We were lucky to catch up with Chelsea Stonerock recently and have shared our conversation below.

Chelsea, appreciate you joining us today. What was it like going from idea to execution? Can you share some of the backstory and some of the major steps or milestones?

I started Sodo Singles after a break up as you would expect from somebody creating something within the dating world. I had attended a Speed Dating event, and while I think they did the best they could, I walked away thinking I might be able to do something better. I wanted to create a better experience for daters in Orlando, created by somebody who’s actually grown up and lived in Orlando for a significant amount of time.

So the first thing I did was go to a local brewery, RockPit brewing and ask them if they would be interested in me, hosting a Speed Dating event at their venue. And luckily they were all in. We hosted our first event in December 2022 and they was a great success. We had tons of people sign up and it was a clear sign that meeting in person and giving single people an opportunity to meet not on a dating app was something locals were looking for.

From there I started exploring what other locations and venues we could host the dating events at. By March, I had recognized that I didn’t just have a social group on my hands. I had somewhat of a company. So I started figuring out how to properly ticket for events. It was very important to me that the event I was hosting were set up for single peoples success. I didn’t want the events to be too expensive and I always wanted to make sure we were providing the very best experience for people who are exploring, dating in person for the first time in many years.

This December we reached our one year mark and we are exploring new types of single events starting in the new year and we are continuing on with our Speed Dating events at various venues throughout Orlando.

Chelsea, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I have a diverse professional background. My professional career started in convention event planning so I know what it takes to host a really great event and to be very detail oriented in the event world. After my time in convention event planning, I studied and went into Advertising, I was a brand copy writer for several years before transitioning into the operational side of the digital marketing business. Since then I have been working in people and culture operations to make businesses really great places to work and to thrive in. I think my passion for people, and supporting their happiness throughout their life, both in work, and personally Has really inspired my work with Sodo Singles.

My major goal as a company owner of a Speed Dating company is to create a really great accepting and comfortable experience for every single person who attends an event. Deciding to date in person and to “put yourself out there,” so to say, comes with a lot of emotion and a lot of people tend to feel a bit insecure when they attend their first speed dating event. my goal is that every person who interacts with me or one of my events feels supported, comfortable, and regardless of if they find somebody they want to date or not that they will have made some friends and some connections that they wouldn’t have made if they were staying at home or swiping on a dating app.

What’s been the best source of new clients for you?

There are so many great questions on this pulldown list so I will maybe tackle more than one in this answer. I think one thing that I would want to share is that I definitely learned the lesson that if you want to do something if you want to try something new, and you have an idea that comes from a really genuine place, you will find some level of success. I created something with SoDo singles from a genuine place of wanting to find some joy in my life to provide a new version of dating for people like me who were coming out of the pandemic and didn’t really know where to meet other singles anymore . Growing my base of attendees came so naturally because I believe it was a space that really needed someone like me needed a group like me to help people who had a genuine need. I started simply by creating a Facebook group, but I will also say that I had an incredible amount of support from my first partners at RockPit brewing. I make sure every time I tell my story to say if I hadn’t had the support of other local business owners such as Chris and Tammy rock, I wouldn’t have been able to find the success that I did. When I went to them with my original idea, they were so enthusiastic and supportive of me, creating this group and running these Speed Dating events at their venue that I had all the support I actually needed . They invested their own time and effort to help market the events so that our first Speed Dating events were super successful. Because of that support from other local business owners and people in our community I was able to then partner with other restaurants and bars, as well in the same way , when I looked for next locations to work with, I also leaned into our community. I found the same amount of support from the owners of Gnarly barley and the falcon that I had received from the owners of RockPit brewing. I think it’s so important to share that it is our community and support of one another. That helps make one another so successful.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

When you’re building, something new, having flexibility, and being able to pivot is so important. When I first started the group, I was holding events based purely off of joy, but I quickly learned that I needed to put a business mindset onto the company I was building I had to discover How to host events that were successful for both myself and for our attendees. This came with exploring how to properly sign people up for events how to take it properly for events, and how to create successful partnerships with my venues that was mutually beneficial I won’t lie. There have been some interesting experiences hosting events with singles And problem-solving that I didn’t expect to have to go through. But again I would say every time I’ve experienced a hiccup or a situation. I wasn’t sure what the right solution for was if I went back to my roots of why I started the company and how to genuinely treat Singles in the Orlando area with the best intentions I came to the best solution possible. Hosting events like a Speed Dating night comes with plenty of challenges. Sometimes you worry up until the last minute that you won’t have enough attendees or you might be experiencing some attendees, who are so nervous that they might walk out at the beginning of an event. But these are just , very real human experiences and having a lot of empathy, especially in the dating world is one of the keys that I think makes my Speed Dating business different from others.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @sodosinglesorlando
• Other: We are launching sodosingles.com soon !

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