As founder & CEO, Rachel has grown Maclynn from serendipitous beginnings in 2011 into a leading international dating agency, with award-winning teams in the USA and the UK. Described as calm, compassionate, warm, and wise, Rachel’s integrity, as well as her impeccably high standards, are the foundation of Maclynn’s values and the catalyst for its success.
With an academic background in psychology, and as a Chartered Member and Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society for 10 years, Rachel has pioneered the union of psychology and high-end matchmaking, speaking at The Matchmaking Institute in 2014 and various other industry conferences since, going on to win Matchmaking Agency of the Year at the UK Dating Awards.
With a keen interest in human behavior and a natural empathy towards others, Rachel’s journey in psychology began with her Bachelor’s Degree at Northumbria University in the North East of England. She accepted an opportunity to continue her studies at Northumbria with a Master’s in Occupational Psychology, hoping to gain a footing in industries such as business, marketing, and psychology.
Rachel is a strategic planner and forward thinker. She funded her university education independently, a testament to the resilience and independence that later fueled her solo business venture. With an eye on the future, she volunteered at Rehab UK during her Master’s, which evolved into a full-time position after graduation. There, she played an impactful role working with adults with acquired brain injury.
Rachel’s career would take her to the Department for Work and Pensions in the UK civil service, where she worked to assess adults with a variety of learning difficulties, and then to a recruitment consultancy in Newcastle, UK. Her work here involved the design and delivery of psychology-based assessments for recruitment, such as personality tests, which she analyzed to help clients hire high-value positions, like their next CEO or CFO.
Despite an established background in occupational psychology, significant changes in Rachel’s life led her to seek a fresh beginning. “Life was for living,” she realized.
Hoping to move to London, where she had always wanted to be, she came across an advert in 2007 for a psychologist to join an introductions agency. A dream-come-true job, it was here that Rachel’s skill and passion for matchmaking became evident, and her work with high-net-worth individuals formed the groundwork for the founding of Maclynn.
Rachel started Maclynn, originally The Vida Consultancy, in the UK in 2011. Keen to fulfill a desire to start and run her own business before having a family, she began with no prior start-up experience. But, thanks to her ability to seize opportunities that crossed her path, her vision started taking shape.
Beyond her professional experience, psychological expertise, and passion for helping clients truly understand who they and their ideal partner are, much of Rachel’s matchmaking philosophy for Maclynn has its roots in her parent’s marriage.
“My mum and dad met in the height of the troubles in Northern Ireland – my dad was Catholic, my mum is Protestant. It was quite high-risk for them to even have a relationship, but they fought through all of that because they believed very much in love.”
This refusal of labels led Rachel to ingrain a deep psychological understanding into Maclynn’s service, looking beyond a client’s stereotypes of themselves and others to find a truly compatible match. With this belief at its core and three years of full immersion in establishing the business, Maclynn started to become the agency it is today.
“Editor’s Choice Award: The Maclynn International Matchmaking Team Gets Results” – DatingAdvice.com
“The Lonely Hearts Club” – NJ.com
“Signs You Are in a Karmic Relationship and How To Deal With It” – Newsweek
“‘Pick Me’ Women Just Want To Be Chosen. So Why Are They Judged So Harshly?” – Refinery29
“A One-Night Stand (Don’t Tell Mom), Then Love and Marriage” – NY Times
The priority for Rachel has always been to work with those who seek a long-term, committed relationship. The psychological component that informs every Maclynn match is intended to help high achievers find emotional and intellectual compatibility on a more profound level.
For Rachel, this means always matchmaking with authenticity, being upfront and honest about any challenges and recognising the curveballs that can come with the task she and her team take on. Making sure to do the right thing by clients has always been a priority, and continues to be to this day. It also means delivering a truly expert service:
“One of the biggest differentiators for us is the level of expertise that we have within the team and that we offer back to our clients. Some matchmaking agencies want to hold their expertise within their own heads… We want to take a more empowering approach.”
Rachel’s personal values are at the core of Maclynn’s matchmaking philosophy. Always a perfectionist, she and her team echo the same high-achieving standards of their clients, striving for excellence with inclusion and self-empowerment at the very heart of the matchmaking methodology.
Inquire about bespoke matchmaking by our Founder and CEO, Rachel MacLynn.
Looking back, Rachel is particularly proud of Maclynn’s presence on both sides of the pond.
“That was quite a big step for me to take. It’s not a well-trodden path at all, so I had to navigate these uncharted waters myself.”
The positive feedback that Rachel and her team receive is another sign of their growing success over the years, uniting couples who might not otherwise have met:
“I worked with a client who had grown up in China and now worked as a doctor in the Middle East. She approached Maclynn to find a life partner and one of the gentlemen we introduced her to was from Switzerland.
“Despite the incredible differences in their lives – from their geographical location to their pace of life – they immediately connected. After several Skype calls, they decided to meet in person in Switzerland.
“The rest is history – they’re now happily married! This story, and similar stories, are what inspire the foundation of Maclynn – assessing people for their deep values and worldview, rather than surface-level attributes.
“It’s so rewarding to unite two people who are so right for each other, who might not otherwise have met.”
Rachel’s vision has grown Maclynn into a widely acclaimed international dating agency, working with successful individuals across the globe and a team of over 25 matchmakers and psychologists. She hopes to drive the business forward by continuing to provide the same high level of service, blending this with a strengthened focus on gathering research to develop talks, masterclasses, and workshops.
She aims to broaden Maclynn’s presence in the USA, servicing regions like Florida and Texas, while also establishing a footprint in Asia and Australia. Her long-term vision for Maclynn involves pioneering the integration of psychology and matchmaking, creating new career opportunities for young psychologists.
Beyond her impressive accolades as a businesswoman, psychologist, and matchmaker, much of Rachel’s pride comes from the reputation of her team. She strives to create a respectful, supportive, and expert-led environment with authentic leadership, passing the benefits of this on to Maclynn’s clients.
As well as being fully immersed in the business as Founder & CEO, Rachel is a mother to two young boys with her partner, Jamie, and much of her time outside of Maclynn is spent making fond family memories.
Rachel’s expertise, high standards, and firm personal values are at the core of Maclynn, and she continues to work with a select number of VIP clients every year. With years of experience planning them, her idea of the perfect date, she says, could be anything:
“As long as it creates laughter – nothing greater can spark chemistry between two people than making each other laugh.”
