MICHELLE LEE
MATCHMAKING
TRUE LOVE IS POSSIBLE, WHY WAIT?
Written by: Jack Collier
For men, it is a barbershop. For women—and some men—it’s a salon.
The longer the relationship with your stylist, the more we confess. It’s an intimate thing involving touch and closeness, the squeezing of warm soap from our hair as we pick up where we left off.
Just listening. And holding our secrets for the next visit.
Michell Vazquez has streamed her salon/stylist experiences —and her life as a person with heartbreaks and boundless joy—into Michelle Lee Matchmaking. Her new service pairs dating professionals. A matchmaker’s job, she says, is structuring compatibility, to “really know who you are going
out on a date with,” says the owner of Steel Magnolias Salon in Fort Myers and who has fused 25 years of styling and running a successful salon into the role of playing Cupid.
Everyone has stumbled in the art of love. Some trip harder, of course. In modern times, we download our love dreams/hookups into a dating app … and cross our fingers. One such app has 400 million users, according to people keeping those statistics.
While app users will find love, others report abuse, at least finding that new Mercedes you chatted up turned out to be a clunker with bald tires. “You hear stories, sad stories,” says Vazquez. “And I thought there’s got to be a better way to meet quality people.”
ONCE A HAPPILY PAIRED COUPLE HITS THEIR STRIDE, VAZQUEZ FOLLOWS IN A COACHING CAPACITY, MAYBE ROMANCE TIPS OR POSITIVE REINFORCEMENTS, LEARNING ABOUT LOVE LANGUAGES OR HEALING FROM PAST FAILURES, RARE IN PROFESSIONAL MATCHMAKING SERVICES.
Which put into motion Michelle Lee Matchmaking.
Vazquez says that clients seeking a
professional matchmaker, and that can run
into the thousands, deserve a safety net — trust
is mandatory. Background and credit reports
start the process, she says, “to decide if there’s a
good fit to move forward.”
Clients then deep dive into a 5-step
process in following interviews to avoid
mid-air collisions.
Do the food labels on your cabinets face
forward, how clean/unclean is your house,
do you sit in the corner at a party or are you
bubbly and outgoing, these questions and
many more are asked. Sex is a hot topic, as
well, which can be the ultimate compatibility
issue, surveys indicate.
And everything is confidential, as Vazquez
uses hard facts and her intuition to pair us
with our best match.
Why not hit the ground running, she
asks. “It’s like I’m their personal dating
concierge,” says Vazquez, who describes
herself as an empath, that rare person that
feels or grasps the emotions of others, a
perfect matchmaking tool.
Once a happily paired couple hits their
stride, Vazquez follows in a coaching
capacity, maybe romance tips or positive
reinforcements, learning about love
languages or healing from past failures,
rare in professional matchmaking services,
says Vazquez, a lifelong entrepreneur who
lives and runs her businesses in southwest
Florida. “I like to hear ‘truly amazing … I
never experienced love like this.’” FCM
ROUNDUP
Michelle Lee Matchmaking,
michelleleematchmaking.com
Steel Magnolias Salon, steelmagsalon.com
Next venture: Right Now! (on-demand app)