Traditional old-world wisdom says that business and pleasure just don't mix. Challenging that adage is a coterie of young professionals on a mission to mobilize up-and-coming movers and shakers of the business community and offer a forum for power networking with a social component.
A glass of wine, timeless cocktails and a few nibbles along the way can't hurt, either.
Making a splash Thursday night was the launch of the Houston Young Professionals Society, the collective brainchild of Jennifer Nguyen and Freddy Goerges with support from volunteers Raquel Longley, Misti Pace-Krahl, Ray Hewitt and Rachel Price.
Using LinkedIn primarily to spread the word of this fresh group and of the mixer, social media messaging roused the curious crowd to check out what HYPS had in store.
That they rallied 350 to slap on a nametag and join in the lively inaugural gathering at Prohibition The Craft of Cocktails was quite a coup. Using LinkedIn primarily to spread the word of this fresh group and that of the mixer, social media messaging roused the curious crowd to check out what HYPS had in store.
And that was a mashup of professionals in their mid-20s to early 40s from different backgrounds and industries who aspire to get ahead in life and have a good time while doing so. Cheers to that.
Among them was Jackie Castaneda, who a month ago took a revenue-generating position as a business consultant for Dermalogica. Back in the networking circuit, she sought to find connections to secure appointments and find new sales leads.
In the assemblage were Tony Huang, Joe Dotson, James Loxterman, Lauren Rosenbaum, Jeff Reichman, Tracy Orolin, Sahrish Agha, Dan-Phi Nguyen, Riyad Abu-Taha, Tammy McDowell Nigro, Cindy Rodriguez, Abraham Ahmed, Rachel McInnis, Isadore Barefields, Mark Scott, Jong Yoo, Eric Koch and Nina Chanthachone.
