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TALENT PATROL Bela Gandhi preps for a client consultation at Allium at the Four Seasons Hotel. in 2013—which Gandhi refers to as "the land-a-man plan" for women—centers on a trifecta of tactics to leverage fruitful dating both on- and offline. Gandhi's high-caliber clientele (which includes Harpo and Chicago Tribune media executives, notable physicians and surgeons, and University of Chicago and NYU professors) typically aim for a date or two per week, which requires plenty of preparation. "You need to send out three to five e-mails a day to leverage yourself into dates, meet people in everyday life, and leverage your networks to get with good people," she advises. Gandhi's strategic approach can be attributed to her background. She studied finance at the University of Illinois at UrbanaChampaign, later handling mergers and acquisitions at Arthur Andersen and leadDouble duty: ing global sales and research as a vice Gandhi is also an president at Akzo Nobel before shifting her award-winning focus to love. After debuting as Chicago's artist who Matchmaker in 2009, she rebranded and specializes in mixed media. created Smart Dating Academy to Picture perfect: empower her clients as a coach on the sideFor an online line. "We're like personal trainers for dating profile, people's love lives," Gandhi says of her Gandhi advises team. "Everyone's got blind spots. We help clients to look them generate better results than they were right at the camera, smile, and getting on their own." She helps clients wear something from her position "in the weeds" with a stepbrightly colored. by-step process, beginning with basics like personal styling and learning how to start a meaningful conversation with a stranger at Starbucks. Gandhi has also developed a tool to help identify "superconnectors," who have the power to pair great couples, and she has implemented a 360 Feedback program, in which she corresponds with five different friends of clients to help answer the question, "Why hasn't your friend met his or her ideal partner?" "I always say, 'Successful dating begins and ends in your mind,'" declares Gandhi, who compiles data in reports that she often shares with clients at her regular THE "FAIRY GODMOTHER OF DATING" COACHES PROMINENT table at Allium at the Four Seasons Hotel. Gandhi CHICAGO SINGLES ON HOW TO MEET THE PERFECT MATE. adopted her methodical approach based on her own BY MEG MATHIS experience after a series of less-than-stellar boyfriends. After careful analysis, she approached her former classmate and close confidant Andrew Annacone n a city with nearly three million people, it can be daunting to find a suit- about dating, and suddenly there were sparks. While both were concerned able date for Valentine's Day, let alone "the one." But Smart Dating about the possibility of their years-long friendship going sideways, the Academy founder Bela Gandhi is Chicago's answer to Cupid, and the 22-year-old Gandhi did the math and said, "Look at the probability. If we woman The Huffington Post has deemed "the fairy godmother of dating" start dating, we'd probably get married." Sixteen years of marriage and is on a mission to make it easier for singles to meet their match. Smart two children later, the odds are in her favor. Smart Dating Academy, 312Dating Academy's newest campaign, Three Foolproof Ways to Find Love 643-1516; smartdatingacademy.com MA INSIGHT I 50 PHOTOGRAPHY BY DAVID W. JOHNSON bela gandhi MICHIGANAVEMAG.COM 050_MA_SP_TP_Bela_Winter13.indd 50 1/2/13 12:28 PM