Discover how Gabe turned years of hands-on experience in theatre into a career leading projects in tech.
Gabe is a Project Manager in the learning and development field, helping teams bring ideas to life through organization, communication, and creative problem-solving. His path to this role was anything but traditional. After high school, Gabe attended a four-year university, balancing classes with jobs as a resident assistant, theatre technician, and grocery store employee. Eventually, he realized he was learning just as much by doing as he was in the classroom and chose to leave college to pursue work in theatre full-time. Over the years, he built a career through hands-on experience, directing productions, stage management, and taking on new challenges wherever they appeared; all the while working in retail and customer-facing roles.
Along the way, Gabe developed skills that would become the foundation of his career: project management, communication, resourcefulness, and the ability to solve problems creatively. Theatre taught him how to wear many hats, manage competing priorities, and bring people together around a shared goal. Those skills opened the door to opportunities in the tech sector, where he expanded his experience into customer success, office management, event planning, coding, and DEI initiatives. Even with years of proven success, Gabe still encountered the paper ceiling, often finding himself screened out of opportunities because he didn’t hold a bachelor’s degree.
One breakthrough came when he was tasked with helping design and build out a new office space for a growing startup. Drawing on the creativity and adaptability he had developed in theatre, Gabe transformed an empty floor into a welcoming environment that supported employees, interns, and a coding fellowship for women from underserved communities. Looking back, he sees his journey as proof that skills can be built in many places. His advice to other STARs is simple: don’t let someone else define your potential. The ability to adapt, pivot, and create your own path is a strength. As Gabe puts it, “You created a path when none was provided for you, and that mutability and problem solving is your superpower.”
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