Flicker - Write your own fairy tale: the new rules for dating, relationships, and finding love on your terms

Once upon a Time...

... THERE WAS you. A sassy, funny, kind, smart, beautiful everyday princess looking for love. After a lifetime of Disney movies, Meg Ryan rom coms and your friends adorable meet cute stories, youre wondering if youre cursed when it comes to romance. Maybe you just got out of a long relationship, or youre exhausted from dating a string of men who just wont commit, or you havent been on a date in too many months to count. If you spend one more Friday night ordering carryout and watching Law and Order: SVU, or RSVP solo to one more wedding or have one more person ask you why youre still single, youre going to lose your mind. Youre fixated on one pressing question: where is my happily ever after??

Poof!

Cue dramatic entrance of your very own relationship fairy godmotheryours truly! For essentially my entire life, Ive been an advice guru, matchmaker and relationship expert. Even when I was very young, people sought me out for relationship advice. I wasnt the prettiest girl in middle school or high school (just pull out one of my yearbooks to confirm that!), but I did have a certain X factor that made guys flock to me and girls (even the popular ones) want to know my secret. The truth was, there wasnt much of a secret; I just always had a big personality and a knack for connecting with people. I intuitively understood how relationships work and how and why people connect.

Through the years I loved playing cupid but even more I enjoyed dishing out the best advice. I was the love guru throughout my college years at Monmouth University with people lining up for my advice, both male and female. I worked my way through college by waiting tables at TGIFridays and I became the on-site love guru for all of my coworkers, who came to me with their romantic problems on a regular basis. And my coworkers werent the only ones. My section at the restaurant would always be packed with regular customers who often ordered up my advice with their appetizers!

Along with dishing out wisdom, I would always set up my work friends. In fact, TGIFridays is where I set up my very first couple who got marriedmy coworkers Chris and Amy, who are now celebrating their twenty-first wedding anniversary.

Once I got married and moved to a new state and new town it didnt take long for all the moms I met at Mommy and Me to start sharing their relationship troubles and seeking my advice. Soon, word was out and friends of friends would call me up and ask for my time and advice. I loved every second of it. I found myself not only good at giving advice but getting passionate about peoples stories and following up with those who reached out. Every single time, every single person would be amazed at how much I remembered and the fact that I was checking in. It became a side job for me but didnt feel like one.

Then a few years later after my divorce, I met Lara, a recruiter at a company called Model Quality Introductions (MQI), a matchmaking service. I was living in Florida at the time, and she approached me one night at a restaurant with an offer to set me up with one of their clients. But I was much less intrigued by the offer to be set up than I was by what she did for a living.

When I moved to New York a year later, I learned that MQI was hiring a new matchmaker for the Tri-State area and I decided I wanted the job. Actually, I decided I HAD to have that job. I went to an interview at the Waldorf Astoria andI remember it like it was yesterdaythe room was filled with thirty-six other people being considered for the position. I sized up the competition, took a deep breath and went in to sell myself to Craig, the owner of the company, and his wife.

I explained to them that I had been matchmaking since I was in elementary school. I described my history setting people up and how I intuitively understood what makes two people click. I told them how passionate I was about helping people find love and how much I enjoyed it. I was even helping out my friend Jennifer, who at the time was director of a dating service called Its Just Lunch, suggesting connections between her clients. I should have invoiced her for the free labor, but truth is, I loved doing it so much that I was happy to help her out.

The more I talked, the more excited I became and the more convinced I was this was the perfect job for me. I guess I convinced Craig too, because a few weeks later he called to tell me the job was mine.

From day one, my career at MQI was exactly as wonderful and fulfilling as Id imagined!

People always ask me what my secret to success when it comes to matchmaking is and its hard to pin down because so much of it comes from a gut instinct. I describe it as almost like a sixth sense. But beyond that I believe it comes down to a few key things. I listen to people very carefully and can interpret what theyre saying and, even more important, what theyre not saying, when it comes to what they are looking for. So when a woman tells me, I just dont meet any guys, I hear, I just dont want to make an effort to put myself out there. I cut through the bullshit, but in a loving way. My clients always know that I genuinely care about them and will work tirelessly to help them realize their romantic goals. They understand I am rooting for them and that helps them keep the faith and have an open mind. Thats half the battle when it comes to love. Also, I am very, very specific and very, very honest about what people should say and do to make their relationship or love connection work. And my advice works. The stats prove it: more than one hundred marriages on my watch, and counting!