Gabby Rivera was born to Martha and Charles Rivera.[4] Rivera grew up in the Bronx borough of New York City, she is of Puerto Rican descent and grew up in a religious household of Pentecostal evangelicalism.[5][6][7] An early love of reading and writing came from her mother, a kindergarten teacher.[8] Rivera attended an all-girls private school in White Plains, New York.[7] Rivera attended Goucher College in Towson, Maryland, graduating in 2004.[9]
Career
Rivera started her career and love for literature at the age of 17 by attending a local cafe for poetry nights. Starting her career in performance poetry, Rivera grew inspired by stories written by black, brown and queer authors.[10] Rivera is an editor at Autostraddle, an online magazine for, about, and written by LGBTQIA+ women, non-binary people and sometimes trans men.[11] Rivera is a mentor through her work as the youth programs manager at GLSEN.[8]
Juliet Takes a Breath (2016) is a semi-autobiographical, fictional coming-of-age novel about a gay Latina woman from the Bronx dealing with her identity.[12] In this story, Juliet Milagros Palante moves to Portland, Oregon for the summer to intern under Harlowe Brisbane, a white feminist writer and author of, "Raging Flower: Empowering Your Pussy by Empowering Your Mind".[13]
Miss America is a fictional superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics and Marvel's first Latin-American LGBTQ character to star in an ongoing series.[14] From 2017 to 2018, Gabby Rivera authored the America series, until it was cancelled by Marvel publishing.[15][16]
B.B. Free is a comic book series that centers around a 15 year old navigating a post-climate change world with a plague, where mother nature kills greed.[19] B.B. Free's first issue was illustrated by Royal A. Dunlap.[19][20] The series was based on a short story written by Rivera titled IMBALANCE.
