Gabby Rivera

​​GABBY RIVERA is dedicated to empowering people and improving our marginalized communities. She’s currently making major waves for her Marvel series starring America Chavez: a queer, Latinx superhero who’s been written and designed, crucially, by aqueer Latinx. Funny, insightful, and authentic, Rivera inspires young people to live a life that is joyfully open and revolutionary. Her newest project is b.b. free, an original comic series following 15-year-old b.b. and her blossoming cosmic powers, in a post-apocalyptic world not quite like anything you’ve seen before. Rivera calls b.b. free “a bouncy love letter to queer kids everywhere, especially the chubby Puerto Rican ones.” She’s also the author of Juliet Takes a Breath, a YA novel listed by Mic as one of the 25 essential books to read for Women’s History Month. Rivera also hosts a podcast titled Joy Uprising, featuring interviews with Rivera’s “favorite revolutionary humans,” many of them queer people of color, where they share how they find, maintain, and nurture their joy in this chaotic world.  Rivera worked with Autostraddle.com for over five years as the QTPOC Speakeasy editor and A-Camp staff. A film and multimedia teaching artist, she’s worked with social justice organizations like DreamYard Project, Inc. She’s appeared as a featured panelist and counselor at the annual Autostraddle Queer Women’s Conference and has presented at the Allied Media and Digital Media and Learning Conferences.