As Chair of the Fayetteville Young Professionals, I would like to thank Up & Coming Weekly for the first of what will be a monthly column written by a member of the Fayetteville Young Professionals on topics of interest to our members and the community at large. I hope that you will look for this column, or check us out if you have not already.

As many of you may know, the group was started in August of 2009 by the Fayetteville-Cumberland County Chamber of Commerce to bring together young professionals from across the community to not only socialize, but to organize a number of professional development and civic events. The Chamber was responding to younger chamber members who felt a disconnect with some of the events which were geared toward networking, but they felt were only attended by more established members of the community.

As one of those members who only attended Business After Hours because my dad asked me to, I can attest that I did not really get what was in it for me or frankly for my business.

Also, as someone who moved back into this community after college to work at my family’s business, it was really hard to meet people unless you went to school with them or worked with them. Many of my peers were simply not going to Chamber events. Now you can be guaranteed to see a Young Professional member at every Chamber event.

While this group was started by the Chamber, it was led and created by 20 outstanding steering committee members who stepped up to organize it and make it the group that you see today. From creating a website, to decorating an event, to leading professional development seminars, this organization was formed and maintained by the vibrant young individuals that make this community so great.

Over the next several months you will hear from the members of the FYP executive committee who have stepped up to lead this effort. These are people like you and I who are just as busy at their jobs, with their families and with other community organizations. However, they step up to lead FYP because they want this group to be successful and they are willing to squeeze one more minute out of everyday.

From their leadership, we have raised thousands for area civic organizations, hosted more than 15 professional development events, placed second in co-ed softball, played close-quarters dodge ball and partied like it was 1999. I know that personally I have made so many friends, that my social calendar is booked into 2012.

Even though we are a young organization, we have more than 350 members who are teachers, entrepreneurs, doctors, airmen, realtors, bankers and yes, we even have some lawyers too.

While we have a lot of differences, the one thing that we have in common is that we enjoy meeting each other and giving back to the community. If you have not had an opportunity to join us at a Fireantz Tailgate or at our lunch and learn seminars at Sammios’ please contact me at chair@fayyp.org.

I look forward to meeting you and telling you more about the organization and how you can get involved. For more information, please visit www.fayyp.org or look up Fayetteville Young Professionals on facebook.