An Interview With Lori Cheek, Founder & CEO Of Cheek’d

The New York Times dubbed it "the next generation of online dating."

TechCrunch called it "equally creepy and creative."

Forbes branded it "a new, sassy and humorous twist to dating."

Clearly, Cheek'd is doing something right. Business2community.com spoke with Lori Cheek, Founder and CEO of the clever new dating service, to find out what inspired her and why she thinks Cheek'd has been so successful, so quickly.

Before becoming an entrepreneur, Lori was an architect living in New York City who was having trouble finding Mr. Right. She explains her desire to revolutionize online dating like this: "I saw something missing in the seemingly saturated online dating market-a human touch. One in five relationships supposedly start online. What about the other four?"

Then, during dinner with a friend and colleague, she witnessed something that illuminated the little cartoon lightbulb above her head. Her dinner companion scrawled "Want to have dinner?" on the back of a business card and, as they left the restaurant, slipped the card to an attractive woman at a nearby table. It was simple, subtle, and fast, and Lori loved it.

"Handing a card to someone is an acceptable gesture," Lori says. "With a Cheek'd card, it's as close to physically touching a stranger you can get and at the same time practically telling them you want to see them minus the awkward verbal introduction." Cheek'd cards also provide a greater potential dating pool than traditional online dating sites, which require all parties to be members. Anyone - anywhere in the world - can receive a Cheek'd card and view the associate profile. You're never restricted to an existing community of users.

Cheek'd has been gaining popularity thanks to its National Klout Campaign, but Lori's most exciting success stories involve celebrity encounters. Willem Dafoe, Uma Thurman, Stephen Baldwin, Kiefer Sutherland, and Mickey Rourke all looked up Lori's profile after she gave them a card, and Spike Lee also got a kick out of the concept after meeting Lori in NYC.

What's next for Cheek'd? Lori says she's working on a mobile app that would allow users to send virtual cards to people they find attractive nearby. She also plans to make a range of Cheek'd coded items like T-shirts, shoes, matches, pins, and stickers, and to build a business/networking version of the site.

It's a big change from her former life, but Lori has no regrets about her transition from architect to dating guru. "I'm no longer building structures," she says. "I'm now building relationships and it's a lot more fun."