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PEOPLE Matchmaker, Matchmaker, Make Me a Match… Patti Stanger: The Millionaire Matchmaker Words by Vanessa Pascale Photo Credit: Bravo Touting a gratifying career, superfluous material assets, invitations to all the best events, and of course, good health is more than enough to be happy about. But, at the end of the day, if there’s no one to share these blissful moments and luxuries with, at times the former can fall short of providing supreme contentment. There must be something more —and there is. Fulfilling our inherent need for human connection is as much a part of “having it all” as the above- listed. Many are in search of their soul’s counterpart, to share life’s joys, accomplishments, pitfalls and disappointments with, but finding your perfect match isn’t as easy as it was back in your grandmother’s day. Relationships and matrimony have taken a backseat to careers and various other blockades. While marriage and children were once the norm in one’s early 20’s, these days many have opted to wait till their 30’s and 40’s. When you are ready, how do you find the one? When you’re having trouble finding your quintessential significant other, you call Patti Stanger. This third generation matchmaker with over 20 years of matchmaking expertise has successfully branded herself today’s most recognized matchmaker: The Millionaire Matchmaker –also the moniker of her TV show on Bravo. Currently in Season 3, Patti’s upfront and tough love approach to pairing people off (mainly millionaires) has proven to be the recipe for appetizing television. The charismatic entrepreneur candidly revealed how she brought the idea for her own television show to fruition. “I had done a sizzle reel based on being a self- made millionairess making a million dollars out of my house in my underwear… It ended up falling in Bravo’s lap and they came to me. It was actually made for E!,” Patti confessed. Patti has taken her homegrown business and spun it into a multi-million-dollar venture, which includes her company The Millionaire’s Club, her TV show, XM radio 84 MIAMI LIVING If I weren’t a matchmaker, I’d be a chef. I’m always cooking. I’m writing a cookbook called Man Catcher Meals. show, book, and dating websites. The self- proclaimed workaholic admitted, “This is my crack. I’m not kidding. I’m 7 days a week. I really want to become the cool Martha Stewart, minus the jail time, for dating. I’m Simon Cowell when I speak, but Martha Stewart internally. I’m here to bring you all the tricks of the trade, so you don’t really have to work very hard.” Patti owes her finely tuned matchmaking skills to being a great observer of sociology. “I like to look at human behavior and figure out what’s the wrong thing to do, what’s the right thing to do, and tweak it constantly. I’m also reading energy, you can tell me you’re the greatest person in the world, but if I see you’re a douche bag, I’m going to call you on it.” She doesn’t hold back, which is why she has an equally strong clientele and fan base. Patti takes her business seriously and is devoted to her clients. “We have a motto in the company, you know how, ‘No solider falls behind.’ No match ever falls behind. We always make sure our clients are happy. When they pay the big bucks, they expect to talk to me, not some low-level assistant… If I’m at a Lakers game, I’m going to walk out and take your 911 call.” An 8+ year stint at Great Expectations in What would people be surprised to find out about you? Miami also paved the way to Patti becoming the Millionaire Matchmaker. After leaving G.E. and not being able to find a job in Miami since she didn’t speak Spanish, Patti decided to relocate. “I felt like this is my time, if I’m going to go into what I love, which is the film /communications industry, I better get my ass to California,” Patti explained. Once in California, Patti took on “a boring Fortune 500 job.” Her friends, who had left G.E. had opened their own dating services in L.A., made Patti an offer she couldn’t refuse. “They’re like, ‘Come date with us. We’ll give you a free guy on the house, if you give us your leftover Jewish men.’ So, for two Jewish guys, I got my own personal date,” said Patti. Step-by-step, a path was set. After going on a date with a man who wasn’t her type, he suggested that Patti set him up with one of her hot friends and offered to pay her $10,000 if she found him someone. “I got him fixed up in a year. He married the girl and they had their first baby,” she happily boasted. The $10,000 paid off half of her credit card debt, and in a month, $25,000 of credit card debt was extinguished. Realizing that “there were millionaires on every corner,” Patti saw a prosperous business in this. “I registered my company, The Millionaire’s Club (launched in 2000), trademarked it with the little money I had left over, bought a small ad in Los Angeles Magazine, Marie Claire came a calling and wrote a feature on me and here I am today.”