Positive Fabulous Women held its first networking mingler on June 26, 2008 at Peridot Resto Lounge (81 Bloor Street East). All the women who attended were extremely accomplished, with a wide range of careers, including public relations, life coaching and financial services.

Like other networking events, this one started off with people mingling about, introducing themselves and meeting new people and discussing what kind of services they can offer based on their business over h’ordeurves. One woman I had the chance to speak with runs a matchmaking service, matching people the “old fashioned way.” She would interview the prospective candidate first, and then she’d find someone that would best fit that person. She works with people of all ages, including seniors!

In addition to traditional networking, we broke into groups to brainstorm ways to make the Positive Fabulous Women group more exciting. One attendee suggested that in addition to talking about the kinds of things that an individual can offer another person, one could ask for services. For example, a person might need someone to help an elderly family member with daily errands. Perhaps someone else in the group might know of a service and can recommend that to the person who is asking. After all, the purpose of networking isn’t only to meet people who can help you out career-wise, but to help you outside of work-related issues as well. Other suggestions included a bulletin board on the website as well as a print directory that can be sent out to people all over the city.

The event ended with draws of several prizes that some attendees had donated, many of which were related to their careers. Positive Fabulous Women plan to organize more exciting events in the coming months. I am definitely looking forward to the next one.