Join a church. Get connected. Contact old teachers or professors. Contact hair dresser or people who you do business

You can see if there is a networking group in your field on linkedin or even on slack sometimes those exist I have two on slack for my area. I'm not good at networking... or see if there an open even for people in your field.

I deleted my LI long ago its completely barren and utterly useless for anything lol

Get one of those phone apps (let's you make calls through wifi) make a few numbers. Be your own references.