30 Gympie women of influence 2023 named
As the world prepares to celebrate International Women’s Day, we acknowledge 30 of the many successful, generous, nurturing, inspirational and brave women living and working in the Gympie region.
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Whether it be working with children, organising community events or making a mark in the business or political world, the Gympie region has plenty of impressive and admirable women who are dedicating their time to making a difference.
International Women’s Day is all about recognising women’s rights movements, gender equality and protecting women from violence and abuse.
60+ smiles: Regional women celebrate success, future
UN Women Australia’s International Women’s Day theme for 2023 is Cracking the Code: Innovation for a gender equal future.
Based on the priority theme for the United Nations 67th Commission on the Status of Women – Cracking the Code highlights the role that bold, transformative ideas, inclusive technologies, and accessible education can play in combatting discrimination and the marginalisation of women globally.
Innovation is a driver of change and by embracing new technologies and championing the unique skills and knowledge of women in science, technology, mathematics, and engineering (STEM), we can accelerate our progress towards a gender equal future.
With that in mind, here are 25 amazing women who call Gympie home:
Jazmyn Smith
Jazmyn Smith is a Gympie musician and business owner who built up a creative media business which works exclusively with musicians and artists.
The business, Jazmyn Produces, is in the running for a Queensland young achiever award for 2023.
Ms Smith contentedly calls Gympie home and is a big believer in having a career in the arts without having to move to a capital city.
She is passionate about showing off the region, bringing 90 per cent of her artists to Gympie for shoots, where she draws inspiration from the region’s rich array of heritage buildings, rainforests and cattle pastures.
When she was 15 she moved out of home, lived in a women’s shelter and worked her way through high school. She was given a scholarship to university at the Gold Coast and moved back up to Gympie to start a family.
As a singer and songwriter she released her debut EP in February 2023. She’s found a supportive art community in Gympie and she’s excited about watching it grow.
Maureen Rush
Maureen Rush has helped war veterans and widows in the Gympie and wider areas for about 10 years as a member of multiple associations.
Mrs Rush was recognised earlier this year for her service to veterans and their families in Gympie with a Medal of the Order of Australia.
Mrs Rush has been a board member of Australia War Widows Queensland since 2019 and has been the president of the Gympie branch since 2015. She is also the secretary of the Vietnam Veterans Association Gympie and president of the Legacy Laurel Club.
She joined the Legacy Laurel Club and War Widows Association in late 2012 following the passing of her husband Roy.
Mrs Rush is also the Quilts for Valour Gympie organiser and the contact person for the Rats of Tobruk Gympie and South Burnett region.
Additionally, she has taken the role of the St Patrick‘s Parish Council president, Gympie Widgee Probus Club treasurer and a former board member of the Beechwood Aged Care Community at the Sunshine Coast.
She also knits poppies for RSLs and Remembrance Day and garments for neonatal infants at the Queensland Children’s Hospital in Brisbane.
Sam Bradshaw
Sam Bradshaw and her husband Adam run Jacaranda Family Dental in Gympie, having brought home the Gympie Business of the Year award in 2022.
They opened their practice on the Southside in 2014 but quickly outgrew their facilities.
In January 2023, they reopened at the old Supercheap Auto building, with triple the space.
Mrs Bradshaw said she loved “getting to know the person in the dental chair,” hearing their stories and genuinely caring for their patients.
She is now in the position of a oral health therapist within the business after graduating from the University of Queensland and working in various practices from Brisbane to Kingaroy and even Rockhampton.
Mrs Bradshaw is also a courageous cancer survivor.
After she was diagnosed with Choriocarcinoma, a rare form of cancer, in 2015, she went through treatment, blood transfusions and chemotherapy.
Fiona Keable
Fiona Keable and her husband Matt are the faces behind The Real Body Movement, a prominent fitness centre opposite the historic Gympie Station.
Ms Keable is a personal trainer, rehab coach and animal flow trainer as well a successful business owner.
The Real Body Movement was also the runner-up for Gympie Business of the Year in 2022.
The business is active on social media with over 2000 followers on Facebook and over 1400 on Instagram, focused on sharing health and fitness tips and tricks.
The gym moved to providing online classes to keep the people of Gympie fit during the hardship of Covid-19 lockdowns.
“Fiona Keable is smashing it! And is so inspiring,” Ellen Hardy said in a comment on a We Rise Networking Facebook callout.
“Her ‘why’ behind everything she does, the strong community she has built, her ability to love on others.
“She is generous, kind, hard working and inspiring.”
Jellina White
Jellina White has a string of accolades and excellence awards for her work as the owner manager of the Bank of Queensland branch in Mary Street.
Perhaps the accolade she deserves most came in the last year and goes to the incredible achievement of surviving the 2022 floods.
A year on, Ms White managed to keep on all her staff, find temporary locations, whether it be in a marquee in the car park or at Drake’s shopping centre, while refurbishing the flooded out office in Mary St.
She moved back into that space in September 2022. While banks close shopfronts in rural towns, she sees value in continuing on the old-fashioned banking services with person-to-person help in a physical storefront.
Something that no flood will ever be able to take away from her.
Ms White grew up in Gympie and began her banking career in 1987, when the Gympie branch first opened in Mary Street, where it remains through to this day.
In 2009, she took on the bank as the owner manager.
She converted the corporate branch of BOQ at Stone’s Corner into an owner manager branch December 2022.
She believes in giving back to Gympie and is a proud sponsor of community sports, such as Gympie Hockey and the Gympie Junior Rugby League development program.
Mel Manley
Mel Manley is the co-owner of a fast-food empire that spans the Wide Bay Burnett region, and includes eight McDonald’s franchises from Gympie to Bundaberg, Childers to Bargara.
In 2021, the chain of stores reportedly employed more than 750 people.
Mrs Manley lives in Eumundi and often travels to Nepal and India to support Forget Me Not, an organisation that aims to prevent the trafficking of children into orphanages.
She is also a co-owner of the much-loved Imperial Hotel.
Jemma Wilson
Jemma Wilson is Gympie’s own homegrown, ex-professional off-road motorcycle racer, who competed nationally and internationally for more than 10 years.
In her career, she won eight state championships, four Australian off-road championships, and five women’s World Cup Team Championships as well as competing in the World Enduro GPs as a privateer for five seasons.
Ms Wilson retired in 2018 and said it was a tough decision after 13 years of competing at the highest level. She now coaches, runs events such as ride and trail days and throws her energy behind creating a women’s dirt biking community.
Through events like the family ride she recently held at MX Farm she gets to continue to enjoy the sport and share her passion with others.
Jess Milne
Jess Milne is a Gympie councillor who describes herself as “an energetic and enthusiastic mother”.
Her first job was at the candy bar at the Sovereign Cinema in Gympie.
Ms Milne made headlines in 2010 when she staged a tree protest at the Tin Can Bay rubbish tip after losing her caretaker contract with Gympie Regional Council.
In 2020, she reached councillor aspirations and defeated the incumbent Mark McDonald, winning the council seat of Division 1 by a narrow 15 votes.
As a councillor her portfolios include environment and waste, IT and finance. She has lived in and around the Gympie area almost her entire life.
Dolly Jensen
“I’ve always been in a hurry, I was born six weeks early,” is a self description from Gympie councillor and proud “Gympie girl” Dolly Jensen’s get-to-know-you video.
The Theebine resident, former bank employee and courageous advocate Dolly Jensen won Division 2 in 2020 local government election, when the incumbent councillor, Glen Harwig ran for mayor.
Ms Jensen has a trail of accolades, notably as winner of the Regional Activism Award, presented by the Queensland Council of Union for more than 24 years of service where she helped lead the charge for wage and conditions improvements.
“Here’s to strong women; may we know them, may we be them, may we raise them,” she wrote in a 2021 International Women’s Day opinion piece.
Janelle Reid
Janelle Reid has been an educator for more than 35 years with experience spanning early childhood, primary, secondary and TAFE education sectors.
Ms Reid, now in her ninth year as an Assistant Regional Director with the North Coast Region Department of Education, is passionate about supporting the success of every student.
She aspires to leave a legacy of making a difference to the lives of children, her work colleagues, family and friends.
Jody Allen
Jody Allen has lived in Gympie for more than 20 years and rose to popularity as a stay at home mum extraordinaire after she lost her job while pregnant with her second son, and worked tirelessly to make ends meet while on one wage.
She has written four successful books and is the creator the hugle successful online mother’s network, Stay At Home Mum.
A self-confessed dag who has parlayed her frugality, social media obsession and penchant for wearing PJs into a multi-million dollar empire.
Jody‘s website has grown to be one of the largest privately owned parenting portals in Australia.
Shelley Strachan
Shelley Strachan is the managing editor for News Corp of the Wide Bay Burnett, overseeing and setting the news agenda in the Gympie region, the South Burnett, Central and North Burnett, Bundaberg and Fraser Coast.
She is a proud “Gympie girl” and fierce advocate for the region, and in 2022 received the coveted News Corp Campaign of the Year local/regional for campaign to Save Our Sport.
She has been instrumental in kick starting the careers of multiple young journalists, mentoring them in integrity, professionalism and strong local journalism.
A long-time Gympie local and mother of four, Ms Strachan is a well-decorated media veteran, taking home multiple PANPA Community News Brand of the Year awards, the News Corp Achievements in Regional Journalism award for her campaigning on the Bruce Highway, and most recently the Regional Local Campaign of the Year at the 2022 News Awards.
Marlene Owen
Marlene Owen is a passionate advocate for the Gympie community, and has no qualms about telling it just like it is.
As a tireless volunteer she has spent decades dedicating her own time to the betterment of the region and its people, through a plethora of community causes united in their aims to help and inspire.
Not only is she the founding member of Supporting Chemotherapy in Cooloola since 2006, Marlene is also well known for her work with Bush to Beach, Cooloola Gold Lions Club, the Gympie Music Muster, the Gympie Show, Little Haven Palliative Care, the Rainbow Beach Drought runners and her extensive work with the homeless.
In 2020, Ms Owen was awarded an Order of Australia medal. In 2017 she was Gympie Citizen of the Year.
Kikki Watt
Kikki Watt is Gympie’s ultimate fashionista sporting bold colours, matchless style and exquisite taste.
She’s the flair behind The Dolly and Oats, the hugely popular tapas and cocktails bar in the heart of Gympie.
Ms Watt hasn’t been afraid to get her hands dirty shining up some antique furniture and then turning it into a gorgeous piece of decor for her bar -- from old family heirloom couches, to photos, to wall pieces made from the original flood-salvaged floorboards.
Ms Watt moved to Gympie 17 years ago and was previously a beauty therapist. She runs The Dolly and Oats with the help of her partner Mick Nicholls and son, Zac.
Celia ‘CC’ Diaz Petersen
Celia ‘CC’ Diaz Petersen is easily Gympie’s gourmet jam, relish and salsa goddess of the kitchen.
She says the fire in her belly just gets hotter as she builds her well-known brand of CC’s kitchen with more than 35 rosella products available.
Her achievements are sharing the old-time feel of her grandmother-in-law, Nana Petersen’s recipe, not just locally, but around the world, giving new life to the traditional labour-intensive jams and relishes made from the hot pink native Australian flower.
This year she is gearing up to host the eighth Big Rosella Field Day at Woolooga in May. She’s excited about showing of Gympie region to locals and city folks alike while increasing awareness of farm-to-plate products.
Mel Fitzgibbon
Mel Fitzgibbon is an “amazing” real estate agent at Yamba Realty Group Gympie and runs Camelot Camels and Noosa Camel Rides with her husband Wayne.
The camel riding business operates on the Sunshine Coast and hires camels for festivals and events or a ride with your friends and family.
Her business has been a part of district shows from the Sunshine Coast to the Fraser Coast.
Ms Fitzgibbon was nominated by Corinne Lucas in a We Rise Networking Facebook group callout.
“She’s always got a smile and encouraging word for everyone,” Ms Lucas said in the post.
Janzey Pratt
Janzey Pratt was also nominated by Ms Lucas on Facebook for her work as director of Yamba Realty Group Gympie with her husband John.
“[Ms Pratt was nominated] for being one of the most honest, down to earth and supportive real estate agents/women I have had the pleasure of meeting,” Ms Lucas said in the post.
Ms Pratt was one of many who lost their business premises in Mary Street during the 2022 floods and have since relocated to Duke Street.
Their new premises also hosted the Gympie Women in Business awards night.
Mandy Irvine
Mandy Irvine stepped into the role of general manager of the Gympie Heart of Gold Film Festival in March 2023, and feels honour to be involved in the “great festival”.
She is looking forward to bringing the festival to life in the community, making Gympie recognised for its arts and culture and “really putting Gympie on the map”.
Ms Irvine brought the Gympie Night Markets to life through her own business Beehive Festivals Events and Conferencing and collaborated with We Rise Networking to make the Gympie Women in Business awards night happen in 2022.
Ms Irvine said in a Facebook post on her business page she wanted to to help create revenue for smaller Queensland and New South Wales towns to recover financially.
This followed Ms Irvine being in the midst of the New South Wales and ACT bushfires in 2019 and the 2022 floods in Gympie..
Ann-marie Warren
Ann-marie Warren is well-involved in the world of Gympie sport as the first female president of the Gympie Cats AFL Club.
She stepped up to the role in 2019 and has since battled the effects of Covid-19 restrictions and impacts of the 2022 flood events.
Ms Warren led the club and wider community volunteers to clean up the homeground of the Gympie Cats after the oval was inundated in all three floods.
For her tremendous efforts, she was named 2022 Queensland Sports Volunteer of the Year.
Ms Warren is also the principal and sales consultant of Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Gympie.
Ellen Hardy
Ellen Hardy has been a familiar face in the Gympie business world for two years for her tireless work running women’s networking in Gympie.
Ms Hardy is the co-ordinator of We Rise Networking in Gympie and spares no effort making a space for women in business to celebrate and support each other’s successes.
She successfully hosted Women in Business Award night in December 2022 with an eye to making it an annual event within the Gympie community.
Ms Hardy launched her own online business, Her Monthly Boxes, in May 2022 in line with her passion to make women feel loved, valued and celebrated.
Ms Hardy is also a hard-working mum of four who dedicates her time to homeschool her children.
Toni Bartley
Toni Bartley was nominated by Amy Kate on The Gympie Times Facebook page for her work as a school guidance officer across several Gympie region schools.
“This is the kind of job that is soul work and that no one talks about and often guidance officers don’t get thanked for solving everyone else’s problems,” Ms Kate said.
“Toni is an incredible person.”
Renita Henry-May
Gympie blogger, teacher and mother-of-two Renita Henry-May is the face and creative mind behind Foodie Mumma Ren – a blogging brand based on recipes and a love of food with an associated website and strong Facebook following of 27,000 people from all over the world.
Foodie Mumma Ren was a finalist for the national 2020 AusMumpreneur Awards in the Author and People’s Choice Leadership categories.
As a mother of two, a wife of a FIFO electrician and a Japanese and food technology teacher by day, Renita created Foodie Mumma Ren as a way to share her love and passion for all things food.
Colleen Miller
Colleen Miller is a champion in the world of Gympie sports as president of the Gympie and District Netball Association.
A strong advocate for sports, Ms Miller has pushed for better sports facilities in Gympie since the netball courts were destroyed in the February 2022 flood disaster.
After the courts were left cracked and unplayable, and the clubhouse interior completely wiped out, Ms Miller has a plan to rebuild facilities.
Meanwhile, her club of 500 players is forced to play on the courts of Gympie State High School and Victory College.
Following about $500,000 in damages on the courts alone, Ms Miller secured $20,000 from the News Corp flood appeal and $100,000 from the Gambling Community Benefit Fund.
After receiving $289, 000 in state government funding (only about 5 per cent of $5m that was handed out across Queensland), Ms Miller spoke about the disappointment in the insufficient funds to repair the bare minimum of their facilities.
Hannah Johnston
Hannah Johnston was awarded Young Citizen of the Year in 2022 at the annual Gympie Australia Day Awards for her outstanding academic achievements and contribution to the community.
The former St Patrick’s College student completed two university subjects on top of her final year at school and received an early offer at the University of the Sunshine Coast to study an Associate Degree in Medical Laboratory Science.
She also taught music to aspiring musicians of Gympie and has a passion for flower arranging.
This was all while living with Type One Diabetes, on top of pre-existing lifelong heart and medical conditions.
Aunty Lillian Burke
Aboriginal elder Aunty Lillian Burke is a staunch voice in the community fighting for the rights of and recognition for recognition the region’s Indigenous residents.
She has built a reputation as a fearless battler for change, with her list of accomplishments including being named one of the top four nominees for Queensland‘s Senior Australian of the Year in 2019, as well as being a Senior Fellow of the University of the Sunshine Coast.
Ms Burke is a descendant of the Butchulla people and was one of the stolen generation when authorities intervened “for her own good” and refused to allow her contact with her adopted nana. She has tirelessly advocated for change as a participant on more than 100 boards, committees and consultancy groups.
In 2022, she was part of a group which successfully pushed to have an unnamed Glastonbury Creek renamed Uncle Jimmys Creek in honour of a First Nations horseman.
Cindy Vogels
Cindy Vogels has spent great efforts to promote the region through her passion as a prominent Gympie artist, community advocate and owner of fashion brand Racy and Lucky.
A lover of wearable art, Ms Vogels has made a name for herself on the world stage and recently partnered with Mary St trader Tony Goodman to bring life back to the CBD with art.
Cindy is also an event producer and creative director, and has founded multiple events, including Space Girls Festival, which is committed to delivering 100% female programmed events.
Petra Van Beek
As president of the Gympie Chamber of Commerce, Petra Van Beek has been the commander of many Gympie events and connecting local businesses.
From celebrating the region’s business achievements to Mary Street fun and festivals, Ms Van Beek ensures the community has its share of networking events.
Ms Van Beek stepped up to the board in 2019 when she moved to Gympie and was elected president in December 2021.
Ms Van Beek’s position has put her at the forefront of major developments across the region, including as part of the committee helping steer the state government’s plans to open a multibillion-dollar pumped hydro plant at Borumba Dam.
Rosie Fitzgerald
Kilkivan’s Rosie Fitzgerald has been fighting for the region’s ageing population to be able to stay in their beloved town for years.
Ms Fitzgerald was integral in the creation of the Kilkivan and District Community Care Association, which focuses on improving the life of Kilkivan’s seniors.
Her fight for quality, in-home care has borne fruit, with the association partnering with Trilogy care and Mable to begin rolling out in-home care packages across the district in 2021-2022.
Ms Fitzgerald has facilitated regular senior catch-ups and the KilkiVAN, which allow residents from surrounding towns to travel more freely.
Ms Fitzgerald’s organisation recently received a $30,000 donation from Kilkivan Masonic Lodge to help build aged care accommodation in the region.
Deb Brown
Deb Brown has had a strong hand in pulling together the Gympie District Show and bringing together local businesses as president of the Gympie Show Society.
After being forced to cancel the Gympie Show in 2020 due to Covid restrictions, Ms Brown took over as president in 2021.
Ms Brown and the Show Society pulled the 2022 Show together on short notice after Covid restrictions were lifted five weeks prior.
The show went on for two days despite flooding hitting the region and many patrons visited the show in the rain to support businesses as well as the Show Society’s hard work.
Ms Brown was also named Gympie’s Citizen of the Year in 2021 and is a staff member of Gympie MP Tony Perrett.
Caitlyn Shadbolt
At just 27, Caitlyn Shadbolt has become one of Gympie’s biggest stars, with her music known across the country.
Ms Shadbolt shot to fame after she placed fifth on X Factor Australia in 2014 and released her self-titled debut album the following year. The album peaked at number 50 on Australian Music Charts.
Ms Shadbolt returned to the Gympie Music Muster stage this year after the festival was forced to take a two-year break due to the pandemic.
She has more than 34,800 followers on Instagram and 60,000 followers on Facebook.
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