ABOUT SBPW
South Bay Professional Women (SBPW) is a networking community created for women who are serious about what they do, but don't believe networking has to be.
SBPW brings together accomplished women from across the South Bay, including attorneys, mediators, professional fiduciaries, CPAs, forensic psychiatrists, bankers, wealth advisors, therapists, marketing specialists, real estate professionals, business owners, and more.
Different Industries. Different Expertise. Women Worth Knowing.
Our mixers are intentionally casual and welcoming, creating the kind of environment where conversations happen naturally, friendships form, referrals follow, and somewhere along the way, everyone occasionally forgets they're actually “networking.”
%20-%20edited.jpg) | Erica M. Gomez Erica has worked in the trust and estate world since 2004 and has built her career on trust, relationships and showing up for people. As a trust officer, her hands-on approach isn't just how she works, it's who she is. She brought that same philosophy to SBPW: Know talented women. Support talented women. Send talented women business. Erica is also a proud member of the South Bay bubble (West High Class of ’96), where she is raising her two children with her husband of over 20 years. God-loving and happiest surrounded by family and friends, Erica has never met a sing-along or dance floor she could resist. Mary “MK” Korkodian MK is a trust and estate attorney who has always believed women get further when they stop treating one another like competition and start opening doors for each other. She co-founded SBPW to create the kind of professional network she wanted for herself: smart women, real relationships, meaningful referrals, and absolutely no awkward networking required. Outside of work, MK loves travel, vintage finds, spontaneous adventures, and bringing good people together (which, in hindsight, probably explains SBPW). |
MEET SHIRLEY |
| Shirley Sosa Shirley came to SBPW’s very first mixer as someone else’s guest. She’s been with us ever since. Simply showing up soon turned into Shirley jumping in wherever she was needed (usually before anyone even had to ask). She became a familiar face at every mixer, then the person helping behind the scenes, and eventually the woman running SBPW’s social media and helping keep our events organized and on track. Somewhere along the way, she went from guest to indispensable. When she’s not keeping SBPW moving, Shirley is a real estate agent with Keller Williams. SBPW would not be where it is today without her, and frankly, neither Erica nor MK wants to find out what an event without Shirley would look like. |
OUR STORY |
Like many good ideas, SBPW started over lunch. In 2023, Erica and MK were lamenting the fact that they didn't know enough professional women in the South Bay, the kind of women you trust, refer business to, and actually want to have lunch with again. Then one of them said, “Why don’t we just start our own group?” Most people would have finished lunch, gone back to work, and maybe revisited the idea someday. MK and Erica are apparently not most people. The following week, SBPW was born. What started with two women, one lunch, and a little bit of “let’s just do it” energy has grown into a community of talented professional women across the South Bay. Not bad for a lunch conversation. |
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