Gabriella Tranchina’s life changed the moment she was struck by a car while crossing the street in West Hollywood and suffered a traumatic brain injury.
After a coma and years of medical procedures and rehabilitative care, it wasn’t just her physical self that was changed, but also who the Manhasset native felt she was innately to her core. She called this transition “Gabriella 2.0.”
Following a spiritual journey, Tranchina found a whole new and unexpected self.
This is what inspired her next, and unexpected, move – launching her podcast “Gabriella Rebranded.”
“[The podcast] is something I never would have thought that I would make, but I never would have thought that I’d be hit by a car,” Tranchina said. “And I never thought that I would have been in a coma, and I never would have thought that I would have had brain surgery.”
“Gabriella Rebranded” is a podcast about finding spirituality and overcoming trauma. Tranchina explores these topics by sharing her own story and inviting guests to speak on them.
Tranchina said her spiritualism is based on tapping into the universe through energies and manifestations.
She shares that spiritualism on her podcast in relation to her trauma and second chance at life, which she oftentimes blends with dark humor to squeeze in a life amid it all.
She said she chooses laughter over crying.
“Spirituality can come off as high-brow, and trauma can come off as really heavy, and brain injury and disability, we don’t talk about it a lot because it’s uncomfortable, so people just avoid the conversation,” Tranchina said. “But I think what I would like to offer, and I think is my gift from the universe that I received through all of this, is laughter is the best medicine.”
In October 2021, at the age of 23, Tranchina was hit by a car that partially tore an artery in her neck, broke her occipital condyle bone at the base of her skull and she suffered an epidural hemorrhage. Over the course of three years, Tranchina underwent 16 surgeries.
At the time of her accident, Tranchina was living in Los Angeles and pursuing an acting career. Her career was at an all time high before her accident, recently booking a recurring costar role in a network soap opera, and she was itching to return to her career.
After a year of recovering from her brain injury, Tranchina returned to Los Angeles with a thirst to pick up her life where she left off. But that wasn’t so easy, she said.
“I was so desperate to get back to L.A., get back to the exact same life, get back to doing the exact same thing, trying to be an actor, and it wasn’t working,” Tranchina said. “Nothing that I was throwing at the wall was sticking.”
She struggled not only with her career but also with friendships and other aspects of her life because she was no longer the same person.
For the first time in her life, Tranchina said she was feeling introverted and needed more time to take care of herself.
Two years after he injury, Tranchina attended a brain injury retreat where she said she had a “spiritual intervention.”
“I was like ‘I need to change the way I’m living, stop trying to force myself to fit back into the exact same life,’” Tranchina said. “Because I don’t have the same life anymore and I’m not the same person.”
From there on, Tranchina said she began embracing her new self and following a new spiritualism to guide herself.
What she found that made her feel good was sharing her story.
So she dropped her acting agent and dove headfirst into creating her podcast.
While Tranchina’s trauma concerns a life-changing injury, she said her podcast aims to support everyone through all forms of trauma.
Guests featured on the podcast include an individual who experienced homelessness and lobbied for marijuana legalization, her life coach, an ayahuasca shaman and astrologer, and her chiropractor.
She said her aspiration with the podcast is to help people through similar challenges.
“I want to be the voice I needed,” Tranchina said. “I want to be the voice for someone else that I needed when I was going through the worst of what I was going through. I want to be that voice for someone else.”
But Tranchina’s aspirations don’t stop with her podcast. She also wants to publish a book she is working on and become an advocate for people with brain injuries and disabilities.
“Gabriella Rebranded” has already aired 11 episodes, but Tranchina said season one will encompass about 20 episodes. The second season is planned to be launched in October, the anniversary of her accident.
Her podcast can be found on all streaming services.
