Gabby Lugo

Interview
Written By Michelle LeClerc

Paying your bills or chasing your dreams? The ultimate industry question

Delighted to share my chat with the inspiring writer and producer, Gabby Lugo.

We met at a networking event, were quickly magnetized to each other, and bonded over the various parallels in our paths. Talking to Gabby felt like talking to a mirror, at times.

After finding major success as a line producer on projects like the short for Damien Chazelle’s film Whiplash and the hit Palm Springs, she was faced with making a decision that would have most creatives shaking in their boots: Should she continue on the lucrative line producing path, or turn down her financial safety net and pursue her true passion for writing?

In this episode, you'll get the real-real on how Gabby navigated the high stress and high stakes of a journey that begins with immigration from Nicaragua and arrives in to present day with the recently sold reboot of 16 Candles alongside powerhouse Latinas, showrunner Tanya Saracho, and the one and only Selena Gomez.

Spoiler Alert: Gabby’s writing it.

Tune in!

xx cg

“These amazing projects with these great producers… they’re not paying my bills really.”

- Gabby Lugo

Episode Transcript

Michelle LeClerc

Michelle strives to add context and meaning to the exponentially growing world of design. Recently served as the Creative Director at Beutler Ink, a strategic creative agency specializing in research, writing, and design. Michelle has developed design and data visualization for social justice organizations like Campaign Zero, Be a Hero, and Yale’s The Justice Collaboratory and Freedom Reads. In 2017, she created the data visualization for Elizabeth Warren’s book, This Fight is Our Fight, a #1 New York Times bestseller. In 2019, on behalf of Campaign Zero, she led the data visualization for the first police scorecard in the US, which sought to identify urgent issues surrounding police accountability and propose best-practice solutions. Michelle’s commitment to quality design extends from the office to the classroom—she teaches Infographic Design at Temple’s Tyler School of Art.

www.michelleleclerc.com
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