1976
Gabriela is born in Uruguay to a family of six generations of ranchers. She grows up on her family's 17,000 acre ranch surrounded by horses, cattle and merino sheep. From ages five to seventeen, she attends The British School of Montevideo, one of the oldest and most reputable institutions in Uruguay. Gabriela then moves to Australia for a full school calendar year to study at Lake Ginninderra College, and returns to Uruguay to pursue her studies in Communications and Audio Visual Productions at the Universidad ORT.
2000
In her early 20s, after a short period in Paris, she moves to New York to study Performing Arts at the Neighborhood Playhouse School of Theatre.
2003
Gabriela launches Candela with two Latin partners, with a $700 investment from each. Starting from a t-shirt line and expanding to Ready-to-Wear and Footwear, Candela is able to generate one million dollars in revenue in its first year of business. In 2009, during the recession, Candela grew at high double digit growth, and Footwear became 60% of the annual revenue.
2008
Gabriela becomes a mother of identical twins, Mia and Olivia.
2011
Gabriela inherits her father’s ranching operation and becomes the 7th generation in the family business.