"After years of always being the perpetual bridesmaid, Lisa Catalano of San Mateo laid down her soft-pink bouquet, hung up her strappy blue satin Maid of Honor dress and drafted a text to her friends: I'm officially announcing my retirement from being a bridesmaid, she wrote. The next wedding I'm going to be in will be with my own groom, TBD. Two years earlier, her fiance had died of a terminal illness."
"Creating a personal dating campaign, she rented space on a dozen digital billboards along Highway 101 between Santa Clara and South San Francisco, adorning each with her smiling face, cascading brunette curls and a simple message: MarryLisa.com. She's running the same images on the tops of taxis in San Francisco as well. With the boost from a local TV station and the New York Post, which shared her story last week, the traffic to her Marry Lisa website has soared."
"I keep joking with my friends and family, because this has felt to me like the beginning of a romcom, except so far, it's been all com and no rom, she said. I hope that that changes soon. Catalano's story is equal parts Bridget Jones Diary and The Bachelorette, but her journey also reveals yet again the struggles to find love in the post-Covid age of remote work, isolating social media and the frenetic pace of Silicon Valley."
Lisa Catalano, 42, lost her fiance to a terminal illness two years earlier and retired from recurring bridesmaid roles. After unsuccessful dating apps and set-ups, she launched a personal campaign renting a dozen digital billboards and taxi-top ads along Highway 101 and in San Francisco promoting MarryLisa.com. Local TV and the New York Post amplified the campaign, driving traffic and nearly 2,000 applicants, including men from India and the Middle East. Catalano describes the effort as romcom-like but lacking romance so far. A Bay Area dating coach says the campaign confronts Silicon Valley dating challenges and reduces stigma around seeking traditional partnership.
Read at www.mercurynews.com
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