Today we’d like to introduce you to Maggie Chui.
So, before we jump into specific questions, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I was born and raised in San Francisco, CA after my parents immigrated to the United States from Hong Kong in the 1970s. I identify myself as a Chinese American and go by the pronouns of she/her/hers. I come from a traditional Asian family and my parents’ only hope for their children was for us to go to college, graduate, and find a stable job in the workforce.
Graduating college with a degree in finance, I found myself working different cubicle jobs. I worked in city and local government for a short time coming out of college and I remember my parents being so excited because they knew I would be promised a steady job with good benefits. However, I couldn’t see myself working there for long— not because there was anything beneath me in the work, but because I wanted so much more for myself.
When I had quit that government job, my parents were expectedly upset and worried about my decision. Since then, I moved onto tech and was first intrigued by the concept of entrepreneurship when I was in my mid-20s, partnering with a few others on a staging business which fulfilled my curiosity and passion for interior design.
In November 2019, I started a community called Asian Hustle Network (AHN) with my partner, Bryan Pham. We had a vision to create a global impact for the Asian community by empowering and uplifting Asian entrepreneurs and allies around the world. Our mission of AHN is to push for more Asian representation in mainstream media and for Asians to rise in investment and corporate ladders.
From the time of creation, we have grown the community to over 63,000 members worldwide, with a majority of the population situated in Los Angeles, CA. Prior to COVID-19, AHN hosted in-person events across the US, Australia, Asia, and Europe. Today, we continue to provide as many resources and tools (even if it has to be virtually) to give back to the community that we serve.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
The journey has been absolutely rewarding, but I can’t say it has been easy. With 63,000+ entrepreneurs and professionals in one community, you are bound to have many strong personalities in one room. Nurturing a community is very different from nurturing a follower base on a social media platform because you have to ensure that the initiatives you drive forward will benefit everyone in the group, not just one person. Since creating the community, we have had a number of people reach out to us and ask if they could join our team. It’s easy for an entrepreneur to want to promote their business to a community so long as they have 63,000+ people right at their fingertips. We needed to ensure that the members we were bringing onto our team weren’t driving the community towards a certain direction in order to benefit themselves but actually felt passionate about our mission. We had to think from an abundance mindset standpoint because our ultimate goal is to bridge the gap in our community and make impactful changes for our generation— something that is larger than ourselves.
Secondly, with the recent social climate shift due to COVID-19, we have been seeing more racism and xenophobia largely experienced by the Asian community. Many times, members wanted to re-share news and videos of racist attacks that have been made viral to which we had to say “no more”— not because we were turning a blind eye, but because we already knew that the problem existed. We see these videos resurfaced in every other community and know what is happening, so we needed to start focusing on the solutions rather than the problems. Our mission has always been to uplift and supports each other in the community and if we continue to feed ourselves negativity, we are bound to drive ourselves apart rather than bring us together. Many corporations across the nation have been fearful to make a statement, but we have always felt that it is always better to say something than to not. We’ve been vocal about our fight against racism, understanding that we must support other communities if we want our community to thrive as well.
Please tell us about Asian Hustle Network.
I am the Co-Founder and COO of Asian Hustle Network. AHN is an online community that started from a Facebook group in November 2019 with a vision to create a global impact by empowering and uplifting Asian entrepreneurs and allies around the world.
I am most proud of our team members who are the pillars that make our company so special. In the past nine months, we have grown our internal team to over 25 talented individuals who are deeply passionate about AHN’s mission to make a difference for the Asian community.
What sets us apart from others is that the core of AHN is based on story sharing. We understand that, in Asian culture, we were always taught to keep our heads down and to not create chaos. However, in our ever-evolving generation, we believe that we must use our voices, empower ourselves and our peers, and claim our heritage all at the same time.
We encouraged the members of this community to share their entrepreneurial stories and break away from the generational limiting belief from our parents that we should always stay quiet. If we can all be open about sharing our stories, telling our peers about what we can offer them, and asking for help when we need it, we will all be able to understand each other a little better and succeed together.
What were you like growing up?
Growing up, I always knew I wanted to make a difference in the world. I was also very curious about the culture, heritage and history of my family. As a child, listening to my parents tell me about their experiences immigrating from Hong Kong to the United States didn’t register deep enough to make me realize what they had to give up to provide a better life for me and my siblings. However, I still loved learning more about these stories even if I would not fully understand at that young age. Rehearing those stories today makes me try to put myself in their position that they had to sacrifice everything they had back at home for the sake of their children.
I was also more on the quiet side as a child. I would always tap into my internal thoughts and hone into my analytical personality. In addition, I found myself to be very orderly and organized. I was stubborn in the way that I wanted things done right and wanted things done right the first time. As I became older, I learned to be more vocal in speaking up for myself and more accepting of getting things done even if it meant getting things done right the second time around.
While I was growing up, I knew that I wanted to make an impactful change in the world, but I wasn’t sure how at the time. I would always try to envision many things into reality by playing different scenarios out in my head of how certain occurrences would happen or the type of person I would become in the future. Today, I still believe that the way to get to your goals is to train your mindset and envision yourself as the person you want to become. Believe you can become that person in the first place— then start living it and breathing it until it becomes reality.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.asianhustlenetwork.com
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/magg.chui
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/magg.chui
Image Credit:
Angelina Hong Media, Anicete Photo, Andrew Park, Firelight Digital Media, 888 Productions
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