With dreams of an Asian Buzzfeed, entrepreneurs use storytelling to inspire fellow Asian-Americans to start businesses

Jason Wang was a gang member at 13, a felon at 15, and an entrepreneur now. His is one of a dozen Asian-American success stories being told to inspire others

Their message is that entrepreneurial success came from being Asian and from their upbringing. The group behind the storytelling wants to be a hub for boldness

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Asian Hustle Network founders Bryan Pham and Maggie Chui. In two years the network of entrepreneurs has grown to a membership of 120,000. Some of their success stories have been collected in a book to inspire others to entrepreneurship.

Published: 4:15am, 15 Oct 2021Updated: 11:55am, 15 Oct 2021

Entrepreneur Jason Wang remembers clearly his mother’s reaction the day she woke up to police arresting him in the garage of their home in the southern state of Texas, in the United States.

Wang, then 15, had joined a gang two years earlier and that night had committed a first-degree felony. “I was fearless but also very stupid,” he said. “I had committed an aggravated robbery and that night I went out to a party.”

When he arrived home, they were waiting.

“I’ll never forget the look on her face as they briefed her,” he said. “She immediately told them, ‘You must have the wrong kid because he would never do that.’” But he had.

Jason Wang’s story in Uplifted: A Collection of Stories from Asian Hustle Network. Photo: Asian Hustle Network

Wang’s story is one of 18 included in Uplifted: A Collection of Stories from Asian Hustle Network, a global network of entrepreneurs from the Asian diaspora. The self-published book, written by Geena Chen and scheduled for publication this month, tells the histories of more than a dozen Asian-Americans whose success stories centre on their ethnic heritage and upbringing.