Nelly Epic

My parents brought my family here to get away from war and poverty; they moved us here to open new doors for their sons and give their daughter a voice as a female. I grew up in Buffalo but laid roots in Rochester and have been here for the past 18 years. In Rochester, I became the youngest Joint Venture General Manager and am now an Operating Partner at Panera Bread in Penfield. While running and operating The Panera Cafe, I became part owner of Xcelerated Athletics, founded and opened Trifecta Sports, a basketball court designed to bring the community together, and from that experience, I founded Good People Deserve Wins 2- a non for profit that helps young athletes who are facing adversities beyond their control.

What is Good People Deserve Wins 2? Tell us about your mission.

~Good People Deserve

Wins 2 is a non-profit organization that provides financial assistance to youth and local sports teams, currently enrolled in athletic programs in and around Upstate New York. The mission is to strengthen the community by empowering and enhancing youth by utilizing athletics to develop well rounded youth, both mind and body, through mentoring, training, and health and fitness activities. Our core values center around well-being, character, and community. GPDW2 puts people before profits, and is here to advocate and mentor young athletes towards their reachable potential and cause a positive ripple effect in our community.

What makes you hustle? What does the word “hustle” mean to you?

~Hustle to me means the willingness to know things will not always go your way, and you will take more losses than wins, but to still have the dedication and tenacity to not quit, to keep grinding and never give up. It means finding a who asked if they could rent the space to have a pizza party to celebrate their team’s achievements. I found out the team they coached was a group of 16 and under young boys and they were celebrating qualifying for the national tournament in Orlando, Florida. way to push through the doubts and obstacles the universe puts in your way and find solutions to overcome those challenges while life still happens. To effectively and efficiently grind is the ultimate hustle flex in my perception.

Where did the name of the business come from, and how was it created?

~This answer is long winded, but it’s worth it. The name and the reason this all came to life started at Trifecta Sports, where I met two AAU coaches,

What they told me next, broke my heart. This team did everything right; they practiced hard, held each other accountable, showed up regularly to practice and games, stayed off their phones, and worked together as a team to win and qualify for a prestigious tournament for the youth. Everything which was in their control, they did right, but due to lack of funds, due to the adversities they faced because of circumstances they have no control over, they were told they could not go play in the national tournament. Imagine being at Duke or Syracuse University and qualifying for March Madness and throwing a pizza party instead of competing to be national champions; all that hard work and dedication, just to be told your season is over because your team can’t afford to make it to the championships. I was not okay with settling for this; it felt like I had been punched in the gut as the coaches were telling me their story. I knew right then, I felt pulled to help, however I could, I needed to get this team to Florida to complete; a pizza party was not going to be an acceptable