Gabriela Iwanowska was born on 16 May 1867, in Warsaw, Poland, the third daughter of Antoni Iwanowski, a government official, and Sybilla Rosenwerth who hailed from a family of landowners.

"[1] In 1893, Gabriela Balicka completed her botany studies at the University of Geneva, obtaining her Ph.D. in natural sciences with the dissertation Contribution a l'étude anatomique et systématique du genre Iris et des genres voisins, written under the direction of Robert Hippolyte Chodat.

In 1896, the couple settled in Munich, where Gabriel continued her scientific activities under the guidance of the German botanist – Karl von Goebl.

[1] In 1898, she and her husband moved to Dębniki near Kraków to care for Gabriela's orphaned niece, Janina Kossobudzka.

[1] In the years 1898–1906, Balicka collaborated with the botany professor Emil Godlewski (senior), at Jagiellonian University and published research in the field of anatomy, cytology and physiology.