Gabrielle David

'Gabrielle David' (born August 1, 1960), is an American multidisciplinary artist who is a writer, musician, artist and photographer. She currently serves as the executive director of the , a NY-based nonprofit organization that promotes multicultural literature and literacy, and is the publisher of its imprint, 2Leaf Press.
Early life
Gabrielle David was born in Queens Memorial Hospital in Elmhurst, and raised in Corona-East Elmhurst, New York, in the borough of Queens. She is the oldest daughter of Radcliffe Allison David (1934-2006), a first generation American whose parents immigrated from Georgetown Demerara and Berbice (formerly known as British Guiana and Dutch Guiana in South America) and of Amerindian and Scottish ancestry; and Delores Brooks (1932-2001), whose family came from Southern Pines, North Carolina, of African American, Irish and Cherokee descent. Her father was a logistical engineer from Northrop Grumman and served as a unit manager that advised the Navy on supply operations and maintenance of several aircraft, notably the A-6 Intruder and the F-14 Tomcat. Her mother was an occupational therapist for the New York City Department of Health working with handicapped children in New York City’s public school system. Her family, who had a deep appreciation for literature, music and the arts, were also members of St. Joseph's Episcopal Church in Queens Village, New York.
David attended P.S. 143 in Corona. She became involved in music as a child, playing the song flute and recorder in elementary school, and eventually studied piano privately. David was transferred to P.S. 89 in Elmhurst as part of New York City’s gifted education program. Inspired by her fourth grade teacher, she declared herself a poet and writer by publishing a class newspaper using rexopgraph and mimeograph machines. She continued to write and publish class newspapers while attending J.H.S. 73 in Maspeth, and performed in the school band playing alto clarinet. She also studied and performed dance at Elmcor and BCL (Better Community League), was an active member of the NAACP Youth Group in Corona, a Girl Scout, in East Elmhurst, and attended camp during the summer. David attended as a Music Major, and was the founder and editor of the independently run newsmagazine, The Liberator. While attending high school, she worked as a page at CBS in New York, was a camp counselor and Girl Scout troop leader, and was involved in local politics through the Frederick Douglass Democratic Club of East Elmhurst and the political campaigns of Corona-East Elmhurst’s District Leader. She transferred to Flushing High School to participate in New York City Board of Education’s Executive High School Internship Program, and was an intern at Essence Magazine where she worked in the editorial and public relations departments.
By the time David completed her internship at Essence Magazine and graduated from high school a semester early, she was proficient in piano, flute, guitar, clarinet and saxophone. After briefly considering the Army, she attend LaGuardia Community College (CUNY). She campaigned for the Democratic Party’s New York State Assembly’s seat of the 35th District, and participated in several neighborhood committees for the betterment of her community. At LaGuardia, David continued to write for the college newspaper, and performed piano in a number of concerts, notably for the composer Carman Moore. She also performed in local bands playing keyboard, which led to managing and booking bands in New York City clubs, as well as working as a freelance publicity manager.
Career
After David completed her college internship at Fairchild Publications’ Classified Advertising department, she quit college and worked at a number of classified advertising agencies, working her way up from clerk to account executive. She returned to school to continue her literary studies and took up photography, which led to the formation of hotshots unlimited photography in 1982, a photo studio specializing in portraiture, fashion photography, publicity photos and special events with co-partner, Lorraine Miller. They held a successful photography exhibit at the Langston Hughes Community Library & Cultural Center in Corona, New York, entitled “100 Photographs,” in 1984. While doing freelance work at ITT Corporation, she worked with the art director who introduced her to desktop publishing. David left advertising and public relations in the mid-1980s to work in cutting edge technology as a word processing specialist at legal and financial firms in the New York tri-state area. She worked on NBI, IBM DisplayWrite, Wang, Syntrex and Barrister systems (dedicated microcomputer-based word processing machines), and eventually migrated to personal computers using programs such as WordPro, WordStar, WordPerfect and Microsoft Word. David eventually supervised word processing centers at major law firms and taught at technical schools in New York City. She also formed Chimeara Communications, Inc. and did freelance desktop publishing work.
During the 1990s, David became involved in the New York poetry scene and published two chapbooks, This is Me: A Collection of Poems and Things and Spring Has Returned and I Am Renewed. She served as literature coordinator for the Langston Hughes Community Library and Cultural Center throughout most of that decade, creating programs and booking poets such as Jesús Papoleto Meléndez, Louis Reyes Rivera, Maria Gillan, Cornelius Eady, and Shirley Bradley LeFlore, which prompted the creation of the award-winning quarterly, phati’tude Literary Magazine. Serving as editor-in-chief, David published emerging and established writers and produced numerous “phati’tude” readings in New York and New Jersey. In order for the magazine to flourish, the nonprofit entity, was created in 2000 to promote multicultural literature and literacy, which David has served as executive director since its inception. Other program initiatives include phatLiterature, A Literary TV Program (serving as executive producer and co-host), which was broadcast nationally on college networks and public access outlets throughout the U.S.
She currently serves as publisher of the IAAS’s imprint, 2Leaf Press, founded in 2012. Through the years, David has participated in panel discussions and workshops, and has published articles and essays in numerous publications. She was also an active supporter of and volunteered for the 2008 Barack Obama presidential campaign.
David was honored by the Poet Laureate of Queens, Paolo Javier at the ETERNiDAY: Queens Poet Lore Festival at the Queens Museum in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park in 2014.
Personal life
In her spare time, David reads and writes, paints using acrylics, crochets, and creates floral arrangements.
Publications
David is the editor of Branches of the Tree of Life The Collected Poems of Abiodun Oyewole, 1969-2013 (2014); co-editor with Kevin Tobar Pesantez of ¡Hey Yo! Yo Soy, 40 Years of Nuyorican Street Poetry, The collected works of Jesús Papoleto Meléndez (2012), and co-editor with Sean Frederick Forbes, What Does It Mean to Be White in America? Breaking the White Code of Silence, A Collection of Personal Narratives (2016). She served as editor-in-chief of phati’tude Literary Magazine (1997-2012), and is the author of the chapbooks, this is me, a collection of poems & things (CCI Books, 1994); spring has returned & i am renewed (CCI Books, 1995).
Cultural Programming/Readings
2Leaf Press Presents @ the Bowery Poetry Club featuring Shirley Bradley LeFlore (2014); 2Leaf Press Presents @ the Bowery Poetry Club featuring Abiodun Oyewole, Not4Prophet and Vagabond (2013); Jesus Papoleto Melendez Celebrates 40 Years of Nuyorican Street Poetry @ the Nuyorican Poets Café, NYC, (2013), Real Poetry, Real Talk at the Bowery Poetry Club, featuring Louis Reyes Rivera and Rachel Hadas, hosted by Jon Sands (2011); The 1st Annual phati’tude African American Literary Festival at the Queens Library’s Langston Community Library & Cultural Center in Corona, New York (2011). phati’tude Re-Launch Party @ the Bowery Poetry Club (2010); Bowery Poetry Club Series at CUNY Graduate Center, Center for the Humanities, featuring Victor Hernández Cruz; Introduction to Hernández Cruz Reading (2006); Ronny Someck and Ammiel Alcalay reading at Oded Halahmy Foundation for the Arts, New York City (2002); phati’tude Literary Magazine: Celebrating the ‘Indian Summer’ Issue at Returning The Gift X, sponsored by the , hosted by Native American Studies, University of Oklahoma at Norman, OK (2001); Open Mic Poetry with phati’tude Literary Magazine, Barnes & Noble/Edgewater, NJ (1999); Bar 13/A Little Bit Louder Series (1999).
Panel Discussions
Queens Book Festival at Kaufmann Studios, Panel Discussion and Moderator: A Look Inside the Publishing World; The 1st Annual phati’tude African American Literary Festival, Panel Discussion on African American Literature, moderator, Langston Hughes Community Library & Cultural Center (2011); Mosaic Literary Conference, “Art in the Classroom: Using Historical and Current Events to Inform Literary Criticism and Visual Narratives” with Nikita Hunter, Hostos Community College/CUNY (2009); The Re:Verse Literary Conference & Festival, “Revisiting the Role of Literature & Culture in the Classroom through Art & the Written Word” with Nikita Hunter, Hostos Community College/CUNY (2008); Black History Month Celebration, St. Joseph’s Episcopal Church (2004); Ammiel Alcalay and Anne Waldman’s “Poetry is News” conference at (2003); Concurrent Panels Session IV at Poetry and the Public Sphere, The Conference on Contemporary Poetry, “Poetry’s “Renaissance” with Bob Holman, Maria Gillan and Robin Pastorio-Newman, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ (1997).

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