The Queen of Anonymous Kindness
If you’ve ever had the pleasure of finding a random and anonymous note of encouragement, framed on all sides by tape, you may have been a lucky reader of a Random Note. But if you haven’t stumbled across a Random Note or seen them featured in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette or The List TV, you’re in for a treat. The Random Note Project was founded by Pittsburgh native Gabrielle Bovard ’11 when she was just fourteen:
“Life was hard, I was trying to find a fit and figure out my future. When I looked around, There were a lot of hurting, broken people just like me. The one thing I really wanted was to try to connect people and make sure they knew that this is just part of the human experience. We're all going through stuff but it's okay. So I started writing these little notes and hiding them places for people to find.”
Gabrielle Bovard
Within a few years, Gabrielle was an Interior Architecture student at Chatham, and Carnegie Mellon University grad Adam Conkey stumbled upon a note in Oakland. Conkey was so intrigued by the note that he winded up tracking Gabrielle down to help her create https://www.randomnoteproject.com/. Thanks to the website, Gabrielle is now able to see the impact of the Random Note Project in real time: the website is filled with photos of found notes—written by Gabrielle and by others who have been inspired to participate—and messages from finders from all over the world, some are even in different languages.
One found note reads: “Find meaning in the moments in-between.” Its finder writes: “Earlier today I was crying because I felt a crushing weight of not knowing what my future held. While waking through the park, I turned to see this note and was filled with golden light. Seeing this reminded me that where I am now, the in-between, is where I am meant to be and has just as much purpose as the future.”
A Random Note found in Upper St. Clair, PA.
Another found note reads: “Keep going, keep loving, keep growing. You are on your way to incredible things.” The finder writes: “I just found this taped to the building where I work. I needed this. My husband had surgery three weeks ago and we are struggling with the new way of doing things. Thank you.” The notes seem to find their way to people looking for them at the perfect time, and the stories that arise from the finders are Gabrielle’s favorite part:
“I hope they feel a sense of, ‘Whatever I’m going through, whether it’s good or bad, this is part of life.’ Enjoy it. Stay with the moment. Learn what you can if iSN’t a good moment. If it is good, hang on and enjoy it. Life changes quickly.”
Currently, Gabrielle is the Director of Cadnetics U, a training platform that provides training and support in the latest software for people in the architecture, engineering, and construction industry. She believes her career and her passion project dovetail quite well: "I care so much about creating environments where people feel really supported. With Random Note Project that may seem obvious, but even when I’m training people [at work], I try to make it really fun and really supportive."
Inspired to write your own note? Check out Gabrielle’s instructions for writing your first Random Note: “Sharing for the first time can be intimidating. But you should just write the kinds of things that you've needed to read in the past when you've been struggling. Say something that you wish you would find on a note. Those are usually the things that other people need as well. Have fun with it. You don't have to invest in anything fancy, it's just scraps of paper and a pen.” For complete Random Note instructions, click here or to get Random Note boosts in real time, follow @randomnoteproject on Instagram.
Special thanks to Gabrielle Bovard for sharing the Random Note Project with us. For more information about interior architecture programs at Chatham, click here.
