On the first Tuesday of every month, we’ll announce a new Female Founder, including a video interview of them sharing their business story. Want to be featured as a Female Founder?
Contact Memberships for more details. The Female Founders Program would not be possible without our Title Sponsor, Scotiabank.
To learn a little more about the Scotiabank Women Initiative, and why they’ve chosen to sponsor this program, see the video below.
The next Female Founder we’re featuring is Katie Campbell, Founder & Matchmaker at Soul Matchmaking
After nearly a decade in corporate accounting, Katie found herself craving something more human – something that sparked joy, connection, and a sense of purpose. Numbers were fine, but people were better. So, she took a leap, left the spreadsheets behind, and followed her gut toward something entirely different: matchmaking!
What started as a passion for networking and human connection quickly evolved into Soul Matchmaking, a boutique matchmaking service rooted in authenticity and a deep love for people. Based in Kitchener-Waterloo, Katie has built a business that reflects her values – community, intentionality, and a belief that love and companionship should be approached with care, curiosity, and heart.
Katie’s approach to matchmaking is personal and intuitive. She works closely with each client, getting to know who they are beyond a profile – their values, quirks, hopes, and non-negotiables. Her goal isn’t just to make introductions, but to create opportunities for genuine connection – the kind that happens face-to-face, without endless scrolling or shallow small talk.
While Soul Matchmaking is proudly local to KW, Katie works with clients across North America, bringing people together across cities, provinces, and even borders. From matchmaking and relationship coaching, Soul Matchmaking is expanding what it means to connect in a modern world – all while keeping it real and personal.
And with a new venture on the horizon in the world of love, Katie’s just getting started. Stay tuned.
At the end of the day, Katie’s work is about people – helping them feel seen, heard, and supported as they move toward relationships that truly fit. And if she can make the process feel a little less overwhelming (and maybe even fun), all the better.
To learn more about Katie’s journey as a Female Founder, watch the interview below (or read the written format).
Tell us about your business.
Soul Matchmaking is a boutique matchmaking business and just found a need for people to date differently. So, I curate matches, it’s very personable, I get to know all of my clients. So, there’s nothing online, no swiping. It’s just me and you and I help you get out there and date.
Where did your business idea come from?
I love networking, I love people. I took that and then I took the need for dating. So, a lot of people are sick and tired of online dating. It’s hard to meet people.
A lot of people are very isolated, especially when they work from home. So, I took that need for human interaction and networking and the need for some help with dating and put them together. The matchmaking world is actually very big.
It’s a big community of matchmakers and yes, I love it.
What were you doing before you started your business?
So, before I started my business, I worked in corporate accounting. I worked in accounting for about 10 years.
I have a business degree, and I also have a hospitality diploma that I got when I was 18. So, I have a lot of certificates in business accounting as well as relationships and matchmaking. So, I’m fairly qualified to work with people.
What was the turning point when you started your business?
The change for me happened over COVID. I was feeling very burnt out like a lot of people. I felt unfulfilled in my career and like how I wanted to live out the rest of my life or my working life.
So, one day I literally bought a notebook, a fancy pen and I just started writing ideas down how I would want to run my business, how I want to structure it. And now all of a sudden, it’s here.
What have been some of the highlights of your entrepreneurial journey?
Some of the highlights, it’s literally just starting my business. I don’t come from a family of entrepreneurs. A lot of my friends, we all work in the corporate world. So just starting it, even registering the business, my first client, everything was a big deal.
So, there are lots of highlights, but I always encourage to celebrate the little wins. They may seem small to other people, but to you and your journey, they’re big and important and you should always celebrate them.
What have been some of the challenges that you’ve faced so far?
Some of the challenges I faced personally is having no idea what I was doing. Like I said, I just had to start from scratch and write things down and just do step by step, figuring out how I want to structure the business, the financial part of it, the branding, the social media, and then even registering the business and doing step by step. It’s hard too when you must wear every hat in the company and some of the hats you don’t know how to wear, so you have to figure it out as you go.
Knowing what you know now, is there anything you’d do differently?
If I were to go back, I would definitely ask for help. I have a lot of really great friends and family that helped figure things out for me and gave me ideas. But I think even using a mentor would have been helpful or asking other professionals, other entrepreneurs, their challenges and how to overcome them. Everything has just been learning as I go, so it would have been good to have a little more advice going into it.
How does your client process work?
My process is straightforward. I ask everyone to go on my website and fill out a questionnaire. The questionnaire just helps me understand you better, the basics about you, your relationship history, your personality, your hobbies, whatever you want to tell me.
And then everyone gets vetted and interviewed. Obviously, safety and authenticity are number one, so I must make sure everyone is who they say they are. There are no big major red flags before I take you on.
Obviously, if I’m setting you up with someone and you’re not who you say you are, that looks bad on me. And I want everyone to feel safe and comfortable. So, if you actually come on as a client, I get to know you a little better. I do relationship coaching as well within my packages. And we just have a close… it’s like a friendship. Just think of it as your friend setting you up on a date.
And people are very, very busy. I’m busy, you’re busy, we’re all busy. So, we’re all jaded and tired of just swiping, whether it’s anything you’re doing on your phone.
We’re all on our phones, so it gets exhausting constantly being on different apps. So, this way you sort of avoid the swiping, you avoid the small talk, and you just get set up and you get to start dating.
What methods have you used to grow your business?
Being local to Kitchener-Waterloo, I’ve used the markets, especially in the summertime, some of the Christmas markets. I go out to events and meet people. I put flyers on people’s cars. I’m sure some of you have seen them out there.
And I just use networking connections. I like to connect with other businesses and see if they can help me and I can help them. Yeah, just being very resourceful.
How do you define success?
I think for me, especially starting off small, success is celebrating the small wins, like I said. I wouldn’t go into it being like, I have to be making this much money by this day and the business has to have this many clients. Sometimes you set yourself up for failure that way.
It’s good to have goals but keep them realistic. So, for me, I think where I am right now is successful. I’m still growing, but it’s a big step for me to start my own business.
What is the usual demographic of your clients?
So, I think that’s successful. Yeah, so a lot of my clients, they vary in age. So, I go from young 30s all the way up into 60s.
There’s no limit. A lot of folks who are in their golden years, they get a little weary like it’s not for them, but it’s absolutely for them as well. And anyone with any type of job, any type of personality, whether you’re straight or your part of the queer community, it doesn’t matter.
I’m here to help everybody. And I don’t shy away from someone who’s a little more unique.
What have been some of the core values you’ve integrated into your business?
I don’t pretend to be someone I’m not. And then as well for my clients, making sure they’re authentic to themselves and I’m finding them someone that’s going to be the best for them and they can be their true self.
What have been some of the advantages of establishing your business in Waterloo Region?
Yeah, Kitchener Waterloo has an amazing community. Once you get out there, whether you’re going to a local event, the markets, a ceremony, award ceremony, working with other businesses, there’s so many creative people out there, creative ways to meet people. Obviously, Kitchener Waterloo is quite large now. So, working with other businesses, trying to incorporate what they do into what you do, the Region is great.
And there’s so many different types of people here, different cultures, races, religions, personalities, which is great because I get to work with so many different types of people.
What inspires you?
I think what inspires me are other entrepreneurs or solopreneurs. It’s really tough to start your own business, no matter what it is. Whether you have a ton of funding or no funding, you’re going to be big, you’re going to be small. I see other businesses that have succeeded and those are who inspire me. And I like to connect with them to see how they did it, what their struggles were, what their successes were, and how I can incorporate that in my business.
What advice would you give to other aspiring business owners?
My advice I would give is just start. There’s never going to be a right time. Nothing is ever going to align perfectly.
So even if it’s just writing down your ideas and sort of pre-planning until you feel confident, just start, just do it. Make the small steps. You don’t have to be like a millionaire in one year.
That’s never going to happen. So just have realistic expectations and just go for it.
Do you have a checklist for your clients?
Majority of my clients have a checklist. And part of my job is to bring them down to reality and that you’re not going to find everything you’re looking for in just one person. You have to be realistic, and you have to understand what your long-term goal is with the relationship, whether it’s you want to get married, get married again, have children, or just be with somebody and have companionship. There’s a lot of people out there with unrealistic expectations.
And so, it’s my job to sort of get them to realize what’s important in a relationship, what you’re looking for and how to find it.
What audacious goals do you have for your business?
So, the goals I have for my business in the future, I do have some clients in the USA. So, I’m hoping to expand a little bit further into the US and hopefully internationally over in Europe.
That would be great because there’s a big community of matchmakers there. It’s very popular over in Europe. So that would be nice.
I also have another business that I’m starting. So, it’s still in the launching phase, but I’m hoping that’s going to be very successful as well.
What can we expect in the meantime?
Yeah, I’m still ramping up my social media, trying to figure that out. It’s spring, summer’s coming. So, hoping to get back out of the markets and interact with the community. Just getting my name out there.
One step at a time.
Where can people reach out to you directly?
You can head to my website at soulmatchmaking.ca or you can email me, and I’ll get it personally. So, it’s info@soulmatchmaking.ca or you can head to my Instagram. It’s @soul_matchmaking.
