Young professionals: Noosa region’s bright stars of real estate, finances and law featured

The Noosa region is home to young professionals carving out careers in real estate, law and more. Read more here about some of the region’s brightest corporate prospects.

Sophie von Plomgren.

From paralegals to real estate agents and business owners, the Noosa region has a lot of young talent in a number of fields.

In a place more widely for its tourism there is a thriving business community bubbling away in the paradise that is Noosa.

Check out nine of Noosa’s best and brightest young professionals:

Sophie von Plomgren, 35, paralegal

This paralegal completed a forensic science degree at a Sydney university before working as a transcriptionist throughout Australia for three years.

She is finishing post-graduate study and will soon become a lawyer.

“The thing I love most, having worked in criminal and family law, I like to create a sense of order when it’s required,” she said.

Sophie von Plomgren. Picture: Contributed

“I like the honesty in family and criminal law.”

She said she also liked coronial matters, which used the law to come up with solutions to issues to prevent them from happening again.

Lauren Chen, 29, real estate agent

Ms Chen followed her dad into the industry and the pair works at Tom Offermann Real Estate.

The real estate agent of 10 years said she liked helping people buy and sell property.

“I love it, and you have to get into real estate for the right reasons,” Ms Chen said.

Lauren Chen. Picture: Contributed

She said her biggest sale was $11.8m in March, 2022, for a home in Quamby Place.

One of her proudest moments was being listed in the Courier-Mail’s list of “young guns” of real estate in May, 2022.

Jarrod Officer, 36, business owner

Mr Officer and his wife recently bought his family’s business, Noosa Wholesalers.

They stock about 2500 items that they sell to other businesses and schools.

He said he spent 15 years at the National Australia Bank as a senior business banking manager and it was time for a change.

Mr Officer said he was proud of helping many customers over the years at the bank and had transferred those skills to his business, by supporting Sunshine Coast and Noosa businesses.

Georgia Scharer, 27, real estate agent

The McGrath Estate Agents Noosa agent said she was most proud of her career given her rough upbringing and her parents dying at a young age.

“I went to 33 schools,” Ms Scharer said.

“There were many options for me to go down and not do well, but I’ve kept going and I’ve done it on my own.”

Georgia Scharer. Picture: Contributed

She said one of her most memorable sales was a Coolum Beach house in which the Chinese owners required numerology offered with the sale and the house had also featured on television show, Getaway.

Her advice to others who did not have much support was to be themselves.

“I started in reception roles while I was in high school and I found it was my personality that people gravitated towards, don’t doubt yourself and just get into it,” Ms Scharer said.

Sophie Kearney, 19, personal assistant

Real estate was a field that interested Ms Kearney from the moment she left high school and she joined McGrath Estate Agents Noosa.

She is the principal’s PA and is also taking on other administration responsibilities.

Sophie Kearney. Picture: Contributed

Ms Kearney wants to become a real estate agent and has also started working with a team on listings.

“I started in a reception role and I’ve always wanted to move into sales so it was a good move to go to the PA role,” she said.

Daniel Moisander, 32, lawyer

The lawyer at SPM Law, which offers a number of services including commercial law, wills and estates and more, said one of the biggest drawcards to the Noosa region was working in such close proximity to world-class national parks and beaches.

“It really is as good as it sounds,” he said.

Daniel Moisander. Picture: Contributed

“It’s a place you can have a genuine commercial career while living in paradise.”

Nick Sobey, 26, lawyer

Mr Sobey has been a lawyer for about a year and also works at SPM Law.

“My dad was a former legal practitioner of the firm and he passed away at the start of the year,” he said.

Nick Sobey. Picture: Contributed

Although his career had been marked by the sadness of his dad’s death, Mr Sobey said Noosa had always been special to him and he enjoyed working with a variety of people, from mum and dad clients to developers to councils.

“It’s nice to be working in a professional environment and working in a town that is progressing in addition to living in one of the best places in the world,” he said.

Nick Mooney, 26, graduate mechanical engineer

Not much of a city person, Unitywater employee Mr Mooney could not think of a better place to live or work.

The mechanical engineer has worked on deploying and monitoring odour loggers to detect and resolve any odour issues across Noosa, as well as monitoring water usage to check for suspected leaks in the network.

Nick Mooney. Picture: Contributed

“I love being able to live by the coast and still work for a respected company with challenging and rewarding work,” Mr Mooney said.

“What I love most about being an engineer is being able to effect positive change in my local community and work on infrastructure as vital as water.”

James O’Neile, 29, chief marketing officer

The chief marketing officer at Revive Financial said he had enjoyed being part of building an “incredible workplace” in the Noosa region.

Revive Financial guides individuals and businesses out of financial debt.

James O’Neile. Picture: Contributed

Mr O’Neile said his workplace had introduced a nine-day fortnight, had an employee assistance program and did a lot of healthy activities around food, sport and work.

“Over the next couple of years, we want to build Australia’s biggest financial wellbeing platform for vulnerable Australians struggling with debt,” he said.