GABRIELLA BIEDINGER - HER LIFE Magazine

to consider what that industry might hold for her. “When I was a kid, Iwould save my birthday money and buy fashion magazines, and I wouldcut out the models in them and use them as paper dolls, dressing themin clothing I would cut out of the magazines,” Gabriella laughed.As she began to inquire of her soul what truly made her happy,she went back to the basics and just asked herself what made herspirit sing and for what she seemed to have a natural knack: fashion.She decided she would open her own boutique.Well, that idea was not without its challenges. “The lease prices onspaces were crazy!” she commented. “I realized that getting into somethinglike this in a down economy was probably not the best idea.”One late night while browsing the internet changed that thinking ina heartbeat. “I saw an article about a truck in New York that had beenconverted into a store and thought that was a brilliant idea. I wonderedhow I could do something like that. It was fun, different, and certainlythere was nothing like it in Central Valley, except for the occasionalfood truck,” Gabriella smiled.That auspicious moment was in the spring of 2012, almost a yearto the day after she had turned down the Bay area job offer. She laterdiscovered that there was another truck in Los Angeles similar to theone in New York, so she did what any eager entrepreneur would do.She called the owners of the truck and asked them for their advice onhow she could do the same thing in Central Valley. That initial contactprovided her with some amazing information and insight, as the twoladies who owned the truck were more than happy to share with Gabriellasome pointers and advice.Three days later, as Gabriella was driving through Escalon, shehappened to see an empty yellow electrical truck on the side of theroad, clearly worse for the wear. “It was hideous, actually,” she said. “Ipulled over and looked it over. It had a ‘For Sale’ sign on it so I calledthe number and before I knew it, I was the proud owner of that truck.”Of course, a few upgrades, changes, modifications and more werein order, including changing it from a stick shift to an automatic, but herinitial investment of $1,700 for this 1972 Chevy Van was just the steppingstone she needed to get her new business up and running, er, driving!With the help of a friend who works on custom hot rods, thetruck was fully converted and, at Gabriella’s request, stripped of itsoriginal color and upgraded to a more suitable shade called “PinkPanther,” a choice that was initially met with some resistance byfriends and family, but Gabriella knew otherwise. “It was the perfectcolor choice,” she beamed.This one-of-a-kind boutique on wheels also boasts a hot rod24 HERLIFEMAGAZINE.COM