Members of the organization gather at Le Cafe de la Plage on Sept. 2. Young Professionals networked and connected through their business ventures. Photos by Mary Elisabeth
In March, Anita Hoffman, former COO of Vivid Candi and former honorary board director of the Malibu Pacific Palisades Chamber of Commerce, founded the Young Professionals Network — an organization assisting business-minded college students with networking.
The Malibu Chamber of Commerce sponsors all events and workshops, which are located in Malibu, Wizner wrote. YPN aims to help both Pepperdine undergraduates and Graziadio students, said Gabrielle Langley, Pepperdine alumna and committee chairwoman of YPN Langley said.
“Working with visionary people that are enthusiastic, and want to help others, and bless others, and be successful together,” Langley said. “It’s a very wonderful, supportive, exciting, joyful environment.”
In the past, YPN events include playing soccer with Rodney Wallace, a professional Fifa soccer player, Langley said. YPN called the event, “Active With A Purpose,” which engaged business-minded individuals with outdoor team-bonding soccer exercises.
Howard Lim, Vivid Candi’s Fortune 500 branding expert, taught an informative workshop. There are YPN Casual Coffee Meetups at Le Cafe de la Plage, paddle boarding and Malibu beach cleanups, Langley said.
Future YPN events include financial literacy workshops, events at local restaurants, speed networking events and workshops at the Malibu Pier. Events will occur one to two times a month, Langley said.
“Our goal of the committee is to engage younger and aspiring professionals 18 to 40+ years old to the network via fun unique events (i.e. Casual Coffee, Soccer with a Pro Fifa player, game night, etc.),” wrote Chris Wizner, CEO and founder of Vivid Candi and president and chairman of the Malibu Pacific Palisades Chamber of Commerce in an Aug. 29 email to the Graphic.
Langley said she joined YPN because it was a great networking opportunity and had many fun events. As chairwoman, hosting events participants want to attend is key, and she said she is open to suggestions to grow popularity.
“We really think this is the future to engage the next generation and give them opportunities within our chamber to grow as leaders,” Wizner wrote.
Wizner wrote YPN has created a first ever student membership for only $99 a year. All business minded individuals above 18 years old are welcome to attend these networking events.
“Students should come to the first three YPN events free and when you love it you can get the membership,” Langley said.
YPN’s sign ups are located on their website. In addition to the website, there will be an Instagram linked to the Malibu Chamber of Commerce, in the near future, Wizner wrote.
Senior Business major Vicenzo Salvador said he believes making networking accessible and engaging would be greatly beneficial, and he would be interested in trying the free events prior to committing to the membership.
“I believe a significant amount of students would be interested in this initiative,” Salvador said. “I think it is an excellent way to build connections between aspiring professionals and those who are already established.”
“I would love to hear more about it and receive more information because it would be helpful for many students, not just Business majors,” junior Business major Daniela Torrado wrote. “There is little action taken and getting the opportunity to connect with these business-minded peers while at the same time building a community would be amazing.”
Torrado wrote YPN making the first three events free helps establish their credibility and would entice her to consider doing YPN.
YPN is excited for students that are thinking about owning a business one day, especially business graduate students to mentor and nurture, Langley said.
“The process of networking is a full circle and mentorship is crucial to growth,” Langley said. “And we want the next generation, you guys are going to be running chamber eventually. We’re like, ‘You know what, let’s help them, let’s really mentor and learn from each other and also learn from the youth,’ because you guys are so great at so many things and your take on these events are important.”
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Contact Victoria La Ferla via email: victoria.laferla@pepperdine.edu
