Tina Wilson
British born Tina Wilson is a Digital Entrepreneur, Businesswoman and Dating Expert.
She is the Founder and CEO of Wingman app, the world’s fastest growing matchmaking app that lets your friends choose dates for you and make the introductions.
Wilson spotted a gap in the market for a new style of dating app, after numerous dating disasters and bad experiences and she wanted to create something that felt more in keeping with real life. Passing control to her friends, to write her profile and introducing her to matches was more collaborative and less awkward.
Following a life changing accident and a 5-year rehabilitation process, Wilson re-evaluated her life. Previously an interior designer flying between NYC and London, Wilson’s idea for the app saw her change career direction at 40 and invest all of her life savings into her new business idea. With fire in her belly and no tech experience whatsoever, she set about making Wingman a reality. She worked tirelessly and spent years researching to get the app off the ground. To take it to the next level she raised a seven-figure sum from a blue-chip investment company in the USA.
Since its launch in 2017 Wingman has taken the US by storm and has now launched in the UK.
Since friends are the ones taking the lead in making the matches and introductions, the app’s model naturally lessens the sting of rejection and the stigma associated with online dating. Traditional online dating is an isolating experience, whereas Wingman is a team effort, with singles adding 10 or more friends and family to be their advocate and enhance their dating experience. Gone are the days of self-promotional filtered profiles, replaced with true honest testimonials from those that know them best. Wilson believes that ‘friends sometimes know us better than we know ourselves and as such, have an objective view about what would be good for us’.
2020 saw the online dating market boom and Wingman has seen a huge surge in sign-ups due to lockdown restrictions, as singles, plus their friends and family (most of whom are in relationships), sign up to make a positive difference, creating some of the most ‘banterous’ profiles around. Wilson attributes the surge to the fact that we are all seeking human connection, wanting to stay connected to our friends and family during these isolating times and doing some good during this pandemic.
Likened to a ‘virtual night out’, Wingman continually invests in user experience and integrates new features, supporting a unique audience that have previously refused traditional dating apps. Wingman is completely unique and whilst it is about dating, it is more importantly about friendship, camaraderie and banter.
Wilson’s mission during the pandemic is to make life less lonely, and Wingman allows friends to upload short video testimonials about why you should date their single friend. During the first lockdown she was praised for donating thousands of face bandanas to bus drivers with the title ‘It’s not about you’, after she was made aware of the numerous deaths of the bus drivers in London who didn’t qualify as a key worker, so were not given masks
Today, Tina Wilson is a globally respected Dating and Relationship Expert, and she has featured on some of the world’s biggest TV channels, offering her advice and top online dating tips.
Wingman has today offices in New York, California and London.