As the Chief Operating Officer of Hinge, one of the world’s leading dating apps, Franklin is not just helping people swipe right—she’s helping to redefine modern connection altogether. At a time when conversations about relationships, mental health, and digital intimacy dominate cultural discourse, Franklin stands at the intersection, quietly making bold moves. And as a Black woman holding a C-suite seat in tech, she’s shattering ceilings while opening doors for others.
For her, this compassion is deeply rooted.
“I’ve been a caretaker most of my life,” Franklin explains to ESSENCE. “I have a mother that has some pretty severe disabilities and also an older brother that was born with a heart condition and then got into a terrible car accident when I was 19 and had a brain injury. I’ve been caretaking most of my life.”
That inclination to take care of people is a core tenet of who she is, which led her to build a career in HR before landing her role as COO of Hinge. Even though HR sometimes gets a bad rap, Franklin shares that it is one of the most human-led careers.
LinkedIn reported that 77% of employees lacked confidence in their HR system, while only 23% trusted it. This data underscores the notion that many employees feel HR leaders are in a position to protect the company, not its people. Franklin approached her job uniquely.
“People do HR in different ways,” Franklin tells ESSENCE. “For me, and how I approach this work, the best way I can take care of the company is by taking care of the people. I don’t need to think about taking care of the company, to be honest. It’s not even in my mind. If you are doing right by people, if you’re taking care of them, if you’re thinking about their needs, if you’re being honest with them when things aren’t working, if you’re helping them through challenges, if you are a place where they can be their authentic selves and feel energized in that space, they are going to do amazing work for you.”
With that top of mind, Franklin leveraged that servant-leadership style to get promoted to chief operations officer in just three years leading the app’s AI-enablement work. Climbing the corporate ladder is no easy feat. Being able to scale it at a rapid clip as a Black woman in post-DEI America is even more challenging. Franklin, however, says she is still centering her identity at work no matter what.
“That is my existence every day, a Black woman in America; I’m never not those things,” she says. “It’s core to my existence. What I feel is unique about my experience at Hinge is that, and it is because of the work that we do in the world, that inclusion and connection are such a part of the work we do because you can’t help people find their partner and their connections in the world if you don’t embody that internally. My experience here is I’ve never felt more at home in a corporate environment than I do here. So, I’m not ever able nor do I want to divorce my identity as a Black woman from my job. Fortunately, at Hinge, I don’t have to.”
She offers advice for Black women who aim to get promoted quickly.
“The number one piece of advice I give to people in a similar situation as me is to reevaluate the ‘not my job mindset.’ And I say that thoughtfully,” she says. “The first thing you must think about is what deeply motivates you. And so if you say, ‘I’m motivated by growing my career, I’m motivated by being exposed to new and exciting things, I’m motivated by advancing my access to opportunities.’ Something may not be your job, but it could serve you. Be open to venturing. ‘Maybe that’s not my job, but if it could help me grow or I could learn more or have greater influence or get access to a cross-functional team that could help my career, that’s probably a good thing.’ There can be times in your life when that doesn’t serve you. You could be feeling burnt out in your personal life. You may be at a place where you are doing more self-reflection. Those extra things aren’t your job, but the promotion you’re seeking may be on the other side of those tasks that aren’t currently a part of your scope.
Her C-suite position is integral to the company’s function and growth–complex stuff. But Franklin says the core of it all is simply love.
“It’s an honor to be at a company helping people find connections, which is a profound place to be professionally. Our job with dating apps, particularly how we think about it at Hinge, is to help enable and take care of those people on that journey. As we look at the future, we need to leverage all the tools to do that better. We’re looking at ourselves as coaches helping people embrace the dating ecosystem more thoughtfully. It just makes me feel really… I get the warm fuzzies when I think about what we’re doing for the world, helping people to connect.”
