Coffs Harbour and Clarence influencers from Russell Crowe to Cath Fowler
From a budding skater girl to an animal worshipper and everything in between, the Coffs Coast and Clarence region is home to influential online personalities.
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From a budding skater girl and an animal worshipper through to a fitness guru and a very famous actor, the Coffs Coast and Clarence region is home to some pretty influential people.
While some may not be happy with the “influencer” tag, there’s no doubt they’re making their mark across a range of platforms in a broad cross section of the community:
Rolling_jazzy
For rolling_jazzy it’s not about the followers but her posts, documenting her early attempts at roller skating, are providing lots of laughs and a fantastic down-to earth example of grit and determination.
Relying on her “indomitable will and competitive nature” to get her through, Jasmine O’Meagher has been sharing the highs and lows, stacks and all.
A recent post featured her attempting a cartwheel in roller-skates.
“Never done a cartwheel in my life, so why not try my first one with skates on?”
She even attempted her first “drop in” at the skate park - sliding on her bum.
The self-confessed skateaholic has lived in Coffs Harbour for just over six years.
“I am hoping to look back in a year or so to see how far my skating has come and to be real about the journey: cuts, bruises, falls and all.
“And hopefully give people a good laugh in the process.”
Paws and Claws
This crazy vegan animal worshipper is run off her feet caring for people’s pets.
Linda Saggus at Paws and Claws is always posting great photos of the adventures of her four-legged clients.
She has more than 2000 followers on Instagram.
Linda’s posts not only show how much fun they get up to, but the images celebrate the beauty of the Coffs Coast from creeks and rivers, to the beaches and bush tracks.
She offers pet minding, dog walking, pet transport and giftware.
The Christmas holiday period is her busiest time of year and this year is no different.
King of the Hill
King Of The Hill Studio has more than 11,000 followers on Instagram and more than 6000 on Facebook.
Such is the studio's popularity, owner Rob Domberelli had to take to Facebook recently posting a photo of a cactus telling people “Don’t be a p****” after he was inundated with people wanting to book a tattoo.
With a number of his artists either unwilling to be vaccinated or not yet double dosed he was struggling to meet demand so made the plea adding: “we ask for your patience and understanding in these times, but we also ask for kindness. We’re doing our best and being on the receiving end of aggressive demands isn’t helpful, and it’s not going to allow us to book you in any sooner”.
Rob is looking forward to 2022 when he hopes operations will be back to normal.
The studio is particularly popular for its “fix up” jobs where old tattoos are reformed just like on the popular show Tattoo Nightmares.
Equestrian Rider Apparel
Ngaio Miller is from Yamba and has a strong following in the Coffs Harbour equestrian scene.
Ms Miller has more than 5000 followers on Instagram.
Her clothing line caters to riders of all shapes and sizes.
“I originally wanted to find a long-sleeve shirt to wear because we have a lot of mosquitoes around here but all I could find online were shirts with, quite frankly, over-the-top horse logos in very large print across the front,” she said.
“I kept looking, but the next problem was finding anything that wasn’t just boring, plain clothing.”
She said she set out to design equestrian apparel that could be worn from the show ring to the shopping centre without having to change clothes.
Ms Miller said her goal with the launch of Equestrian Rider Apparel was to introduce a more youthful horse rider apparel line to cater to all shapes and sizes.
Russell Crowe
He is a household name but he’s also a Nana Glen local when he’s not filming Hollywood blockbusters across the globe.
Rusty is a regular Twitter user, with 2.7m followers.
He recently documented life in lockdown after a Covid case sent the entire crew of his latest film Poker Face into lockdown just six days before filming was set to wrap up.
The Academy Award winner was directing as well as starring in the big budget production based at Sydney’s Fox Studios and also filming around Kiama.
The nature lover wasted no time forming bonds with some friendly sulphur crested cockatoos while in lockdown- similar to the bonds he has with the yellowtail black cockatoos at his Nana Glen property.
He tweeted videos hand feeding his new friends and enjoying quiet times listening to the frogs and insects around his apartment on Sydney Harbour at Barangaroo.
It’s been a big 12 months for Crowe, 57, with plans revealed in June this year for his $438 million film studio in Coffs Harbour.
The studio is set to be the first fully integrated feature-film production and post production complex in Australia and will allow actors to stay with their family in Coffs Harbour while filming.
He also lost his father Alex who was much-loved and respected in the Coffs Harbour community earlier in the year.
Hayley Connor
Hayley Connor doesn’t like the term influencer but it may be more applicable than the stereotype has become.
Born and raised in Grafton, the real estate marketer has turned her love of healthy eating and exercise into a platform followed by more than 17,000 people.
Originally started as the Happiest Healthy Project, Ms Connor runs her page under her own name now, and said it all started from her friends asking her for advice.
“I was telling my friends what I was doing for eating and training and I thought if I could set up a platform I could share and help more people,” she said.
“The whole purpose is to inspire and motivate people to live their happiest and healthiest life.”
Her Instagram page is filled with recipes, motivation and other advice and seems to have struck more of a chord than Ms Connor imagined.
“I set a list of goals for my page when I started, because I’ve seen other people’s pages grow quite a lot … and I thought if I got to 500 followers I would be happy.”
She currently has almost 18,000 followers.
Pilates with Elise
From her home studio at Mullaway to the various headlands on the Northern Beaches, Elise Bocking has inspired countless women across the region to pursue an active lifestyle.
Pilates is her thing but she also posts photos and videos of her skiing and mountain bike adventures or surfing trips with her husband and two sons.
She moved to Woolgoolga from Sydney in 2008 and established pilates with Elise in 2011.
She was the co-owner of Studiomove for five years then pivoted her business to an online platform due to Covid.
In 2019 she was the winner of Dancing with the Stars Coffs Coast and raised $12,500 for the Cancer Council. She has performed in the past two cabaret shows for Naidu Theatre Co.
Mums of Coffs Harbour
Cath Fowler first created the Mums of Coffs Harbour Facebook group just a month after moving to the area in October 2017.
“My husband had grown up in Sawtell but I was moving here with two young kids not knowing anyone,” she said.
Cath says the moment you become a mum, there’s a never-ending list of questions.
“So I was interested in finding a place to ask questions about daycare, schools and places for swimming lessons, local doctors etc. I couldn’t find somewhere that suited these types of questions so decided to create the group.”
It’s now grown to have more than 2200 local Coffs mums and is a safe and inclusive space to connect with one another, seek recommendations and offer advice.
“I don’t allow advertising (outside of a post each Friday) and have some good guidelines in place for the group, so it’s been able to maintain its kind and friendly sense of community.”
There has been some wonderful friendships formed that have moved from Facebook into real life and that’s what it’s really about for Cath.
“Helping other mums feel like they are less alone, which was even more important over the past few years with lockdowns and things like that.”
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