Avenue Magazine Calgary

What I know about...

MATCHMAKING

• “I’m Portuguese and the youngest of four children. My family was very traditional, so we grew up with the idea that you get married, you have kids; that’s just what you do. From a young age, I was already matchmaking. The first match I ever made was in the fourth grade.”

• “Everybody now knows me as ‘The Matchmaker.’ Or, the ‘Love Queen’ and ‘Cupid’ — I get called everything. I’m a headhunter for the heart.”

• “I don’t know if just anyone can be a good matchmaker. You have to be a good listener, you have to have intuition and compassion, but the key is understanding that everyone wants to be with somebody. No one needs to be alone.”

• “Matchmaking is based on many elements.

  I look at criteria like age range, job type, financial stability, socioeconomic factors, interests, what someone’s physically attracted to and what they want to avoid. I become like their best friend. If two people come from the same [mental] place, it’s likely that they’ll match up on so many levels.”

• “I don’t show clients pictures. We’re all visual creatures and we create what we think is chemistry based on visual cues. It’s fun to have sexual chemistry, but at the end of the day, it doesn’t always lead to anything long term.”

• “Online dating services are a numbers game. You plug in things like five-foot-whatever, dark hair, blue eyes, professional — but none of these things really look at your values and what the other person believes.”

• “I’m the middleman between two people; I can’t create chemistry, but I can facilitate it.”

• “Here’s the part that’s not fun about what I do: I need people who are physically fit. My clients are all physically fit, so if someone isn’t, I have to decline them. I also decline men who are looking for younger women.”

• “There’s another side to matchmaking that’s really tough. If a person likes somebody and that other person doesn’t like them, it’s my fault. If someone kisses another person and doesn’t call them again, that’s my fault. As the matchmaker, I’m everyone’s scapegoat. But I don’t mind.”

• “There are men in Vancouver and Toronto who pay $10,000 and up for matchmakers. One of the largest matchmakers is out of Edmonton and she charges more than $150,000 for her matches. I charge less than $5,000. When you fall in love, whether through an online dating service or a matchmaker, money isn’t the issue.”

• “I don’t believe in soulmates. You can fall in love in many different ways. It can happen many times in your life. We think that it’s forever, but it doesn’t have to be, honestly.”

Companies: Edmonton based Real Connections and Calgary based Empresario