The SAVEDpreneur™ Spotlight: Liza Chuma Akunyili, Matchmaker and Podcaster

Liza Chuma Akunyili is not your typical matchmaker. She is a former sex therapist, a romantic intercessor, and a woman who understands that getting two people together is not just strategy — it is sacred. Based in Nigeria and now building toward an American audience, she has spent years at the intersection of counseling, faith, and human connection. She fought the call to matchmaking when it came, convinced she had finally settled into sex therapy. But God had other plans. Now she partners with Him to create the love stories He dreamed for His children — one match, one prayer, one conversation at a time.

Let's lean in.

Tell us who you are and what makes your God-given purpose different from others?

I am fascinated by human relationships — the bliss and discomfort they add to life. At 20 years old, I stepped into podcasting around the subject and evolved fully into the role of a sex therapist. It was not what I studied as an undergraduate, so I had to learn and take courses along the way.

Sex therapy made me see people. It made me see that God was working in people. It made me see generational patterns differently.

When my work began to shift to matchmaking in 2022, I fought it because I felt I had finally just settled into sex therapy. But matchmaking for me is different because I understand that I am partnering with God to create the love story He dreams for His children.

Matchmaking for me means someone can be grieving the details of their life like Isaac was grieving the loss of his mother — and like Eliezer, I can go and find his Rebecca. It means I am paying attention when two people have a spark that I can sense is right both professionally and spiritually, and like Naomi, I can step in and point out the doable human actions that should follow.

What I do is different because my role, gotten right, will reduce the number of children sitting in a therapist’s office 20 years from now. It will change the way couples approach intimacy even while they are still courting and being holy.

Who first introduced you to God and what was your salvation experience?

My family and church introduced me to God. However, I got saved two days after my 17th birthday. I was having a conversation with a friend and realized I struggled to forgive people — and I did not want to continue like that.

I got to church that evening and after the teaching, an altar call was made. This time, I was serious about God, so I stood up. After the altar call and prayer, the preacher asked if we would like to be filled with the Holy Spirit. I got filled with the Holy Ghost and I have stayed in faith since then.

Success in the Kingdom looks different from the success of the world. How do you explain the difference?

In 2026, Kingdom success for me is measured by what Jesus wants when He returns. I always ask it like this: “If Jesus were to return today, would the things I have executed be everything written in the curriculum of heaven?”

Which means sometimes, earthly ambitions are smaller than the lofty plans of God. Other times, the flashy plans of man do not match the meekness of Jesus.

Success is neither big nor small money, fame, wealth, or influence. It is not small or large families. It is simply accuracy and alignment with the blueprint of heaven, per situation and per life.

If you could partner with anyone to fulfill your vision, who would you work with and why?

Right now, I am beginning to cater to an American audience and I would love to partner with Tim Ross, Dr. Anita Phillips, and Jonathan McReynolds regarding wellness and romance for Christian men.

These three are culturally and professionally aware. Dr. Anita brings education and healing in a way we rarely see in faith circles. Tim Ross brings the ministry element in a gentle and strong way that helps a person understand there is love here — and this love wants to heal, even when it has to cut. Jonathan McReynolds brings music, but also sound argument to conversations around being a man in the spotlight and the unrealistic expectations placed on you.

Men do not know enough that there is love for them. The implication is that we keep having men who are afraid of marriage, men who are hurting, and men who leave things unsaid. God loves His sons, and His sons need to know they are loved before they can thoroughly love anyone else.

This is the backbone of my men’s prayer album, "Immanuel with Our Boys," to be released in the spring of 2026.

What does being a SAVEDpreneur™ mean to you? What is your kingdom assignment and how are you carrying out your assignment now?

A SAVEDpreneur™ is a person who is first saved before they are an entrepreneur. Their identity is secured as a child of God before they are a boss or anything else.

In this season, my assignment is connecting Kingdom citizens romantically. I am a romantic intercessor — combining all my counseling education and experience with practical dating guidance, my flair for styling and storytelling, all toward one goal: matchmaking.

If a client is self-sabotaging because of trauma, I am equipped to help them or refer a trusted colleague. If they do not know how to meet people, I work with them to create those opportunities or use my matchmaking database. My personal favorite is helping them recruit family and friends as their matchmakers.

Most importantly, I pray over each individual by name, because prayer is required.

What did God call you to build, and how did you know? What steps did you take to be obedient? How quickly did it take you to answer the call?

When I started as a sex therapist, every time I read a book on sex and relationships, my prayer life would go up as if I had been on a retreat. There was no conflict in my heart.

Every time I shrank back out of fear of being judged, I literally felt like something vital had left me. In therapy sessions, I would offer an example and the client would say that exact thing had happened in their life. It did not happen often, but when it did, it was always in seasons when I was going deeper in my personal walk with God.

When it was time to shift to matchmaking, I had a burden specifically for people over 30 who were in the spotlight. Then, without prompting, random people began asking if I was building a dating app. Eventually, I could not deny the evidence.

With sex therapy, I began with a podcast 24 hours after I was sure. Then I moved on to teaching teenagers about sex, then started taking sex trauma clients, and eventually began working with people who struggled to enjoy intimacy or could not do without it. Then my clients turned into people with dating problems — all of them — until I did not have a single sex-related case left.

I learned podcasting and website design on the job. I learned what was most needed and could not be outsourced immediately. I outsourced what took time away from the primary work. And I made sure the important people in my inner circle were not naysayers.

Where did obedience cost you something—money, time, identity, approval? And how did you handle the tension?

In 2023, God gave me an outline for helping people meet their match. When I got to the last chapter, He said to me: “What you know will not work for you.”

I was devastated. I said to Him: “I am single, Jesus. That is not fair.” I was hurt that I could not simply use my own strategy to find my own relationship. In my grief, I stepped back from matchmaking entirely and served no one in that space — until 2025, when God gave me a new strategy that included date coaching. This time I hesitated not from grief but from fear.

In June 2025, I finally yielded in a major way. God asked me to pray for 90 days with single people. I expected 12 people — 32 showed up. One person went from single to engaged within six months. At that point, I came to terms with the truth: every excuse I could bring before God was simply disobedience. I knew what to do. I was equipped. And I had fruit to show.

What upcoming projects are you working on that you want our readers to know about?

I have five prayer albums releasing this year, all centered on wellness, love, and life.

Immanuel with Our Boys covers our men as simply sons of God — not fathers, not providers, not anything else. Just sons. Available everywhere you listen to music beginning April 18th.

The remaining albums are:

Deep Ocean Grace (Healing) — covers emotional wellness and trauma recovery.

Intimacy Prayers — an EP focused on prayers for your sex life.

Deep Ocean Grace (Insist) — focused on insisting on receiving the blessings and promises of God for your life.

Anatomy Prayers — an album that prays for every biological system of your body to function with life.

What is the best way for our readers to keep up with you?

Threads, Instagram & YouTube: @thelizachuma

Website: lizachuma.com