Our mission
Everyday places often lack a simple way for people to introduce themselves. Even in busy cafes, parks, and events, there’s usually no clear signal that it’s acceptable to start a conversation. As a result, opportunities for connection rarely translate into interaction.
MingleSpace provides a straightforward solution: a clearly marked connection spot that places can add to their environment. With a sign, a directory listing, and a supporting platform, locations can make casual conversation more accessible and predictable for their customers and visitors.
Our goal is to give cafes, libraries, campuses, festivals, and other community spaces a simple tool to encourage brief, low-pressure interaction — something that fits naturally into everyday routines. By making the invitation visible, places can help people meet, share ideas, and engage more easily with their community.
Opportunities to connect should fit into daily life. Meeting new people should feel as natural as finding a water fountain—always there when you need it, easy to use, and part of the environment.
Places where people gather can take the lead in encouraging connection. By simply adding a clearly marked spot, they create an invitation to say hi.
Spontaneous conversations strengthen communities. When strangers can chat in everyday places, they build trust, spark new ideas, and make places feel more welcoming.
What we believe
Michael Anthony Kirsch
Executive Director
Michael Anthony Kirsch is the founder of MingleSpace, a community-building initiative based in Milwaukee, WI, that helps everyday places create visible connection spots where people can meet and introduce themselves. Since 2024, he has piloted MingleSpaces in cafes, breweries, parks, and events across Milwaukee and Madison, building partnerships with local businesses and developing tools that can be scaled nationwide.
Michael believes loneliness is not simply an individual problem, but a symptom of social norms and structures that undervalue connection. His work focuses on reimagining social infrastructure so that everyday places naturally invite conversation and help communities feel more open and connected.
From his roots in Stevens Point, WI, Michael has long been motivated by a desire to serve others and improve lives through ideas with lasting impact. He holds a BA in History from George Mason University and an MS in Mathematics in Finance from NYU’s Courant Institute, and is the author of The Challenge of Credit Supply: American Problems and Solutions, 1650–1950. Before founding MingleSpace, he worked in financial modeling and credit policy at KPMG.
When I first started exploring how to encourage more meaningful interactions in everyday life, I kept noticing something simple but striking: even in places full of people, like cafes, parks, breweries, festivals, community events, there was no clear way to meet new people.
Around that time, the Surgeon General’s report on loneliness put a spotlight on what so many of us already know: despite being surrounded by others, people often feel isolated. That report, along with the work of groups like the Foundation for Social Connection, convinced me this wasn’t just my own experience, and it wasn't my fault; it was a national challenge — and there was a national movement I could join.
Soon it it hit me while visiting those same places and events — why aren’t there clearly marked areas, created by places themselves, where people are invited to introduce themselves? Once I saw the gap, I couldn’t unsee it.
Out of that realization came MingleSpace: a scalable tool to reduce loneliness, spark trust, and make conversation part of daily life. The idea is simple: give places an easy way to invite people to say hi, unlocking the potential of missed connections. Since 2024, I’ve piloted MingleSpaces in Milwaukee and Madison cafés, breweries, parks, and events. And the response has been consistent: “Yes — we just need the permission to say hi.” “I’d totally use this if places did it.” “People don’t introduce themselves anymore, and this would solve that.”
What we need now is to plug this idea into the larger movement — with organizations, associations, or national chains that can test and adopt the concept at scale. I’m eager to collaborate with partners across the country to refine and grow MingleSpace as part of the broader effort to strengthen connection. Let’s try it.
—Michael Anthony
A Note from Michael
