Corporate
Samsung Solve Alumni Series: Where Are They Now? Gabriella Florencio
4/28/2023
Name: Gabriella “Gaby” Florencio
Today: Graduating Senior at City College of New York, with a degree in Creative Writing
Plans for Tomorrow: To pursue a “storytelling” career in journalism, campaign copywriting, or news feature writing, focused on telling the “everyday stories” of “everyday people”
Ties to Samsung Solve for Tomorrow: I was a High School Senior at The Secondary School of Journalism (now the Cyberarts Studio Academy) in New York City. I was a 2016/17 Solve for Tomorrow National Winner. Our team developed an app to connect students experiencing food insecurity (like many of the students we knew in our own urban neighborhood) with local restaurant partners who had excess food that would otherwise go to waste.
What was your path from Samsung Solve for Tomorrow STEM competition winner to where you are today?
Actually, it all started with my interest in journalism – my high school’s focus. Journalism was changing dramatically in my high school days, becoming much more digitally focused, with technology increasingly important to storytelling.
Our small class, 11 in all, was taking computer science – it was the first year the school taught coding. Our teacher Mr. Slabodsky told us about Solve for Tomorrow. While it sounded fun and prestigious, we were concerned whether a few journalism students could realistically compete against schools with more STEM experience, resources, and tech connections. Thankfully, Mr. Slobodsky had faith in us.
As our team built out the app, telling our story became increasingly important. I learned that in STEM, execution is important – but so is explanation. I became heavily involved in our presentations, and with making our Solve for Tomorrow submission video.
Once in college, I was privileged to serve as a Samsung intern – using my journalism skills to tell stories of Samsung’s Citizenship programs through social media.
So, for me, there’s been a very direct line from Solve for Tomorrow to now getting ready to graduate from CCNY and start my professional career. My dream is to use my storytelling expertise to be a voice for everyday people.