A glamorous Tinder executive is encouraging a single woman to ditch the apps and meet people in real life, just like she did with her husband.
Tinder’s marketing director, Melissa Hobley, met her husband, Paul Yau, at a bar in New York City’s West Village after approaching another hot guy her friend was interested in, and now she wants young singles to get ready to meet each other… in real life again!
“(My friend) thought this guy at the bar was interesting, so I walked up to him and said, ‘My friend thinks you’re the hottest person in the West Village. You should definitely go buy her a drink,'” she recalled. The New York Times.
“He did, and then I started talking to his friend and we got married a few years later.”
The part-time matchmaker, who receives no payment for her services beyond the app, is well aware that users around the world are experiencing dating app fatigue.
Many have even ditched apps altogether and opted for color-coded running clubs and pickleball courts to find their next match.
Tinder’s marketing director, Melissa Hobley, met her husband, Paul Yau, at a bar in New York City’s West Village after approaching another hot guy her friend was interested in, and now she wants young singles to get ready to meet each other… in real life again!
“It may sound funny to hear this from someone who works at the world’s largest dating app, but yes, if you’re at a party, put your phone down. If you’re at a bar with interesting people, put your phone down,” he said. Pictured: A couple on a date
Tinder even partnered with Indiana University’s Kinsey Institute to get to the bottom of this burnout, and the 44-year-old’s take is: the younger generation’s need for “instant gratification” is driving them crazy.
“They are angry because apps don’t allow them to find their soul mate in an instant,” she told the outlet. “But love doesn’t work like that.”
“It may sound funny to hear this from someone who works at the world’s largest dating app, but yes, if you’re at a party, put your phone down. If you’re at a bar with interesting people, put your phone down.”
However, she is aware that not everyone will be able to meet their partner in real life, especially those with extremely busy schedules and members of the LGBT+ community, who are not quite ready to let their friends and family know their sexual orientation.
Even famous people struggle to find their soul mate, and Hobley knows this firsthand, having recently helped someone on RuPaul’s Drag Race find “someone who’s half as gorgeous as him.”
However, he is well aware that not everyone will be able to meet their partner in real life, especially those with extremely busy schedules and members of the LGBT+ community, who are not quite ready to let their friends and family know their sexual orientation.
She also recently helped a journalist find a “happy, committed relationship” after finding it “difficult to be on an app.”
“I told him I had interesting people he could meet,” she told The Times.
Hobley, who also used to work at OkCupid, is so passionate about dating, whether online or on Tinder, that she helped the app launch an “exciting” new feature that allows multiple friends and family members to access people’s matches to help them “swipe right on you.”
“We’re not very good at knowing who the right candidate is for us,” said the Fordham University graduate. “Even people who think they’re open aren’t really. We’re too quick and too critical.
“But other people can be more open with you and I think that’s why matchmaking works. Because some of these beautiful, amazing stories and connections come from being a little bit more open.”