The Need To Know – Speed Dating For People of Colour
Could you please introduce yourself?
“Hi, I’m Ann Akinnuoye a young woman that’s seeking to help people of color find love among themselves once again and Creator of the The Need To Know.”
Could you please introduce The Need To Know?
“The TNTK is a vetted speed dating event for people of color that is invite only. It’s very secretive in nature in the sense that no one is allowed to be on their phones during the event or discuss who is in attendance. We pride ourselves in quality matches and getting people to really connect without the distractions of social media, phones, worrying about who else is in the room. It’s all meant to be extremely intimate.”
How did you come up with TNTK? And why is it important, particularly for people of colour?
“Honestly I got sick of the combative nature between black men and women. It felt like every day there was an argument about who should pay for dates, why black men didn’t date black women or something similar. The images of happy black couples were so few and far in between that I wanted to create something that combatted that agenda. It’s so important because it gives us hope, it allows for the story of black love to live. Black love is such a powerful thing from a history perspective. The black family was torn apart for so long that we often forget how beautiful and powerful it is to have and witness. It reminds us that we are stronger together than we are separate.”
Why is TNTK different to other speed dating services?
“It’s not corny. To be honest a lot of other dating sites or even speed dating sites I’ve seen or even participated in myself were just didn’t speak to the type of person I am. I pride The Need To Know on not being corny lol or too in your face. It’s really about people that want to seek companionship coming together freely.
Also the level of intimacy and vetting process makes us different. We aren’t just letting everyone that signed up attend and we aren’t promising to have an event every week or even every month. It’s about really finding people that may be a match and creating a safe place for them to explore that. We also keep the guest list private so no ones who attends has to worry about being posted unless they want to.”
Do you have any plans to expand across various different states/across the pond?
“Yes ! Def want to go to other states. We’ve had people from other states sign up already and when we are ready to venture into those states it’s still be about targeting our marketing there but for right now we are NY based.”
How does the element of intimacy and specially tailored selections change the dynamic of each event?
“We want genuine connections to be made. We keep our numbers small and vet potential participants. We take our vetting process very seriously. We like to make sure we are connecting people who may potentially really hit it off. It’s not just people dating randomly it’s people we really think can build long last relationships connecting with one another. Also each event never has any more than 10 couples participating at once. We like to keep the numbers small so the intimate nature doesn’t get lost. This makes the process a little longer to get through everyone that signed up but it’s worth it. Also, it can be overwhelming for people to go on more than 10 dates in a night. It’s about quality and not quantity with us.”
Have you had any successful love stories as a result of #TNTK?
“We are still fairly new but we have had success stories of people hitting it off and connecting with one another. Although it’s too soon to say if any of these couples are in love but we hope love finds them. That’s the whole purpose behind the TNTK, connecting people of color and allowing for a safe place for them to seek companionship.”
