Secret Altruistic Agent Reveals Identity

(Aug. 6) -- Her boyfriend calls her Bubs. Friends call her Laura. Coworkers at her university job call her Jane Duquesne. But until last month, the 80 agents who reported to her at web headquarters knew her only as Secret Agent L.

Secret Agent L -- aka Laura Miller -- specializes in subterfuge of the friendliest sort: She leaves small treats around Pittsburgh for people to find. Just to be nice.

In her first-ever act of altruism, conducted at 10:32 a.m. July 24, 2009, Miller gently secured a pale purple hydrangea blossom under the wiper of a random car. The deed, performed in honor of a friend's birthday, pulled her into a whirlwind of happy secrecy from which she wouldn't emerge for an entire year.

She deposited plastic bins of sunflowers at a cemetery, placed a beautiful necklace in a grocery store bathroom stall, and scattered Valentine's Day cards all over Pittsburgh.

"I try to get as creative as I can," she told AOL News. "I try to think about what's something that would make someone's day less stressful, someone's day happier, or just a little bright spot."

With each gift, she includes her secret agent calling card, including her tagline: "All-Around Swell Chick," and her web address. On occasion, recipients respond.

"They'll say, 'You know I've been going through a really hard time lately because of XYZ and I came across this little gift, and it brightened my day.' "

As Miller sunk deeper into the world of clandestine compassion, she pulled 80 people along with her.

"I thought, 'This is really fun,' "she told AOL News. "I wanted other people to experience this. Social media just took off with it."

Soon an army of "Affiliated Agents" around the world was conducting tiny and amiable exploits.

On Oct. 14, 2009, at an unspecified time, an agent in Corvallis, Ore., left a soft pink scarf in the nuclear medicine waiting room of Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center.

On March 16, sometime "before lunch," an agent in Washington, D.C., planted Mad-Libs in the women's bathroom of a federal office building.

At 7:45 p.m. July 16, an agent in Milton, Ontario, left a $5 gift certificate to Jay's Ice Cream, beautifully contained in a red mesh gift bag, on the steps of a local church.

And on 9 p.m. July 24, Secret Agent L revealed her everyday alter ego, Laura Miller.

Miller works as an administrative assistant at Duquesne University, from which she holds an undergraduate and a master's degree. When she's not administratively assisting or secret agenting, the multi-talented Miller acts professionally and recently presented at an academic conference.

In fashion true to all her identities, Miller hosted a "reveal" on her one-year secret agent anniversary. Her charitable event raised more than $1,500 for the National Alliance on Mental Illness, an organization she chose because a relative suffers from mental illness. Miller hoped to bring money and attention to the organization.

Attention she got. She wasn't prepared for the frenzy -- the day she spoke to AOL News she was receiving 10 e-mails a minute -- but hopes the hullabaloo will inspire more agents to undertake similarly small and joyous missions.

"It has been one of the greatest blessings in my life to do this project," she said.

"You forget that there's some real beauty and magic and blessing going on in the world. If I can jolt people out of autopilot to realize that, I've been the facilitator I've always wanted to be."