Gabrielle Davenport

is an Oakland-raised, Brooklyn-based culture worker dedicated to amplifying arts & letters by people from across the African diaspora. 

In January 2021, she and her sister launched BEM | books & more, the bookstore for Black food literature. Since then, they have built a platform for and with readers, chefs, artists, and writers and opened their brick & mortar in Bed-Stuy in October 2025.

Gabrielle began her career programming music, dance, and performance in public institutions in New York and across the country. During her tenure at THE OFFICE performing arts + film, Gabrielle worked on The Mile-Long Opera, bringing 1,000 singers to the High Line, produced projects with Carrie Mae Weems and Angélique Kidjo, and was a curator for the BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn! Festival.

While charting a path in the performing arts, Gabrielle evolved her lifelong love of cooking into a more formal exploration of food justice and African diaspora foodways. She went on to organize with the Central Brooklyn Food Coop and served as its board president before opening BEM. 

Gabrielle is an ambassador for Glynwood Center for Regional Food & Farming in New York’s Hudson Valley, is a member of the Brooklyn Book Festival Nonfiction Committee, and was named to the inaugural cohort of Studio KIN, an accelerator for Black urbanist projects across the country. Gabrielle cooks & sings in her free time; she’s always eating a snack.

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Selected Press

This Is TASTE 570: Building A Culinary Bookstore with BEM’s Danielle and Gabrielle Davenport | TASTE Podcast

This Black design collective is incubating the next generation of community builders | Fast Company

This Entire Bookstore Is Dedicated to Black Food Writing | Bon Appétit

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