Francesca Hogi

In this episode of Out of the Clouds, host Anne Mühlethaler interviews Francesca Hogi, a TED speaker, host of the Dear Franny Podcast, and internationally recognized expert on dating and relationships. She’s been featured in media outlets such as The Today Show, Marie Claire, The New York Times, Harper’s Bazaar and The Huffington Post, and is the founder of The True Love Society, a community for people seeking deeper self and romantic love.

Anne and Francesca’s conversation begins with Francesca sharing her life story, revealing how she was a deeply romantic child who devoured her older sister’s romance novels, foreshadowing her future career path. She was working as a corporate lawyer when she began her journey toward love coaching by blogging about dating. She then turned to matchmaking for several years before finding her true calling as a love coach.

Francesca tells Anne about her holistic approach to helping people find love. She also discusses some elements of her book, How to Find True Love: Unlock Your Romantic Flow and Create Lasting Relationships, in which she breaks down four key components for readers to establish the foundations for a true love relationship: mindset, heartset, soulset, and skillset. Francesca challenges the conventional hierarchies of love, explaining how we tend to put romantic love up on this pedestal, thinking of it as the pinnacle and then assuming failure if we don’t find it in our lives. Instead, she advocates for adapting our intentions to have love through all parts of our lives.

Then Anne and Francesca delve into the realities of modern dating, particularly the evolution and impact of dating apps. Francesca pointedly reminds listeners that “swiping on a dating app is not dating — going on dates is dating,” and emphasises the importance of “developing the skills — because it is all skill — to be able to meet people more organically as they live their lives.”

Francesca explains what she asks her clients (and readers of her book) to develop more self-awareness, like: “What do I actually believe about myself when it comes to love?” and “In the love story of your life, what is the role that you play?” She highlights how many people hold beliefs about themselves and their romantic possibilities that are not truly in alignment with what they want, and these questions guide us back to our focus.

Their conversation turns to exploring the deeper spiritual dimensions of finding love through what Francesca calls one’s soulset: considering faith and connection to a higher power. She adds that serendipity, for example, is something that you can court intentionally, and how practicing gratitude makes you more aligned with love. She offers that having that soul-level connection and understanding our romantic energy is essential because while often we understand mind,emotion, and action, we tend to misunderstand energy.

To conclude, Anne asks her favourite questions, which has Francesca share her grounding practices, in particular her daily morning and evening journaling sessions, and her love of walking in any weather.

A warm, insightful, and empowering conversation that challenges conventional wisdom about modern love and offers a refreshing perspective on how to center love in all aspects of life.

Happy listening!