• All
• Police and Fire
• Business
• Education
• Obituaries
• Opinions
• Lifestyle
• Calendar

In a world in which people are becoming increasingly reliant on their personal networks to get ahead in their careers, a local social group has been paying big dividends to many of its members.

Founded in 2001 by a Swampscott resident, Newcomers and Natives was patterned after similar groups around the country that brought together area locals. Over the past five years, NAN membership has grown and diversified, and now includes members from Swampscott, Marblehead, Nahant, Lynn and Salem.

During this time, all types of connections have been made, resulting in far more than wine and book clubs and children’s play groups. In just the past year, a number of business partnerships have formed, many of them female-driven and created by 30-somethings who initially met and became friends through the organization.

Heather Roman of Swampscott originally joined NAN to partake in its children’s offerings. Noelle Moreno, who had moved with her family to Swampscott in 2004, did the same thing.

“I missed the camaraderie with my Boston friends, knew no one in Swampscott and didn’t want to feel isolated as a new mom,” said Moreno, a city transplant.

When she and Roman met, they connected immediately. Soon they found themselves discussing their career goals, which for both included working for themselves.

Roman’s work experience was in design, Moreno’s in both modeling and sales. Eventually, they began tossing around ideas for a retail store.

“It was more fun than anything else — chatting about what we really thought was a dream,” said Roman.

Then the talk turned serious, and the two began getting into specifics, initially envisioning a Web-only clothing store. Ultimately, they decided that driving people to their Web site would be more difficult than getting people to patronize a brick-and-mortar store, especially given the local friends and contacts they had recently made — many of whom were NAN members.

Last month, the women opened Chulamama on Derby Street in Salem and launched its Web site, www.chulamama.com. Involvement from fellow NAN members in preparation for their grand opening proved helpful and also brought traffic into the store.

“Of course this is new and we’re learning every day, but having a business partner to lean on makes all the difference in the world,” said Roman.

The store, an “edgy” maternity and baby shop, shares space with another partner Roman and Moreno met through NAN, Monica Winter.

Having opened Marblehead’s Hip Baby Gear store in 2006, Winter was, by comparison, a seasoned professional merchant. She had met both Roman and Moreno while serving on NAN’s board, so when the plans for Chulamama were being laid, the women began discussions about opening a second Hip Baby Gear location right in Chulamama’s store space.

“Meeting Noelle and Heather was great,” said Winter. “In addition to being friends, we’ve now developed this working relationship that’s allowed me to expand my own business.”

Jill Cannuscio joined NAN in 2000 with her husband, Mike, now a realtor with Marblehead’s Re-Max Harborside. After being in the group for some time, Cannuscio was recruited to serve as president, allowing her to get to know fellow board members. One of the people with whom she became friendly was Amy Driscoll Gold. Like Moreno and Roman, Gold and Cannuscio developed a friendship, and also gained the opportunity to observe each other’s work style and people skills during board meetings, which proved to be a good warm-up for starting a business together.

Both Gold and Cannuscio had similar backgrounds in the field of human resources, and the two talked of one day starting their own consulting business.

“It was over coffee at Panera in the summer of ’06 that Jill and I decided to make a go of it together,” said Gold. “We were both interested, but neither of us knew for sure whether the other was serious. In that one meeting, we sealed the deal and began making a business plan.”

Added Cannuscio, “We quickly got our first client through our combined networks, formalized our company, www.HarborsideHRPartners.com, and from then on, all our business referrals have been strictly word-of-mouth.”

A number the group’s members have made more informal partnerships to strengthen existing businesses. Becky Buzzeo, who lives in Swampscott with her husband, Dave, has a science background. A senior account manager for the high-tech company Invitrogen, Buzzeo also wears an entrepreneurial hat as a consultant with Arbonne International, where she sells specialized skincare. She has grown her enterprise exclusively through her Web site, www.buzzeo.myarbonne.com, and by selling to people she meets through various networks, including NAN.

One of the first people Buzzeo became friendly with through NAN was Erica Marinelli, a Marblehead resident and owner of Marinelli Designs. Marinelli sells her handcrafted line of jewelry at private parties, on her Web site, www.marinellidesigns.com and at a Newbury Street boutique in Boston.

When Marinelli and Buzzeo met at a NAN function in 2006 and became members of the same book club, they hit it off.

“Erica ended up designing and custom making two necklaces for me,” said Buzzeo.

The two, who now regularly socialize, have decided to partner up for at least one party.

“Jewelry complements cosmetics, and a lot of people who would buy one might be interested in the other. It’s a great way to share each other’s networks,” said Marinelli, who has also capitalized on the opening of Chulamama.

“When Heather and Noelle — also people I became friends with through NAN — opened their store, they asked if I would offer my jewelry in their store,” she said.

“It’s been terrific,” she added, because it gives her some exposure to a market she wants to reach, and also provides Chulamama with the opportunity to sell handcrafted jewelry at reasonable prices.

Other NAN members, including the husbands of Moreno and Cannuscio, have themselves gotten additional business due to their involvement in the organization. Mike Cannuscio has had numerous real-estate referrals and Ben Moreno has received help getting his charity venture, www.Qambio.com, off the ground.

Asked about all the business partnerships that have been forged through a group founded to promote primarily social endeavors, Noelle Moreno, NAN’s current co-president, said, “It just seems to be a natural evolution with this type of organization, and no one’s complaining!”