30. Teddy MacKenzie
Work: Underwriter at ACE
Education: University of Denver, Bucknell University
Influence: 504 friends on Hinge
Worst pre-Hinge date: "Taking a girl to a sushi restaurant, but completely forgetting I’d lost my wallet the night before. She had to pay, and it was a pretty hefty bill. Not my best moment."
29. Amanda Usher
Work: Teacher, 12th Grade British Literature
Education: Columbia University
Influence: 417 friends on Hinge
Worst pre-Hinge date story: "Don’t do brunch if you had an engagement the eve before. You may not be as good on your toes, and forget that dates are like an interview. This particular interviewer met me in the Lower East Side, and midway through his eggs Benedict he said, “You know we’ve met before?” I immediately blushed, and wished I’d ordered a mimosa over iced coffee… definitely did not remember him. Wished I’d ordered a mimosa over iced coffee…"
28. Zach Tatge
Work: Associate Producer at ABC News
Education: Keene State
Influence: 356 friends on Hinge
Worst pre-Hinge date: "She never showed up :("
27. Jenny Wu
Work: Startup Consultant
Education: NYU, University of Pennsylvania
Influence: 132 friends on Hinge
Worst pre-Hinge date: "It wasn’t really a date, but from what I can tell, it certainly toed the line. Working in the startup world means I have a lot of unconventional meeting places, but I once had an investor invite me to a meeting at the Russian/Turkish baths. I politely declined that one."
26. James Bohannon
Work: VP & Chief of Compliance at Rizm
Education: Trinity College
Influence: 474 friends on Hinge
Worst pre-Hinge date: "Once took a vegan to a steakhouse on Valentine’s Day… then discovered I had left my wallet in the cab. Astoundingly, I recovered the fumble."
25. Anna Cogswell
Work: Head of Marketing at Next Step Realty
Education: College of Charleston
Influence: 271 friends on Hinge
Worst pre-Hinge date: "I can’t say the worst, but I can definitely say the best - April 25th. It’s not too hot, not too cold. All you need is a light jacket."
24. Shrutika Sachdev
Work: HR at Citi
Education: Cornell University
Influence: 293 friends on Hinge
Worst pre-Hinge date: "I changed the location of the date from a cafe to a bar at the last minute…only to find out my date doesn’t drink."
23. Brian Koehler
Work: Account Executive at AR New York
Education: Boston University
Influence: 221 friends on Hinge
Worst pre-Hinge date: "Probably the time I showed up wearing the exact same outfit as my date. Same coat, vest, shirt, and pants. Hashtag awk."
22. Shana Goldberg
Work: Designer Sales at Modalyst
Education: Colorado University at Boulder
Influence: 150 friends on Hinge
Worst pre-Hinge date: "Meeting up with a 'fashion photographer' in the West Village, only to find out he was totally unemployed and apartment-less. He basically spent the entire date trying to get freelance work from me... He basically spent the entire date trying to get freelance work from me."
21. Warren Reed
Work: Office of Financial Research
Education: NYU, Columbia University
Influence: 152 friends on Hinge
Worst pre-Hinge date: "She never showed up, and we even confirmed earlier that day! I waited for an hour because I assumed she was just running late, but I never heard from her. It was very odd."
20. Matt Lally
Work: Fiction Writer
Education: Columbia
Influence: 218 friends on Hinge
Worst pre-Hinge date: "I had a date where this girl’s nose would straight-up not stop bleeding the entire time — she’d get up and go to the bathroom to deal with it, come back and it’d be fine for a few minutes, then would start bleeding again. Later she left the tissue paper in so we could make out, scout’s honor."
19. Laetizia Bizzari
Work: Stem Cell Research at Mt. Sinai Hospital
Education: Vanderbilt University
Influence: 476 friends on Hinge
Worst pre-Hinge date: "A guy asked me to go with him to his client’s house party (which turned out to be three guys sitting on a couch talking about work for two hours), then brought me to a club where his philosopher friend from college whipped out different lit novels from his coat pockets, and proceeded to quote Aristotle and ask me for my favorite passages from 'Jane Eyre' all night."
18. Kyle Rocco
Work: Product Marketing at Facebook
Education: Bentley University
Influence: 255 friends on Hinge
Worst pre-Hinge date: "A friend from college set me up on a blind date with a friend she grew up with. I went for it with my friend’s vote of confidence, but a few drinks in I realized I was in for a real treat. At first she seemed fine, and we were having a good chat about work, family, city life, etc. and even had a few laughs. But around drink three the wheels started falling off… she began a long-winded monologue that covered a variety of fun topics including, but not limited to: pride in growing up with certain level of ‘status’ (okay…), her dissatisfaction with the president (no actual examples cited), her dislike for paying taxes, her disdain for the poor and the homeless, a slew of religious intolerances, and finally, how Facebook was contributing to the downfall of society. If you were wondering, there was no second date."
17. Michael Fragoso
Work: Brand Manager at No. 8
Education: Parsons School of Design
Influence: 164 friends on Hinge
Worst pre-Hinge date: "I was getting tipsy with some friends and VERY generously swiping right (on another app). Then I went to a work event and ended up running into not one, not two, but three of those boys. I wish I had been able to investigate them a little further. How embarrassing!"
16. David Masterman
Work: Private Equity and M&A Analyst at Brown Brothers Harriman
Education: Amherst College
Influence: 394 friends on Hinge
Worst pre-Hinge date: "I once took a girl to a happy hour drinks and oysters, and I only learned toward the end of the date that she did not drink… or eat oysters. But I swear, she was a master of distraction."
15. Jillian Tapper
Work: Bleacher Report
Education: Florida State University
Influence: 193 friends on Hinge
Worst pre-Hinge date: "First dates are always a little awkward, but this is one of my favorites. A friend of a friend had the 'perfect guy' to set me up with, so she gave him my number. After a couple of weeks of endless persistence on his end, we decided to meet. The date went well and the next day I received what I thought would be a standard 'good morning' text, but there was a picture attached… of his FULL NAKED BODY. Shock is an understatement."
14. Foster Baker
Work: Creative Visual Presentation at Ralph Lauren
Education: Colgate University
Influence: 411 friends on Hinge
Worst pre-Hinge date: "I’m one of the lucky ones—never had a really bad date. But then again, I’ve been using Hinge for quite a while, so…"
13. Justin Weiss
Work: Founder at Cleardigs.com
Education: Georgetown University
Influence: 334 friends on Hinge
Worst pre-Hinge date: "I went on a date with this girl I had a huge crush on. Dinner went great until I tried to pick up the check… and my card was declined. After a desperate phone call from the men’s room (suspected fraudulent activity that needed to be 'escalated tomorrow') I sprinted down the street to an ATM — broken! By the time I got back to the table to explain, she’d already paid and was frowning. I texted her about it the next day, but she didn’t have PayPal and mailing her a check seemed awkward. After that things fell silent. I guess if American Express was enough to come between us, then it wasn’t meant to be… but I do carry more than one credit card now."
12. Evan Eisenberg
Work: Customer Success Manager at Oracle
Education: University of Buffalo
Influence: 205 friends on Hinge
Worst pre-Hinge date: "Nightmare blind date (first mistake), set up by a girl I met while visiting LA and hardly knew (second mistake). She recommended I meet her friend, so we made a dinner date (third mistake). She was already on her third drink before the entrees came, and not slowing down. It went downhill pretty quickly from there. After dinner I thanked her for meeting me and made it clear we should go our separate ways. Drunken insults ensued, followed by her questioning my manliness and sexual orientation."
11. Tara Berman
Work: Residency in Internal Medicine at Mount Sinai St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital
Education: University of Pennsylvania, Columbia University, Sackler School of Medicine
Influence: 274 friends on Hinge
Worst pre-Hinge date: "I can’t stay away from the hospital, apparently. I once had to leave a date early because I swallowed a fishbone and had to go to the ER to get it removed."
10. Julia Capalino
Work: Founder at Pinch Parties
Education: Davidson College
Influence: 376 friends on Hinge
Worst pre-Hinge date: "While it wasn’t all that terrible, it certainly wasn’t fun. He was 30 minutes late, barely acknowledged it, and then proceeded to talk about himself the entire time. I can only hear so many stories about Electric Daisy Carnival and how hard you club before I start planning a getaway."
9. James Cole
Work: Brand Planner at Young & Rubicam Group
Education: Princeton University
Influence: 375 friends on Hinge
Worst pre-Hinge date: "I once had a first date yell at me for putting my menu too close to the candle on the table (which was tiny and in a large glass cup). I moved my menu and kept talking. Ten minutes later she brought it up again, more panicked this time, so I asked her what was up. She finally admitted that she burned down her sorority house in college and doesn’t trust fire anymore."
8. Guillermo Echarte
Work: Co-founder of Yero and Media Account Manager at LinkedIn
Education: Duke University
Influence: 415 friends on Hinge
Worst Pre-Hinge date: "She showed up 30 minutes late and drunk."
7. Anureta Chahal
Work: Account Executive at DISYS
Education: George Washington University
Influence: 120 friends on Hinge
Worst pre-Hinge date: "A guy threw a temper tantrum the first time we ever met, demanding to know my feelings for him right then."
6. Justin Wilkinson
Work: Analyst at Neuberger Berman
Education: University of Richmond
Influence: 311 friends on Hinge
Worst pre-Hinge date: "I had a first date where the girl showed up considerably drunk, spent the first half of the night talking about herself and the second half in the bathroom."
5. Lauren Drell
Work: Director of Branded Content at Mashable
Education: University of Pennsylvania, Northwestern University
Influence: 318 friends on Hinge
Worst pre-Hinge date: "One guy rattled off a series of rather obnoxious questions, like 'Do you summer out east?' and, 'So are you really single? I Googled you…' When I didn’t reply, he sent macaroons to my office with his phone number on the note. I was not into him at all after the snob interview process, but I’ll admit… I ate the macarons. They were delicious."
4. Matt McDonald
Work: Product Marketing at Google
Education: Dartmouth College
Influence: 140 friends on Hinge
Worst pre-Hinge date: "I once met a guy who talked about himself non-stop for 47 minutes. I timed it. There wasn’t really much to say after that, because it seemed pretty clear he was more interested in getting to know himself."
3. Julie Manheimer
Work: Founder at Lady J Creative
Education: University of Pennsylvania
Influence: 155 friends on Hinge
Worst pre-Hinge date: "I once went on a date with a guy who got so drunk he knocked over a chair and two glasses on his way out of the bar. Not pretty."
2. Adam Kalamchi
Work: Founder of Brilliant Bicycles
Education: Harvard and Columbia Universities
Influence: 283 friends on Hinge
Worst pre-Hinge date: "I went on a date with someone who refused to answer 'interview questions' like where she was from, or what she liked to do in her free time. She thought the only appropriate questions were things like 'if you were trapped on a desert island, what five foods would you take?' I learned a lot of random trivia, but almost nothing about her as a person. She also called me two minutes before we were supposed to meet to say she’d be 45 minutes late… it didn’t work out."
1. Carli Roth
Work: Co-founder of Host Committee
Education: University of Colorado at Boulder
Influence: 485 friends on Hinge
Worst pre-Hinge date: "Getting stood up twice in one night… by the same guy."