Have you met with any VLCM members yet? If not, please make it your goal this year. Our network is growing every day; for illustration these were the member counts as of December 2016 (much larger since then):
- New York City: 103
- France: 38
- Toronto: 23
- Brazil: 20
- India: 20
- South Africa: 12
- Czech Rep: 11
- Turkey: 11
- China: 10
- St. Louis: 8
- Sydney: 8
All it takes is these steps:
- Identify the members in your area from our LinkedIn directory.
- Reach out by LI email (no need for Premium account if in the same group; also covered in the networking guide).
- Either organize a group meetup or meet one-on-one with people with whom you connected the most.
- Show up and let the magic unfold—new friends, new ideas, new business connections, etc.
I have organized such meetups in San Diego (where I live) and while traveling to Washington D.C. and Chicago (where I used to live.) The Chicago meetup happened when I was traveling there for the Christmas holidays in 2016. We met at one of the favorite Chicago vegan restaurants, and had 8 wonderful attendees and riveting discussions.

PS I’ll confess to one thing which I am sure you will relate to. Several times during planning, and even on the day of, I had thoughts of canceling and just enjoying an easy do-nothing evening instead. My advice: push through the fatigue and go anyway. You’ll thank yourself for it. Our people networks determine to a large extent our success in life and personal happiness, not to mention the implications for vegan advocacy.