George
(00:05.8): Jasbina Ahluwalia is a professional matchmaker. She finds Silicon Valley the perfect place for such a service.
Jasbina Ahluwalia
(00:12.2): Our clients come from throughout the Bay Area and are interested in meeting people throughout the Bay Area.
George
(00:16.7): The matchmaker deals with clients of all ages and ethnicities. Despite these diverse backgrounds, many of her customers share things in common.
Jasbina Ahluwalia
(00:25.0): They are people who may have put their personal lives aside for a period of time whether it be to do extra schooling or make some inroads in their profession before looking for a partner.
George
(00:34.8): The name of the service is Intersections Matchmaking, but unlike computer dating or other matchmaking services, Intersections uses a different business model.
Jasbina Ahluwalia
(00:43.9): We have independent contractors who we send out as scouts. Scouts go throughout the Bay Area to events looking for matches for our clients. This isn’t a dating service. It’s more similar to an executive search model.
George
(00:56.9): In this time of economic slow-down, are people spending discretionary dollars to meet that special someone? Ahluwalia says business is good.
Jasbina Ahluwalia
(01:06.3): While a difficult economy on the surface may appear to dampen the demand for discretionary services such as ours, to the contrary, we’re finding that, in a difficult economy oftentimes that has the effect of encouraging people to look inward.
George
(01:20.5): Although Intersections concentrates primarily on the Bay Area, they have found one subset of clients who benefit from casting the nets a lot further.
Jasbina Ahluwalia
(01:29.5): With your Indian clientele, we found that Indian clientele who want to meet other Indians exclusively are very open to meeting people nationwide. We have expanded nationwide with respect to that population.
George
(01:43.0): We always like to end the interview by asking the local business owner about thoughts on the economy’s direction. Here’s what the matchmaker had to say.
Jasbina Ahluwalia
(01:51.1): In some ways, I feel like we’re sort of in a bubble being here in Silicon Valley. I’m not sure I’ve seen any evidence that we’ve hit a bottom nationwide. For these reasons, I am not seeing the economy picking up in the near term.
George
(02:03.7): That’s Jasbina Ahluwalia, owner of Intersections Matchmaking Service, which is based in Palo Alto. George Sampson, 1590, KLIV.
Tags: Indian Dating, Indian, Indian Culture, South Asian, South Asian Dating, South Asian Culture, Jasbina Ahluwalia, Jasbina, Intersections Match, Love, Romance, Shaadi, Matrimony, Jeevansathi, Matrimony, Indian Matrimony, Matrimonial, Indian Matrimonial, Indian Matrimonials, Indian Bride, Indian Groom, South Asian Bride, South Asian Groom, Astrology and Matchmaking, Numerology and Matchmaking, Marriage, Arranged Marriage, Online Dating, Matchmaker, Matchmaking, Indian Matchmaker, South Asian Matchmaker.