Shanelle Gabriel

Shanelle Gabriel is a spoken word poet, singer, lupus warrior, and educator from Brooklyn, NY who has toured the globe. Widely known for featuring on HBO's Def Poetry Jam, she has shared the stage with powerhouses such as Jill Scott, Nas, Nikki Giovanni, Anderson Paak, Stacey Abrams, and more. Gabriel has competed in both the National and the Individual World Poetry Slams, and has performed at venues such as the Vatican, the Apollo Theater, Howard Theater, Lincoln Center, SXSW, ADCOLOR Conference, and more. Outside of sharing her own creative work, she has crafted poems to meet thematic and events needs for companies such as Fast Company Magazine, LifeWtr, Eden Bodyworks, Inc Magazine, and GSK, as well as for a national Pandora Music campaign which appeared on the Times Square Jumbotron. She served as a performer, teaching artist, and consultant for BET’s 2022 Nelson Mandela Project alongside Marsai Martin and for a Black Music Month Campaign with KITKAT and Hershey’s alongside the legendary DJ Clark Kent. She’s released three albums, Start Something, Aim High, and Things I Need to Remember, which showcase her prowess as a spoken word artist and a soulful singer and are available on all streaming platforms.

Diagnosed in 2004, Gabriel is also a lupus advocate who has spoken alongside the President of the National Institute of Health, graced the cover page of USA Today, featured in Women’s Health magazine, and featured on the Lifetime Network about her continued battle with lupus. She currently is on the Patient Advisory Board for CISCRP (Center for Information and Study on Clinical Research Participation) and speaks on the patient experience in various arenas. She is the host of Better Together: Living with Lupus Series on BlackDoctor.org and the co-host of The HydroxychloroQueenz: A Podcast on Living With Lupus which can be found wherever you get your podcasts.

If Gabriel is not on a stage, she’s speaking with and advocating for young people. With over 18 years of work as an educator, school administrator and nonprofit specialist, Gabriel facilitates workshops on culturally responsive and healing arts-centered practices, utilizing poetry and hip-hop as mediums for these conversations. She received her Masters from Teachers College at Columbia University in Curriculum & Teaching with a special emphasis on Education Leadership and has guest lectured at NYU’s Steinhardt, The New School, Georgia State University, and more on equitable educational practices. She has authored poetry & hip-hop centered curriculum for Federal Hall, The Center for Black Literature, the Middle School Quality Initiative, and other educational & nonprofit spaces. Gabriel previously served as the Executive Director of Urban Word, a leading nonprofit that founded the National Youth Poet Laureate Program and provides platforms for critical literacy and youth development. Gabriel is also a proud member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated and continues to serve her community any way she can.