Gabby Gabriel graduated from Northeastern in 2012 and moved to China to teach English. She returned to the US as a renowned international businesswoman.
Gabby Gabriel moved to China to teach English in 2012 after graduating from Northeastern University with a bachelor’s degree in literature and cinema studies.
Last year, she returned to the United States as the founder and CEO of a global marketing firm, GAB Inc., and was named a top entrepreneur of 2024 in USA Today.
“It’s hard to believe,” Gabriel says. “There aren’t many American females in China who’ve done what I’ve done. … I went as an English teacher, and I left as a millionaire.”
While living abroad, Gabriel founded GAB China, a flagship of GAB Inc. and one of China’s leading marketing firms. From there, she expanded to GAB Asia, which works across the continent. She recently brought her business to the U.S. with Second Wind Media, a forthcoming media venture spearheaded by Gabriel and entrepreneur Joe Germanotta.
Gabriel’s journey began at Northeastern. A Cleveland native, she was drawn to the school for its campus but found the co-op program to be one of the major benefits of her time as an undergrad.
Gabriel did three co-ops while attending Northeastern: one in sports TV, one at an advertising company, and one trying to run her own business. She also spent a semester in Britain and one in Australia.
“If I hadn’t had those short-term experiences during university, then I may not have been as comfortable living in Asia later on,” Gabriel says. “Also my co-ops are related to the industry I work in now. (They) were helpful for me to understand what it was that I wanted to do and what it was that I didn’t want to do, what type of environment I did well in, and helped me learn different strengths that I didn’t know I had (like working with video).”
After graduating from Northeastern, Gabriel moved to China. After teaching English, she went to work as an education consultant.
In 2018, Gabriel took a job as a marketing manager at an accounting firm. She quickly realized that she could do this work on her own rather than working for another person.
Using a Chinese business entity she had from a previous entrepreneurial endeavor, she started her own marketing company, GAB China. Her business thrived. GAB China now works mostly with luxury, hospitality and business-to-business companies. Some of its clients include Marriott and Adidas.
“Some of our clients have worked with us for more than four years, and not just small clients,” she says. “That requires an element of quality and consistency. I’m extremely proud of being able to deliver that consistency and quality, despite moving countries, having a remote team, and not being Chinese.”
It was difficult to start a business in China as someone not native to the country, Gabriel says, especially as a Hispanic gay woman.
“Having the self belief and the determination that I was going to make this work no matter what, despite naysayers, that’s something I’m very proud of,” Gabriel says. “For me, that’s activism. We don’t see enough queer women doing stuff like this. We don’t see enough women doing stuff like this. I believe my demographic doesn’t have enough representation in the business world, and I like to defy the stereotypes for you who I’m supposed to be.”
Gabriel knew she didn’t want to stay in China permanently, so she worked with different business programs to come up with a strategy to become a global agency. From this, Gabriel created GAB Inc., which is the parent company for different subsidiaries including GAB China, which functions as a specialty marketing agency, and GAB Asia, which is a marketing department in Southeast Asia. The company has a presence now in India, Pakistan, Thailand and the Netherlands.
In 2022, Gabriel moved to Thailand to establish an office there. In May 2024, she moved back to the United States and began Second Wind Media. Started in October with Germanotta, Gabriel describes it as “a hybrid between marketing, advertising, podcasting, and entertainment.”
Gabriel was recently acknowledged for her success in USA Today.
“I felt flattered and humbled by it,” she says. “To be able to successfully transition back to the U.S., continue my entrepreneurial journey somewhat seamlessly and connect with big names here is part of the success. … I wasn’t sure exactly if I would be able to maintain or even secure business in the U.S. from the beginning, but I immediately was able to secure a very interesting business.”