Jasmine Lee, Holly Nickel and Anthony Daniel were having dinner in the spring of 2011, and were talking about their options for joining a local networking organization. As young, minority professionals, they just couldn’t come up with exactly what they were looking for among the existing organizations.
“We felt there was nothing for us to do if we wanted to meet people besides go to the bar,” says Lee. “When you’re a young professional, you’re in a weird place of transition, and we felt there was a disconnect between the existing networking groups and what we were looking for.”
So they decided to a change that. After talking with others in the community, they began to form a steering committee around their shared goals, which included both networking as well as community service opportunities. MINGLE, or Minority Involved in Networking, Growth, Leadership and Empowerment.
“It’s not that we want to be only racially and ethnically diverse,” says Lee, “but also have a diverse group of professions - not just suit and tie people. Someone who owns a salon or recent graduate might not wear a suit and tie but are in the same space.”
MINGLE’s plans to host events once a month. The group’s official kick-off was their MINGLE MLK Jr. After Service Mixer.
“We had about 70 people which totally surprised us,” says Lee. “Everyone kept coming up and saying, ‘we’re really excited.’”
A February event is now being planned. To connect with MINGLE, follow them on
Facebook and Twitter.
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