Asian Journal- The Filipino-American Community Newspaper

EXPERTS agree that networking is worth your time and effort. Socially, this is proven with the surge and success of numerous social networking sites in cyberspace such as Facebook, MySpace and LinkedIn. However, networking goes beyond to just meeting friends and building personal relationships. It also offers another avenue to reach professionals, possibly for business and employment, as well as make people more active in their community.

The Young Filipino Professionals Association (YFPA) is one such organization that embraces the idea and importance of networking. Launched in 2002 as a collaborative forum for Filipino-American professionals, YFPA was started by three classmates from the University of San Francisco – Neil Baquiran, Greg Montemayor and Roselle Rapadas. Recognizing the need for a Fil-Am professional group in the San Francisco Bay Area that could create and support professional networking, educational and community service activities, YFPA was a forum to connect and collaborate.

Since then, YFPA always serves its purpose – to build a stronger, well-established and respected Fil-Am business community, translated into the organization’s long-lasting mantra of "Connect. Educate. Serve." With that purpose in mind, the initial twelve board members, who were from a variety of professional backgrounds, built the operational, legal and strategic infrastructure of YFPA through a variety of road mapping, discovery and implementation sessions. From this initial foundation, YFPA’s leadership and membership began its mission to foster professional connections, ideas, and expertise to support and engage young Filipino professionals in the greater San Francisco Bay Area.

YFPA believes that networking is the easiest way to market oneself whether you’re in the business of sales, service provision or community building. They explain that having yourself as the primary product, networking makes you more aware of your strengths and how to maximize them, as well as your weaknesses and how to manage them. In a community where we have experts in all industries, it’s great to know what services are available, who does what and how people can work together and at the same time. Most of all, YFPA supports its members and promotes the community’s welfare and advancement.