It's only natural that we seek out people with common interests and experiences as romantic partners — and, with the advent of online dating, that search has been honed to a science. We can find other music-lovers, beach-walking enthusiasts, or chia-pet owners simply by using a search tool.
However, despite the many options available to those seeking love online, Carla Valentine felt that something was missing. As a former postmortem technician and current pathology-museum curator who works with dead specimens all day long, Valentine was looking for a romantic partner who could understand and empathize with her career path. That's why she started Dead Meet, "a dating and networking site to enable people in the death industry to meet like-minded individuals."
Valentine recently spoke with Vice to explain the thought process behind Dead Meet, which so far has attracted 5,000 members, including crematorium technicians, anatomists, taxidermists, and more. "I just wanted to be able to chat to someone who could really understand me," Valentine told Vice. "When asked, 'How was your day?' I wanted to be able to say how it really was, safe in the knowledge that uttering sentences not usually uttered by 'normal' people wouldn’t send someone packing."
For most people, the question "How was your day, honey?" isn't followed by a discussion of putrefaction or livor mortis — and so Dead Meet could be the perfect option for death professionals who are "dying to meet someone" who just gets them (Dead Meet's pun, not ours).