When she’s not in classes, find her presenting to over 600 employees at the Hershey Company’s National Sales Meeting, giving a TEDx talk at a local high school, running a Board meeting, or participating as a member of the inaugural #AExMECouncil with international clothing brand, American Eagle. A 21-year-old Music Industry major at Drexel University, Gabby Frost might seem like your typical college student, but what many don’t realize is that in addition to her schoolwork and somewhat ordinary college life, Gabby is a successful entrepreneur of her six year old non-profit, Buddy Project.

SHE’S 21, BUT HER ORGANIZATION IS ALREADY SIX YEARS OLD?

That’s right. At the young age of 15 years, Gabby conceptualized her organization, which aims to prevent suicide by pairing people as buddies and raising awareness for mental health. Gabby had a close friend struggling with mental health and contemplating suicide. She was scrolling through her Twitter feed when she saw two others also voicing their struggle with mental health online. She thought of each of them needing someone, specifically a friend. Wouldn’t it help to know others were going through the same thing? And that was the basis of her mission. Gabby aimed to create a way for people to find a friend and have a community to talk about mental health. At 15 years old, Gabby saw that her friends at this age didn’t necessarily want to talk to their parents or others about mental health, but were willing to share their stories online with others going through the same thing.

“I DIDN’T WANT TO WAIT FOR SOMEONE ELSE TO DO SOMETHING, I WANTED TO CREATE IT MYSELF.”

One night, Gabby decided to make her idea a reality when she created a Google Form briefly explaining the purpose of pairing buddies where individuals could sign up. Gabby was a big fan of the popular boy band, One Direction, and at the time was running a Twitter fan page with a few thousand followers. After creating the Google Form, Gabby took to social media to share it. Within JUST the first 24 hours, over 3,000 people sent in responses to be paired with a buddy.

FROM A GOOGLE FORM TO A NON-PROFIT

Gabby turned the Google Form into a Twitter page, and then into a website. She named her organization “Buddy Project” because of the nature of pairing people with a “buddy.” As a freshman in high school, Gabby worked to expand Buddy Project and continued growing her mission. That was just the beginning. In 2015, Gabby was one of six awarded “Pottery Barn Extraordinary Teen.” On a trip for this award, where Gabby recalled their moms were the chaperones, Gabby and her mom were inspired by the other five honorees and thought “Why not make Buddy Project a legitimate nonprofit?” They applied for 501(c)(3) status and about a year and a half later, were officially granted that status as a nonprofit Gabby’s senior year of high school.

In 2015, Gabby was also awarded the John Fitzgerald Kennedy Memorial Award, Glamour Hometown Hero for Pennsylvania, Vox Populi Shorty Award in Teen Hero. Other honors include the Shorty Award in Teen Activism (2014), Three Dot Dash Global Teen Leader (2016), The Mighty’s Mental Health Heroes (2017), and Her Campus 22 Under 22 Most Inspiring College Women (2017). Buddy Project has also received publications from some of the largest media and new sources, such as Girls’ Life, Teen Vogue, Revlon, USA Today College, and O,The Oprah Magazine, to name a few. Most recently, Gabby was named one of Glamour Magazine’s 2019 College Women of the Year.

I asked her the moment she knew she “made it” and she replied with a story about when she went to a concert at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, PA, which holds ~19,000 people. She looked around at the stadium and thought to herself: “This is how many buddies have been paired.”

233,000 BUDDIES AND GROWING

Buddy Project continued to grow. Three thousand buddies became 233,000 to date, $50,000+ in fundraising, multiple advisory boards, national campaigns, and partnerships with global companies. Buddy Project was becoming one of the largest forums for mental health. Despite its growth, its mission and Gabby’s philosophy remains the same: to stop suicide and promote mental health awareness through genuine online relationships. To date, Gabby still pairs every “buddy” herself based on age and mutual interests.

Currently, Gabby and her team are developing a Buddy Project app that will pair people as buddies based on their interests and age. In the future, Gabby hopes to target audiences that aren’t as familiar with Buddy Project, such as gamers, athletes, and the male demographic. Gabby’s next goal is to take Buddy Project to places where mental health is being talked about and continue the conversation around awareness and suicide prevention.

Transforming the intersection of online relationships + mental health awareness, this young entrepreneur is definitely a major woman to watch. We can’t wait to support and watch where she takes Buddy Project next.

Have a question or comment? Leave it below! Learn more about Gabby and visit the Buddy Page site to learn more/get involved!

You can also find Gabby and Buddy Project on Instagram!