How does a celebrity matchmaker become head of marketing for the world’s first humanitarian-based cryptocurrency? To hear Carmelia Ray tell it, it’s all about relationship building, and she certainly has plenty of experience in that realm. “I’ve been in the dating and relationship space for almost 30 years,” says Ray. She started her own company, Carmelia Ray Consulting Matchmaking, in 2010, and has since racked up a number of media interviews where she shares her expertise. Last year, she was featured in The New York Times “Vows” section when a couple whom she had introduced online in a Clubhouse room got married.
In August of 2022, Ray, who still runs her own company, signed on with Kindly, a startup that Ray says is “creating a new ecosystem where charitable giving is transparent, trackable and measurable through blockchain technology.” She met Kindly’s founder through her COO.
Kindly was started this year by Paul Rodney Turner, the founder of Food for Life Global, the world's largest plant-based food relief charity. The problem that Kindly will try to solve: given the burgeoning appetite among consumers to spend their money with social responsibility in mind, many companies market themselves as charitable (ie.“1% to the planet”). But there’s precious little transparency regarding their donations. Using its own recently launched cryptocurrency, Kindly Coin, and blockchain technology, Kindly injects transparency into charitable giving.
Food for Life Global is Kindly’s first charity partner. Ray says there’s an animal rescue organization and a tree regeneration non-profit on deck. “We can partner with any charity that can provide quantifiable data,” says Ray. That could mean providing information on how much it costs to feed a child, rescue a dog or provide a dose of medication.
“It's really an opportunity to collaborate, to learn and to contribute. We’re very proud and happy to be part of Cointelegraph Innovation Circle."
“The ecosystem that we’re building will be able to measure that and then you’ll be able to purchase that social impact and follow it through the blockchain,” says Ray. That purchase will be made with the Kindly Coin, which holders can choose to stake. “If you hold the coin and the value increases, you can either profit from the interest or say you want to take a percentage of the increase and put it toward social impact,” says Ray. “That’s why it’s exciting for crypto users and people who want to invest in cryptocurrency. If you're going to invest in a coin, why not invest in a coin that's dedicated towards spreading kindness and doing good?”
Ray says she’s been involved in cryptocurrency as an investor and now has many matchmaking clients who are entrepreneurs investing in crypto. “I’m always thinking about the future and where I want to be spending my time,” says Ray. “My role at Kindly is building community and helping market Kindly Coin. So I’m sharing my knowledge as a matchmaker and my enthusiasm for blockchain.”
While her matchmaking business is still up and running, Ray’s team handles the day-to-day business of dealing with an elite client base while she works on Kindly. Her business, she says, thrived during the pandemic; she got more than 1000 media hits. She did a number of interviews on topics such as dating safely during the pandemic, video dating, and even what to wear on a Zoom date. “There were many connections made during the pandemic,” Ray says. “People don’t want to be alone so they escalated the dating process. They really got down to the nitty-gritty much faster.”
Ray joined Cointelegraph Innovation Circle because she knew that the brand was a top resource for news and thought leadership on crypto. “There are countless benefits to being part of Cointelegraph Innovation Circle when you want to be known in the cryptocurrency space and also to impact other people,” Ray says. “We see it as a way to spread our message." She has been featured in several Expert Panels and finds them an excellent way to be exposed to other perspectives. “As head of marketing and community, I want to see what other people are doing in this space and what’s working,” she says. “So it's really an opportunity to collaborate, to learn and to contribute. We’re very proud and happy to be part of Cointelegraph Innovation Circle and we can’t wait to create relationships outside of the digital space.”
