rachel joy barehl

Meet Rachel – a community architect, visual anthropologist, superconnector and joyful disruptor of how we connect.

Rachel has been winning creativity awards since first grade and throwing legendary gatherings since she was tall enough to reach the counter to make snack boards. From running a multi-day summer camp for five-year-olds at age 11, to hosting cocktail parties in Amsterdam with her nanny family at 18, to organizing house concerts for hundreds in her early 20s—her life has always been one long experiment in connection.

In her 20s and 30s, Rachel became a foster parent, a visual anthropologist, and a celebrated wedding photographer—bearing witness to the tender, imperfect ways humans choose one another. Whether behind the camera or at the heart of a community, she’s spent her career seeing and celebrating people, their choices, and their bold, intentional moves toward love.

Today, Rachel is crowdsourcing love—literally. She’s the founder of a matchmaking movement based in Columbus, Ohio (and beyond), inviting people into brave, neighborly, honest connection with playful, mindful energy. Her work tackles loneliness, disconnection, and scarcity with creativity, innovation, and deep care.

In an increasingly fast-paced world where judgements and write-offs can come quickly, Rachel cultivates spaces where growth is welcome—choosing accountability culture over cancel culture. She believes risk-taking is an act of love, authenticity is a leadership language, and we all win more when we show up for each other.

Her work reminds us: love isn’t just a feeling. It’s a practice. A skill we can all learn.

Platonic. Romantic. And everything in between.