'Guys Would Ghost Me,' Says Ex-NFL Cheerleader — But Now Her Dating Profile (Made by Friends!) Is a Billboard
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courtesy wingman Sha Tabb's billboard
After Sha Tabb deleted all her dating apps, the former NFL cheerleader's inner circle decided to take matters into their own hands. In February, two of her best friends posted a profile on Wingman.com — but little did they know it would soon become a 48-foot billboard in Times Square.
"I was floored. I was speechless. I didn't know what to say," Sha, a 42-year-old traffic reporter who lives in Fort Lauderdale, tells PEOPLE. "I'm really excited about this adventure."
Sha met her best friends, Jacqui Duran, 30, and Sheri Ralliford, 34, when they worked at the same radio station about 11 years ago. Much has since changed since for Sha, who says she's busy and finds herself focusing on having fun with her friends when she hits the town, not talking to men she doesn't know.
"My dating life feels non-existent," Sha admits. "For a while, it didn't bother me that I wasn't dating. I was on a couple of apps, I would go out on dates and then the guys would ghost me. I'm like, 'Okay, this isn't working for me. I know it's worked for many other people, but it's just not working for me.' So I took myself off of the apps."
courtesy wingman Friends Sha Tabb, Jacqui Duran and Sheri Ralliford
She wouldn't be absent for long. Jacqui, who now sells health insurance in Miami, learned of the Wingman app when she read about Beth Davis, a woman with cancer who created a dating profile for her daughter Molly. (Molly also ended up with her profile on a billboard in Times Square.)
Jacqui broached the subject at her 30th birthday dinner, where Sha agreed to let Jacqui and Sheri take charge of her dating life and manage the apps on her behalf.
So in February, Jacqui and Sheri made a profile for their outgoing, infectiously fun friend — a former NFL cheerleader and model who has appeared in music videos like Cardi B's "I Like It" and worked as a backup dancer for Pitbull.
courtesy wingman Jacqui Duran's note on Sha Tabb's Wingman profile
"We're always having a good time," Jaqui says of their bond. "We're always laughing, dancing. Honestly, there's not a time where I've been with Sha and I'm not in the best mood ever."
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The profile caught the eye of the app's CEO Tina Wilson, who says Sha's experience "goes to show you can be beautiful inside and out, and a professional cheerleader even, and still struggle to find the right partner."
Wilson's team had the 48-foot billboard installed on May 3 and then extended through June 19.
courtesy wingman Sheri Ralliford's note on Sha Tabb's Wingman profile
"It's the weirdest thing ever on this earth," Sha says of having her dating profile enlarged for all the world to see. "I've done modeling in the past, so I've had my face on things, but normally I'm promoting other things for people or other products. Now, I'm promoting myself."
It's an exciting step in a life that has seen its share of ups and downs, including brain surgery to remove a bent blood vessel when she was just 12 years old. But the effervescent Sha — who was born in Chicago and moved to Florida as a baby — grew up to cheer for the Miami Dolphins for four seasons.
Now she's a traffic reporter for TV and radio in Florida, where she lives with her 9-year-old, 6-pound mini-pinscher, Lola. She's never married — an engagement in her early 20s didn't work out — but she still envisions sharing her future with a partner.
"I do want a husband. It would be really nice," Sha says. "I would love to have that for myself."
courtesy wingman Sha Tabb
To that end, Sha's friends have decided not to rush the process of sifting through the many applicants.
"I'm letting the girls take care of that," Sha says. "They're completely being my wing women and my matchmakers."
"The emails are flooding in," adds Sheri, who is pre-screening all the potential suitors alongside Jacqui.
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Among their questions for the men: How tall are you? (Sha is 5-feet-10-inches tall and likes to wear heels.) Are you marriage-minded? Do you have children?
"I want it to be like a real-life Bachelorette without the cameras," Sheri says. "I want to give her a lot of choices…. I want the decision to be hard."
Sha has yet to go on her first date from the billboard, but her friends are hoping to be at the bar when it all goes down.
"We'll be in the corner, just keeping an eye on things," Jacqui says.
Stay tuned, because after her first date, Sha and her friends plan to share the details with PEOPLE's Real-Life Love. In the meantime, Sha has some insight to offer her potential suitors.
"I want my other half, I want my best friend," she says. "I want somebody who has integrity, someone who wants to travel with me, who wants to have adventures with me and make decisions with me, be my cheerleader. I've cheered on so many other people, I need my cheerleader now."
