As people grow increasingly frustrated with dating apps, an age-old industry is starting to make a resurgence to the foreground. We’re talking about matchmaking. And when it comes to hiring a personal matchmaker, one of the names that you may have heard is Master Matchmakers. Master Matchmakers is a personalized matchmaking company serving clients all over the US with a focus on some of the bigger cities, as we typically see with matchmaking companies.
Today, our own Matt Seymour took a minute to sit down with Kim DiSilvestro, Chief of Staff for Master Matchmakers. Below, you can check out the video of the inter
Full Master Matchmakers Interview Transcript
Matt Seymour:
Hi everybody, this is Matt from Healthy Framework. Today I am very excited to be joined by Kim DiSilvestro, the chief of staff for Master Matchmakers. Kim, thank you so much for joining.
Kim DiSilvestro:
Thank you for having me.
Matt Seymour:
Sure thing. Well, Kim, let’s dive right in. Can you tell me what separates Master Matchmakers from the rest of the matchmaking services that are out there?
Kim DiSilvestro:
A lot. One thing for sure is longevity. We’ve been around a very long time in this industry, over 25 years, so we’re seasoned veterans. Most of us have even been with the company over a dozen years, so we definitely have the experience behind what we do. We all say we’re addicted to love, Matt, that’s why we’ve been doing this as long as we have. But in addition to that, as matchmakers, we don’t do any blind dates here. I know some other services do. We believe that chemistry is part of the overall equation when you’re getting to know someone in a lasting relationship. So we don’t do blind dates.
Again, it’s full circle. And we also, unlike most services out there, we do verifications and background checks on everyone that we work with. We find it really important to create an environment that’s safe as well as free of misrepresentation. So we take that very, very seriously. We want to streamline the process of people meeting, and so by creating this level of safety and verification, people do feel comfortable to move forward with their matches and not kind of get into that back and forth, back and forth. So I think that separates us. It’s just a little bit of what separates us. There’s a lot more, but we’ll keep it there for now.
Matt Seymour:
Yeah, no, that’s great. So over 25 years in business and then background checks for everybody, that’s incredible to help keep the safety up. Unfortunately, somebody might present one way but could be different, so that’s amazing that you guys are doing the background checks. Excellent.
Kim DiSilvestro:
Yes, catfishing is a real thing, so we want to make sure that does not happen here.
Matt Seymour:
Yeah, makes sense. How would you describe the ideal customer that Master Matchmakers is designed for?
Kim DiSilvestro:
So our service is best designed for people that already have nice full lives. They have their friends, they have their family, they have their hobbies, their careers are set, and they’re literally just missing this one piece, and that’s where we come in. So we’re not working with people that literally have nothing going on in their lives and they’re sitting at home waiting on us. They’re living nice full lives and they hire us to help fill that one gap, so to speak.
Matt Seymour:
Yeah, that’s perfect. It’s understandable. Often it sounds like probably many of these folks that have very busy things going on and just need a little assistance from somebody like you guys to help do that. Perfect. Something that I’ve always wondered a bit, and I’m sure others here, is that hiring a personalized matchmaker is definitely more expensive than using a traditional dating app, let’s say Hinge, Tinder, whatever the case is. How would you rationalize the cost of somebody who might be concerned about the higher price tag?
Kim DiSilvestro:
Well, it is definitely an investment into yourself, into your personal life, into your private life, but I think most people see this more than ever is that time is money as well. And so people, going back to the last question you asked me, these people have nice full lives and they want to spend their time in meaningful ways. And so how do you put a price tag on that and how do you put a price tag on ultimately your future happiness? I think that’s tough to do. So in the same vein that people would hire, if you’re a golfer, you hire a coach. It’s not cheap if you want to get good results. And I think that’s the same thing here. It’s just looking at it as an investment into your future, into your life, and it’s really tough to put a low price tag on something like that.
Matt Seymour:
Yeah, makes sense. I mean, you guys are essentially doing a lot of the heavy lifting so that they don’t have to and-
Kim DiSilvestro:
All of it.
Matt Seymour:
Right. Makes sense. Excellent. Would you say, are there any drawbacks to using a matchmaker that people should be aware of?
Kim DiSilvestro:
I don’t really see any drawbacks per se. I think you just have to be prepared to be patient, right? You have to understand that you’re not ordering something that can be manufactured, right? This isn’t a car with leather seats and a sunroof. This is a human being to your specifications, but you also have to meet the other person’s specifications. So I think patience goes a very long way. If you try to rush something like this, then you try to force a square peg into a round hole, and ultimately it’s not the right thing.
Matt Seymour:
Yeah, that’s a really good perspective there for sure. Would you say that there’s anything unique about the way that you might find matches for someone?
Kim DiSilvestro:
So we actually have a lot of different methods of finding matches for our clients. Of course, being in business as long as we have, we already have a very robust database, so that’s pretty conventional. But we also have a lot of different ways of attracting people to our service on behalf of our clients. So whether that’s using our own social media, whether it’s referrals from happy clients that we’ve worked with in the past or even current clients that we’ve worked with, we have a lot of ways to get crafty, to find the right person for our client, not just any person. We’re not looking for any person. So we can get very crafty. I can’t give away all our trade secrets, but there are a lot of things that we’re able to do to attract the right match for a client.
Matt Seymour:
No, that’s great. And especially like you said, in 25 years of doing this, that database and you’re reaching things over time has to be massive compared to somebody, let’s say starting last week or last month.
Kim DiSilvestro:
Yes. Yes.
Matt Seymour:
Perfect. So definitely something else I wonder is have you ever struggled to find an ideal match for a client? And if so, what’s the process when that happens?
Kim DiSilvestro:
So that’s a great question, and actually this is something that really does set us apart from other services is that we don’t work on timelines here, Matt. So we’ve never run into we can’t find your match. It just might take us longer to find your match. So we don’t give up, our clients do not run the risk of us just throwing our hands in the air and giving up. We do not give up until we find a match for our clients. So we’re not motivated for it to take any longer than it has to, Matt, but that’s what we commit to our clients, is that we will work as long as we have to to cross that finish line for them. So we always find them.
Matt Seymour:
Great. No, I love that. Yeah, because I’ve seen from researching other ones, in some cases, maybe it’s a six month contract or whatever, and well, if the time runs out, that’s there. So it’s great to hear that you guys are going to continue to work until you find the right fit overall.
Kim DiSilvestro:
Yeah, no timelines for us. I think it’s impossible to work on a timeline, just going back to the fact that we can’t manufacture someone. So how do you put a timeline on it?
Matt Seymour:
That makes sense. Perfect. So last question. This one’s always a favorite of mine, is to close out. Do you have a favorite success story that you’d like to share?
Kim DiSilvestro:
Oh my goodness. We have a lot, but I’ll give you just a very recent one that has put a smile on my face literally for the past three weeks because the couple messages me consistently with updates.
Matt Seymour:
Awesome.
Kim DiSilvestro:
So very recently, we put a couple together, and I won’t drag it out, but he has told me he’s waited his whole life for this woman. He is divorced, so he has been in previous relationships and she is as well. But they have told me that they really believe they’ve encountered love at first sight. And I’m a little skeptical at first, but if you hear them gushing about one another, and it’s just been such a whirlwind that for me it’s like watching a fairytale, literally unfolding in front of my eyes.
He proposed to her, not technically, but he proposed to her with a cigar band after five days and she accepted. But they have had a formal engagement and it literally has been a fairytale, and their friends are happy for them, their families are happy for them, their children are happy for them, and it’s just been absolutely beautiful because I will tell you initially there was a little caveat to the match and it didn’t quite match what each of them were envisioning for themselves.
And believe it or not, that’s more often than not the case is people come here with a vision of what they think they want or need and it ends up not being exactly what they thought they wanted or needed. And that was the case here, and it’s just been absolutely wonderful. I get text messages, selfie pictures of them, pictures of the romantic ride on a sunset beach with horses. It’s just been incredible. So that’s just one of our most recent success stories. That definitely is, it’s just thrilling. It’s really really [inaudible 00:09:29]
Matt Seymour:
No, as you described it, I’m just thinking of a Hallmark movie, how everything kind of fell in place.
Kim DiSilvestro:
Yeah, it really is, it’s incredible. It really is. It sounds like a fairytale, but it’s reality for them, and it’s been a lot of fun to watch it unfold.
Matt Seymour:
That’s great. I love it. Thank you for sharing that. And thank you again, Kim, for joining. Really appreciate just getting a little insight peek behind the curtain. Like you said, not all the secret sauce there, but just understanding a little bit more of you guys and the organization. So we’re so thankful for you taking the time, and we’re excited to see how you guys continue to develop in the future as well.
Kim DiSilvestro:
Yeah, I appreciate you giving me the time and the opportunity to talk about it.
Matt Seymour:
Yeah, sure thing. Thanks, Kim. Appreciate it.