Above: At Tinder, understanding how a new generation creates meaningful relationships. (Photo by Christina Gandolfo)

Faye Iosotaluno (MBA 2008) met her husband through friends when she was only 19 years old. It was 1999, and the mobile-first app Tinder—which launched in 2012 and where Iosotaluno is currently COO—was not even a distant glimmer on the dating horizon. While the app quickly gained traction among millennials for spontaneous connections, Tinder is now in a different phase in its evolution as the 18- to 24-year-old Gen Z users enter the dating world. Its “relationship goals” feature offers six options, with 40 percent of users selecting a long-term relationship; its “relationship type” feature offers five choices, with 70 percent choosing monogamy (other options include “ethical non-monogamy” and “open to exploring”).

“Tinder won’t tell you who to date or how to date,” says Iosotaluno, a longtime consumer tech executive who was previously chief strategy officer at Match Group, Tinder’s parent company. “It’s a place for possibilities, to explore and create relationships that are meaningful to the user.”

Iosotaluno notes that trust, safety, and empowerment are key when it comes to user experience; to that end, more than 70 percent of the company’s leadership team is female. “Our focus group sessions peel back the layers of experience with the app,” she explains. “You get to see that moment of fun and delight when someone gets a match. When I asked my seven-year-old daughter what she thinks I do for work, she said, ‘You help people find love.’”

How to: Meet Your Match

As COO of Tinder, Iosotaluno is often asked how to have the most success using the app. “I tell my friends to think of 3 x 5 x 12,” she says. In other words, three interests, five photos, and at least 12 words in the profile bio. (No cheating on the photos, she adds; they all should be of your face, not a pet or landscape.) Take the time to carefully consider the words that present you in the most compelling, authentic way. “Being yourself can feel ‘cringey,’ but Tinder is the time and place to be intentional about who you are,” says Iosotaluno. “Sometimes it means acknowledging your flaws and laying your cards on the table. Don’t be shy about lifting the lid on your love language, what you’re looking for in a relationship, and flying your ‘green flags,’ or positive traits.”

A married mother of two daughters, Iosotaluno doesn’t have a profile on Tinder. But if she did, she says her three interests would be pilates, travel, and pro-choice. And her bio? “I would say something like: Type-A, but just the right amount; loves a good debate; enjoys good food way too much to successfully do an intermittent fast; have learned to love my freckles.”

For reluctant users, Iosotaluno points out that the stigma around using dating apps has come down significantly in recent years; 53 percent of people aged 30 and under have used a dating app, according to a February 2023 Pew Research Center report. “The most important thing is to find a platform where you can be yourself, that you can access in an easy, fun way,” Iosotaluno says. “Mental health and well-being are top priorities for young people; so be authentic and forward about how you promote your own emotional intelligence and self-development. It demonstrates you think these are essential components of healthy relationships, and Gen Z is attracted to that.” Finally, she adds, Tinder does not judge: “It’s a place of endless possibilities.”

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