NAME: Stel Barnett
(stel@maidenname.net)
OCCUPATION: Entrepreneur
RESIDENT: Since 1996
BIRTHPLACE: Philadelphia, PA
HOROSCOPE SIGN: Aquarius
MANTA/MOTTO/CREED: Do not follow where
the path may lead. Go, instead where there is
no path and leave a trail.
HOW I RELIEVE STRESS: Travel, reading, crossword puzzles, and long, luxurious bubble baths
FAVORITE INDULGENCE(S):
Baskin Robbins hot fudge sundae with
“the works”
FAVORITE GADGET I CAN'T LIVE WITHOUT: (and most ridiculous) My battery operated lettuce spinner!
PERSON OR PEOPLE I ADMIRE: Maya Angelou
QUOTE I OFTEN USE:
If you are not living on the edge, you are taking up too much room. (Lorraine Teel)
STRANGEST COMPLIMENT EVER RECIEVED: “Did anyone ever tell you that you look just like Barry Manilow?!”
IN HIGH SCHOOL: I was shy, serious
ORIGINAL CAREER/LIFE AMBITION: to become an urban planner
PET PEEVE: partisan politics
ON THE GEEK SCALE: (1=low tech 5=total tech geek): I’m a 4+
FAVORITE VACATION SPOT:
San Juan, Puerto Rico
FAVORITE TV SHOW: cable news; “Everybody Loves Raymond”
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 MY LIFE IN A NUTSHELL: I graduated Pennsylvania State University with a degree in education, and taught school for several years before marriage and four children— Lisa, David, and twin daughters, Pamela
and Leslie.
In the early 70s we moved to the suburbs of Washington, D.C. where I pursued a career in real estate.
When I became single in my 40s, I did the conventional things one did to meet
others and I found there had to be a better way. I realized most people would be more comfortable meeting at a small dinner party than on videotape, through the personal columns, or in a crowded singles bar.
And so I launched my first entrepreneurial venture, Entrees, popularly known as Dinner with the Proper Strangers. I arranged dinner parties at the area’s better restaurants for “refined” Washington-area singles. It was the right idea, at the right time, in the right city. Groups of 10 to 12 people carefully balanced by sex, age, interests and background got acquainted over cocktails and leisurely meals.
Although Entrees was not promoted as a “matchmaking” organization, during eight years of Entrees’ existence, and more than 1500 dinner parties, 40 couples “tied the knot” and many long lasting friendships were made.
Now it was time for the matchmaker
to find her true love. I married Fred Barnett, in 1996 in Washington, DC and happily acquired two more grown children, Larry
and Mitchell, who balanced out the gender gap in the family.
When we moved to Sarasota, I again decided to “reinvent” my life and look for another need to be met. I found it in my
latest brainchild—or should I say lovechild— MaidenName.net, a searchable website for women whose names have changed. This high-tech take on finding old friends features a database that includes a woman’s maiden name, as well as married names, enabling old friends to locate an individual from even the deepest past and regardless of name changes over time—provided that person has registered. I hope people will use it to find distant family members, long-lost friends, and teachers or bosses who played a mentoring role in someone’s life, as well as to look for old sweethearts.
The idea for the site came to me late one night as I was remembering how my friends from college and I would fantasize about our futures, and
suddenly I realized that I would never know how things turned out for them, since their names have changed—perhaps many times.
So far, MaidenName.net has been as busy as a Saturday night mixer. Over 50,000 people—men and women—have registered and at any given time there are hundreds of searches underway.
MOST INFLUENTIAL BOOK READ: The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz
WHAT GETS ME STEAMED: Drivers who run red lights and glide through stop signs
PARTING SHOTS TO THE WORLD: I’d like to
borrow a quote from the actor, Peter O’Toole.
“I was asked about my epitaph. And it was on a leather jacket. And pinned to it was what I decided in a comical moment would be my epitaph. It was from the Sycamore
Dry Cleaners: “It distresses us to return work which is not perfect.”
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