Listed: Wide Bay’s social media influencers revealed
They’re bloggers, reality TV stars and artists and one thing they all have in common is their large social media following. See the local list of big names here.
Bundaberg
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As technology has advanced, the growth and popularity of social media platforms has also continued to rise.
Around the world, billions of people log on, like, share and comment on social media platforms including Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
But as the Covid pandemic forced people into lockdowns, people also got creative making videos and sharing them to the ever so popular platform TikTok.
Some Wide Bay locals have turned their social media presence into their living, partnering with big name brands and developing products and programs for their followers.
Here are some of the region’s most popular social media influencers.
1. Jody Allen – Stay at Home Mum
As a stay-at-home mum blogger turned global entrepreneur, Gympie mother-of-two Jody Allen is an inspiration to others in adopting digital technologies to create a thriving online business.
Jody operates her website Stay at Home Mum from Gympie and has employed a team to help run the online space.
She said she first got into websites because she found existing parent blogs were “too sterile and unrealistic”.
“I wanted to read content by real people in real situations,” Jody told The Gympie Times.
“I wanted to read about other mums who gave their kids weetbix for dinner occasionally.”
Jody has wanted to write since she was a child and said she learned from the best – Councillor Bob Fredman when she worked for him.
“I’m so lucky to write full-time professionally,” she said.
Through Stay at Home Mum, Jody has been able to inspire more than 1 million mums and provide them with them a non-judgemental place to access helpful and hilarious content.
Stay at Home Mum recently won a silver at the QLD/NT 2021 AusMumpreneur Awards.
Click here to visit the website
2. Robbi Jan
Daughter of a Maryborough dentist Robbi Jan has a large following on multiple platforms including YouTube and Instagram and also has her own website.
Based in Los Angeles, she also has a YouTube podcast series called The Miracle Mindset where she chats about mental wellbeing, business, life and motivation.
On her Instagram page Robbi has 215,000 followers, with an additional 132,000 subscribers on her YouTube channel.
She posts about fashion and beauty, fitness and life with her partner.
Click here to visit the Instagram page
Click here to visit the YouTube channel
3. The Quinn Girls
Bundaberg mum Eleesha Quinn is known for her Instagram account @the.quinn.girls.
The account, inspired by interior design, fashion and travel, has 203,000 followers on Instagram.
The account also features photos of Eleesha’s three daughters in gorgeous matching outfits.
She told the Courier Mail in 2019 one photo of a dress she had bought started it all.
“I was posting these pictures and one day tagged I tagged the company that I’d bought the dresses from, they loved it, they wanted to feature it on their page,” she said.
“It just sort of snowballed from there, from then people seeing my girls on this particular company’s page, then they would get in touch with me so they could send things to the girls. That’s how it all started.”
Click here to visit the Instagram page
4. Mitch Langerak – Soccer star
Soccer star Mitch Langerak is one of the most followed athletes with ties to Bundaberg.
The former Bundy man has racked up 196,000 followers on Instagram.
On his account, Langerak shares images from his soccer matches and home life with his kids.
Click here to visit the Instagram page
5. Josie Desgrand
Coming in fifth spot on our list is Josie Desgrand, who uses Instagram to share with her followers her inspirational weight loss journey.
Her pages, including Instagram’s NolongerfatJosie which promote a healthy lifestyle and positivity and has a following of 135,000, show how she lost half her body weight in a year.
She has also started another account for a six-week challenge she has developed to help others on their journey to lose weight, build strength and/or break unhealthy habits.
Click here to visit the Instagram page
6. Tanna Tribe
Bundaberg family the Tanna’s have a following of more than 99,000.
Mum of four Candice shares photos of her family and their adventures.
The family has partnered with many big name brands including Lego, Big W and The Iconic Kids.
Earlier this year the Tanna kids were selected to be part of retail giant Big W’s Toy Squad for their annual Toy Mania sale.
As part of the toy squad, the kids were featured in videos on Big W’s website sharing their thoughts and road testing some of the toys that were on offer during the sale.
Click here to visit the Instagram page.
7. Caitlyn Shadbolt – Country music singer
Gympie’s country pop darling Caitlyn Shadbolt is active on social media and regularly updates her 56,000 followers on Facebook and 32,000 followers on Instagram.
Shadbolt became famous after placing fifth on The X Factor Australia and releasing her debut extended album in 2015, which peaked at number 50 on the charts.
She uses her platform to post about her upcoming albums, tours and other personal experiences she wants to share.
Click here to visit the Facebook page
8. Elise Nicholson
When Elise, 16, posted a TikTok she filmed while on one of the Gympie Show’s terrifying 40m-high rides and it went viral, receiving more than 1.6 (now 4.9) million views, she couldn’t believe it.
The former James Nash student and model said she has been creating videos on the app since 2016, and wasn’t expecting her video taken on a ride at the Gympie Show to get as much love as it did.
“It didn’t really cross my mind to make a TikTok with the footage until one of my friends said to me, ‘It would be so awesome for people to see what it’s like up there, the people who were too scared to go on it’, I thought that was a pretty cool idea so I posted it,” Miss Nicholson said.
“I just post what makes me happy and things that my friends might like to see.
“I like that it’s so easy to reach people from around the world, see what they’re doing and what their lives are like.”
Click here to visit the Instagram page
9. Bruce Devereaux – Dad blogger
Gympie councillor Bruce Devereaux runs one of the biggest dad blogs in Australia, Big Family Little Income, and has for the past decade.
His website and Facebook page covers everything from easy recipes to discussions on parenting and often have readers in stitches of laughter.
Click here to visit the website
10. Felise Kaufusi – NRL Star
Another Bundaberg sporting champion with a large following includes Felise Kaufusi, who plays rugby league for the Melbourne Storm and helped the mighty Queensland Maroons secure the 2020 State of Origin.
Kaufusi has a following on Instagram of 38,ooo where he shares photos from his time on and off the field.
Click here to visit the Instagram page
11. Dan, Steph and Emmy
Dan and Steph Mulheron won the hearts and stomachs of Australia and their home patch on the Fraser Coast after they won season four of My Kitchen Rules in 2013.
They opened up their own dine in and takeaway food venue EAT at Dan and Steph’s and have also taken on a number of other projects including their own line of sausages at Coles and more recently, their own TV series called Travel and EAT with Dan and Steph.
They also appeared on My Kitchen Rules again last year for the MKR Rivals series where they made the grand final.
Their Instagram page Dan, Steph + Emmy shares photos of life and adventures with their young daughter Emmy, who was conceived after a long IVF journey, and also recipes for you to try at home.
It has a following of more than 24,000.
Click here to visit the Instagram page
12. Josh and Brandon Jarius – House Rules contestants
Chippy brothers from Maryborough Josh and Brandon Jarius became household names after they appeared on renovation reality series House Rules in 2018.
Both were close to making the finals but were eliminated and ultimately placed fourth.
Their Instagram page has a following of 18,000 and features pictures of what they’ve been up to since wrapping up House Rules and images from their time on the show.
Click here to visit the Instagram page
13. Chern’ee Sutton – Indigenous artist
Local indigenous artist Chern’ee Sutton is know around Bundaberg and Australia for her colourful indigenous artwork creations.
She is a proud Kalkadoon woman and Aboriginal artist originally from Mount Isa who is passionate about her culture and history and wants to share that with the rest of the world through her art.
Her unique style combines two worlds of traditional Aboriginal heritage with a modern contemporary twist which has caught the eyes of collectors around the world, including Royalty and on the 2018 Commonwealth Games mascot Borobi.
She has artwork hanging in The Royal Collection in Buckingham Palace, Queensland Parliament House, Queensland State Library and has exhibited her artworks in London, Tokyo, Singapore, Hong Kong, Melbourne and Sydney.
Chern’ee’s artworks have also been commissioned by the State Government, the NRL, The Royal Australian Mint and the 2018 Commonwealth Games just to name a few.
She has also received a number of accolades.
Chern’ee has a following on Facebook of 12,000 and an Instagram following of more than 16,000.
She also had her own website.
Click here to visit the Facebook page
Click here to visit the Instagram page
Click here to visit the website
14. Tylen Wallace
A boy from the bush, Mount Perry’s Tylen Wallace has quite the following on social media – TikTok in particular.
On the video sharing platform, Tylen posts videos of life on working on a property which receive thousands of views.
Tylen has a following of more than 11,000 on Instagram and a following of more than 90,000 on TikTok.
Click here to visit the TikTok page
Click here to visit the Instagram page
15. Nicky Stephenson
Rounding out our list is Fraser Coast mental health and suicide prevention advocate Nicky Stephenson.
With a following of just under 10,000, Nicky shares images of stunning local landscapes with quotes of encouragement and inspiration.
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