Yes, it’s the week of Thanksgiving—a great time to reflect upon all that we are thankful for in life. Just the other day, I was thinking about the wonderful people I met through social media—through Twitter and Meetup.com.

If you’re interested in digital marketing, social media, podcasts, webcasts and even yoga, you’ll like meeting these people too.

Philly Marketing Labs—First, I met Skip Shuda and Bechara Jaoudeh (founders of Philly Marketing Labs) at their Main Line Internet & Social Media Marketing Meetup. A few months later, Skip asked me if I was interested in working with them, and a while later, I began working with them on a regular basis. These guys introduced me to the world of entrepreneurship (Bechara also owns BagelSpice), which really rejuvenated my career and opened up all sorts of options for me. They are SEO and digital marketing experts and they regularly share their knowledge with others. To them, I am forever grateful and I look forward to working with them again.

Through Philly Marketing Labs, I learned about and started volunteering with the nonprofit TechGirlz, which helps middle-school-aged girls get interested in and stay interested in tech. See founder Tracey Welson-Rossman’s recent interview for a quick look at the group.

I liked the Main Line Social Media group so much, I found another marketing meetup just starting up in Chester County a little over a year ago. The Chester County Marketing Group was run by Ryan Gerardi and Jeff Tincher, who immediately formed a core group of people (including me) to help keep the meetup group going.

Ryan has unending energy and works at HookLogic to help the automotive industry better use digital media marketing tools. He now lives in Michigan but still stays in touch. He also liked my blog, so we ended up working together as I wrote some posts for his websites: AutoConversion and AutoConverse. You’ll also see him still contributing on the Board of Advisors and as a Technology Coach with the Business Vision Network.

Jeff is a digital marketing know-it-all (in a good way!), who seems to be on top of every new trend and channel that appears in the digital space. The nice part is he is always so willing to share and help others get up to speed as well–see his 610 Digital site. Another cool thing is that you’ll see he always lists “Dad” as one of his key roles.

Carla Wilson is another fantastic person I met through the Chester County Marketing Meetup. She now co-organizes the group with Jeff, in addition to owning Wilson Media Services and being the president of the Delaware Valley Virtual Assistants Association. And she is a yoga teacher who recently put on the first Namas Day in Philadelphia. Check out the podcast/webcast she does with Mary Motz.

I met Liam Dempsey through the Chester County Meetup too. He runs his own marketing and design firm and started the Philly ‘Burbs WordPress Meetup group with me helping. He’s smart, funny and works hard, but always has time to talk to others. Visit his Chicken-Monkey-Dog site and you’ll get a sense of his personality and sense of humor.

I have to mention Christina Strommer too—who, like me, just kind of stumbled upon these groups and keeps coming back. On Twitter, she’s @jamminpsu and describes herself as a “graphic designer/STEM advocate/gadget geek/literary junkie/music enthusiast. And a mom.” She is a friendly, interesting woman who is a NASA fanatic. I love learning from her too.

One of the reasons I decided to write this blog post this week is that these people, with whom I got together to talk marketing and how to further our own businesses while helping other people, have become friends of mine. Friends I really enjoy talking with and hanging out with. I am so thankful for their presence in my life.

Being connected with them has led me to all sorts of other fabulous connections, both meeting people in person and on Twitter. They’re too numerous to mention here, but I am so thankful for their friendship too. And I look forward to getting to know each one of them better in the new year.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!