Miss Maryland for America 2022

Gabriela Richmond

Gabrielle “Gabby” Richmond is 27-year-old acclaimed athlete, successful entrepreneur, and
staunch advocate for women’s health. She was born and raised in the frigid yet aptly named Windy City of Chicago, where she discovered her love for the game of basketball at the early age of 7. Gabrielle went on to play on the Division I level at Saint Bonaventure University in upstate New York from 2012-2017.

After college, Gabby battled with whether to focus on utilizing her Marketing degree and MBA to find a career, starting a photography business, or pursuing a modeling career. In 2019, she decided she would follow a career opportunity with the Department of Defense in Maryland, and pursue modeling and photography part-time. Three years later, Gabrielle resigned after realizing where her true passion lay in photography and modeling, which she began to pursue full-time. Gabby ultimately chose freedom, peace, and purpose over financial security and comfort.

The unapolegetic self-starter is not only a professional Photographer now, but she owns a production company. Gabrielle feels deeply connected to the maternal world, so she photographs maternity portraits, births, babies, and even weddings. The company’s service offerings are not at all by accident. Due to being so engrossed in the birth world, Gabby discovered the flipside of beautiful birth stories, which is infertility. Infertility is the inability to conceive after one year of unprotected sex and it sadly affects 1 in 8 couples. Gabrielle felt a strong urge to educate her community via social media on the importance of learning your fertility status before you are ready to conceive. She received countless direct messages from women sharing their infertility journeys. The instant yet private vulnerability of these women confirmed for her that this issue needed to be addressed publicly.

Gabrielle was crowned 2022 Miss Maryland for America Strong and is now vying for the Miss America title. With her title, she plans to start a non-profit organization to help provide resources for women battling infertility. Gabby’s goal is to raise funds to donate to women undergoing in vitro fertilization (IVF). IVF is a complex and rather costly series of procedures used to assist with the conception of a child. Gabrielle also wants to use the money to find resources that will further educate women on what steps to take to find out their fertility statuses and prevent infertility.