30 under 30: Toowoomba’s most influential and inspiring young people
Toowoomba is home to more than its fair share of inspiration and influential young people, from lawyers and entrepreneurs to social media stars and musicians, see Toowoomba’s most powerful identities all 30 and under:
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The Garden City has more than its fair share of movers, shakers and inspirers from a variety of backgrounds who are working to make Toowoomba, and the world, a better place.
From award-winning athletes and community advocates, to entrepreneurs and leaders in the world of finance and law, The Chronicle has compiled a list to highlight and honour those people under 30 who should be recognised for their hard work.
Mahsa Nabizada
At just 17, Mahsa Nabizada has already made huge strides in representing young people of Toowoomba, as well as become a voice of the local Afghan community.
The Year 12 Fairholme College student and Service and Interact president is also a news reader at Toowoomba’s community radio station where she volunteers her time to present a weekly program.
Ms Nabizada, who migrated with her family from war-torn Afghanistan in 2014, has also represented Toowoomba South at the Queensland Youth parliament.
Kenneth Wagner
Boasting one of Toowoomba’s most recognisable name, Kenneth Wagner hasn’t rested on his laurels.
His company KPAT Property has formally lodged an application with Sunshine Coast Council to build a 13-storey, 182 room resort complex on the remainder of a controversial Brisbane Road carpark site, with the 4.5-5 star hotel expected to top $50 million.
Pending approval, the project was on track to start being built in July, 2022.
Closer to home, Mr Wagner, the son of Wagner brother Denis, was behind the redevelopment of The Rock and Oaks Hotel in July 2020, a project four years in the making.
Built on the site of the old Gladstone Hotel on Ruthven Street, Mr Wagner said the pub’s name had been derived from former patrons of the Gladstone Hotel referring to it as the “happy rock”.
On the sporting field Mr Wagner is heavily involved in the Darling Dingoes and their efforts in joining the Brisbane Premier League.
Annie Flamsteed
Former competitive gymnast Annie Flamsteed started iNSPIRETEK, a first of its kind wellness platform focused on young athletes, as a solution to the growing mental health crisis in sport, with early supporters investing $2.5 million in the platform.
iNSPIRETEK automates mental health interventions with data-driven technology that is both secure and private.
It enables organisations to track results, identify trends, as well as engage and educate their communities on a better understanding of holistic wellbeing.
The platform is already used by more than 10,000 school-aged athletes and more than 40 organisations.
Joe McConnell, Chelsea Saldumbide
Starting a law firm from scratch is no mean feat but for legal aces Joe McConnell and Chelsea Saldumbide the challenge has been rewarding.
The pair launched their firm McConnell Saldumbide Criminal Lawyers in 2021, and Mr McConnell said the business has expanded since then.
“Just before Christmas we put on our first new staff member which was exciting,” he said.
“In criminal law a lot of the other practices have been around for a long time, and some have new partners that have bought in so to start from scratch has been quite an experience but it’s going well.”
Before partnering with the new firm, Mr McConnell was a criminal defence solicitor at MacDonald Law, and has been practising law for close to six years.
Ms Saldumbide has been working in criminal law for eight years and practising as a solicitor for the past six years.
She started her career in prosecutions working for both the Commonwealth and State Directors Offices.
Stuart Bougoure
Like many of us fresh out of school, Stuart Bougoure wasn’t entirely sure what to do with himself, but soon found himself working as an apprentice electrician.
Fast forward to 2022 and the 27-year-old has founded his own electrical contract and labour hire company Allied Energy with the goal of sharing knowledge in the field to future generations.
“I always wanted to have my own business and when I started out after finishing my apprenticeship I originally had SJB Electrical Contracting but as things progressed I gained a bit of a vision and goals,” he said.
“I started out that business when I was 23, so I started pretty young but the best part about that now is the experience and maturity means things are falling into place.”
That manifested about 18 months ago with Allied Energy, which Mr Bougoure said was a chance to share his experience and knowledge.
“It’s challenging with without the challenges you don’t get the satisfaction of when things come off,” he said.
“We’ve got a plan to maintain a strong core without growing too big that can attack some pretty big projects throughout the energy industry, and hopefully use that as a start to launch into other ventures.”
Proudly indigenous owned and operated Mr Bougoure said giving back to the community was one of the main driving forces behind Allied Energy.
“It’s a bit thing for us to have a business that’s successful so when things are going well we want to be able to provide support and opportunities for the next group coming through,” he said.
Jed Hockin
A football trick-shot sensation, 22-year-old Jed Hockin has amassed a whopping 767,800 followers on TikTok 393,000 followers on Instagram, and nearly half a million views on YouTube.
Hockin has been sharing his skills online since he was a teen, drawing the attention of Nickelodeon and global football powerhouse Real Madrid.
He has been shared on Real Madrid’s platform several times, the most recent being last year when he created a video sharing what he’d been up to from home.
To top it all off, Hockin has his name in the Guiness Book of World Records not once, but four times.
Helen Woodland
In its second year of helping the next generation of agribusiness operators reach their potential, Helen Woodland stepped up to take on the role of chair of the AgForce Young Producers’ Council this year after serving as deputy chair during the council’s inaugural year in 2021.
Working to forge new connections between people working the land to agribusiness professionals, Ms Woodland has previous experience as export project officer at Toowoomba and Surat Basin Enterprise, working with agriculture and supply chain industries across Southern Queensland and on the world stage.
If that wasn’t enough, the 30-year-old is also a mother to a seven month old.
Jeremy Beamish
At just 22 years of age, Toowoomba singer Jeremy Beamishk, performing as Jude York, sang to an audience of millions when he placed eighth in the Eurovision – Australia Decides competition in February, performing his piano-ballad I Won’t Need to Dream.
“I was the smallest artist entering the competition so I just felt lucky to be there and for the support I received from the jury and the people.”
Not one to shy away from the spotlight, York embraced the mix of emotions he felt when he took to the Gold Coast stage – a combination of nerves and excitement.
Cody Robinson
Toowoomba social worker Cody Robinson created Mystery Date With A Book to raise donations for school supplies to help students maximise their potential.
“Some children go to school without lunch or school books, and that broke my heart,” she said.
“During Covid, people are looking more towards community and how they can help. I thought this was a way to come together.”
Miss Robinson receives donated books through the Facebook page, wraps them, and sells them for $25 each or $40 for two.
She said 100 per cent of the proceeds went directly to the schools.
Katelyn Shearing
Katelyn Shearing is a registered nurse with Darling Downs Health who took out the Colleen Rasmussen Emerging Nursing/Midwifery Leader Award at the Association of Queensland Nursing and Midwifery Leaders Awards where she was recognised for consistently setting the standard for professionalism, commitment to clinical excellence, and multidisciplinary collaboration in her Nurse Unit Manager role, leading by example in her provision of excellent mental health care.
Matt Denny
From growing up in Allora, discus thrower Matt Denny turned hard work, a bit of luck and pure determination into two Olympic Games campaigns and a Commonwealth Games silver medal.
Five centimetres is all that stood between Denny and an Olympic medal when he threw a personal best of 67.02 metres in the final of the discus event at last year’s Tokyo Olympics.
Now back on home soil, he wants to make sure more rural kids get the chance to fulfil their Olympic dreams — and it starts by building proper sporting infrastructure in Toowoomba.
“Toowoomba needs an actual athletics track that’s accessible for everyone,” he said.
“We have Glennie but it’s getting quite old, so we need a public track similar to QSAC where we can bring international camps over, an area where people can actually train and compete.
“My coach worked at Toowoomba Grammar, and I ended up going to Grammar to train so I could get access to elite equipment.
“If I didn’t have any of those opportunities, I wouldn’t be where I am right now.
Keesha Charles
Eighteen-year-old Indigenous woman Keesha Charles has spent her teen years promoting the welfare and wellbeing of the Oakey and Darling Downs community, and striving to be a role model for others.
She was recognised for this dedication by being named the 2022 Oakey Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Citizen of the Year, while she was also named as one of three finalists and in three separate categories for the Queensland Training Awards in 2021.
Since leaving Oakey State High School where she was the Indigenous leader, she has also spent her time as a lead dance teacher for SK Studios, which raises money for organisations and charities.
Molly Wagner
As export projects officer for Food Leaders Australia, Molly Wagner is passionate about regional Queensland accessing international opportunities.
In her work at TSBE, Ms Wagner brings experience in policy advisement for Members of Parliament, through her research project on Dam Construction with UQ. She is skilled in law administration and contracts, and international market and industry research.
Born and raised in Toowoomba, Ms Wagner graduated from the University of Queensland, with a Bachelor of Business and a Bachelor of Arts, majoring in International Business, International Relations, Journalism and Mass Communications.
Lochie Waters
Ever since he was a clean up boy at St George Butchery, 22-year-old Gamilaaray man Lochie Waters wanted to a butcher shop to call his own.
After starting his apprenticeship in St George in 2013, and finishing his training at Uniplaza Meats in Toowoomba in 2018, he bought the business in 2020.
Now after achieving his goal, he is helping other get their foot in the door.
Mr Waters was one of the many Indigenous leaders who were involved in the launch of Indigenous Business Month last year.
Just last month Mr Waters came second in the Meatstock Butcher Wars championship, and was crowned Best Young Butcher at Meatstock Melbourne.
Fatima Aria
President of the Toowoomba Youth Peace Group, a non-profit that promotes peace projects in the Garden City, Fatima Aria is a leader in promoting multiculturalism from a youth perspective, encouraging young people from all cultures and backgrounds to come together.
After fleeing war in their native Afghanistan, Ms Aria and her family survived harsh living conditions in Iran before being accepted as refugees into Australia and Toowoomba in 2013.
Ms Aria was included in a Zoom meeting with Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Immigration Minister Alexander Hawke when the Afghanistan crisis emerged late last year, where the Taliban returned to power following the shock exit of United States troops from the war-torn country.
Georgia Parker
A registered nurse who works shifts in the Day Oncology Unit and ward 6D at Toowoomba Hospital, Georgia Parker started working in cancer care in 2020 and has had so much growth in such a short period of time.
Ms Parker has been proactive in identifying opportunities for quality improvement including the development of a nursing handover tool for use within cancer care services to improve communication and safe patient transfers. She was also instrumental in the co-ordination of the home chemotherapy program.
Ms Parker has also commenced post graduate studies in cancer and haematology nursing this year and has recently been successful in gaining a clinical nurse position in the Day Oncology Unit.
Corey Anderson
Toowoomba Regional Council’s Young Citizen of the Year won gold in the men’s javelin F38 at the 2019 World Para Athletics Championships in Dubai, and represented Australia at the 2020 Tokyo Summer Paralympics.
Corey first appeared on the radar of Australian selectors at the 2019 Australian Athletics Championships in Sydney where he set a new world record in the men’s javelin F38 with a mammoth 55.14 metre throw.
Abraham Slatter
You can take on the world in a good suit and Toowoomba resident Abraham Slatter takes that motto to heart.
After previously working in conventional menswear stores, he discovered the most common issues customers faced when buying suits off the rack included limited designs, ill-fitting garments and the high costs of alterations, so the 27-year-old decided to do something about it.
Joined forces with his business partner Michael Hughes, the pair founded Norfords in 2016 and after years of running the successful tailor-made suit business in Brisbane and the Gold Coast, the entrepreneur launched his menswear brand in the Toowoomba in 2022.
Shenae Ciesiolka
Embracing the opportunity to be a role model for the next generation, Toowoomba’s Shenae Ciesiolka has made an impact both on and off the field.
The Brisbane Broncos NRLW flyer enjoys inspiring young girls not only on the Darling Downs, but across the state.
“Everything starts with grassroots footy at a club or school,” Ciesiolka said.
“For those that look up to me, they can achieve what I have.
“I started where they were, and it’s exciting to show them and map out a pathway. They have to believe everything is possible, be committed, be resilient and they can get there.
“Coming from a smaller town, you get a lot of recognition from the local community and the support is humbling for me.”
Ciesiolka lined up in the centres for the NRLW Broncos side that went down 22-16 to the Sydney Roosters on Sunday, one game shy of a grand final berth in the NRL Telstra Women’s Premiership.
Jag and Sarah-Jane MacDonald
Brother and sister dynamic duo Jag and Sarah-Jane MacDonald are directors of MacDonald Law, taking over the firm from father Shane in 2017 when he moved to the bar as a barrister.
A finalist in the Lawyers Weekly Partner of the Year Awards in 2020, Mr MacDonald has spent 10 years with the firm in criminal and civil law.
In 2019, Ms MacDonald was appointed president of the Downs and South Western Queensland Law Association and led the first all-female association team.
The association is the oldest law association in Queensland, and Ms MacDonald was the youngest to take on the role of president which she held for three years while also remaining an active member of the South Toowoomba Apex Club.
Nicole Lay and Elizabeth Stankevicius
The speech pathology duo diagnose and treat communication and swallowing difficulties in children and adults at the Toowoomba Hospital. They specialise in supporting people who have had strokes, have dementia, head and neck cancers, Parkinson’s disease or anyone who has trouble swallowing or speaking. They help patients to relearn or find easier ways to say what’s meaningful to them including telling a family member ‘I love you’. Communication is everyone’s right. While communicating can come so naturally for some, we often don’t realise how difficult it would be for people who struggle to get their message across.
Amie Mish-Wills
A Toowoomba lawyer who specialises in workplace relations, Amie Mish-Wills was announced as one of Australia’s best up and coming professionals in her field when the Enterprise Legal principal legal adviser was named as one of the Lawyers Weekly 30 Under 30 Awards recipients.
After undertaking legal studies at high school, Ms Mish-Wills decided to study a Bachelor of Law at the University of Southern Queensland.
Following the completion of her degree, she went on to start her career in law with Clifford Gouldson Lawyers, followed by a senior workplace relations role at Queensland Health.
Ms Mish-Wills later returned to the garden city when she was appointed in her position in workplace relations, with Enterprise Legal.
Jacob McVeigh
As project manager behind a massive masterplanned community north of Toowoomba, Jacob McVeigh is literally helping shape the future of a suburb.
The first stage of Habitat Mount Kynoch was lodged with the Toowoomba Regional Council in December 2021, with the section featuring 81 lots, medium-density zones, a local commercial centre and extensive parkland.
It is the first step in creating up to 1000 new homes on a large parcel of land that will effectively extend the city’s urban footprint and shorten the distance between Toowoomba and Highfields.
Karlie Ross
Since Karlie Ross’ daughter Ellie was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia at the young age of two, her mum has been doing everything she can to help sick children through The Ellie Project.
“Over the past year, my work in advocating for regional children’s cancer services through The Ellie Project has easily become my most meaningful achievement,” she said.
“In sharing my own experience as a cancer mother, The Ellie Project has reached millions of people as well as supported so many others going through similar critical illnesses.”
As well as sharing her story, the project has also managed to raise more than $260,000 to help sick children battling their illnesses at Toowoomba Hospital.
Thuch Angui
At the age of 23, Thuch Angui has faced more challenges and hardship than most could imagine, but he is using his experience to help inspire future generations.
Originally from South Sudan, a country known for its long civil war, Mr Angui lost both his parents by the time he turned 19.
Mr Angui was forced to drop out of primary school to care for his four siblings and together they waited three years in Juba, South Sudan, before reaching Australia in 2017.
Working at a meat factory full-time for almost four years, every dollar he earned went towards putting food on the table, rent and his siblings’ education.
After completing English classes at TAFE, the Australian permanent resident decided to leave his factory job so he could finally follow the dreams of attending university.
Now enrolled at the University of Southern Queensland as a full-time student, Mr Angui one day hopes to make a difference and help children by becoming a primary school teacher.
Katrina Lee
Working as events manager in charge of TSBE’s comprehensive annual events calendar, Katrina Lee has been with the organisation for five years, with many years of experience within the industry, as well as tertiary education in Public Relations and Marketing.
Ms Lee manages more than 60 events per year across the three departments of Energy Infrastructure, Food Leaders Australia, and Health. Ms Lee is cool, calm and collected when it comes to running major events does so with a very high degree of professionalism.
Hamish Brown
A regular at Toowoomba Farmers Markets with his cupcake creations, 10-year-old Hamish ‘Hammy’ Brown has made a name for himself as a purveyor of finely baked goods.
His efforts were recognised in 2021 when he was one of three finalists for the Junior Small Business Champion Entrepreneur and one of 14 for the Bakery and Cake Store categories at the Australian Small Business Champion Awards.
Hammy developed a love for baking at a young age, starting Hammy’s Cupcakes when he was just eight years old.
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