Gabriela D. Ayala
Motivational Speaker & Coach
“Healing isn’t about returning to who you were—it’s about becoming freer, fiercer, and unconforming"
Speaker & Wellness Coach
Topics Include:
Surviving and living with bipolar disorder.
Mental health and identity as a woman of color.
Reimagining healing and recovery.
Storytelling as Resistance.
Breaking silence: surviving stigma and shame.
The first-generation student experience.
Empowering K-12 and higher education students.
Motivation and resilience in the face of adversity.
Reclaiming your voice through writing and creativity.
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Available for:
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Keynotes & panel discussions
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College & high school events
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Mental health advocacy spaces
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Creative writing workshops
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Cultural & identity-based events
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Educator professional development
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Gabriela is available for bookings as a motivational speaker, educator, and creative collaborator. Her style blends narrative storytelling with spoken word elements, offering an experience that resonates long after the mic is off.
About Me.
Gabriela Ayala is a writer, educator, mother, and mental health warrior whose work lives at the intersection of truth-telling, resilience, and creative reinvention. As a first-generation Puerto Rican woman with over 20 years of experience in education, Gabriela has taught, led, and inspired students across all grade levels and backgrounds. Her journey—from perfectionism and academic pressure to diagnosis, hospitalization, and healing—has transformed her into a fierce advocate for mental wellness and identity liberation.
Known for her honesty, wit, and raw storytelling, Gabriela challenges the shame and silence surrounding mental illness. She invites others to reimagine what it means to survive—and to thrive—by embracing their full, unfiltered selves. Whether she's speaking to a room of educators, mentoring young women, or writing her memoir, Gabriela shows up as her whole self: bold, vulnerable, and unafraid to speak the truths others often hide.
Education
Ed.D Doctoral Coursework
University of Northern Colorado
Ed. D. in Education Studies focused on immigrant experiences, first-generation students, and college access and belonging issues. Passionate about narrative and ethnographic case studies and writing.
M.Ed.- PhD. Coursework
Florida Atlantic University
M.Ed. in Higher Education Leadership focusing on first-generation student experiences , access, success, and belonging.
B.A
Florida State University
Bachelor in Arts in English Literature and minor in Communications. FSU Policy Debater of the Year.
Services
2,000 US dollars
2,500 US dollars
Contact for Info
200 US dollars
Current Projects
- Gabriela has completed her memoir, All the Pills I Swallow, a lyrical, unflinching story about love, madness, survival, and self-reinvention. Her work centers on voices often excluded from mainstream narratives about mental health and recovery.
Stay tuned for excerpts, publication announcements, and future creative projects.
- Coming Soon: Pers;st: Beyond the Stigma is a mental health wellness brand I am creating after surviving what many silently endure—mental illness, bipolar disorder, institutionalization, and the stigma that shadows it all.
The name Pers;sit isn’t just a word—it’s a truth. The semicolon represents a pause, not an ending. It says: “My story isn’t over.” And “persist” is the promise we keep—to survive, heal, and grow.
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