Hi! We’re Bryan and Maggie. We created Asian Hustle Network in November 2019 so that Asian entrepreneurs could connect with one another by sharing their stories.

When we first started dreaming of Asian Hustle Network, our greatest inspiration was the Meiji Jingu Shrine in Tokyo—one of the most famous Shinto temples in Japan. There, nestled in the beautiful grounds, visitors pause to write down their deepest, heartfelt wishes on wooden wishing tablets called ema (絵馬), hang their prayers from a string, and depart. Afterward, the shrine’s priests and priestesses individually pray for each and every one of the thousands of wishes around the world to come true, and for each of the writers to feel unburdened.

When we visited the shrine in April 2019, we stood there rooted for hours in the peaceful, silent space, reading the wishes of those who had come before us. A wish for a family member to recover from illness, a wish to be accepted into a certain college, a wish to be forgiven, a wish to be a good parent. . . Each was deeply relatable, like anything that comes from the most vulnerable depths of our hearts.

In our own upbringings as Asian Americans, we were taught to keep our heads down and save face, especially when we were struggling. But later in life, as we went through our own entrepreneurial journeys, we learned that bringing others along for the ride certainly made the journey less lonely. And the greatest connections we made along the way all started with the same thing: honest, heartfelt, and vulnerable storytelling.

At Asian Hustle Network, we aim to create a space of camaraderie and support for Asians in the diaspora to share their stories, whether about their entrepreneurial journey or about other personal journeys close to their hearts. Often, we’ll distribute, amplify, or do whatever else we can to help our members garner the connections that help them succeed.

Since our founding, we’ve seen members pivot their businesses, post their new products in Asian Hustle Network for feedback, and sell out within the next few hours. Others built such loyal client bases through Asian Hustle Network that they quit their jobs to start their own practices. Many more members have used the community to raise money for personal causes and crowdfunding campaigns, find new team members or business partners, make new friends, and even locate long-lost relatives.

Asians in the diaspora not only have a rich history of creative entrepreneurship dating back for centuries, but they’re also building an explosively exciting entrepreneurial era today: rewriting our narratives, reclaiming our cultures, rousing our tastebuds, and simply rejoicing in being ourselves. Our time is now, and we are here to uplift the trailblazers. Won’t you join us?