Before he was inspired to start his own business, Paul Carrick Brunson was already living the good life. Married to his best friend, working as an investment banker and sacrificing his spare time and money to run a nonprofit foundation serving black and brown inner-city youth, he stood as a great example of the American Dream.
Everything changed in the Brunson family when Paul and his wife discovered that 100 percent of the participants in their summer camp for at-risk kids did not have two parents in the home. They decided to do their part to remedy that by encouraging marriage among their friends.
In an effort to bring singles together to find lasting love, the Brunsons put together what they called “The Brown Sugar Party” where they would invite single friends to their home to meet and mingle in a fun, positive atmosphere. It was an instant hit.
Soon Paul was on his way to the top matchmaking conference in the country where he found upon arriving that he was the only black person in the room. Realizing a great need was not being met by existing matchmakers, Brunson was instantly bitten by the entrepreneurial bug. He quit his bank job the next day, apprenticed with an established matchmaker and earned his certification as a life coach.
As the self-proclaimed “only black male matchmaker in the world,” Brunson serves the needs of black and brown singles who are ready to make finding a life partner a top priority.
“If you’re a professional and you place your profession over your love life, that’s your mistake,” Brunson told rolling out. “That’s something I can speak from practice. I’ve been married for 10 years and investment bankers do some real serious hours. In my own life I was prioritizing work and materialism and the Rolex watches over my best friend. I re-prioritized.”
Brunson can be reached through his website OneDegreeFrom.me. He also hosts a weekly Twitter activity called Modern-Day Matchmaker Wednesday (#MDMW) via Twitter.com/paulcbrunson and posts video regularly on his YouTube channel.
