“Obviously, I did a great job,” she says.

She launched Healthy Professional Singles, left her job and hasn’t looked back. More than 200 people signed up and she had to book four additional nights to accommodate the demand.Īt the time, Summers was working as a title representative - one of the few jobs she’s ever hated. On a whim, she hung out a shingle at a La Jolla gym offering 15-minute matchmaking consultations, charging $50 per person. Although she has successfully set up people since junior high - including her brother and sister-in-law - Summers had no formal matchmaking training (is there such a thing?). She also was in the midst of launching her own podcast and preparing for a series of speaking engagements.Īnd that doesn’t include her day job - working with a full roster of clients who depend upon her to find them true love, or at least lust. She appeared on a San Diego TV station to provide relationship advice. This Valentine’s Day was a busy one for Summers, as you might expect from a woman who makes her living as a professional matchmaker. “I’m reinventing myself on a constant basis,” says Summers. (It’s not difficult to tease out a common theme here, which seemed appropriate - and a little cliché - for Valentine’s Day.) Her ventures have included Love That Body, Love That Maid and Love That Job. That has definitely been her own experience, whether that be turning a personal passion for fitness into a gym or leveraging her knack for connecting couples to create her successful matchmaking business. Summers has lived her life based on the belief that if you have a passion for what you do, money and satisfaction will follow. Wrong, and Everything In Between, and that she shares regularly during speaking engagements and workshops around the country. It’s a message she has written about in her book Next! A Matchmaker’s Guide to Finding Mr.

“Believe me, life hits you in the face with a lot of obstacles,” says Summers, a Solana Beach, California resident. Her honesty and love of life on her terms makes her someone we admire for her fearlessness. And she has come through it all proudly, with strength and confidence, refusing to be a victim. Her personal identity has shifted multiple times - teen mom, abused wife, entrepreneur, breast cancer survivor, matchmaker, author, life coach, great-grandmother. Over the course of her 71 years, she has become a master at adapting to life’s unexpected opportunities and adversities to reshape, redefine and improve her life. Barbara Summers is a survivor in every sense.

Black and Beautiful by Barbara Summers