Frank Warren, Owner of Post Secret

Frank Warren is the owner and founder of PostSecret.com, a website that has taken the world by storm. The idea started with humble hopes and has blossomed into a life-changing phenomenon for Warren and his supporters.

In April of 2008 I spoke with him on the campus of Franklin College, a small private liberal arts school (my alma mater) located in Franklin, Ind.

Photo by Wendy Gould

Wendy Gould: Tell me about the concept of PostSecret. What made you decide to start the project?
Frank Warren: Well I think if anything sparked the idea it was a very monotonous job that I had for about 10 years. As I was copying documents, my mind would wander, and one day it wandered toward thinking about "What if I could create this non-judgmental, safe place where people could feel comfortable sharing parts of their lives that they've never told a soul?"

WG: What did you do from there?
FW: Well I thought about it and thought about it and printed up hundreds of self-addressed postcards and handed them out to strangers in Washington D.C. and that's when the secrets started coming and they haven't stopped since.

WG: Did it start slowly or was it suddenly popular? Are you surprised at how popular it now is?
FW: It was a slow trickle at first - maybe like a handful of cards every week, but somehow the idea of Post Secret spread virally around the world. I started getting more and more and more secrets even though I was no longer handing postcards out. It was then that I realized I had tapped into something that I didn't understand. It was something that I knew would always be special for me, just because I appreciate that kind of interior peek into people's most private and interesting lives. But I had no idea that it would resonate with so many people and there would be books and an art exhibit and the Web site, which gets about 1 million visits every week.

WG: Have you ever submitted any of your own secrets?
FW: I have one of my secrets in every book.

WG: I'm sure you get more secrets than you can post. What makes a postcard stand out?
FW: I think I'm always looking for secrets that surprise me - secrets that I haven't seen before. Also common secrets, but expressed in a creative way that gives a different point of view or perspective than what you expect. Every week I try and include secrets that represent the full scale of our humanity. So there is always going to be a funny secret, a sexual secret, a shocking secret, a hopeful secret. And then some heavy secrets too. I try to arrange them almost like I'm a composer - I'm taking these different notes and trying to make...music.

WG: The Web site does seem to carry a theme every week. Do you do this on purpose or is it more of a random process?
FW: Well, I won't say it's random, but it's almost subconscious. I spend a lot of time selecting the cards and arranging them in a way where I am kind of creating these dialogues or conversations between the secrets themselves, so that when you look at one or two of three or four of these postcards you aren't just hearing individual voices but something more than that.

WG: So it's kind of like you're an artist of sorts?
FW: [laughing] Yeah, maybe I'm like an editor bringing the stories together.

WG: Do you get a lot of repeat secrets?
FW: I will tell you the most popular secret I receive is "I pee in the shower," which is not what you'd expect but that's the most common one.

WG: Any others?
FW: I get a lot of secrets that deal with issues of loneliness and relationships, career, money. Some secrets are funny or emotional. Some deal with heavier topics like self harm or body image issues.

WG: Do you ever get overwhelmed by all the secrets that you receive?
FW: What I try to do is channel those feelings I have to want to help to promoting 1-800-SUICIDE, a national suicide hotline that I promote and support financially, too. I do get that feeling and I can't reach out directly because all the postcards are submitted anonymously but I can support that charity that I believe in.

WG: What are some of your most memorable or favorite secrets that you've received?
FW: Well once I got one on a Starbucks cup that said, "I serve decaf to customers who are rude to me." I like that one a lot. I like the funny ones and the hopeful ones. There was one I got recently from a girl, who on her college campus, puts pennies on the ground so people can feel lucky when they find them.

WG: Have you ever received a secret that was incriminating? Do you have to turn those in?
FW: I don't get too many like that. Most come anonymously so it's difficult to do anything even if we could. There was one though that I'm reminded of - it's on the back cover of the first book and it reads, "He's been in prison for two years for something that I did. Nine more years to go." It makes you understand that there are extraordinary stories out in the world happening every day that go undiscovered.

WG: Do you think this is something that will be around for a long time? Do you plan to ever pass the reigns down?
FW: I don't know how it's going to go. I've been completely surprised by the project and how it's brought me here to this point. I feel like it's brought so much purpose and gratification to my own life personally that I have just learned to trust it. I'll follow it wherever it goes.

WG: Any word of wisdom to end?
FW: I'd just like to say that through this project I've learned that there are two types of secrets - the ones you keep from other people and the secrets we hide from ourselves. Sometimes by looking at this community of secrets it allows us to recognize a few secrets that we might be carrying unaware.