Tammy Hembrow, Mick Fanning, Shammi Prasad: Gold Coast business people who started out in other professions
They may have started out as stars for very different reasons but these Gold Coasters quickly became business heavyweights. FIND OUT HOW THEY DID IT
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FROM champion athletes to influencers, these Gold Coast celebrities who moved into the business world quickly became heavyweights in their new field.
Sel Berdie
The former Gold Coast Titan has taken his healthy lifestyle off the field and into businesses across the city.
Partnering with his wife Jenna, the couple has brought the Coast BSKT, CMBT Training Centre and Lucky Bao.
Selling popular Mermaid Beach cafe BSKT in February 2020, Berdie still owns Lucky Bao in the same area.
Recently the couple launched their latest venture Sprout Organic, providing plant-based nutrition for kids.
Later this year the company is bringing out what the couple believes is the world’s first organic, plant-based infant formula.
The company was born after the couple struggled to find a plant-based formula when painful mastitis forced Ms Berdie to stop breastfeeding their first baby, Ellis.
Tammy Hembrow
The mother of two rose to fame thanks to her business nous in 2015 after launching her online workout programs, along with posting risqué photos in bikinis on Instagram.
It was in June 2017, when the influencer launched her clothing brand Saski Collection that her business career took off.
Hembrow’s ranges would often sell out online within hours if not minutes, including her ‘Mesh Collection’ in 2019 and her noughties inspired ‘Velour Collection’ in September 2020, which was worn by pop star J.Lo.
The 26-year-old had an estimated net worth of approximately $13 million in 2020 and she is using her profile to help others.
The activewear company’s website introduced I=CHANGE, where $1 from every transaction is donated to charities that help end violence against women, prevent women dying from breast cancer and help children with cancer.
Amy and Emilee Hembrow
Like their sister Tammy, the family members built their profiles through social media and the popular pair went into business together in 2020.
The sisters – who together have more than 1.2 million Instagram followers — launched their business SSKIN in August.
The Bundall cosmetic business includes the facials, injectables and IV drip treatments they’ve experienced in the United States with the sisters wanting to bring the latest therapeutics from America to the Coast.
The Hembrows don’t do any of the services themselves, instead hiring two nurses, a doctor and facialist.
Matt Poole
The former Nutri-Grain Ironman Series champion and Coolangatta Gold runner-up moved from the water to the kitchen in 2020, opening Burleigh Heads restaurant Maman.
Launching in October might have seemed risky with the world dealing with the COVID-19 crises, but the partner of Tammy Hembrow was able to use his social pull to have names like Mick Fanning and DJ Fisher at the launch.
The Mediterranean/Middle Eastern eatery is an extension of a Port Douglas venue with the same name, which is French for mum and pronounced Ma-Mo.
The Port Douglas restaurant is owned by the Fines sisters Karen and Lizzie, whose nephew Oli joined forces with his aunties and good friend Poole to bring the eatery to the Gold Coast.
Oliver Frost recently submitted a development application for a bar directly beside the James St restaurant.
Robbie McEwen
The cycling legend opened Miami cafe Piccolo Espresso over a decade ago.
The sprinter, who won the Tour de France points classification on three occasions, opened the business with wife Angelique.
The Miami cafe was one of the first in the area, which is now a major suburb for Gold Coast’s coffee culture.
Piccolo has been able to retain its popularity through its loyal locals and cyclists no doubt hoping to bump into their idol.
Joel Parkinson and Mick Fanning
Balter beer’s distinct cans first hit the Gold Coast in 2016 after the pair of world champion pro surfers joined forces with some friends.
Along with fellow former pro surfer Bede Durbidge and mates Scotty Hargrave, Josh Kerr, Stirling Howland and Sean Ronan, the team create the beers with personality.
With names like “Captain Sensible” for its low-alcohol beer, the company has gone from strength to strength with bars across the Gold Coast stocking the brews.
In 2019 it was announced the company had been sold to Carlton & United Breweries but the surfers remain involved with the brewery with the deal including clauses to protect founders, staff, and recipes for five years.
The deal was estimated to be worth between $150 million and $200 million, depending if certain sales numbers were met.
Fisher
Hoping to match the success of friends Fanning and Parkinson’s Balter empire, the international music producer joined a group of celebrity mates to create another booze business.
Teaming up with surf stars Laura Enever and Nikki van Dijk, celebrity chef Hayden Quinn, DJ and fitness model Brooke Evers and DJ Tigerlily, the crew launched Hard Fizz in late 2020.
The drink is being brewed on the Gold Coast with a headquarters set up in West Burleigh.
The former pro surfer turned DJ is worth more than $4 million and said he decided to get into the seltzer scene after seeing it sweeping America when he was touring there before COVID-19 hit.
Emily Skye
The former model turned fitness trainer was named by Forbes as the world’s third most powerful fitness ‘influencer’ in 2017, worth an estimated $32 million at the time.
Starting out as a model as a teenager, Skye did a lot of commercial modelling for dress shops and bikini lines including Bras n Things and was the face of fashion brand Ice for nearly a decade.
When her abs were photoshopped out of a photo-shoot, Skye moved from modelling into the influencer game.
After raising her social media profile, she launched her business Emily Skye F. I. T, which now has 2.5 million followers on Instagram.
The training business provided customers with programs, workouts and food plans.
Shammi Prasad
Australia’s biggest social media prankster moved into the hospitality business at the start of this year.
Teaming up with his brothers Kailash, 31, and Jayden, 23, Shammi, 28, is operating his restaurant Memory Lane.
Infamous for videos of a high-rise base jump, turning off the Melbourne Cup mid-race in a packed pub and wild house parties, Shammi’s new family-run Broadbeach business couldn’t stay out of trouble.
The Surf Parade venue’s opening in January drew a large crowd and plenty of attention with patrons flocking to the bar to enjoy DJ sets, table top dancing and a controversial cocktail named the “Uncut Cocktail”, all shown on the business’s Instagram story.
The restaurant is still operating with Shisha nights every Wednesday and Sunday sessions weekly.
Colin Handley
The ex-soap actor and tae-kwon-do champion opened his Gold Coast business close to 30 years ago.
The Nerang-based Stunt Park has been Handley’s passion since finishing an acting and stunt career, where he featured in popular 1980s shows Dynasty, Dallas, and Love Boat.
Initially starting the business out of Carrara while still working, Handley’s new venture soon became his main priority.
Handley told the Bulletin in 2019 positive word-of-mouth from stunt performers ensured the business grew steadily.
Recently Handley was left out of pocket more than $30,000 after thieves targeted his family business, taking off with multiple motorbikes, tools and equipment on January 30.
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