Meet your new matchmaker – Glad Simmons

HALIFAX DAILY NEWS — June 4 — Glad Simmons opened Better Half Matchmakers after being certified by the The School of Matchmaking and Relationship Sciences in New York. It’s aimed at people who don’t frequent singles functions and don’t have the time or inclination for Internet dating. She uses information from profile interviews to find potential matches and makes all the first-date arrangements. Better Half also offers life coaching and image consulting: “I tell people what other people are too afraid to tell them.” Women pay a $50 registration fee. Men pay $500 (3 months, 3+ matches) to $1,300 (1 year, 12 matches). Simmons says it’s a bargain, compared to the alternative. “By the time you go through 30 dates online, you could have gone to a matchmaker and been matched up almost instantly.”

Mark Brooks: The movie, Hitch, was a good pitch for real world matchmaking services. Still, they draw from a limited pool. I’d like to see matchmaking services that pull from the online personals pool. It would behoove online personals companies to consider working with real world matchmakers and offer them enhanced services.