Inspiring Local Stories

Veronique established 'Dancing for Wellbeing' Seniors Ballet in 2017, offering the Ballet for Better Balance 55+™️ program to improve seniors' physical and mental fitness.

Tim and Katie’s small business journey started after opening a homewares store called Jedo’s Beach House. After owning Jedo’s for years and putting in the hard yards, they decided to sell the business and their house along with it to take their three young kids around the country for a full year of camping. They’re now back, better than eve...

Blake, the marketing/gaming manager of Bowlo Sports and Leisure in Yamba, tells us that the land to build the first bowling green was approved in 1935, and the original owners borrowed 300 pounds to construct it. Two years later, the first Club House was built, at a cost of just 130 pounds! Although the clubhouse was rebuilt in 1998, it’s bee...

When Maddison founded AMMO Hair and Beauty back in 2016, the team was just her, a single hairdresser, and a single beautician operating out of one salon. Although they started small, she’s always been a trailblazer, as they were the first to offer a one-stop-shop for both hair and beauty for Maclean’s locals. Our many hairdressers and salons ha...

Riverside Ranch started out as a horse riding business, helmed by owner and founder Christine. After insurance costs sky-rocketed, Christine made the decision to close the Ranch back in 2015, choosing instead to let their gorgeous property out for holidays. A year into letting out the homestead, a couple booked in who were planning to get married i...

Ben and Cam founded the Taphouse at Southern Highlands Brewing after meeting on the rugby field playing for their local club, the Bowral Blacks. After bonding over their love for the finer things (beer and rugby), they made the decision to start the taphouse back in 2016. Counterintuitively, the pandemic has actually had a positive effect on their ...

Jason and Fiona have been the owners of Highland Fires and BBQs since last year, but the store has been the go-to for all your BBQ and firewood needs for a long time. The couple took over the business in July of last year, just before retail sales really started to slow down for the season. As with taking over any new business, they wondered what t...

Meet Rebecca, the founder of the Southern Highlands’ one-stop-shop for all things trendy and local business. She started The Fold Media back in 2017 and says she LOVED her start-up days. They created their website and social media profiles and immediately started to showcase the beautiful Southern Highlands businesses and their people, and their ...

Wendy started Platypus Dreamin’ in 2016 to educate her community and raise awareness of Australian indigenous culture. Since then, Wendy has run cultural programs, medicine walks, and traditional smoking ceremonies for locals of all ages, from preschoolers to teachers. Although officially starting Platypus Dreamin’ four years ago, Wendy has bee...

Valentina founded Banter Group back in 2017, to share her many years of marketing expertise with the small businesses in her local community. It was hectic from the get go, the business growing rapidly, employing eight locals within their first few months. They continued to only employ their locals, and ended up winning the Small Business Award for...

In the midst of the COVID crisis, Einat, along with a group of seasoned entrepreneurs decided to launch TradeSquare, to help Australian small businesses source goods locally, online. The inspiration for TradeSquare came after the pandemic hit pause on the trade shows and sales events that so many businesses rely on. After being left wondering where...

Say G’day to another business born just before the pandemic – Felicity, who founded Scoops and Candy in Lismore. They started trading with a brick-and-mortar store in February of this year, recruiting a bunch of their friends to fit out the shop themselves. When they first opened Felicity and her partner were busy running two other businesses, ...