My name is Gabrielle Hays. I’m originally from St. Louis, Missouri. I graduated from the University of Missouri with a degree in Broadcast Journalism. My why is probably rooted in my first experience with journalism. In high school I interned with my local PBS station and each day after school I would run two blocks away to the station. In those evening hours I would study why young people just like me never made it to college and more importantly why that mattered to my community. That became my why. Years later I am still passionate about stories in that same way. And at the core of all of it, with me always, are those little stories I recorded on my flip cam about students in my hometown facing some of life’s most difficult challenges. That why is my fuel.

But when I’m not immersed with the world of journalism I’m lost in a Toni Morrison book or brainstorming ways I can uplift other women. I’m an avid brunch goer and every year I visit my grandparents on the coast near San Francisco. Like most journalists I love a good movie and I love dissecting how they are filmed even more. I’m forever an advocate of self-love, living your truth and being the best you, you can be.