Today we’d like to introduce you to Sana Akhand.
Hi Sana, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
My journey has always been about helping people connect & rewrite the rules to love. Since my early 20s, I loved hosting big gatherings and bringing people together from all walks of life and over the years, those gatherings led to countless relationships, engagements, and even weddings. In my early 20s, I began my entrepreneurial journey as a wedding planner for South Asian couples, helping bring love stories to life.
During the pandemic, that passion for real, human-first connection turned into something bigger. I created Friendship Club in NYC during a time when everyone felt lonely. And after moving to LA in 2022, I launched Growth Club, a community for high-achieving humans who craved more than just success—they craved depth, soul, and authentic relationships.
In my professional life, I loved building communities – and in my personal life, I loved rewriting the rules to love. In 2021, my husband and I were drowning under traditional gender norms and marital expectations – so we decided to do something unconventional. We moved into our own apartments while being happily married, leaving our high-rise in Lower East Side. I moved into a studio in Upper East Side, and my husband moved into a pre-war walk up in Upper West Side. We walked through Central Park every weekend to spend our weekends together, while having space, freedom & autonomy to focus on our careers and personal growth during the week. It was the most romantic year of our lives – and we even went viral for our story, which was featured in The New York Times, Good Morning America, Tamron Hall and Business Insider, inspiring millions of couples to rewrite their own love stories.
In 2023, I launched my podcast Thriving in Love, where I talk all about challenging the status quo so couples can thrive as their most authentic selves – I cover everything from personal growth to spiritual evolution, and how to navigate through tricky relationship dynamics.
And now, my professional pursuits are merging with my personal passions. Growth Club has thrived from hosting salons, retreats, intimate dinners and spaces where people could take off the mask and truly be seen. But as the community deepened, one thing kept coming up: love. So many of our members were thriving in their careers but felt stuck in their love lives. They were exhausted by dating apps and craved something real. So I am combining my love for community building with my passion for rewriting the rules of love to create a place where people who share emotional maturity, depth, and desire for conscious partnership can connect with each other & fall in love.
That’s how UNION was born. A high touch matchmaking & mentorship service and a membership for those ready to stop swiping and start rewriting their own love story. We launch in Fall 2025!
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Building community in today’s world isn’t easy. It requires intention, energy, and a deep trust that the right people will come. I had to learn how to hold space without overextending myself, how to lead without losing my own center. And honestly, it meant letting go of ideas I once clung to like the belief that building something meaningful had to look a certain way, or last forever.
Closing Growth Club is bittersweet. But I’ve learned to honor cycles. What we built was beautiful and it prepared the soil for what’s next.
Another challenge has been resisting the temptation to “scale fast.” We’re in a world that celebrates speed, virality, and profit but I’m building something that requires intentionality and deep care. Something that puts humans before metrics. That takes patience, and faith. But it’s worth it.
People think entrepreneurship is a ticket to freedom, and it is. But it requires deep introspection, challenging my own outdated narratives and being radically honest about what needs my focus and attention. I believe entrepreneurship is the greatest journey to personal growth, and relationships are the greatest journey to spiritual evolution. I feel incredibly blessed to have walked the two paths and now, watch them merge together.
We can’t know how it will all work out (or if it even ever will) but if you keep going through the confusion and setbacks, clarity always lands in divine timing.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
At UNION, we’re rewriting the rules of modern dating. This isn’t another dating app or status-based matchmaking service. We’re building a conscious dating platform for self-aware, emotionally mature adults who are done swiping and ready for real connection.
What sets UNION apart is our matching philosophy:
We don’t pair you based on superficial traits like income, appearance, or status. We help you understand your unique love blueprint: a combination of your energy, your relational patterns, your emotional needs, and your core values. And then we match you from there.
Most matchmaking platforms feed your ego while UNION speaks to your soul.
We’re not just trying to find you a partner who fits your “list.” We’re helping you become so rooted, embodied, and in love with your own essence that you naturally attract aligned connections. Yes, we’ll ask you to expand your comfort zone. But love is expansion.
We believe the future of dating is human-first, not algorithm-first.
We’re here to create sparks offline, through curated events, community-building, and deep relational support.
Because when you feel fully safe to be yourself, real love finds you.
Alright, so to wrap up, is there anything else you’d like to share with us?
We live in a world that tells us success means having it all figured out, but real fulfillment comes from being willing to explore the messy, beautiful, uncertain parts of life, especially in love.
If that speaks to you, we’d love to meet you.
UNION launches Fall 2025.
If you’re ready to rewrite your own love story and find someone who matches your frequency, join the waitlist.
https://sanaakhand.com/union
Contact Info:
- Website: https://sanaakhand.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sanaakhand
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sana-akhand/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@sana_akhand
