def get_member_brief(self, member_id=0):

        ''' a method to retrieve member profile info

        :param member_id: [optional] integer with member id from member profile
        :return: dictionary with member profile inside [json] key

        member_profile = self.objects.profile_brief.schema
        '''

    # https://www.meetup.com/meetup_api/docs/members/:member_id/#get

        title = '%s.get_member_brief' % self.__class__.__name__

    # validate inputs
        input_fields = {
            'member_id': member_id
        }
        for key, value in input_fields.items():
            if value:
                object_title = '%s(%s=%s)' % (title, key, str(value))
                self.fields.validate(value, '.%s' % key, object_title)

    # construct request fields
        url = '%s/members/' % self.endpoint
        params = {
            'member_id': 'self'
        }
        if member_id:
            params['member_id'] = member_id

    # send request
        response_details = self._get_request(url, params=params)

    # construct method output dictionary
        profile_details = {
            'json': {}
        }
        for key, value in response_details.items():
            if not key == 'json':
                profile_details[key] = value

    # parse response
        if response_details['json']:
            if 'results' in response_details['json'].keys():
                if response_details['json']['results']:
                    details = response_details['json']['results'][0]
                    for key, value in details.items():
                        if key != 'topics':
                            profile_details['json'][key] = value
        profile_details['json'] = self.objects.profile_brief.ingest(**profile_details['json'])

        return profile_details