Just the facts: With Gabriela
Gabriela, or “G” as she’s known around the office, has been with Lovin’ Spoonfuls for four years next month. As our Accounting & Administrative Coordinator, G is essential to managing the office’s day-to-day operations.
“Gabriela is a rockstar in all of her accounting and administrative work, always looking for ways to improve our systems and make us more efficient,” says Spoonfuls’ Chief Operating Officer, Lauren Palumbo. “Plus, she goes above and beyond by working with our Operations Team to provide Spanish translations for our materials. She’s genuinely interested in serving her community and connecting folks with needed resources, and we wouldn’t be able to do that work without her. She’s also got an amazing side hustle: making fun and delicious hand-decorated cookies and confections.”
If you have a sweet tooth, you’ll want to check out G’s side hustle that Lauren mentions. Follow Sweet Bites by Gabi on Instagram and Facebook.
Like many of us, G is missing “normal” restaurant experiences. Here she is at Mei Mei (pre-COVID) enjoying a Porko Russo, which is off the menu for the time being. Here’s to hoping we can all return to our favorite restaurants soon!
In her own words, here are three other things you should know about G:
1) “As Accounting & Administrative Coordinator, not only do I deal with the day to day numbers, but I also get to help with the other departments. I think one of my favorite things to work on outside of my normal scope of work is translating materials into Spanish. I hope to one day become more vocal in my family’s native language and help the Spanish-speaking community.”
2) “I was taught very young, if there were leftovers in the house, that we would very much be eating those leftovers until they were gone. Scrambled eggs were indeed part of our dinner many nights, and quite honestly it must be my favorite memory. My father worked up to three jobs a day and would come home late at night. Sometimes I would stay up and help my mom scramble up those eggs! When I saw his car lights shine through our basement apartment window, I would throw on one of his caps and come find him with a plate of scrambled eggs. Now as a mother, I hope to instill the power of leftovers to my son as he grows! Just this weekend, I had slow-cooked chicken, and the first meal I made out of it was chicken quesadillas, then chicken enchiladas, and today we will be having chicken tacos.”
3) “I don’t think a lot of people know that I am very much into powerlifting. I may be on the tiny side, but a few years ago I found myself back to my postpartum weight, my weight from 10 years earlier. I was devastated, and I started eating healthier and going to the gym. I found a love for powerlifting there. I learned how to do deadlifts, was finally able to do pushups, and more. My heaviest deadlift was 200 lbs. Now with COVID, I have no idea what I can lift since I haven’t been able to go, but it was definitely a stress reliever and I loved it. There were times I would wake up at 5 am to go to the gym because it was the only time I had to go! I’ve thought about getting a barbell so I could deadlift at home, but I don’t think my downstairs neighbor would like that too much.”