Race & Equity

StoryCorps Charlotte

The StoryCorps Mobile Tour stopped in Charlotte in April and May 2024. These are some of the stories people shared. StoryCorps is a national nonprofit that records, preserves and shares the stories of everyday people. Since 2003, they have recorded over 80,000 interviews, amassing the largest collection of human voices in their archive at the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress.

A couple finds love through online dating and a shared last name

WFAE | By Nick de la Canal

Published September 1, 2024 at 12:20 AM EDT

AJ and Tahmina Farooqi met online in the early 2000s and discovered they had much in common — including a last name. — AJ (left) and Tahmina Farooqi met online in the early 2000s and discovered they had much in common — including a last name.

The year was 2001. Online dating was still getting its start. Among the early pioneers were AJ Farooqi and Tahmina Farooqi. Though they were looking for much more than just a date.

The website they were using, as they both remembered, was an Indian matrimonial site. At the time, Tahmina was in Oslo, Norway. AJ was an ocean away in Orlando.

They talked about what came next at StoryCorps.

The StoryCorps Mobile Tour is made possible by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.