12 Toowoomba influencers you should be following

Here’s an insight into the life of Toowoomba social media stars which involves free travel, gifts and commanding an audience of millions.

SOCIAL STARS: Discover Toowoomb’s biggest social media influencers and what they are up to now.

In the world of social media and viral internet sensations, individuals and businesses can command massive followings of millions all from the palm of their hand.

The Garden City has produced its fair share of social media influencers – from LA-living models to football tricksters and others appealing to enormous but niche crowds across the globe.

Holding the attention of a digital audience has meant free trips, gifts and lucrative sponsorships for these Toowoomba influencers.

Toowoomba’s Jed Hockin broke the Guinness World Record for 'farthest distance to head a football (soccer ball) into a target' back n 2019.

Jed Hokins – @jedhockin

Top of the list has to go to Toowoomba’s king of football tricks, Jed Hockin who has taken over the internet with his unbelievable trick shots.

With more than 400,000 Instagram followers and a whopping 598,800 on TikTok, this three time Guinness World record holder has even been shared on the official Real Madrid social pages on three separate occasions.

Hockin said his impressive footwork is now his full-time job and has kicked off sponsorship deals with Kayo Sports, Big W and Puma as well as paid trips up north to Townsville’s Ville Resort, but all the perks don’t come as easy as his incredible goals.

“My TikTok has only really just started to take off in the last six months which has really allowed me to turn my passion into a career so I’m very grateful,” he said.

“It’s definitely not easy to come up with new ideas for content all the time, and being consistent is key so making sure my posts are regular and I’m always updating my feed for the fans has become my full time job now.”

Jed Hockin has learnt how to turn his amazing football skills into a full blown social media career. Picture: Nev Madsen

Despite his hot shot skills, Hockin said he doesn’t actually have the time to play football for any Toowoomba teams.

“I was playing a few games for West Wanderers in the past but my schedule got so busy with the social media side of things I had to let it go,” he said.

“I also couldn’t risk an injury because being unable to make content would literally be the worst thing for someone like me who is trying to become the biggest sport creator on the internet.”

The 22-year-old has exciting things on the horizon including a sponsorship with the $75 billion dollar video app, TikTok.

“I strongly recommend all businesses and brands, no matter how small, get themselves on to a couple of social media platforms such at TikTok, Instagram and YouTube because it has the potential to grow your brand exponentially,” he said.

“You don’t know where it can take you, so just have fun, be creative with it and most importantly, be consistent with your posts.”

Cherry Hart has grown quite the following on TikTok this year with her ‘come to work with me’ series of videos.

Cherry Hart @cherryhartofficial

With a saucy TikTok bio stating ‘It’s a hard life getting nakey for money” this little exotic dancing fire cracker is fast becoming a hit online for her raunchy, cheeky photos and videos.

With an impressive 34,400 followers on TikTok and nearly 2000 on Instagram, Hart is easily on of Toowoomba’s most popular X-rated influencers.

Pole dancer Frenchie has been at the Vault on Ruthven Street for several years and is one of Toowoomba’s most popular pole dancers. Picture: Nev Madsen.

Frenchie @frenchie_love_

She might just be Toowoomba’s most popular pole dancer and now miss Frenchie also appears to have won the hearts of many on the internet with nearly 21,000 followers on Instagram.
The French-expat pole instructor is very transparent with her followers, letting them see her more vulnerable side and sharing her weight gain and weight loss journey candidly with images of her post-Covid body after have a few months away from dancing.

Toowoomba influencer, Frenchie shares her health and fitness journey on Instagram following the Covid lockdown last year.

Ben Nugent

Funny Toowoomba boy Ben Nugent blew up on TikTok for his car content and with a following of more than 13,500, he’s quickly becoming a TikTok creator to watch.

Nugent first began to get noticed after posting a video where he tried to track down the attractive driver of a red VF Commodore, only to find out she was married with kids.

Like most young P-platers Nugent shares his escapades in his iconic Blue Ford Falcon, with the 18-year-old rev head occasionally posts his driving fails and mistakes.

Toowoomba TikTok star Ben Nugent has blown up online thanks to his funny car related content.

His earlier car antics aside, Nugent seems to have made a name for himself in the comedic department.

One of his hilarious videos from the series ‘What Your Car Says About You’ has clocked up nearly 240,000 views with Nugent giving cheeky personal descriptions of drivers depending on the model of car they drive.

Susannah Birch @susannah_birch

Susannah is a freelance journalist, birth doula and digital marketer with a mega online following across a number of social media platforms including 5,100 on Instagram, 51,000 on Twitter.
A proud mental health and domestic violence advocate, Birch has a lived through several experiences of extreme child violence and teen catfishing, with an autobiography currently in the process of being edited.

Toowoomba journalist, blogger and website owner Susannah Birch.

She is also an active local networker, occasional speaker and involved in the community, including founding the local Toowoomba Wordsmiths group as well as a 40,000 strong Toowoomba flood response Facebook page in 2011.

Birch says when she’s not online she enjoys start-up weekends, learning new things, beta testing new platforms and spending time with her husband and daughters.

“I’ve worked in marketing agencies and SaaS as well as a freelancer in the digital marketing sector for the last 6 years, specialising in social media marketing, Wordpress and SEO, she said.
“I also own a content website which receives over 500,000 views per month. I’m preparing to release my autobiography, covering my experiences of childhood trauma and catfishing.”

Watch this space.

Gatton’s Lily Easton is killing in LA as a bikini and underwear model with more than 250,000 followers. Source: Contributed

Lily Easton @lilyeaston

With a whopping 257,000 followers on Instagram this small town girl from the Lockyer Valley is making a big impression in the city of angels, Los Angeles as a bikini and lingerie model for the likes of Lounge underwear and GUESS.

The Gatton girl was scouted by model agencies via her Instagram account when she was only 16.

Lily Easton is an internationally recognised underwear model from Gatton.

Now the Queensland beauty is signed with major modelling agencies across the world including Industry in New York, MiLk in London, Chadwick Models in Sydney and Wild Management in Spain.

Westside Orthodontics @westsideorthodontics

Dr. Devan Naidu and his team of social media super stars have certainly learnt how to make the power of the internet work in favour of their business, growing their TikTok to more than 800 followers and their Instagram page to double that with more than 1800 followers.

It goes to show there’s nothing boring about orthodontics!

The Westside Orthodontics team on their seventh birthday.

“I decided Westside Orthodontics should become a part of the TikTok community during Covid so that my staff could take part in making fun little videos and sharing these with our lovely patients, and spread a bit of joy during a dreary situation,” he said.

“Since then, our TikTok account has really taken off. One of our videos reached a whopping 261,200 views and our @westsideorthodontics TikTok account has over 14,800 likes.”

Dr Devan said Westside prides themselves on being a fun, family friendly practice and being ‘ahead of the mark’ in all aspects of what they do.

“Our patients seem to really enjoy our videos, so much so that we post one-two TikToks a week and have designated staff members who have special social media jobs such as monitoring our Facebook, Instagram and TikTok accounts,” he said.

Dr Devan from Westside Orthodontics Toowoomba (left) with a patient.

“Being a part of the TikTok platform in particular has allowed us to extend our brand as they funny videos we create appeals to our patient base, a majority being teens and ensures that our followers, even those who haven’t been in to see us yet and those that live away can be a part of our fun day-to-day routine here at Westside Orthodontics and show you that braces aren’t so scary after all!”

Jon Willis at the new E-Bikes Toowoomba store in Hume St. Wednesday. 4th Nov 2020

Jon Willis @mtn_bike_geek

Jon Willis is a freelance writer and reviewer, finding a niche audience in the world of mountain biking.
The Toowoomba online sensation is also a Type 1 Diabetic and helps raise awareness through a handful of online platforms including his 77,300 strong following on Instagram and 1730 subscribers on YouTube.

Although he continues to work full-time he has secured sponsorships with major brands including GoPro.

“Since I still work full time, I don’t do the influencer gig for money.

“The best part about what I do is getting out and riding bikes. There’s nothing better than experiencing the outdoors and having fun.”

“Also my job allows me to talk to a lot of different people about bikes, which is nearly as good as riding them.”

Abraham Slatter @abraham_lewis

This savvy dresser learnt 5,700 followers on Instagram and attributes his growing social media presence to helping him land his dream job in men’s fashion.

“Straight out of school I landed a corporate office job while I studied at university. It was through this job that I found my passion for menswear, as I had to wear ties, suits and shirts and I became rather good at putting together different outfits, and before long a few friends and colleagues were asking me to help them with what to wear for events,” he said.

Abraham Slatter is one of Toowoomba’s most followed men’s fashion influencers.

“I decided to start an Instagram to showcase some of my outfits, and instantly fell in love with building my wardrobe and my portfolio. I ended up caring more about what I wore to work than what I did at work, and took my Instagram very seriously. I was constantly reading articles about how to grow your personal brand, doing research on the best content to post and the best times to post for optimum engagement. As my following grew, a few menswear brands would send me free products in exchange for posting about them, which was really exciting for me.”

Slatter ended up leaving his corporate job and was able to leverage his social media to land a job in menswear.

Slatter’s Instagram page boasts more than 5,000 followers.

“I worked my way up into a premium suiting brand, and before long met the founder of Norfords Custom Suits, the made-to-measure suiting company that I am now the director,” he said.

“One of the most exciting sponsorship opportunities I received through my social media presence however was to be named the first male Face of Weetwood, in 2019. This essentially was an ambassadorship role for Toowoomba’s biggest annual race day, and entailed attending all the events leading up to the race as well as being sponsored by Audi Centre Toowoomba.”

Not bad for a fresh faced 25-year-old with a passion for men’s fashion.

Jess and Gabriel Conte are fast becoming one of YouTube’s favourite couples with a combined following of more than 7.3 million. Source: Contributed

Jessica Conte (nee Bauer) @jess

With a massive two million followers on Instagram and a staggering 2.34 million YouTube subscribers, Jess Conte is certainly up there as Toowoomba’s most successful social media export.
Growing up in Kingaroy before relocating to Toowoomba with her family, the Bauers, Jess comes from a musical clan who are well known for mega YouTube hit, When Mama Isn’t Home.

The father and son hilarious Timmy Trumpet remake boasts over a whopping 60 million hits worldwide.

Jessica has gone onto become a massive social media influencer in the States and Australia, collaborating with a wide number of fashion and beauty brands including Soul Honey Clothing and brought out her own range of imPRESS press on nails.

Jess and Gabriel Conte. Source: Contributed

Alongside her husband US native Gabe, Jess starts in a second YouTube channel, Jess and Gabe have amassed a cult following of 3.19 million.
The duo have wracked up a number of big collabs over the years as well as a guest appearance in the Tom Holland and Will Smith movie, Spies in Disguise.

Alex Hirschi, a.k.a Supercar Blondie. Picture: Contributed

Supercarblondie @supercarblondie and @darvsincars

This list wouldn’t be complete without a mention of Australia’s two biggest social media superstars, sisters Alex Hirschi and Kate Bain (nee Darvall) who have taken Dubai and the world by storm with the Supercar Blondie brand.

With a freaking 40 million followers on Facebook, Alex (Supercar Blondie) and her team have created one of the most viewed pages in the world.

Toowoomba influencer, Kate Bain from the Supercar Blondie team.

Fellow content creator and right hand girl, Kate and her husband Nathan only joined the team in the United Arab Emirates in September of 2020 but have since amassed an eye-watering 436,000 and 399,000 Instagram followers respectively.

Not bad for a young couple who met in the little country town of Kingaroy.

Nathan and Kate Bain apart of the Supercar Blondie Team, one of the most viewed pages on Facebook with 40 million followers. Source: Instagram

While they might not have spent long in Toowoomba both girls completed some schooling here and were happy to call Toowoomba home for brief periods when back in Australia, with Kate and Nathan Bain both planning to wed at Gabbinbar Homestead later this year.