Gabriela Tena

Hola! My name is Gabriela Tena. I am a wanderer, fashion obsessive, stylist, artist, creative thinker, mermaid, and a lover of all things lemon. My fashion, lifestyle, travel blog is an outlet for all those things: http://www.gypsealemonade.com. I was born in Spain and raised in southern California. I have lived five steps from the ocean since I was a little girl, so I feel like it is a part of me. I feel a sort of freedom when I’m in the ocean, one that helps me escape all the negativity in life. It is my favorite place on this planet, and it always will be. My spirit animals are horses and dolphins and I like to convince myself that I have magical powers to communicate with them. I am a graduate from the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandise where I majored in Visual Communications. More recently I graduated from the College of Charleston where I majored in Communications and minored in Art History. Through my dual citizenship I have been able to travel to and live in many different places. Learning about different cultures fascinates me and has always influenced my sense of fashion. Fashion reveals to the outsider how a culture defines and embodies their identity. Growing up, I spent my summers in the south of Spain playing with flamenco dancing gypsies. Their long skirts, leather chokers, and big red flowers in their hair is what gravitated me towards them. Not to mention, the energy they mediate while singing and dancing is completely infectious. I would trade my jewelry with them for their fake turquoise (I have a slight obsession with turquoise). I crave traveling basically every second of every day. I get really excited with the thought of going to an unfimilar place, diving into a unique landscape, and encountering new people. I never really get homesick because I find my home to be wherever I am. I like to embrace change, feel uncomfortable, and do things that make me scared.