Gabriella Carr is tracking 1,000 rejections and sparking a social media trend

Gabriella Carr, a 22-year-old creator and actress, has been documenting an effort to collect “1,000 no’s” in a red spiral notebook and posting the videos to her TikTok and Instagram accounts, a project that has inspired other social media users to seek out rejections. In her videos Carr shows pages tracking brand influencer campaigns she applied for, acting auditions and fitness photo shoots, saying, “I’m know I’m delusional, but you kind of have to be to chase your dreams.” Rejection spreadsheets and similar projects have appeared across platforms: one TikTok user is tracking job applications and Facebook Marketplace bargaining, while others ask strangers to style them, negotiate lease terms or pitch themselves for brand deals.

The trend has been framed as a counter to perfection-based January challenges like 75 Hard. Carr, who turned pandemic-era video making into a full-time focus, said she launched the project after a difficult period of stalled auditions and declining followers and explained the plan to her audience in September 2025.

She has received 86 no’s and 17 yeses so far, and has landed a pageant title, some small acting roles and been approved for a Dutch passport; her Instagram following has grown from about 17,000 to more than 82,000. She said the experiment has made her feel stronger and more hopeful, though the sudden attention has been “scary” and has added pressure that leads her to “triple examine” her work.