When Arlington resident Jessica Lehman first moved to the D.C.-metropolitan area from New Orleans last fall, she never expected that making friends would be a challenge. Having spent nearly 10 years in the perhaps friendlier state of Louisiana, Lehman said she never had trouble finding female peers to bond with. Where college, law school and even rigorous law firm life didn’t pose challenges to amassing friends, her move last year to Arlington surprisingly did.
After what she said was close to three months of spending her time outside of the office with either her two dogs or her boyfriend, Lehman had enough. In early February of this year, Lehman took matters into her own hands and formed her own group, “Your New Girl Squad,” through the online business Meetup, which allows for the online creation and coordination of networking and other social groups.
Where Lehman hoped to identify at least a handful of other young women in her situation, the group’s membership has grown to about 275 women in their 20s and 30s.
“Three months was a long time to go without making friends,” said Lehman, who currently works for a government contractor and either works from home or at the Pentagon. “Working with a bunch of older male service members, who are amazing to have as coworkers, just wasn’t conducive to a girl squad. I went on Meetup at first looking for other groups to join, but I had ideas for certain events I wanted to plan. I went ahead and started my own. That’s how ‘Your New Girl Squad,’ came about, whose name is an homage to Taylor Swift, by the way.”
She made the group requirements broad, allowing all women between the ages of 22 and 35 eligible. Beyond that, membership is open and free for any young female looking for new people to meet and open to different activities with local female counterparts.
“We have single women, married ones and moms.”
— Jessica Lehman, founder of “Your New Girl Squad”
“We have single women, married ones and moms,” Lehman said. “While most of the group is transplants, there are also locals too. I made this very inclusive. The goal for me when I started this group was to find meaningful friendships with other girls.”
The first meeting of Lehman’s group was Feb. 11 at Arlington’s Sehkraft Brewing, where the founder arrived 15 minutes early and spent each moment wondering if anyone would actually arrive for the meet up.
“It turned out that 10 to 11 people showed up,” she said. “I would say of those first core members, we have only lost touch with one or two. As pioneers, we still regularly keep in touch with each other. We got along so well we made plans that very night for Valentine’s Day.”
The momentum has continued, with the help of Lehman’s co-organizer and fellow Arlington resident, Marla Marcelo. Marcelo was the first one to show up at the first meeting and has since taken on the role of co-organizer.
Every week since Feb. 11 has involved multiple meet ups. Depending on the activity, attendance is limited and wait lists are a must. Dinners, for example, just get overwhelming and complicated if more than eight to 10 people are sitting at the table. There is no preference or priority when it comes to attendees, either. It’s all about who signs up first, so cliques just don’t happen.
“We like to keep each event relatively small for logistical reasons and so everyone can enjoy quality time too,” Lehman said.
The strategy seems to have worked. Since its initial meeting, Your New Girl Squad’s calendar hasn’t had an off week.
“We’ve had 32 meet ups since Feb. 11, so that averages to twice a week or more,” Marcelo said. “We have a lot of events coming up — barre classes, baseball games and hikes. One of the bigger events we have coming up is a potluck, the first event we have opened to guests, significant others and even dogs.”
Unlike Lehman, Marcelo had tried different groups on Meetup before Your New Girl Squad, but she said that there is just something special about this one. “This group has been different,” she said. “I like the smaller group settings because they are more interesting, intimate. The other groups I’ve seen on Meet Up might not meet as much or are perhaps more happy hour focused. We love a good happy hour, but we are just more varied.”
Lehman said that finding a balance has been important as the group has grown, adding that “we try to have as many physical activities as we do food activities.”
To keep the multiplying membership organized, Lehman has to run the group somewhat like a business, assigning different responsibilities and certain event coordination duties to applicable members. “We appoint event organizers and give them the reins on what they know most and are passionate about,” Lehman said. “We have about eight organizers that head up the events within their category. Overall, though, there’s no overarching theme to the group. If we feel like making an event, we just do.”
All the organization is done online through the official Meet Up website. Lehman encourages young women in the D.C.-area to look at the group online, join it and sign up for an event. Membership is free so the only costs are for the activity or the meal.
“Ours is definitely one of the most active groups in the area,” Lehman, who covers all the administrative costs of being part of Meetup, said. “Almost all our members are active, and we have such frequent events, which the organizers keep control of. Because there are attendance limits on some of the gatherings, we always try to have a lot of events going on. Even I can't be at all of them.”
Fresh off a mountain weekend in Berkeley Springs, W.Va., Marcelo also promised there will be plenty of outdoor activities with the warm weather — including a beach trip.
Lehman said she still can’t believe how big Your New Girl Squad has become in less than three months. “I’m shocked by how much the group has grown,” she said. “I still remember having no members for four days because of the time it takes Meetup to conduct its approval process. Now, I want membership to keep growing so that I can seek business sponsorships. That would allow us to have more members at events, and could lead to group discounts at certain restaurants or workout studios.”
Lehman added that another goal for Your New Girl Squad is to offer more free activities. “I know that dinners and such can be expensive, so I want to find more thrifty ways for us to spend time together,” she said. “Of all the cities, it will definitely be possible to do this more regularly here in D.C.”
To learn more about and sign up for Your New Girl Squad, go online to www.meetup.com/Your-New-Girl-Squad or visit www.facebook.com/YourNewGirlSquadDC.