Pros meet & greet: Social network offers diverse outings

Morristown This Week, March 19, 2008
By KATELYN FARAGO

What began as a social circle has grown into a business for Laura Occhipinti.

Even better, the 31-year-old founder of the New Jersey Young Professionals said her social life has never been busier.

"I have the craziest social schedule I've ever had in my life," she said.

Occhipinti established New Jersey Young Professionals, a social networking organization for men and women ages 21 to 39, in February 2004. As a recent college graduate who relocated for her job, it was difficult to meet new people, she said. After scouring the Internet for social opportunities to no avail, she set out to start her own social circle.

New Jersey Young Professionals began as a Yahoo group, she said, but by the end of its first week, the group already had 100 members. Throughout the course of its first year, the organization's membership grew to 2,000 and tripled the following year.

"I didn't know so many people were in the same position as I," Occhipinti said.

Membership benefits

Heidi Dotzenrod of Morris Plains recently attended her first event with New Jersey Young Professionals, a happy hour at the Famished Frog in Morristown. As a teacher, she said it is difficult for her to meet other adults because she spends her time with children every day. She signed up for the event because she thought it would be a new experience, she said, and because she wanted to meet new people.

Among the 20 to 30 official events scheduled for each month are wine tastings, hikes, happy hour gatherings, scavenger hunts, softball games, exclusive networking dinners and speed dating.

There are both free and paid memberships. Those who opt for the paid membership, $52 per year, receive full Web access and discounts on events. The members who have free memberships can read everything posted on the organization's site, but cannot post anything themselves.

Maria Winter of Summit said she heard about New Jersey Young Professionals through a friend. Winter, who is single, said she is interested in meeting someone at the events.

"It's something organized to do with people who are professional, who want to mix and mingle," she said.

Because the organization caters to professionals, Winter said, she thinks she's more likely to meet someone with good goals and aspirations at one of the events.

Diverse social outings

John Landers of Parsippany, who works in information technology, has been a member for two years now. Once every two months, he hosts the organization's open mic night at a jazz club in Garwood. He said he attends as many of the Morristown and Montclair events as he can, but he particularly enjoys the hikes.

Landers said he joined New Jersey Young Professionals so that he would have friends who understood the corporate culture.

"I grew up in a really blue collar town, and I kind of broke out of that," he said.

Josh Sanchez, an engineer from Somerset, joined the organization after relocating to New Jersey more than a year ago. He actually walked into a bar one evening to find one of the organization's happy hours.

"It's pretty cool that people can get together and talk," he said.

Sanchez said he particularly enjoys the hikes, wine tours and cooking classes -- partially because they are activities that he would not usually take part in.

"They do things that I wouldn't normally do," he said.

Mike Roselle of Parsippany, who has been a member for three years now, attends the New Jersey Young Professionals events with his girlfriend, Megan Kirchoff.

"You can always meet new people," he said. "It breaks up the doldrums of the day."

Roselle said he particularly enjoys participating in the theme parties, the food bank event and the happy hour gatherings. Kirchoff said the couple also attends the Atlantic City trips. Kirchoff said going to Atlantic City is something they wouldn't normally do, but it is a good opportunity to meet new people and network.

"They always have creative ideas of places to meet up," she said.