Brooke LeBlanc is defending her viral dating checklist after thousands of strangers mocked her online.
The 29-year-old tech executive, who works at San Francisco-based company Corgi, posted her romantic “non-negotiables” on X last week and quickly became the internet’s latest target. LeBlanc had opened with a playful pitch, asking if anyone wanted to “cofound the rest of my life” with her. The follow-up post detailing her requirements drew far more attention than she anticipated.
Her checklist specified a partner who is “healthy masculine,” “post economic (still hardworking)” and “on the healing path.” She also expressed a strong preference for someone who “works in tech.” The combination of Silicon Valley jargon and exacting standards proved irresistible to critics.
Social media users flooded her replies with ridicule. “I can’t imagine anything worse than being single and dating in SF,” one person wrote in response to the post. Another was even more direct about their disbelief: “Lol. I thought this was AI slop. Sad to find out it’s real.” A third critic challenged the entire concept, arguing that “Good luck. Leave your checklist at home and just fall in love with someone. You’re scoring them before you know them. No one wins with this approach. SMH.”
LeBlanc refused to retreat. She fired back at detractors with a pointed defense of her approach. “God forbid a woman asks for what she wants,” she wrote on X. She followed that with a blunter dismissal: “Sorry, I don’t want to date a loser!”
The Corgi employee has framed the pile-on as evidence that people resist women who state their desires openly. She attributed the specificity of her list to hard-won romantic experience, saying it was “years of dating experience” that pushed her to clarify exactly what she’s seeking.
Beyond the immediate controversy, LeBlanc has been open about her broader ambitions. She wrote that she’s committed to building financial independence no matter how her search for a partner unfolds. “Getting bullied on the Internet today, so I can be a financially free hot mom in the future,” she said.
The episode has reignited familiar debates about dating culture in San Francisco, where tech industry norms frequently collide with personal life. LeBlanc’s use of startup terminology to describe romance—”cofound,” “post economic”—encapsulated a particular strand of Silicon Valley identity that many found either amusing or grating, depending on their perspective.
Whether the backlash alters her approach remains unclear. LeBlanc has shown no signs of softening her criteria or her tone, treating the moment as an expected cost of being direct about what she wants.