By Rachel Hastings
18 July 2025
“Life is predictably unpredictable. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket—in business, or in any aspect of your life.”
—Gabriela Bell TEE’22, founder and CEO, Organized Q
If you had told a younger Gabriela Bell that she would land on a Forbes list of “upstart entrepreneurs redefining the American dream,” she probably wouldn’t have believed you.
But if there’s one thing her life and career have taught her, it’s that life is full of surprises—and that keeping an open mind can lead to unexpected places.
Raised in a military family, Bell jokes that she was destined to join the Air Force, and even joined ROTC. Instead, she earned a degree in education and became a math teacher. Yet as an Air Force spouse, she found that the military still shaped her trajectory. Raising children while managing the cross-country moves that came with military life left little room for Bell’s career.
But when a change in circumstances demanded that Bell return to the paid workforce, she quickly realized that a teacher’s salary wouldn’t be enough to support four children in Washington, D.C. as a single mother. She began to cobble together several different income streams, including work as a virtual assistant.
“One of my favorite quotes is ‘necessity is the mother of invention,’” said Bell, “and I’m a big believer in keeping your eyes open for opportunities and taking advantage of them when they arise.”
So when she learned of a five-month fellowship focused on business administration, Bell took the leap—and she used the program to develop a plan for her own virtual assistant business, Organized Q. As a solopreneur, Bell quickly grew to capacity and started hiring staff. And she soon realized that her ideal employee was a lot like her.
Tapping Into an Underutilized Talent Pool
Around the time she was growing her business, Bell started to see more research emerging about the unemployment and underemployment rates of military spouses.
“I saw how many people shared my struggle, and I wanted to share information that would have helped me with others,” she said. “Cloud-based working and the COVID-19 pandemic meant that there were plenty of opportunities.”
Bell’s profile as a thought leader redefining entrepreneurship and flexible working grew in tandem with Organized Q's efforts to hire military spouses and veterans.
“We’ve had really great success with hiring nontraditional talent, people with choppy professional trajectories,” she explained. “If they have the drive and the hunger and they’re willing to learn, taking a chance can pay off.”
Some of Bell’s employees have gone on to leadership positions outside of Organized Q—for example, one former virtual assistant, whose previous professional experience was in early childhood education, rose to become a corporate chief of staff in just a few years.
“The education I got at Tuck was world-class—I refer back regularly to what I learned in the finance modules. But it’s being part of a community of other business owners from underrepresented groups that has been exceptional. Through that experience, I’ve gained a different, more holistic view of my business.”
A Tuck Program That Builds Community and Purpose
By the time Bell came to Hanover to attend Building a Successful Diverse Business in 2022, Organized Q was booming, driven in part by a surge in demand during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Yet despite her success and her background in math, Bell knew that her foundational business knowledge had some gaps. On the recommendation of a peer in her network, she turned to Tuck.
“The education I got at Tuck was world-class—I refer back regularly to what I learned in the finance modules,” said Bell. “But it’s being part of a community of other business owners from underrepresented groups that has been exceptional. Through that experience, I’ve gained a different, more holistic view of my business.”
Inspired in part by that experience, Bell has doubled down on growing Organized Q’s social impact. While she has always informally coached her employees, she’s currently launching a more formalized leadership development program designed to help virtual assistants prepare for full-time roles.
Redefining Leadership
Even with national recognition, a still-growing company, and a teaching role at NYU’s Tandon Futures Labs, Bell admits that she doesn’t always see herself as a leader. Since she knows that others do, however, she has committed to modeling the traits she admires in others, including servant leadership, empathy, and self-belief.
“A lot of people who have been out of the workforce for a while lead with an apology,” she said. “So much of the success we’ve seen comes from coaching our teams and giving them the self-belief to try. I remind them not to take themselves out of contention.”
Bell hopes that her fellow business owners and leaders will also follow the example she’s set with Organized Q.
“Don’t be afraid to take a chance on someone who doesn’t have the paper resume for a job,” she urged. “Look at what they’re capable of instead.”
