CHARLOTTE, N.C. — For Morgan Conroy, scrolling and swiping haven't quite landed Mr. Right.
“I've been in and out of the dating apps,” Conroy said. “I have endless dating -- funny, hysterical -- stories.”
While the Charlottean thinks there are a lot of positives to online dating, there are also pitfalls. And she’s personally experienced a few.
“Someone was just texting me 24/7, like this whole entire week, and then it got to actually meeting up and the account vanished,” Conroy said, describing the catfishing incident. “Then I go to look up the photo, and it ended up being like a famous baseball player’s photo.”
“So, I'm brushing up on my baseball players,” she said, with a laugh.
The marketing professional and food blogger, who runs the @sliceofclt Instagram page, is ready to let Cupid take over.
In this case, “Cupid” is Amy Strasser, Conroy’s friend and fellow foodie.
“I just said, ‘Why don't I find you a plus-one?’" Strasser said. “I think we were kind of joking at first, and then I started saying, ‘Maybe we should really do this, Morgan.'”
Strasser, who’s behind the Instagram page @cltfoodgirl, had the idea to fix Morgan up on Bachelorette-style dates, all set at local spots. There might even be some roses. She put the idea out on social media to test the waters for interest and maybe even find some potential suitors for her friend.
“I had some responses saying, ‘Me next. Me next,’” Strasser said, describing the flood of messages from other Charlotte women looking for love. “It's really hard in Charlotte -- in your 30s specifically, is what I heard -- to find somebody.”
Turns out there's some substantiating analysis behind all this love agony. A November WalletHub study ranked the Queen City a lowly 116 out of 182 in its list of best cities to be single.
Jill Gonzalez, a WalletHub analyst, said the factors they considered in these rankings were economics, fun and recreation, and dating opportunities—essentially, other single people who might be looking for love, too.
That last point was where Charlotte did the worst.
“Especially when it comes to single ladies,” Gonzalez said. “Because the gender balance is essentially very unbalanced. There's a lot more women there than men.”
Gonzalez said the study found the ratio of single women to single men is Charlotte is about 60-40.
But numbers are just numbers when there's a will to innovate how one dates.
Strasser said anyone who knows a man or is a man interested in going on a date with her friend can direct message her on her @cltfoodgirl page and send a photo and bio.
“I just want her to find someone that matches her energy,” Strasser said. “I just found Morgan glows where she goes, and she's so friendly and welcoming and fun.”
While the dating concept is a bit outside her comfort zone, Conroy said she thinks it could be exciting and an opportunity to build a new relationship.
“The idea is to find love, obviously first,” Conroy said. “But if, you know, I meet someone new that I want to hang out with, I'm excited for that.”
Contact Vanessa Ruffes at vruffes@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.