After leaving her relationship, Gabrielle had the idea of creating a space for survivors of harmful relationships to have a calming and supportive outlet for healing and sharing their experiences. After meeting Faith, the two expanded this venture into The Petal Project together.
Hackcon 2023 Convention held in New York.
Gabrielle and Faith met on a bus to a convention in Summer 2023, spending the entire three-hour ride sharing and comparing similarities in their past relationship experiences.
Through this, they realized the unfortunate commonality of young adults experiencing relationships such as their own, and how difficult the healing processes is when mixed with academic and social lives of high school and university.
Empathy and understanding from a close community supplemented their healing, and the eventual opening up about their experiences to friends, family, and mental health professionals allowed them to have the courage to share their stories at the University of Maryland campus.