Stephanie started a new job at The Association for Diagnostics & Laboratory Medicine in Washington, DC, in October 2023. While she was getting to know everyone, she asked her new co-workers where to meet people. One of them recommended the dating app called Hinge. Stephanie quickly found Robert and was intrigued by his profile for many reasons, but most notable was the fact he spoke Russian.

Stephanie messaged him: "Привет Роберт! Как дела?" (Hi Robert! How are you?) And things really took off. The pair had so many threads of questions and interests that Robert finally said after a couple of days, "I need to meet you. What are you doing Sunday evening?"

The couple met for dinner at P.F. Chang's in Fairfax, VA, and hit it off immediately. Almost every weekend for a year, the couple spent together getting to know one another and going on fun dates. A year later, they moved in together and got engaged on August 28, 2025, in Utah.

Listen to their engagement story here.