News | The Hustle

Qwayne Guavera
- May 13, 2023
- 5 min read

A Message from the Founder

The Hustle Society was originally driven by a vision to create a welcoming facility for women and a safe space for connection and training for our broader community. This idea to meet a growing need for accessible facilities was backed and funded by our community, which moved a dream to reality.

After 6 months of organising, inviting support, and sharing our vision for an alternative training option for the basketball community in Western Sydney, The Hustle Society welcomed its first members to Purdy St, Minchinbury on 13 November 2019. It quickly grew to 150 members in the first 6 months. Local entrepreneurs and leaders of organisations also found a safe space at The Hustle Society to gather, and host workshops, meetings, and special events.

Members began booking the space to organise social games with family and friends, while others saw the opportunity to train with their teams for local competitions. As word spread, so did the support for our community and our vision. The Hustle Society built a strong team of volunteers and growing interest beyond Western Sydney.

In March 2020, the global pandemic was announced and The Hustle Society found itself in the same uncertainty as many other businesses. Our commitment to keeping our community safe, alongside pressure from the government to restrict activities and gatherings made it difficult to meet financial obligations. Our core values drove our decisions through this time, and those values were and remain crucial to our survival. Thankfully, as the pandemic eased, so did the hesitation to return to basketball in 2022. Many people have returned to The Hustle Society, alongside new members. The demand has expanded and the potential to grow became clear.

As our existing lease drew closer to its end, I restarted conversations of moving The Hustle Society to a for-purpose (not-for-profit) organisation. With this, a fresh hope, a new stage, and an opportunity to take The Hustle Society to new heights for the greater good of the community is now possible.

In July 2022, The Hustle Society was officially incorporated. At this point, work began to form a board of directors that would set the foundations of the new organisation.

This announcement is one I am deeply excited to announce while also being bitter-sweet. As of 1 June 2023, I will no longer be the owner of The Hustle Society. I officially hand over the governance and management of the future of the community and space to the newly formed board of The Hustle Society Incorporated.

I am deeply grateful to the entire community for your prayers and support since the inception of the idea in early 2019 to today. The last 4 years have been an absolute honour of mine to serve you. I have been moved by the generosity of people in this community, and your willingness to show up and offer your gifts and talents to ensure that generations to come have access to opportunities that were once not available to us.

I give thanks to my family who believed in this vision and have supported me all the way, especially in my darkest days, particularly through the pandemic, and celebrated with me every moment which affirmed the decision to create this space. You made sacrifices to ensure that this space and community was possible and I am forever grateful. Thank you Dad, Mum, Biboy, Leanne, Samuel and Elijah for nurturing my love for basketball, but more importantly, my love for community. To my extended family, thank you for always embracing all things I’ve pursued.

There are no words to fully express my gratitude to my friends who made the adventure of opening this space that included a basketball facility for community hope-filled and joyful. What a ride. I also thank your families for being a part of the journey. Thank you for opening your hearts and minds to dreaming of more for those we love and the community we care about here in Western Sydney – this community that welcomed us when our families arrived. They say if you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go with others. Thank you for going beyond with me.

To all those in the community, including all sponsors and collaborators, who were generous with their time, talents, and finances, you are the backbone of all this. I especially thank the Founding Members who contributed to the start of this journey. You laid the foundations, you made the plans concrete, and you served without reservations. It means so much that we can say that this community and space was, is and will always be grounded in and by the love of selfless people.

To the staff team, thank you for welcoming every person with respect and dignity, honouring each person for who they are. Thank you for keeping our space safe. Thank you for stepping up and stepping in, especially when people needed it the most.

To all the members of The Hustle Society - all the members who have invited your community, family, and mates to this space, to encounter joy, connect, play, grow, hustle… thank you. Thank you for making this space your home. Thank you for breathing life and hope into every corner of this space and filling it with exactly who you are, your enthusiasm, your laughter, and your heart.

To the Embers Basketball community and all who have supported our journey. If it weren’t for your relentless commitment to offering spaces, pathways, and opportunities for women to access basketball, we wouldn't have dreamed of this being possible. Thank you to every woman who has committed to the journey and your families, every coach, volunteer, and supporter who saw and continues to see the potential in Embers Basketball. Thank you for affirming the journey along the way. We wouldn't have imagined or moved to create this space without you.

To the newly formed board of The Hustle Society Incorporated, please accept my deepest thank you for your willingness to take this community and space towards new heights. Thank you for dreaming big for community and putting the energy and time to work in collaboration, connecting with many others, and hopefully inviting more support for people to access local opportunities (not just in basketball), especially to those who do not often have access.

Finally, I offer all that’s been and all that will be to God who invites each of us into an adventure beyond anything we could ever imagine for ourselves - God whose nature is expansive. I am humbled that I have experienced the privilege of playing and loving basketball for most of my life, and that I have been able, in some small way, to offer that love to others through The Hustle Society. In awe of God, always.

Further information about what this new chapter will mean will be shared with all members in the coming weeks.

As we enter this time of The Hustle Society Incorporated, I ask for your continued support to the board and the organisation. I am pleased to announce the board members:

Maryrose Estepa (Chair)
Matthew Tjen (Vice Chair)
Teresa Samuels (Treasurer)
Ciantal Bigornia (Secretary)
Joy Adan
Raimie Caramancion
Qwayne Guevara

To celebrate this exciting transition, we are launching The Hustle Society Incorporated at a Launch and Fundraiser Lunch at 12noon on 4 June 2023 at Atura, Blacktown.

We would love to see all of our community come together to support this new chapter of The Hustle Society. We invite any sponsors who wish to offer their generosity to the launch event or to the future of The Hustle Society Incorporated. I look forward to seeing you all there.

Thank you again and here's to where we'll go, together.

Never lose heart,

Qwayne Guevara

The Hustle Society Incorporated Raffle Marathon

A Message from the Founder