Being an influential woman and a business go-getter requires risk and sacrifice. Sometimes, the best opportunities require leaving home for a foreign country.

The change can be a shock, but women who have made the leap say networking organizations can cushion loneliness and isolation.

"It was difficult for me because I'm single," said IWIB finalist and Flight Centre Ltd.'s North American president Andrea Slingsby. "Coming to a place without family and friends has been an incredibly difficult for me. You just don't know where to start in a strange country."

One of Slingsby's first moves was to get involved with the Young Presidents Organization's Vancouver chapter: a group she said is about 95-per-cent male.

"YPO has been fantastic. It's a wonderful way to meet people and make friends outside the work environment," Slingsby said.

Like expatriates of many countries around the world, she has also connected with a business association that celebrates her homeland. In her case, it's the Canada Australia New Zealand Business Association. But business associations such as the Mexican Business Association, The Indus Entrepre- neurs and the Canadian Italian Business and Professional Association of B.C. serve similar purposes for other expats. For a list of similar organizations, visit www.vancouvereconomic.com; select "PDFdocs," then select "list-trade-organizations.pdf."

Women who want to bond with other women in their industry also have a wide range of networking options.

For example, about 110 women members of Association of Women in Finance meet monthly at functions, usually held at the Four Seasons Hotel. AWF president Sharon Wong said her association attracted 140 people recently to see local life coach Christopher Flett give a speech entitled "What Men Don't Tell Women About Business." Membership costs $150 and more information is available at www.womeninfinance.ca.

The 25-year-old Association of Women Business Owners of the Lower Mainland has 75 members, up from 65 last year (www.wbo.ca). WBO hosts about eight weeknight dinners a year at the Vancouver Club and provides opportunities for mentorship, said its chair, Tami Reilly.

Reilly, president of the consulting firm Get Organized For Success Ltd., said she is planning a May 13-15 retreat where women can learn to write sales plans with help from Power Marketing International's senior partner Jack Voykin.

The president of another popular networking group stresses that her organization's raison d''tre is more education and mentorship than merely to mingle.

The Forum for Women Entrepreneurs of BC's president Christina Anthony said her two-and-a-half-year-old organization has grown to about 250 members who pay $100 a year.

Events range from roundtable discussions about topics such as business sucession to what the group calls the e-series training sessions for women entrepreneurs and the i-series training sessions for women investors at high-growth companies.

"Our focus is smaller groups and direct mentoring and education, not a speaker who speaks to a broad audience. That means more participation from everybody and in the end it creates better networking because you really get a chance to get into a good discussion," Anthony said.