has worked in my life is nothing short of a miracle. A sequence of small miracles happening incessantly. I love the Lord and that is what drives and guides my life, entirely. I just work hard and try to be obedient. I don’t want to go against what God has for me. That hasn’t worked in the past.

Image Credits

Paul Smith