Ask DEAR QUEEN GABBY
All Hail the Queen
Meet Queen Gabby
Female Advice Expert
Queen Gabby is a flight attendant for a major airline and the female Advice Columnist. She is a Slam poet and spoken word artist from Chicago. Queen Gabby is one of the founding members of SaYes2Poetry. She landed a position as an Advice Columnist for The Soultown Magazine after dominating the Oakland poetry circuit with her provocative, opinionated poetry pieces. She also coached San Jose’s youth Brave New Voices poetry team to competitions in Berkeley, CA, and Chicago, IL. She is working on her first novel and currently resides in Las Vegas.
(page 12) gmshirley19@gmail.com
Been with us for 99 Issues
Queen Gabrielle Shirley has written for The Soultown Magazine since inception, January 2017. She is also an international Correspondent and has covered stories from Atlanta, Cuba, Puerto Rico, and shared her journey of flying the friendly skies.
monthly in the soultown magazine
March 2025 Issue
Q: Dear Queen Gabby,
On TikTok, I see a lot of videos about strong, Black women.
What makes you a strong woman?
~ Ms. Shero
~
A: Ms. Shero
What makes me a strong black woman is my ability to be resilient, along with being able to detach. Often, I’ve faced situations that I didn’t think I could get out of. It didn’t take a lot for me to rea
Q: Dear Queen Gabby,
On TikTok, I see a lot of videos about strong, Black women.
What makes you a strong woman?
~ Ms. Shero
~
A: Ms. Shero
What makes me a strong black woman is my ability to be resilient, along with being able to detach. Often, I’ve faced situations that I didn’t think I could get out of. It didn’t take a lot for me to realize that I don’t have a depressed spirit. I take a minute to sulk, then I’m right back on the bike, cycling along. I also detach from things that I feel like make me weak. It’s easy to turn into a pessimist. If I rid my thoughts of stuff that isn’t good for me, I won’t fall into negativity. I correlate being strong with being positive.
~ Queen Gabby
April is our 100th issue!
When I started The Soultown Magazine in January 2017, it was the manifestation of a promise I made to my ancestors—to amplify our stories and our voices. I never imagined that by the time we reached our 100th issue, we would have told over 1,000 powerful stories.
Already a subscriber? Pay it forward and gift a subscription. Leave your mark by contributing to the next 100 issues and continuing the legacy of storytelling that connects us all.
Thank you for being part of this journey.