Laura Kozelouzek and Kathy Andersen
Laura Kozelouzek and Kathy Andersen believe that the universe conspires to give us what we need. In their case, it was each other. But for a while, Kathy was convinced that all she really needed was her dog, Tinkerbell.
“I was in a 10-year relationship that ended before I met Laura,” says Kathy, an author and the founder of End1in4, a 501c3 nonprofit that aims to end child sexual abuse. “It was a perfectly good relationship, but there was something missing. I wanted the fairy tale, or I didn’t want anything at all.”
Six months before COVID-19 hit, Kathy was nominated for a nonprofit industry award by the Women’s Chamber of Commerce of Miami-Dade County. Though Laura’s company, Quest Workspaces, was sponsoring the ceremony, she was on the fence about whether she’d attend. Ultimately, she decided to show, which was a good thing, because the second she laid eyes on Kathy, she was “fixated on her” without even realizing that she was the night’s honoree. Even better, Kathy needed office space, and Laura had some to spare. They exchanged contact information, and the texting began.
“Kathy sent me a picture of Tinkerbell,” Laura recalls. “And I sent her a picture of my son, Jordan. After some back and forth, I said I needed to talk to her before Monday, which was when I was going to show her the office space. I was riding my bike in Central Park when I went out on a limb and told her how I felt about her. I was in a relationship at the time that wasn’t right, and Kathy told me it sounded like I had a few things to work out.”
Laura worked those things out within a week. “When something is right, it feels like this,” Laura says.
But Laura’s son had two years of high school left in Connecticut, so she needed to go back and forth between there and Miami, as Quest was starting to grow. Logistics were complicated, and Laura was eager for Kathy and Jordan to meet. She planned a ski trip for the three of them in March 2020, but COVID-19 forced the ski resort to close. Laura, Kathy, and Jordan ended up in a yearlong quarantine with each other in Connecticut. By the end of lockdown, Kathy was helping Jordan with his college essays. When he was accepted into the University of Miami, things started falling into place. Now, Kathy and Laura divide their time between Connecticut and Miami, where they get up 45 minutes before sunrise every day to ride bikes together on the beach.
In August 2023, they married in a small ceremony at the Church of Dirt in Park City, Utah.
“It was an unusual wedding, but it was wonderful because of the love, friendship, and simplicity,” Kathy says. “We didn’t get hung up on the usual stuff. It was from the heart.”
Tinkerbell was there too. At the end of the night, the couple and their guests decided to change into their pajamas, order takeout, and watch movies. By all accounts, Kathy and Laura have gotten their happily ever after.
Lindsay Silberman and Matthew Stevens
When Matthew Stevens met Lindsay Silberman for the first time in March 2007, he knew she was beautiful, but he wasn’t sure if she was into him. They were both Syracuse University students at the time, enjoying themselves in Acapulco with their friends on spring break. Matthew had two more months until he graduated, but Lindsay had another two years to go.
One night he asked her to dance. She didn’t say no, but she also didn’t make eye contact with him the entire time. He thought she was playing it cool. She swears she was just surveying the crowd.
“By the end of spring break, I was like, ‘It’s been fun, enjoy the rest of college,’” Lindsay recalls. “I said it partly to see his reaction. I didn’t want to seem desperate, but I kept thinking about how cool he was, how easy he was to talk to, and how much we had in common.”
A month before Matthew graduated, they started to date. Their romance blossomed into a long-distance relationship that had her visiting him in Manhattan, where he worked as an investment banker, and him crashing with her at her sorority house. By the time Lindsay graduated and got a job in the magazine industry, Matthew was ready for them to move in together. But Lindsay felt things were getting too serious and moving too fast. She needed time, maybe three weeks tops.
“After the third week, she came crawling back,” Matthew says, laughing.
But it still took a few years before Lindsay was ready to move in with him. A year after she did, Matthew proposed, and in 2016 they married in Mexico in what Lindsay calls “a full-circle moment.”
When the COVID-19 pandemic and ensuing lockdown began, the couple decided to rethink their priorities. Lindsay wanted to leave magazines to focus on her career as an influencer. As a self-described candle snob, she also began contemplating starting a candle company that would replicate some of the beautiful candle scents she had smelled in luxury hotels.
“I wanted people to have that in their homes, especially during COVID, when people were looking for small indulgences to make them happy and transport them,” she says.
When Lindsay and Matthew launched Hotel Lobby Candle in 2020, they sold out of their 3,000-candle inventory in 24 minutes. A month later, Matthew left his job and dedicated himself to the company full-time. Online, he is known as @instahusband, his hat tip to being the company’s behind-the-scenes guy.
The couple moved to Miami part-time in May 2021, another post-COVID lifestyle tweak. Now they enjoy long walks on the beach with their miniature long-haired dachshund, Pierre, tennis in the sunshine, and anything that gives them a chance to take a break in perfect weather.
“Our life is chaotic, but in a good way,” Lindsay says. “We’re running a company together, working from home together, and married. The good thing is that our personalities are complementary. I don’t know many people who could do this, but we’ve figured out how to make it work.”
Heidi and Shane Battier
Former Miami Heat power forward Shane Battier still remembers the first time he laid eyes on his future wife, Heidi. It was seventh grade, and he was the new kid in school—awkward enough at age 13, but amplified by the fact that Shane was already 6 feet, 4 inches tall.
“I walked into math class that day and saw this beautiful girl who had ’90s bangs and braces, and she was wearing a plaid skirt,” he recalls. “I thought, ‘Oh, I’m in love.’ I knew right away I was going to be her man.”
The Shane plus Heidi equation took time to solve. They were friends first, bonding over their shared love of sports. By ninth grade, Shane says he wore Heidi down, and they began dating. By the end of tenth grade, they had broken up, but everyone could see that they were destined to get back together. It was just a matter of time.
“My freshman year of college, I was playing field hockey at Villanova and we had a fall break,” Heidi says. “I convinced a teammate who had a car on campus that we should drive down to North Carolina to visit Shane at Duke before his basketball season started. [Shane and I] were technically just friends on that visit, but on the next visit, we were like, ‘Okay, maybe this is back on.’”
After graduating college in 2001, Shane was drafted by the Memphis Grizzlies, and Heidi moved back to Michigan, where she worked in the communications department of a small bank.
“I was kind of like, ‘I don’t know how this whole NBA thing works, so you go do your thing and I’ll come visit,’” Heidi says.
That calculation didn’t add up, so the couple got engaged at the end of the season and married two years later. Heidi began teaching at an inner-city charter school, where she saw promising students who did not have the same opportunities afforded to kids in more affluent neighborhoods. After Shane was traded to the Houston Rockets in 2006, Heidi decided it was time to address that gap.
In 2008, they founded the Battier Take Charge Foundation, which provides college scholarships, mentorship, networking, and leadership training to underprivileged youth. Through its Battier Scholars Program, the foundation hands out $32,000 scholarships to top students in Houston, Detroit, and Miami, where the Battiers have lived since 2011 after Shane signed with the Heat.
One of the ways the Battiers raise scholarship money for these students is through their Cabernet with Battier event, which will be held at Byblos Miami on February 3. The event includes a wine tasting, a multicourse meal, a live auction, and karaoke with a live band.
When they’re not helping others, the Battiers say they’re “your typical suburban family,” dividing their time between their son’s high school basketball games and their daughter’s middle school club soccer matches.
“Currently having a seventh-grade daughter, I’m reliving my middle school years,” Heidi says. “She does not like to hear me say, ‘Just be careful. That tall guy in your math class? You could marry him.’”
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