I’m a mom who created the world’s first dating app for other single moms and dads who are sick of being haunted

IRISH businesswoman Zoe Desmond has told how she created the world’s first dating app for single parents – after Tinder users called her son ‘baggage’.

Dublin-born Zoe became a single mother when her son Billy was just one year old, after breaking up with her ex-husband.

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The mother of one child admits she was left with a feeling of ‘shame’ and ‘guilt’ when she first started navigating solo parenting.

But now, four years later, she’s built an online community with THOUSANDS of other single parents and is launching a new app to help them find love.

“I didn’t know any other single parents at first so I found myself dreading the weekends because all I could see was family everywhere and that,” says Zoe. really hard.

“Despite having a lot of good friends, I don’t want to impose family time on others or let anyone feel sorry for me. I also don’t want to feel like I have to get into another relationship to fix the picture.

“Even saying the words, ‘I’m a single parent,’ it brings out a negative sense of shame and I really don’t know where that’s coming from.”

Fed up with feeling alone, Zoe decided to start her own online community, called Frolo, allows single parents to connect with each other through real-world conversations and encounters.

The site was originally a non-romantic area.

With a quarter of its parents being single Irish, the community quickly grew to more than 35,000 members between Ireland and the UK.

Zoe, who now lives in London, said: “At that point my whole world fell apart and I was struggling to put one foot in front of the other.

“I thought, ‘If only I could find other single moms and dads to connect with who could understand what I was going through, who would have spare time and weekends for socializing. dating for fun, that makes all the difference.”

“As it started, the more I talked to single people, the more shame and loneliness I felt. It’s really great to go from one end to the other just by connecting with people.”

‘ADDICT’

In the midst of building an online community and raising her son, Zoe decided to venture into the world of dating.

And she’s been left sorely disappointed by Tinder users who regularly ‘polished’ her after they found out she was a mom.

“You’ll see a lot of the word baggage that doesn’t look good as a single parent,” says Zoe. You are the kind of emotional paradox, am I the one who rejects the dating world?

“But then I thought if I didn’t mention I have a kid on my profile and then I match someone, how do I type that into the conversation, what does that mean? am I going to be possessed by ghosts? Will they feel cheated by me? These are the sensations that go through your head.”

Turns out, Zoe isn’t the only one who feels flat after her online dating experience.

The entire Frolo community felt the same way, so the mom was determined to start a new dating app to help her half-brothers find love.

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MATERIAL APPLICATION

Frolo Dating will come out in time Valentine’s Day in Ireland and the UK and Zoe say the experience will be completely different from the likes of Tinder and Bumble.

For starters, ghosting – when someone suddenly cuts off all ties and communicates with the person they’ve been texting – is forbidden.

“We don’t have a ghost culture,” she said. So if you’re chatting with someone and after a few days you don’t get a response from them, they’ll get a pop-up that says ‘you haven’t texted John back, nobody likes hanging. ancient’.

“It’s also the world’s first user-verified single parent dating app, everyone in the app is who they say they are.

“I think the really nice thing about Frolo Dating is that we’re both in the same boat.

“No one should have any reason to use the word baggage on an app, we are all looking to date someone with kids, kids are seen as a reward and not as a treat. physical”.

LOOKING FOR LOVE

Zoe, who is still single, hopes she can even find love on her own app.

She laughs: “I’m putting all my hopes on Frolo Dating, it will be a good ending to the story.”

Zoe – Who is the daughter of Irish billionaire Dermot Desmond- will first launch in Ireland and the UK, but she has also targeted the US.

And the mother of one, who recently raised 588,000 euros from investors, says her father gave her some great advice.

She said: “My dad is very supportive and very proud to see this get into shape as it is. He essentially told me, do as you say, which is exactly what I did every step of the way. Either way, it hasn’t let me down yet.”

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