It’s been three years since Jasmine Diaz founded the Shawn Mackenzi Agency. Long before that, the entertainment and marketing industry maven accepted her true career calling as a matchmaker. Married for more than 10 years, Diaz established Shawn Mackenzi because of the relationship hardships she witnessed among friends and family — especially within the black community.

The high profile Los Angeles-based matchmaking business caters to affluent African-American and Hispanic professionals attracting celebrities, athletes, actresses and everyday people looking for love.

Madame Noire: How did you end up in matchmaking?

Jasmine Diaz: I have been calling myself a matchmaker since the beginning of time. I was matching people in high school — some are still together. That was really my introduction to the industry. I was working in the entertainment industry for about 12 years and during that time I was married, but had a lot of single friends. I had a lot of friends saying, “I’m single, I can’t find a really good guy. Do you know anyone who’s single?” I’m pretty connected so I happened to know a couple of friends that were.

I just decided, “Let me connect these people, because they’re obviously looking for the same things.” It was less for business, more for personal reasons — connecting friends and hoping they’d find a match.  I decided to take a leap of faith and start the Shawn Mackenzi Agency. Since then I’ve been moving full speed ahead as a matchmaker.

MN: Where did the name Shawn Mackenzi come from?

JD: It doesn’t have a special meaning per se. I wanted the company to be a boutique company that is really specialized and exclusive. I was really scouring for the right identity so to speak. Me as a matchmaker, I call myself Shawn. When I was thinking of the company name, I wanted something that was ambiguous, but didn’t scream matchmaker. My mother and I were looking at a baby book believe it or not. We came across the names Shawn and Mackenzi and thought it was something that sounded great together.