Would I be available for a Valentine’s Day interview…TODAY? After fast emails back and forth, I set the alarm for 3 hours of sleep, interviewed a very eligible single new client and then sat down for a fun, fast interview – because that’s the way The List rolls.

Phoenix, Arizona matchmaker Roseann Higgins behind the scenes shot on "The List" TV newsmagazine Valentine’s Day story about making the one you love feel loved.

Tune in to “The List” today on these 6 stations and counting in the Scripps network:

Baltimore 7:00pm
Cincinnati 7:00pm
Cleveland 7:00pm
Phoenix 4:30pm
Tampa 7:00pm
Tulsa 6:30pm

When all America has to compare matchmakers to are reality television dating shows that seem to have a batting average in long term relationships lower than Major League Baseball’s worst player (.197), it’s time the world knows a wickedly good matchmaker exists. Even if I’m not matchmaking for a television show, that’s okay. We’re private about who we work with. The single men and women who hire us for the most part are not looking to have their private dating lives on national television. I do however predict SPIES is about to become a 19-year overnight sensation in finding happily ever afters. We have proof of concept, now.

I hope you’ll tune in to The List and if you have friends who are single in Phoenix, Scottsdale, Baltimore, Tampa, Cincinnati, Cleveland and Tulsa, please pass this along. Maybe they can catch the show! And maybe they’ll want to learn more about how we can help them find love.

Happy Valentine’s Day!
With love always,
from SPIES Single Professional Introductions (for the) Especially Selective, LLC headquarters in Phoenix, Arizona.

Roseann Higgins
PS You won’t find exactly what they asked in the interview because we won’t steal their thunder. But we will post a link to the video after it airs. Thanks Scripps and everyone at The List!

Recently relocated from California and recently divorced, this executive registered with SPIES dating service. The Ahwatukee Foothills resident has been on a number of dates through the “only romance headhunters" in the country. ...Since this story in The Arizona Republic appeared, matchmaker Roseann Higgins introduced him to someone extraordinary. They fell in love and are now married.

Making a love connection – Dating services do the work for single adults

A FOLLOW UP TO THE ARIZONA REPUBLIC NEWSPAPER STORY

By Patricia Bathurst

Special for The Arizona Republic

With about a million single adults in Maricopa County, probably about half of those people are seeking a date on any given weekend. Fortunately, there are plenty of people ready to help East Valley singletons find that special someone, such as family, friends or fate. And there are media outlets such as the newspaper and magazine personals, radio stations and Internet services.

For personal service, though, East Valley singles who really want to find someone can turn to any one of nearly two-dozen dating services.

For instance, Ahwatukee Foothills resident Mike, recently relocated from California and recently divorced, knew he wanted to date but quickly discovered “what I did when I was in college to find a date didn’t let me find the kind of person I want to date now.”

A conversation with an old college bud persuaded him to seek a dating service. After exploring several possibilities, he registered with SPIES.

Run by Roseanne Higgins, SPIES (Single Professional Introductions for the Especially Selective) is billed as the “only romance headhunters” in the country.

“Roseanne wasn’t my perception of a ‘dating service,’” Mike said. “I felt that she would give me really personal attention, and that she understood not just what I’m looking for, but also that I want to be discreet.

“You know, people my age (42) are in a different place. We’re more selective, we have reasons to be selective, and we tend to have more shields up because of our past experiences.”

Mike has been on a number of dates arranged through Higgins.

Higgins is a well-known throughout the Valley’s singles’ circuit.

“I’m on a mission,” she said, “to get you a date. I want you to feel good, and not be disappointed.”

Since this story in The Arizona Republic appeared, Roseann introduced Mike to someone extraordinary. They fell in love and are now married.

Looking for love:

SPIES:  Single Professional Introductions for the Especially Selective

Roseann Higgins, (602) 241-1800

Very personal, extremely confidential

ARIZONA FOOTHILLS MAGAZINE

Roseann Higgins knows that one plus one doesn’t always equal two, at least not when it comes to affairs of the heart. The self-proclaimed “romance headhunter” founded her company, SPIES (Single Professional Introductions for the Especially Selective) in 1994 after realizing that a serious shortage in the matchmaking business existed, particularly for well-heeled, “picky people.”

Higgins’s home is her office—there’s no receptionist or impersonal waiting area. An interview feels much more like hanging out at a gal pal’s house before a Friday night on the town, and that’s just how it should be, says Higgins. “I’m not trying to hard sell you,” she says. “It’s not, ‘I want you to get comfortable.’ I just want to know your playful and serious sides, how you react to things.”

Higgins asks potential clients to fill out a detailed four-page profile and provide five to 10 real-life (no glamour shots allowed) photos.

People are looking for someone who is attractive, slender, nice, intelligent, emotionally and financially secure,” says Higgins, rattling off people’s prerequisites like they’re her middle names. Her clients range in age from the early 20’s to the late 50’s and are successful, go-get-‘em types. Higgins finds them by being something of an event hopper herself. She has ticket stubs from some 4,000 events she’s attended, from wine tastings to charity functions, any of which could lead to love for some lucky gal or guy.

Being a S.P.I.E.S. client isn’t cheap–$4,000 ensures that Higgins works round-the-clock on your case, although for $350 you can be on her 5,000-plus “available” list, a compilation of singles she’s met over the years. Her spying has led to 27 marriages, and 95 percent of the first dates she arranges result in second dates. She has (as has been whispered to us) set up some of the Valley’s most influential and prominent, but her lips are permanently sealed when it comes to divulging names.

602.241.1800

www.especiallyselective.com

*The number of success stories and size of SPIES database has grown since this story appeared in Arizona Foothills Magazine. Current fees to become a client or on the “available” list have changed and may be obtained by calling SPIES before coming in for a personal interview with Arizona’s top and best-connected matchmaker.

Romance for the Wealthy: SPIES helps people find the right date. Tempe Daily News, Mesa, Chandler Arizonan and Gilbert Tribune News

SPIES helps people find the right date . . .

By Paul Giblin  -  Tribune writer

Jason Boreyko wants to make one thing perfectly clear: he has no problems finding dates.

He runs a multimillion-dollar company, New Vision International of Scottsdale, which markets nutritional products. Plus, he also gets out often enough, he said.

Therefore, finding dates has never been a problem, he said. Finding girlfriends, though, well, that’s another matter.

“I’m burned out on the bar scene. I’m 31 years old and I’ve never met anyone in a bar. I wanted a new approach,” he said.

Enter Roseann Higgins, president of SPIES Romance Headhunters, a dating service geared specifically toward wealthy professionals. The year-old company charges $2,000 for eight introductions. (Fees and results have climbed since this appeared. Call for latest information.)

“The whole reason I went with Roseann is that she is very selective. And I’m very selective with whom I date, so I don’t want to waste a lot of time or go on wild goose chases,” Boreyko said.

Instead, Higgins spends her time hunting. She belongs to five chambers of commerce (at the time this was written) and numerous professional and charity groups. She spends her weekdays on the power breakfast and business lunch circuits constantly on the prowl for a few good men and women.

“There is not a place that I go that I don’t meet somebody,” she said.

Higgins has compiled a database of more than 700 (today 8,000 and counting) single and eligible professionals from throughout the Valley, she said. Each voluntarily has undergone an hour-long interview about their attitudes toward children, pets, hobbies and more in the hope of being matched someday with one of Higgins’ paying clients.

The firm’s clients undergo an extensive series of interviews, Higgins said. Those usually are conducted in restaurants or at the clients’ homes where the clients are more able to relax. She also discusses and looks at pictures of her clients’ past flames to better understand their desires, she said.

“It’s such a unique thing to do – to look for the love of your life – that you really should do it with someone you know and trust, a friend,” she said.

The former sales representative developed a knack for meeting people and matchmaking during a 10-year hitch in the Navy, she said.

She introduced three couples who later were married. She launched SPIES, which is an acronym for Single Professionals Introductions and Events Services (today Single Professional Introductions for the Especially Selective), after studying several other dating services.

Scottsdale Matchmaker Roseann Higgins company SPIES (Single Professional Introductions for the Especially Selective) has a 7,000 member, handpicked database available only to her clients. The entrepreneur and her company’s trademarked “romance headhunting” methods and extraordinary, unrevealed until now matchmaking statistics are revealed in this article in The Clotherie Magazine.

Scottsdale Matchmaker Roseann Higgins of SPIES is Looking for Love in All the Right Placesazine.

The story appears between interviews with Academy Award Winners Natalie Portman and Colin Firth.

SPIES (Single Professional Introductions for the Especially Selective) is one of the oldest matchmaking agencies in Arizona. Founded

in 1994 by Roseann Higgins, SPIES has developed a reputation for attracting top clientele and producing hundreds of first-date and relationship success stories due to the personal and high-level service, extensive search methods, and use of photos and privacy.

Roseann Higgins is aptly reputed as a “romantic headhunter” with a 7,000 member, handpicked database available only to her clients. Since opening the doors to SPIES and taking on her first ER physician client in 1994, Roseann has attended thousands of events, vigilantly headhunting for the right men and women to introduce to her clientele. In the past 17 years, Roseann has met over 45,000 people by attending exclusive events; being involved in charities; recruiting with a booth at the Phoenix Open; sponsoring the Boys & Girls Clubs of Metropolitan Phoenix Taste for 16 years; speaking at Women’s Expos and Chambers of Commerce; networking at breakfasts, seminars and mixers; and “keeping an eye out” wherever she goes to meet the most eligible men and women.

Roseann collects name tags and business cards the way Steve Nash racks up assists on the basketball court.

Roseann’s judicious discrimination of her “meet and greets” has resulted in a premium lineup of pre-screened dates.

The testimonials on the SPIES website (www.especiallyselective.com) speak the virtues of Roseann Higgins’ success. “Thank you for introducing me to a wonderful girl. She’s truly in love with me. I’m in love with her too.” “Thank you for changing my life! The efforts of you and your staff have allowed me to achieve balance in my life and begin having fun again.” SPIES is extraordinary! It is the selective matchmaking service for the selective individual.

TOP REASONS SPIES IS SUCCESSFUL:

   • Is there chemistry? Close up photos in a variety of settings present the opportunity to check out the physical attraction factor. Love at first sight? It could begin with the perfect photo!

• SPIES Screens:  By your first date you know the answer to tough questions, which often take months to discover. Interviewing can take hours but you want to end up with that perfect match…right? Roseann’s methods make meeting the right one look easy!

• Confidentiality:  Roseann Higgins held a top secret clearance in the US Navy when she worked in telecommunications and Naval Intelligence. This is a private and confidential affair from offices, photos, and information.

SPIES matchmaking success story...pictured on the remote island of Fiji on their honeymoon!

• Work Personally with Roseann:  From interview to relationship, you have full access to your personal matchmaker.

• Your best chance at success for love:  A recruiter allows you greater access to people. The recruiters are constantly expanding their network at social, charitable, sporting, and business events.

• The Proof is Positive:  It is currently reported that the divorce rate in America is 50%; 41% for first marriages, 60% for second marriages, and 73% for third marriages. Due to the intense screening and master “matchmaking” at SPIES, the divorce rate is less than 4% in the past 17 years! Matched couples have the greatest opportunities for great dates that lead to long-lasting love relationships.

If you are looking for love, adventure, and a life full of memories…Roseann Higgins is your angel of love! Let SPIES do the headhunting, prescreening, and matchmaking. All you have to do is go out on the best dates of your life! For more information, contact Roseann Higgins direct: (602) 241.1800

www.especiallyselective.com    Roseann@especiallyselective.com

ESPECIALLY SELECTIVE /

SPIES MATCHMAKING SUCCESS STATISTICS

95% of SPIES Especially Selective singles introductions go out on second and third dates.

51 have fallen in love with their first date.

SPIES averages a marriage every 12 weeks.

Roseann Higgins has introduced herself to 45,000 people since starting the matchmaking company SPIES in 1994, and has handpicked the most desirable database.

Roseann Higgins SPIES for LOVE

Thank you for this wonderful article, Greg Eveloff! 

Congratulations on The Clotherie at the Biltmore Fashion Park in Phoenix, Arizona being voted the Best Men’s Store for the 13th straight year by readers in Ranking Arizona.

Dear Readers: If you know someone single and you can’t figure out why they don’t have someone special, I would love to know them. Please share this article with friends.

Sending forever love wishes,

Roseann Higgins

“Girls are more likely to find that a man can become more attractive the more they talk with them if he is listening and attentive and nice.” – Roseann Higgins

A recent study out of UCLA actually found the not-so-handsome guys were nicer to their ladies. The study suggests that women who date them might actually find themselves in a happier relationship.

“I don’t think you can generalize that only less attractive men are going to work hard to keep their partner. I think who’s motivated, no matter what they look like…”

There’s not even a drizzle right now. But when it does, ladies, you gotta date down.

A study out of UCLA tracked couples in their mid-20’s. Turns out the less attractive guys were nicer to their partners.

Valley matchmaker Roseann Higgins has a theory,

“If you check out how many really good looking guys that you’ve met, if you were to study them and see how they treated people in their life, chances are, you’re going to find a few narcissists in the group.”

But don’t dismiss Mr. Handsome. Just put him on hold.

“The really good looking guys, they probably haven’t had to work for much in their life. So they’re going to be better, I think, at being a good partner maybe after they’ve blown it through a few relationships. In their 30’s and 40’s, they’re going to realize that they blew it.”

In Phoenix, Sandra Haros, NewsTalk 92.3 KTAR.

By Doug Carroll for The Arizona Republic

Power Love Broker: Romance Headhunter Roseann Higgins handpicks prospects for the Picky --The Arizona Republic, March 14, 2002

It’s 6 p.m. on a Wednesday, and Roseann Higgins has arrived at work. Her office for the evening is the Phoenix Art Museum and its monthly “After Hours” event, guaranteed to draw what she calls “the three A’s” – artists, architects and attorneys.

Higgins, a striking blonde of 42, begins mingling with the single professionals who have come for food, drink, socializing and maybe even art.

Within minutes, she is chatting up two women in the appetizers line, discreetly handing one of them her card and making mental notes on others she’d like to meet. This is work?

Yes. Higgins is a “romantic headhunter,” whose job involves looking for love in all the right places. Not for herself, but for about 100 discriminating – some might say unusually picky – clients who have paid $4,000 apiece to find that special someone. She calls her 7-year-old business SPIES, an acronym for Single Professional Introductions for the Especially Selective. (Call for newest fees and services info.)

If there were a black belt for networking, Higgins would have one. She just might be the best-connected woman in the Valley; when the Business Journal came up with a list of 11 ideal power-lunch companions last year, she was the only female on it. She has been featured in a book, Confessions of Shameless Self-Promoters, and she goes through about 3,000 business cards a year. She has thrown out the first pitch at a Diamondbacks game, and the list of civic organizations to which she belongs is exhaustive.

She’s as everywhere as air. “Everybody knows somebody I need to know,” Higgins says.

Higgins bags phone numbers the way Randy Johnson racks up strikeouts. Ever mindful of what her clients are looking for in a companion, she approaches men and women alike to say that she has friends who’d be interested in meeting them. The approach, when matched with her winsome smile, curious nature and keen wit, invariably works.

After 90 minutes at the art museum, she has the numbers of seven women and five men, plus a few scribbles about each of them that will jog her memory later. “Being able to recruit like this is so beneficial,” Higgins says. “I need to go out and meet people and build a reputation that I’m a nice person who has nice friends – and you might like them, too.”

Her $4,000 fee gets a client six introductions or a year’s worth of service, whichever is longer. (Call for current services and fees.) Higgins also maintains a list of “availables,” which costs $350 a year to the 3,000-plus who are on it. She says that’s the first place she looks when she has a new client. Clients range from the early 20s to the mid-50s, and approximately 60 percent are men. (The availables list is 60 percent women.)

Clearly, this is no ordinary dating service – she cringes at calling it that – and not just because of the steep price.

These are busy men who desire only beautiful, intelligent women. And busy women who wish to meet only honest, successful, good-looking men.

“The handpicking (I do) creates a selection criteria that’s to die for,” Higgins says. In a room she calls her “operations center” in her central Phoenix home, Higgins keeps a big board of her clients, their photos and their vital stats. “(It was declared off-limits to the reporter, for reasons of privacy.) She has interviewed each person extensively, taking the time to know their likes and dislikes, their must-haves and their negotiables in a potential mate.

“I built this around what people would want in a service,” she says. “They don’t want to do videos. They don’t want others to see their business. They like the privacy of this.”

They also like the results. Higgins says 40 of her introductions have resulted in marriage, including 21 who married one of their first three intros (now more). Of those, 11 were a bull’s-eye on the first meeting, she says. A full 95 percent go out again with someone introduced by her, she says. Not bad for a woman who makes a living looking for the proverbial needle in the haystack.

“The reason I have a high hit rate is that I know personalities,” Higgins says. “These aren’t blind dates. These people are informed. Everyone gets to prescreen a lot.”

Higgins license plate is her business name. SPIES is an acronym for Single Professional Introductions for the Especially Selective.

Higgins license plate is her business name. SPIES is an acronym for Single Professional Introductions for the Especially Selective.

Candy Voorhees, a “workaholic” caterer, and Bob Hundertmark, an engineer, both in their 30s, have been a couple for more than two years after being introduced by Higgins. “We had similar interests: scuba diving, hiking, biking,” Voorhees says. “I’m a native, and he’s almost a native. It seemed our paths had crossed although we had never met.”

Chuck Pawlak, 51, a corporate real estate director, says he wouldn’t have met Brenda Johnson, an artist, without Higgins’ help. They’ve been a couple for 16 months.

Higgins says the Valley’s nightlife works against eligible singles. “The nightlife here is more for teens or seniors. There’s not a lot for people in their 30s and 40s,” she says.

Enter Higgins, with a style she calls “in-your-face nice.” “To be outgoing enough to approach people takes guts. Sometimes I’m scared and nervous, but what’s the worst that could happen? Next!”

For this story, the Arizona Republic reporter shadowed Roseann Higgins while romance headhunting at one of the best monthly events for meeting single professionals. Fees and the number of clientele, marriages and relationships have changed with the growth of SPIES’ matchmaking service and success stories.

Roseann Higgins received the Charity and Commitment Award from the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation for raising more than $20,000 for the organization. Higgins is president of S.P.I.E.S. (Single Professional Introductions for the Especially Selective).

Roseann Higgins

When the athletic, 6-foot tall, blond-haired, blue-eyed Roseann Higgins enters a room, her presence is immediately felt. Unlike when a twister is heading toward a barn, your instinct is not to go underground.

Instead, you willingly surrender to Higgins’ energetic whirlwind as she sweeps you up in all her effervescence. However, beneath this bubbly Hello Dolly veneer lies the strategic ability of General Norman Schwarzkopf and the purpose and heart of Mother Theresa. Roseann Higgins is a super-motivated, world-class matchmaker.

If someone approaches you at a party and asks if you are single, available and hetero, chances are it is Higgins. Like a panther poised to attack, she has her sights set on you as a potential partner for someone. But not just anyone. Her cientele at S.P.I.E.S. (Single Professional Introductions for the Especially Selective) is solely made up of referrals, counting on success stories from her clients to spread the word.

And speaking of success stories: in the four years since Higgins founded S.P.I.E.S., nine couples she matched have gotten married, and a tenth is in the planning phase. Like most matchmakers, Higgins has the usual lists of criteria from her clients. Women are seeking athletic, active, ambitious, sometimes wealtjy men (sounds like JFK Jr.), while men are seeking attractive, intelligent, emotionally stable women who can pay their own bills (guys, why not throw supermodel beauty in there too?). We, however, were more interested in Higgins’ own mating habits when we sat down for a chat with the ex-Navy-gone-matchmaker extraordinaire.

CITY AZ: “WHAT WAS THE BEST DATE YOU’VE EVER BEEN ON?”

RH: (In shock) “Me?”

CITY AZ: “That’s right, you!”

RH: “That was a long time ago. Hmmm. Well, a good one was when a guy that I knew, but wasn’t dating at the time, picked me up to go meet some friends and he was better looking than I remembered, taller than I remembered, he had charisma that I wasn’t aware of, dressed sharp, in shape and I was like ‘Oooh, I wasn’t prepared for this.’ We ended up doing a movie, a walk afterwards, which eventually led to dipping our toes in the pool at the Biltmore ‘till 3 a.m.”

CITY AZ: “How come the matchmaker isn’t married?”

RH: “I can’t take all the good ones.”

CITY AZ: “I don’t buy it. You could keep one for yourself, like a butcher keeps the best steak…”

RH: “Well, I dated one guy for two years that I met on the job so to speak, but no marriage.”

CITY AZ: “If you’re not finding somebody, then how can anyone else ezpect to?”

RH: “I’m the old romantic, I want to bump into somebody at the grocery store and fall in love. I believe this is a guy out there that I will be totally in love with. It has to be somebody that you have such a mental and physical connection with, that you could start a fire.”

CITY AZ: “Do you believe in sex on the first date?”

RH: “No!”

CITY AZ: “C’mon, you’re giving me a firm ‘No’?”

RH: “No.”

CITY AZ: “A firm no, it’s never going to happen?”

RH: “Well – never is a long time… If you were really, really, really awesome, you never know.”

CITY AZ: “Does no mean no on a date?”

RH: “No means 99 percent no, but if I meet a guy and totally fall in love and have a weak moment – maybe.”

CITY AZ: “Who’s your perfect guy?”

RH: “I want a combination of qualities. I need someone who’s not jealous, who’s supportive and lets me do my thing.”

CITY AZ: “Do you believe in love at first sight?”

RH: “I do, but I haven’t experienced it.”

CITY AZ: “Are there any lemons out there in the world of matchmaking?”

RH: “No, just differently marketable.”

CITY AZ: “How comforting.”

Styling, Hair & Make-up by Mary Reid

Singleness is at an all-time high since the beginning of the century. Experts report that a whopping 41 percent of the people in Phoenix over the age of 21 are lovelorn. So how do the 800,000 unattached people in Maricopa County find each other?

Meet Roseann Higgins. With a king-sized Rolodex jam-packed with business cards and a schedule as tight as any corporate president, the owner of S.P.I.E.S. (Single Professional Introductions for the Especially Selective) has made it her business to make introductions. And while she welcomes word-of-mouth referrals, Higgins is also brazen enough to approach anyone, anywhere – handing out her business card with that perennial question: “Are you single?”

At a Scottsdale Chamber of Commerce mixer, the 6-foot blonde carrying a fedora hat – a S.P.I.E.S. trademark – pushes her way through the crowd. Eyeing her S.P.I.E.S. name tag, a 30-something man with dark curly hair, horn-rimmed glasses and an olive-colored designer suit approaches.

“What’s S.P.I.E.S.?” he asks.

After explaining the acronym, Higgins asks, “Are you available?”

For $2,000, Higgins will spend however long it takes (sometimes years) prowling around conventions, restaurants, health spas, professional association meetings and church groups to find one of her many “friends” that dream girl or guy.

Working the crowd, she approaches a petite woman in her early 30s who works in Scottsdale as a personal banker. “Someone told me there was a gorgeous woman at a Scottsdale bank I should meet,” Higgins flatters the woman with a fringe of dark eyelashes. The woman listens raptly as Higgins explains she has about 100 paying clients at any give time and more than 2,000 contacts from which she searches for matches. “Would you be interested in meeting some of my male clients?” Higgins asks.

The possibility of romance is an irresistible icebreaker for this crowd, as it is wherever Higgins goes. “It just pays to know me,” Higgins says, “whether you want to be one of my clients or be eligible to date one of my clients.”

The “romance headhunter” (a title she is federally trademarking) will become an even more familiar face in the months ahead. Higgins, whose mother died of non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, has just been named the Leukemia Society’s Woman of the Year. Her face will be appearing on billboards around the Valley.

So tell me, are you available?

For more information, call 602-241-1800 or email roseann@especiallyselective.com.

–Lori K. Baker