About Damona Hoffman
Damona Hoffman is a dating coach & on-air personality who starred in two A+E Networks’ TV series: #BlackLove and A Question of Love. Her first book F the Fairy Tale was published in January 2024 and became an instant Amazon #1 bestseller. She’s a regular contributor to The LA Times, The Washington Post, The Drew Barrymore Show, NPR, CNN Headline News (HLN), BET, and more. Plus, she is the OkCupid Official Dating Expert. Damona’s weekly podcast Dates & Mates consistently charts in the top 50 in the Dating and Relationships category. She is also the host and producer of Freshbooks’ I Make A Living Podcast, which features her advice for new entrepreneurs and interviews with expert entrepreneurs.
Date Lab: Does he know you want a second date?
How do you end a date and let them know you would like a second one? Hate to say it, but this may be an example of what not to do.
Alicia Dixon must have looked like a superhero zipping on a scooter en route to her date. The 26-year-old was wearing black jeans and a top with black crepe sleeves that met in the back, in her words, “like a capelet.” She was the first to arrive at the Swiss restaurant Stable in the H Street NE corridor… Her date, Louie D’Agostino, finished his beer across the street and headed to Stable. An experienced “semi-blind” dater on apps, Louie, 31, likes to calm his nerves and loosen up with a brew or two before a date. “Like a two-drink minimum at a comedy club,” he explained.
Read the rest of the article here to find out what happened!
Daily Mail: Damona Meets Garcelle Beauvais For Lunch
After having had two failed marriages behind her and being a mom to three sons, Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Garcelle Beauvais decided to hire Damona as her personal dating coach to help her navigate finding true love.
Damona met with Garcelle for lunch to discuss her patterns in dating. Garcelle shared: “I think the way I show up when I’m dating, I think I have to stop leading with my career… I think sometimes guys would probably want me to be more needy and I’m not. I think that’s a thing.”
NPR: Make Dating Apps Work For You
Dating apps are a dime a dozen these days. They come in all different styles and flavors, but all essentially offer users the same twinkling hope: love at first swipe.
Maybe you’re thrilled by all the opportunities at your fingertips. Maybe you’re absolutely exhausted by it all or just wary of strangers online. Wherever you fall on the spectrum, dating apps — especially in the past year and a half — have become a bigger part of our romantic lives than ever. In fact, of all the fish in the sea in 2020, some 270 million people were on at least one dating app.
That’s a lot of fish! But it’s also a lot of pressure to stand out and to find the right match.
Flipping the script starts with taking control of your narrative. And being willing to put in the work, says certified dating coach Damona Hoffman.
“You can be online and swiping within minutes. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re going to have a quality experience if you haven’t gone into it with a sense of purpose,” says Hoffman.
Listen to the full episode here…
Dating Coaching on Real Housewives of Beverly Hills
LEARNING TO LOVE AGAIN?
Garcelle Beauvais has an amazing career and she’s an amazing mother. Now she’s looking for a man to settle down with. We did a little session to unpack what qualities she should look for and what was blocking her from finding love.
Here’s a little preview:
I did a more in-depth coaching session with Garcelle on the Dates & Mates podcast. CLICK HERE TO LISTEN!
Date Lab: An Instant Connection
“‘Thank goodness I wore flats,’ Colleen Basil, 49, said as she recounted the challenging decision of what to wear to her first-ever blind date. Opting for comfort proved the right choice, because the Washington Nationals were playing at home the evening of her in-person date at the Salt Line in Navy Yard.
After circling endlessly to find reasonably priced parking, Colleen ended up a few blocks away and rushed to the restaurant hoping the humidity wouldn’t overtake her natural hairstyle.
Erick Adams, a 54-year-old architectural draftsman, had arrived 15 minutes early. His experience in the military had left him with the motto: ‘If you’re on time, you’re already late.'”
Click here to read the rest!
The Top Dating Coaches of 2021-2022
Coach Foundation names their Top 39 Dating Coaches of 2021 – including Damona Hoffman! Here’s a snippet of Damona’s interview:
How is your coaching different from others?
As an early adopter (and success story) of online dating, I came to understand how to use technology more effectively to make connections and this is one of the major tenets of my dating coaching program. Any tool can be frustrating when used incorrectly but fulfilling when used with a deeper understanding. The other hallmark of my program is my philosophy that you should love as you are, without needing to change yourself to be loveable. When we learn more about our uniqueness, we are able to make more meaningful connections with people who see the real us.
What is your niche or specialization?
I work with anyone who is open-minded and open to change but about 65% of my audience is women 30-45 who are relationship-focused.
Check out all of Damona’s answers in the full article.
NPR: Dating Post-Vaccine
Damona Hoffman, a dating coach for the online dating site OkCupid, says that even though the desire to connect in person is there, the confidence might not be.
“People are open to dating again but they’re still a little bit cautious,” she says. “There’s still a little bit of hesitancy about just moving offline and throwing caution to the wind.”
And after more than a year of solitude and distance from others, that hesitation goes beyond trading apps for in-person dating. Some people are feeling stuck altogether.
“The fear of dating is real,” Hoffman says, “and I never want to dismiss that: not being practiced, not feeling like you’re in your best skin and able to put your best foot forward right now because we have been so isolated.”
Read the full article here…
Drew’s Love Bug: Live Profile Review
In this appearance on The Drew Barrymore Show, Damona Hoffman gives a live dating app profile review to Brooke, a flight attendant from Nashville who has not had the best of luck on dating apps.
Here’s the rundown:
Damona’s #1 dating profile rule involves the three C’s – Color, Context, and Character. Color is very important in that first photo (and in particular, the color red will always attract attention). Fill in your other photos to showcase the context of who you are, and focus on making yourself the star of your profile.
OkCupid users who complete their profiles see 200% more matches. And more matches mean more dates!
A couple of little fixes made a big difference for Brooke’s dating app profile…
Watch the full segment below to see hear Brooke’s amazing results post-polish!
The Mediator with Ice-T: Drama Club
On this episode of The Mediator, Damona helps Ice-T settle a disagreement between roommates Clara and Vivi.
Watch the full episode HERE to see what happens…
LA Times: Dear Damona
L.A. love coach Damona Hoffman tackles dating and relationship questions on her weekly podcast, “Dates & Mates.” Here, she shares her thoughts on some of the most topical questions from her listeners:
♡ Dear Damona: What is the best way to express to my new boyfriend that recognizing Valentine’s Day is super important to me?
♡ Dear Damona: I’m a 25-year-old female, and I met a guy on a dating app a few months ago. We’ve seen each other twice; both times, he canceled initially… My friends think I shouldn’t waste my time, but I did enjoy hanging out with him and want to give him another chance. Am I being naive?
♡ Dear Damona: I’m 24 and I’ve never kissed anyone. I’m starting to go on dates via different apps, and I’m really nervous about broaching this (and the sex topic). Do you have advice for how to bring this up? Do I even bring it up?
♡ Dear Damona: Do you think we should add a profile picture wearing a mask? I’m seeing them more and more on dating apps.
Read all of Damona’s answers HERE…
Drew’s Love Bug: How to Avoid Dating Burnout
Damona Hoffman explains to Drew and two virtual audience members why it’s so important to screen who you’re talking to before you meet up with them and waste your time.
Listen to Damona’s full explanation below!
Drew’s Love Bug: Thank and Release
In this segment of Drew’s Love Bug, Damona explains to single dater Christian why he doesn’t need to follow-up with dates that don’t work. She encourages him to use the Marie Kondo method “thank and release” – thank them for their time, and then move on.
Watch the full clip to see why this method works: