I didn’t want anyone else to feel alone

so I created Random Note Project

Hi, I’m Gabrielle.

When I was a small child, a trusted adult wrote a hurtful note meant for me to find. It said that I was not kind. Or respectful. Or fun to be with.

It broke my heart.

Like all children, I wanted to be loved. I wanted to feel safe. I wanted to know that I belonged in this world. Instead, I felt ashamed. I felt unwanted. I felt like an outsider.

For years, I carried the weight of those words. I let them shape me. I stopped making friends. I stopped joining clubs at school. I stopped trusting people. I made myself so small, I nearly disappeared—just to avoid ever finding a note like that again.

Words are powerful. They are powerful to hurt, but they are also powerful to heal.

In 2001, at 14 years old, I decided to harness the power of words to make the world a kinder place. Using scraps of paper and a pen, I began leaving anonymous notes for strangers: tiny, handwritten love letters that I tucked into library books, posted on telephone poles, taped to park benches. I didn’t know who would find them. I simply vowed that if someone is going to find a note that changes their life, it had better do so for the good.

I wrote the words I longed to hear, words I thought might mean something to someone else, words that would ease the pain I’d been carrying since my early childhood:

“You add value exactly as you are.”
“Perfection isn’t possible, nor is it necessary.”
“You deserve to heal and live a beautiful life.”

That’s how Random Note Project began. One brokenhearted kid. A pocket full of paper scraps. And a hope that the right words might land in the right hands at the right time.

And they did.

In 2011, the first website for Random Note Project was born and, almost immediately, stories began pouring in. People who found the right note when they were grieving. Starting over. Questioning their worth. People who taped these notes to their mirrors, carried them in their wallets, who shared them with a friend.

One note changed everything for them. And also for me.

Writing these messages became more than a hobby. It became a part of how I survive. These notes are my mantras. They’ve helped to rewrite my inner dialogue, silencing the lies I once believed and reminding me, over and over again, of my own inherent worth.

That’s the power of words. That’s the power of connection. That’s the power of showing up for strangers and, ultimately, for ourselves.

Today, Random Note Project has grown into a global movement. Thousands of people have found notes and become note writers, sharing their own words of hope with the world. Together, we’ve built something rare and beautiful: a quiet, grassroots revolution of empathy.

And it’s just getting started.

If you’ve ever needed a kind word, this is your invitation. Join us. Write a note. Leave it where someone might find it. Let your story become part of someone else’s healing. Because one message, shared at the right moment, can change everything.

The words you write for someone else might become the words you start to believe about yourself.

Let’s begin.