Nicky Wake is determined to offer widows a second chance at love
Just under five per cent of adults in Kingston are widowed, a figure higher than the London average, according to the Census. For many, the journey through grief can feel painfully isolating.
But a new online community is offering friendship, connection, and a second chance at love.
Chapter 2 is the world’s first dating app designed exclusively for widows and widowers.
Founded by “adopted Mancunian” and entrepreneur Nicky Wake in 2022, the platform has sparked hundreds of new relationships, five marriages and, just weeks ago, the app’s first baby.
“Many widows and widowers have never dated online before; they can be really vulnerable,” Wake said.
Chapter 2 is designed with this in mind, with Wake personally vetting every account and users asked to provide evidence of their late partner’s life and death.
The app contains forums, blog, and advice features, meaning that users can benefit from the tight-knit widowed community.
For Wake, the project was born from heartbreak at the loss of her husband, Andy, in 2017.
Up to then, Wake said she was “literally living my best life married to my soulmate”. But shortly after she returned from a business trip, her husband began complaining of chest pains.
“I asked him if he’d gone to the doctor and of course he hadn’t, because he’s a man and they don’t,” she said.
Andy suffered two heart attacks, the second of which led to a catastrophic brain injury. As a result, he was moved to a care home so that he could receive round-the-clock care. “He was never the same again,” said Wake. “I was living in a hell of anticipatory grief.”
When Covid hit, Wake said she knew “that would be the beginning of our end”. Her husband died on 17 April 2020.
Wake suddenly found herself in “the club that no one wants to be part of,” she said of widowhood.
Wake sought out support from the charity Widowed and Young, where she found friendship in a community of widows who encouraged her to re-enter the dating pool.
She had had success at online dating previously; it was where she met her late husband.
But a return to newer apps, awash with explicit messages and deception, left her wanting a better alternative. “Online dating isn’t what it used to be,” she told the Courier.
She decided she needed a widower, “ideally one who looks like George Clooney, but someone who understands,” she said.
So the idea for a dating platform was born. Chapter 2 launched in September 2022 and is now used in the UK, US, Canada and Australia.
The app also runs free in-person events around the world, and Wake attends each one. The only difficulty? “Women outnumber men three to one. The boys always go home very happy.”
Wake said she is proof of the success of her app. She met her current partner on Chapter 2’s “naughty sister”, Widows Fire, which offers what she describes as “flirty fun” for those not ready for dating. However, she said “he’s become a bit more of a Chapter 2.”
The entrepreneur is clear on one thing about her second chapter. “I will grieve Andy for the rest of my life. I met and married my soulmate. I imagine it’s like parenthood. When you have a second child, you don’t stop loving the first one,” she said.
