Lawrence McLean, on a mission to broaden the reaches, horizons, and perspectives of our community by bringing them to the world. Lawrence’s missions started as a result of the constant let down of friends backing out of travel plans, or simply not sharing his interest in going to places further than the Caribbean. After joining meetup.com he quickly realized that his frustrations were shared by many others like him. In response, he took his desire to see the world, combined it with his software engineering background, and created an ever-growing network of travelers. He started the group African American Travelers of Philadelphia on meetup.com in 2013. Since then, he started another chapter in New York, and now has a combined membership of over 2,200. He’s led the group to 5 different countries, including Paris twice, Toronto for Caribana, Italy, Egypt, and Dubai, with over 100 of his members coming from every corner of the country. He plans to more than double that accomplishment by visiting an additional 9 countries in 2016 alone and create another chapter in the DMV area and beyond.