App of the Week – BAE

Published On March 29, 2016 | By Tom Huskerson | App of the Week

Bae-LogoOnline dating is how people meet in the digital age. More and more dating relationships and marriages start online than every before. But would it surprise you to learn that black singles have a tougher time on dating sites than whites? That is why  Before Anyone Else is the App of the Week.

BAE Founders

BAE founders Jordan Kunzika, Brian Gerrard and Justin Gerrard.

 

 

Before Anyone Else is a mobile dating app created by Jordan Kunzika, Brian Gerrard and Justin Gerrard. The objective of the app is to improve the online dating a experience for black people. Jordan Kunzika, is CTO of BAE and a first generation Angolan-American. As a senior at Dartmouth College he was often the only black person in his computer science classes.

Kunzika is  Google Generation Scholar and has been an intern at Microsoft and Intel. Kunzika chose the entrepreneurial route after college and help found BAE.   “I was honored to get full-time offers from Microsoft and Google before even turning 21, but I knew that I could serve a higher calling to represent a paradigm shift in what a tech entrepreneur could look like,” he says.

According to Pew Research over 30 million Americans have used an online dating service or mobile dating app.  A survey conducted by OkCupid  of 25 million OkCupid accounts revealed that when users rated their matches they penalized African-American men and women. 

The BAE selection process works like this, users swipe right for brothas or sistas that appeal to them and left for those that don’t. BAE is different because of a proprietary algorithm built by Kunzika. “What users like the most about BAE,” he explains, “is the quality of the matches and that it helps you find those you’re most interested in.”  If the user prefers to match with someone with an equal or higher educational achievement BAE will learn that over time as you swipe right for those potential matches.

The app proved to very popular and within a few weeks of their April 2015 launch, they reached 17,000 downloads and have grown over ten times since. 

BAE is free and available for Apple and Android devices

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About The Author

Tom Huskerson Bio Born in Richmond Virginia Tom Huskerson is a military veteran who settled in California after his discharge. Tom attended Santa Barbara City College where he began his writing career as a campus reporter. He worked as an intern news reporter for the Santa Barbara News-Press writing feature stories before moving on to San Francisco. At San Francisco State University Tom studied broadcast communications and began to focus on the Internet. He completed his graduate thesis on Internet advertising. Tom was the first student to ever focus on the Internet as a graduate student at San Francisco State University. After graduation he went to work for Zona Research in California’s Silicone Valley. As a research associate Tom supported senior analyst writing on the latest developments in the Internet industry. During the dot com boom Tom worked for several web businesses as a market researcher and analyst. As a writer and researcher Tom has authored various technical works including a training program for Charles Schwab security. Other projects included professional presentations on workplace violence and hiring security contractors. Tom has also written both fiction and non-fiction works and blogging for a travel website. He has published two books of short stories and completed two novels. Tom is the owner of Scribe of Life Literature and EbonyCandle.com. Tom is not the chief editor for the OnTechStreet. com. A news and information blog that focuses on tech news for African-Americans. The blog is the result of his desire to inform the African American community of the dangers and benefits of the cyber age. In his blog Tom reports on information security, new and analysis, scams and hoaxes, legal happenings and various topics that arise from the age of information. Tom believes that technology is a necessary tool for black people and they should know what is happening. Tom writes believing that techno speak is for the professional and that valuable information can be communicated using plain language. As a result he has embraced the motto, Less Tech, More Knowledge.

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