Making an impact: Hear from a few of the Flexi-Impact members joining Hub in 2023

After receiving a huge amount of applications from a range of purpose-driven businesses across the country, we’ve selected the 62 members who will be part of our 2023 Flexi-Impact Program.

As Australia’s best up-and-coming purpose-driven ventures making a positive impact on our community and environment, all of these businesses will receive a Hub membership to one of our locations in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Canberra, or Adelaide for the entire year. Each membership provides access to our community, workspaces, and exclusive member benefits such as networking events and premium amenities to help them continue to grow their impact in 2023.

We sat down with some of the lucky recipients to chat about what their business is all about, and what they’re most excited to achieve in 2023.

Cheek Media Co. – Hannah Ferguson

Tell us a bit about Cheek Media Co.

Cheek Media Co. is an Australian social-first news commentary platform delivering accessible, interesting, and entertaining journalism for young people. Cheek’s purpose is to provide a platform to discuss serious concepts in dynamic and digestible ways.

Cheek hopes to mobilise people who want to make a change in their community, but are too overwhelmed to know where to start. This platform is a conversation starter and a representation of alternate perspectives in the Australian media landscape: Cheek is news that talks back.

What are you hoping to achieve in 2023 as a Flexi-Impact member?

I’m about to launch Cheek’s third podcast, and I’ve just started a permanent merchandise store, I’m also currently writing a book that is set for publication in 2023, and I’m hoping to more than double our subscriber base, create more video-based content and hopefully engage in some campaigns and advocacy work.

Hub has the facilities and resources to assist me in all of these endeavours, and provide a strong foundation for running a successful (and busy) company. 

What are you most excited about getting to work from Hub?

I’ve just moved from Brisbane to Sydney to run Cheek full-time. I’m Cheek’s first and only employee, and am excited to grow this project into a competitive media outlet that provides progressive perspectives on news and current affairs.

Working from Hub will allow me to network, and access resources and a beautiful workspace that I otherwise probably wouldn’t be able to access.

As a launching point, Hub is perfect for building a routine, meeting new people, and providing me with an inspiring workspace to run a company from. Hub is an absolute game-changer for me. 

Light Family Law – Cecilia Wei

Tell us a bit about Light Family Law.

We are a specialised family law firm. Our mission is to guide our clients through the family law process with clear communication, professionalism, and sensitivity.

As experienced and compassionate family law specialists, we understand how
challenging it can be when an intimate relationship comes to an end. We are
committed to helping our clients achieve a just and expeditious resolution by
negotiation, mediation, or court proceedings so that they can move forward to the next chapter in their lives feeling confident and empowered.

What are you hoping to achieve in 2023 as a Flexi-Impact member?

In addition to maintaining a high quality family law service to our clients and building our brand and culture, there are two things on our agenda.

One is to start our own channel on mainstream social media platforms sharing family law information. We believe by going online, we will get more exposure in the community and attract more clients, like-minded young talents, and family law related professionals.

The other goal is to formally incorporate mediation and estate planning into our practice. We have done extensive training in these areas and cannot wait to utilise our skills for people in need.

What are you most excited about getting to work from Hub?

Working at Hub has already exceeded our expectations. Hub Southern Cross is in such an excellent location, with easy access to public transport and parking. It has everything we need to start and grow a business, like a professional concierge, premium meeting rooms, café/catering, and other facilities.

We really love the vibe here. The friendly and helpful staff make us feel at home.

Community Powered Responses – Lana Woolf

Tell us a bit about Community Powered Responses.

Community Powered Responses is my consultancy that focuses on inclusive and diverse community development.

Our main areas of focus are ensuring that people for who the local and international community development sector exists are at the forefront of that system and that their knowledge, skills, lived experience, capabilities, and strengths guide us to a more inclusive and community-led development system. 

 Really, we specialise in two things:

• Working with local and international community development workers to support their development practice to be more inclusive of women, people with disabilities, LGBTIQ+ people, and other under-represented groups
• Working with local communities of under-represented people to support them in leading the regeneration of their own communities

What are you hoping to achieve in 2023 as a Flexi-Impact member?

Firstly, I’m really grateful for the opportunity to be a Flexi-Impact member. It’s an extraordinary opportunity to have a friendly and professional place to work, hold meetings, and keep up routines. It’s also an incredibly beneficial space for an emerging business owner and consultant. 

 As for what I’m hope to achieve? Financial stability, but also the opportunity to really take things slowly. I’m coming out of six extraordinarily busy years to start my own consultancy.

So, I want to just focus on a few things and do them well. I want the space for my work to be really high quality, but also really creative.

If after one year I have a consistent group of development practitioners attending my fortnightly Bright Sparks workshops, and by the end of 2023 I have about four really high quality training courses that sell out, I will be feeling really good. 

What are you most excited about getting to work from Hub?

 It has just about everything you can ask for. I have already organised to get a locker and to access the end-of-trip facilities. What a great way to start and finish the day – cycling!

Then there’s the workspace itself. Hub Southern Cross is a beautiful restored space in an old building, with plenty of nooks and crannies to work from.

The flexibility around access times is also great, and I like the meeting rooms because they bring an instant professional vibe. The staff are also super lovely. 

rePlated – Naomi Tarszisz

Tell us a bit about rePlated.

rePlated makes reusable takeaway food containers and designs systems to make reuse simple. We work with businesses of all sizes to help them meet their waste goals, from restaurants to some of Australia’s biggest companies. Our mission is to make single-use history.

We are proudly for profit, for purpose, and have consistently ranked in the top 5% of ‘B Corps for the environment’ since being certified. Our products are proudly designed and manufactured in Australia.

What are you hoping to achieve in 2023 as a Flexi-Impact member?

We’ve spent a long time working from home. As great as that is, having a community of motivated people to tap into is going to be critical for us as we grow this year.

We have already 10x our 2022 revenue in Q1 of 2023, and we are planning to do that again before the end of the year. So, there are lots of exciting times ahead and goals to be kicked.

What are you most excited about getting to work from Hub?

I really want to say people and community, but first and foremost it’s fast and reliable wifi. It sucks in my hood, and I can’t be having it cut out during meetings anymore. 

It should also come as no surprise, but I started rePlated so that I could match my lunch to my coffee cup, so lunch is super important to me and my growing team. Getting back to chinatown for some cheeky noodles is top of the list.

Be The Future – Sally Giblin

shrinker – Omar Ibrahim

Tell us a bit about shrinker.

At shrinker, we’re building a world-first clinically validated tool that helps therapy seekers with the biggest challenges facing them when seeking help: not knowing what type of psychologist and therapy is best for them, and not knowing if a certain psychologist is a good fit for them personally.

What are you hoping to achieve in 2023 as a Flexi-Impact member?

We’re hoping to launch our beta platform in February, and secure funds to run clinical trials. 

What are you most excited about getting to work from Hub?

Making new friends, coffee machine chats, brainstorming with strangers, and being part of the community! 

MyMuse – Nikki Shah

Tell us a bit about MyMuse.

Our mission at MyMuse is to change the way that cancer is seen and managed within the workplace. MyMuse has a team of specialists across all of Australia and New Zealand that develop training and support for employers, managers and leadership teams through oncologists, psychologists, HR managers, palliative care specialists, lawyers, and policy writers.

We work with any size organisation to help change the way cancer is seen and managed in their workplace. With 1 in 2 Australians being diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime, and the numbers increasing in people of working age, cancer is going to affect us all either personally or as a carer, so what are we really doing about it? 

What are you hoping to achieve in 2023 as a Flexi-Impact member?

The team at MyMuse have a very exciting year ahead. We are in the final stages of developing an online platform, our team is expanding, and we have a specific target we want to achieve to help people in the community affected by cancer. 

What are you most excited about getting to work from Hub? 

Being given a space at Hub will allow me to return to an office space and not be working from home after becoming a new mum. I’m keen to meet other up and coming businesses that use Hub as their homebase, and possibly even share our help and support at MyMuse to other members at Hub. 

Read the full list of Flexi-Impact members joining Hub in 2023