Scottsdale Tribune
THURSDAY, AUGUST 17, 2000
LOVE FOR SALE
Can buy me love:
Romance headhunter pledges perfect matches for
$4,000
By Patrick Roland
The tall, leggy blonde at the corner of the bar
sizes up a handsome businessman sipping cognac three seats down.
The two make eye contact and flirt a little as she
darts toward him.
But just as he thinks he soon will meet the woman
of his dreams, the statuesque dazzler reaches into her pocket and hands
him a business card.
“Single Professional Introductions for the
Especially Selective,” the card reads. As usual, Roseann Higgins, who
fashions herself as a “romance headhunter,” is on the prowl, looking to
create a love life for one of her 100 customers, each of whom shells out
$4,000 for her services.
So far, Higgins’ six-year enterprise as president
and founder of the Phoenix-based SPIES has been a romantic gold mine for
her clients, yielding 16 weddings and several other matches made in
heaven.
Simply put, she meets people for a living. It
doesn’t matter where she might be – a movie, a sporting event, a charity
function – all locales are fodder for Higgins’ romance machine – because
she believes everyone is meant to find love. Most professionals are just
too busy to know where or how to find it, she said.
“Nobody ever teaches us in high school to look for
what we want in a relationship – that’s why most of them crash and burn,”
said Higgins, who has met more than 2,500 singles at 3,000 functions over
the past six years. “People aren’t calling me so they can be analyzed or
torn apart. They want me to understand them.”
Higgins’ compassion makes her service work in an
industry full of video cameras and impersonal questionnaires. She spends
hours getting to know each client, learning about their values and belief
systems, while making sure each person is ready for a committed
relationship.
“It’s the values, personality and quality of the
person that help me make a dead-on match,” said Higgins, who spent 10
years in the Navy, and now ranks as a lieutenant in the Naval Reserve.
“I’m not trying to become their best friend. I’m on a mission. When they
come through that door, I’m trying to know them body, mind and spirit.”
No matter who Higgins is conversing with, she
listens intently. She smiles frequently, her long, blond hair framing her
friendly face. She even tells jokes, at times jumping between earthy and
risque in a single thought.
Higgins’ warmth is what Jim Fagan of Scottsdale
was looking for when he and his wife of 24 years divorced two years ago.
He had no idea how the ‘90’s dating scene worked, but knew he liked being
married and wanted to find stability again.
“All of a sudden, I was thrown out into today’s
social world,” said Fagan, a world-hopping business consultant. “Not being
in it for 24 years scared the hell out of me. I wanted to go to someone
with the expertise to help me locate someone I could spend my life with.”
Higgins introduced Fagan to the person he believes
to be his soul mate in July 1998. Jim and Sabrina Fagan were married only
five months later.
“There was no hesitation or doubt about marrying
Sabrina,” said Fagan, who courted his first wife for five years before
they married. “A lot of what Roseann does is bring people together who are
compatible based on who and what you are, not just based on activities you
may have in common with someone else. We would not have been brought
together without Roseann. It’s the best thing I ever did in my life.”
Such high praise is not uncommon for Higgins, who
wears the term “matchmaker” like a badge of honor.
“Any time I find a man and a woman and they meet
and like each other, it’s a success. No one is greater than the other,”
Higgins said. “This is the way romance is supposed to be . . . the knight
in shining armor bit, it may be a cliché but it is out there.”
But not for Higgins. The 40-year-old romance maven
has yet to find the one for her. With 1,000 people on her mailing list for
functions, not only does she have her hands full for others, but she also
has pretty high standards for her own possible life mate.
“I’m not saying I’m a hermit or a saint, but
sometimes when I’m at these things, I’m just having fun,” said Higgins,
who admitted to being ready for her own first long-term relationship.
“I’ve never been ready for the right man. I thought I was ready when I was
21, but it took me 19 years to get over that one.”
(Continued on page below) |
2003, S.P.I.E.S.sm
All Rights Reserved.