Q1.

Give me a brief history of Inter-

sections Matchmaking.

I always wanted to pursue an entrepreneur-

ial venture aligned with my values and prin-

ciples focused on helping people in a

high-impact way, founded

Intersections Matchmaking (www.Intersec-

tionsMatch.com) in 2007. The service fo-

cuses on selective South Asian Singles

nationwide looking to find significant oth-

ers. This is a high-touch service, NOT on-

line. I do a comprehensive personal

consultation with each client to understand

their needs, paradigms regarding relation-

ships and blind spots. There is extensive

feedback after each introduction.

Q2.

What was the main inspiration

for the c

ompany?

As a second-generation professional In-

dian-American woman raised in the U.S.

with an understanding of the successful

blending of Indian and American cultures,

I knew there was a need for someone in

the South Asian community nationwide

who could relate first-hand to the chal-

lenges of juggling professional, social, and

personal demands. My first-hand experi-

ence motivated me to create a premium

service which could be effectively lever-

aged by selective professionals wishing to

focus on finding that special someone,

while at the same time maintaining de-

manding schedules.

When I was searching for a life-partner

as a practicing attorney, I realized that it

would have been nice to have a service,

which might have been able to help me

with my search as I managed the multiple

demands on my time. I noticed many

young professionals had difficulty balanc-

ing their professional life with their per-

sonal life. In particular, this can be a com-

mon issue for young professionals from

South Asian backgrounds, people whose

cultures discourage early dating and teach

young people to first focus on their educa-

tions and other self-development.

I looked around and noticed that there

was a great demand among South Asian

professionals for an elite personalized

matchmaking service and there was no-

body meeting the need.

Q3.

You mentioned that you’ve al-

ways had an entr

epreneurial spirit.

After your years as lawyer, what

about that point in your life made it a

good time for you to explore starting

a business?

One of the notions was that I wanted to

design a life where I could balance family

with a career and have impact on people's

lives. After I got married in '06, I felt it

was time for me to try and identify an op-

portunity where I could have more influ-

ence over my time, which I did not have

as a practicing lawyer.

Furthermore do believe that being hap-

pily married gives me a perspective, which

is valuable to our clients.

Q4.

There are a slew of matchmaking

sit

es for South Asians – How are you

different?

Firstly, we are not an online service. We

provide a premium service which differs

from online dating: Our service involves a

highly-personalized, consultative and

feedback-centric process.

Before a client meets any matches, I get

to know our client’s needs, wants, person-

ality and background via an extensive per-

sonal consultation.

Our personalized service is specifically

designed to take over the time-consuming

task of screening so that our clients are

able to strategically spend their limited

time and energies focusing on matches

with real potential. In addition, we do not

limit our introduction plan clients to

meeting other Intersections’ clients exclu-

sively.

Rather, the idea is to exponen-

tially expand our selective clients’ universe

of potential matches.

Matches come from our exclusive "In-

troduction Plan" client base; our "personal

consultees"; our "Register For Free Data-

base"; events we and our nationwide

scouts attend throughout the country; the

Matchmaking Institute's nationwide net-

work; as well as our everyday lives (includ-

ing various professional, cultural, social

and charitable organizations). Each match

is prescreened, and a criminal background

check is run, before introductions are

made.

Jasbina Ahluwalia

A MODERN DAY MATCHMAKER

WASHINGTON MASALA

|

SUMMER 2009

|

WASHINGTONMASALA.COM

relationship

masala

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Jasbina Ahluwalia is a former attorney and the Founder of Intersections Matchmaking, the first

elite personalized matchmaking firm focused on selective South Asian Singles nationwide.