A California woman’s digital billboard campaign bearing the motto, “seeking the right man to start forever with” has netted the Bay Area woman as many as 2,000-plus would-be suitors.
It started out as something of a joke. Lisa Catalano was sick of dead-end dating apps when she started creating a fanciful website to put herself out there. It turned into a cathartic exercise in and of itself.
“Every time I would get frustrated with how the dating scene in general was, I would spend another five, 10 minutes just typing away on my computer, making the website just kind of as a little creative outlet,” Catalano told People.
That project became MarryLisa.com. To get eyeballs on the page, she hatched a plan to plant digital billboards alongside Highway 101 between Santa Clara and San Francisco, and atop San Francisco taxi cabs. The message — a fetching photo of her next to the url — is strategically timed to coincide with both morning and evening commutes.
Anyone who takes the next step can dip into a series of videos posted on her site, starting with her intro. Catalano discusses topics ranging from intimacy to personality quirks, travel, and kissing on the first date. Catalano, who lost a fiancée to terminal illness in 2023, also addresses the inevitable notion that her move seems desperate.
Guys who want to go deeper can fill out an application. Offers have come in from men aged 19 to 78, People reported. Women who relate to Catalano’s swiping fatigue applaud her ingenuity and courage. However, hate has also crept in, Catalano revealed to the San Francisco Chronicle — outright misogynistic and even threatening comments, “some of the most horrific things I’ve ever read.”
She was even doxxed on 4Chan once, though those messages quickly disappeared, she said. Even her family has been targeted.
Overall, the uplifting messages go a long way toward balancing out the negativity, although Catalano admitted taking security measures.
“I’ve had the most wonderful messages sent to me from people all over the globe,” Catalano said. “These people I’ve never even met are rooting for me.”
