Q&A with Micropolitan Matchmakers, Singles Events and Matchmaking in Albany County, New York

Ahead of this year's Singles Week, we sat down with Becky Daniels to learn more about the story behind Micropolitan Matchmakers and what people can expect. Whether you’re seeking love, friendship, or new experiences in the area, read on to discover how Micropolitan Matchmakers is fostering connections in the heart of Albany County.

We started in 2021, which is hard to even fathom now that we're in 2025. So, we were still in the thick of the pandemic. At that time my co-founder, Gabby Fisher, and I were both single and unhappy with the options we had to meet people. I think a lot of people felt that too.

So that summer, when it was the first opportunity to get together safely, we decided to hold our first in-person event. At that point it wasn't even a business idea. We just wanted to get people together. We had 80 people show up to our first event. We realized from there that there was just such a need. 

So, we had a couple more free events before we thought "this could really be a business." We continued with events and kept hearing that people were interested in matchmaking too. So, we've also been matchmaking for two and half years. It's been fun to see those success stories start to grow.

That's the crazy part. It was so new, and no one was doing anything like it, we had a ton of great media exposure. Right before our first event we ended up on the cover of the Times Union. I remember saying to Gabby, "oh great now everyone knows we're single." But that was a really critical turning point, it became so much more than just us wanting to meet new people.

For a lot of people, it was an embarrassing thing to talk about. But there's a lot of us in the same boat and a lot of people want to meet each other. There's no shame about it. Let's be open about it. That's how you're going to find your person. 

We've got some great events coming up. We've done some version of Singles Week every year. We have eight events over ten days around Valentine's Day.

During the Virtual Singles Mix and Mingle on February 10, we will go over the rest of the events, I'll be there for a Q&A, and we'll do some mingling and matchmaking too.

I'm super excited about Take a Shot at Love (a singles mixer followed by the Siena Men's Basketball game vs. Marist at MVP Arena). We're going to have a contest to win a date with the team's academic advisor. Three lucky men will get to go onto the court at halftime, I'm interviewing the candidates ahead of time.

For singles attending the event, the basketball game is also something to focus on. You don't have to feel like you have to hold a conversation the whole time. If you need a break, you can take a beat, watch the game, and restore your resources a little bit.

I think feedback I'm hearing is that we're really open, we're there for everybody, we're there to help people mix and mingle.  I think we're really here to help people find community as much as we are to help people find love. I think all of it ends up supporting that higher purpose.

You might not find someone who's a romantic connection at every single event you come to. But I've seen it work for the people who come, who talk to everybody, who are open-minded. I've seen attendees introduce each other to people in their networks that might not be at the event.

I'll give the distinction here too. Maybe you're a little bit more extroverted, you don't like icebreakers or questions and just want to come survey the crowd. Happy hours and our larger events are really good for that mindset. For folks who want a little more help or structure, we have coffee hours once a month and activity-based events.

I always love to tell this story. At our very first event there were five guys in their early to mid 30's that came, and each had separately said "I'm the last single person in my friend group, all my friends are married, some have kids, we don't hang out like we used to." And I had identified with that too. Two weeks later, I saw those five guys at a baseball game. So even though they didn't meet someone at that event, they found other people to go out and do things with.

That really goes to the root of the name, Micropolitan Matchmakers, right? So "micropolitan," we might not be as big as a huge metropolitan area like New York City or Chicago but in the Albany area we're half a million people strong. We have so much culture, so much life, so many businesses. We have so much history, like the Albany Institute. We have so much culture like the Palace Theatre or Albany Symphony. We've got big sports. Even with cuisine, you've got everything from dive bars and breweries to high end fine restaurants. It's all very accessible, everything is in a 30-to-45-minute drive. I've always wanted this business to support really cool community partners that not a lot of people know about. There's something for everyone, and that's what's really unique.

This is such an appropriate conversation to have around Singles Week, because I think events are just the best place to start. If matchmaking is something someone is interested in, coming to events first and getting to know the community gives me a chance to get a sense of someone's energy in real life.

Get on our email list, follow us on Eventbrite or social media and come to an event or two.

Thursday, February 6: Beginner Bachata Class

Monday, February 10: Virtual Meet the Matchmaker Mix and Mingle 

Wednesday, February 13: 55+ Happy Hour

Friday, February 14: Take a Shot at Love with the Siena Men's Basketball Team

Sunday, February 16: A Symphony of Singles Mixer and Concert with the Albany Symphony Orchestra 

Saturday, February 8: Monthly Single's Coffee Meetup

Wednesday, February 12: Swipe Right Refresh - A Dating Profile Photo Shoot and Mixer