Meet Sandra Myers | President & Co-Founder

We had the good fortune of connecting with Sandra Myers and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Sandra, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
The thought of opening my own business was not mine but my business partner’s. Amber had a sudden cardiac arrest in 2019 and called me after miraculously surviving this traumatic event and said, “We’re starting our own company.” Both Amber & I have been in the industry for over 25 years and have known each other since 2009. We had always discussed the missing pieces at the firms we had worked for and knew we could maximize client success if we changed the process and minimized the client load. I thought we would be successful if we could genuinely stick to our core concept and not waver from our original foundation, regardless of how much or little money we made. My motto has always been that if you do something with good intentions and set the worry of money aside, it will be successful. When you operate out of fear of failure, you will always compromise what you want to create. We agreed to keep a clear vision and remain committed to maximizing our client’s outcomes. I am happy to say that this mindset and discipline to maintaining the integrity of our concept has paid off. We can proudly say that, after nearly four years, we have accomplished what we set out to do and are incredibly grateful we took the risk. I think our clients would agree!

What should our readers know about your business?
Select Date Society is a high-end luxury matchmaking service catering to wealthy singles, from doctors, lawyers, and C-suite executives to millionaires, billionaires, celebrities, and entrepreneurs. Our signature is that we only represent clients whose success we feel confident in and limit our client base to 50-60 clients world wide. This is extremely low compared to most firms and franchise dating organizations, creating an environment for optimum success. In addition, SDS’s success comes from the connections we have forged in the matchmaking community and the expansive personal relationships we have formed by representing successful singles for over 25 years. A reputation for being honest and forthcoming allows most of our business to come from direct referrals. Clients love that Amber and I are directly involved in the day-to-day operations of SDS and continue to approve all client selections. Choosing clients wisely has everything to do with our high success rate as a company, and we intend to keep it that way.

Starting a business from scratch was not easy, but we knew what we would want in an agency as a successful single and clearly envisioned how to make it happen. The most challenging endeavor was figuring out the website creation and marketing, but once well-studied and initiated, the rest was fun and extremely rewarding. The greatest lesson learned from creating SDS is that both Amber & I had a lot more to offer on our own than when we were working for someone else. Our takeaway is that if you want to do something well and have your efforts live up to your standards, you need to do it yourself! 😉

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Raliegh is amazing, and I have enjoyed the atmosphere developed over the last few years, from the newly sophisticated restaurants and downtown bustle to the beautiful foliage during the fall, which is stunning. We love the horse, and carriage rides downtown and the breweries and vineyards nearby to have an extended day-long date. There are fantastic galleries and historic venues to visit when you want to spend time and end up exploring rather than having dinner as your only date choice. Here’s one of the most relaxing date ideas in Raleigh! You can always go to the Adara Spa together, and If you both love playing golf, go to the Lochmere golf course, one of Raleigh’s most romantic courses, should you prefer an activity date.

Some restaurant favorites are Crossroads Chapel Hill, a great brunch restaurant that you can find in the Carolina Inn hotel. The Provincial is a fantastic restaurant with a cozy ambiance but be prepared to make a reservation in advance. Having dinner at the Skye Tower Restaurant and Bar is one of the most romantic things to do in Raleigh, without question.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
We will always want to give a shout-out to the American Heart Association. Because of their efforts as an organization, there was a defibrillator at the firehouse on the block where Amber crashed her car after suffering a sudden cardiac arrest. Without their urgency to bring awareness to this life-threatening event, Amber would not be with us today. When we started Select Date Society, we made sure that as matchmakers, we not only care for our client’s hearts but also for someone else’s with a direct donation to AHA.

Website: https://selectdatesociety.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/selectdatesociety/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/select-date-society/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/selectdatesociety

Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/select-date-society-richmond

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCj-gv89nx50sEbUJIGc2_eg

Image Credits
Kim Wright