150 most influential people under 30 in Far North Queensland
An upcoming singer-songwriter from Cooktown has given some tips on how to break into the music industry but has warned it's hard work.
Cairns
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An upcoming singer-songwriter from Cooktown has risked everything to move to Brisbane to break it into the music industry, but she has some tips for other upcoming artists.
Ella Hartwig has received nominations the past two years in the Queensland Music Awards and was featured on Triple J’s Unearthed.
Her most recent venture will take her to Brisbane to pursue her passion but she warned a singing career is a full time job.
“I finished school in 2020 from then literally the few days after graduation I started with admin for Queensland Health,” she said.
“I decided the 9-5 wasn’t my gig. It was my job, it's helped fund my music. But music is a full time job in itself.”
Ms Hartwig has decided to throw away her financial security and pursue her dream.
“I’ve lived remote my whole life, going to a big city to chase my dreams,” she said.
“I have been wanting this since I was a little kid but I am making my reality, it’s scary but I have the support from the community behind.”
Ms Hartwig said her biggest piece of advice was to make sure your heart is in it and expect to put in the hard work because there is a lot that goes behind the scenes.
“Music is about people coming together. I will always support someone that is up and coming,” she said.
“I was invited to sing a song in the break of some performances. If you put yourself out there, things will start happening. For me that’s what happened.”
She said persistence is important.
“I booked a salt house gig about 10 months in advance, be on the ball, be pretty organised. It’s a lot of work.”
Ms Hartwig has recently organised a regional tour going around Thursday Island, Cooktown, Mission Beach, Mackay, Airlie Beach and Anges Water.
Across the Far North there are a range of talented individuals under 30 who are excelling in various industries and careers. From young entrepreneurs, advocates, filmmakers and SES volunteers, this group stand out in their communities.
Chambers of Commerce CEO Patricia O’Neill said Cairns was a great place for young people to launch their careers.
“There is exposure to connect with good quality mentors,” Ms O’Neill said.
“We are a regional town but we are actually a very cosmopolitan regional town which has attracted a lot of quality senior leaders from other parts of the world.
“As we continually strive to attract larger businesses to have satellite offices here there is more opportunity for the youth to go and develop.”
CBC Staff Selection director Sally Mlikota said young people have done well from leaving and staying in Cairns.
“Many young people do benefit from going to spend time in different parts of the country and the world,” Ms Mlikota said.
“On the flip side we have some up and coming individuals who have never left Cairns and are doing equally well.”
Ms Mlikota said people from out of town have also contributed to this.
“We have quite a number of individuals under 30 from out of town who have moved to Cairns,” she said.
“They have enjoyed the young innovative community and they have gone on to succeed.”
CAIRNS
Shai Ager
Agile Project founder
Shai Ager has accomplished so much at 24. A lot of her work has been focused on wildlife, including working on the recent SEQ floods where she helped wildlife carers impacted by the floods. She was first known from her work through the animal welfare group — the Agile Project. She has done a lot of volunteer work helping rehabilitate agile wallabies. By the age of 21 she had also been crowned as 2019 Cairns Young Woman of the Year on International Women’s Day.
MICAH HART
Business owner
High career ambitions doesn’t stop 28-year-old Micah Hart from following his goals. He opened up Social Impact back in 2020 when Covid was in its peak. Social Impact is a business aimed to support small business and give them a chance to have a great online presence. Mr Hart decided to push things further recently, and opened a photography studio called Hart Creative. It is aimed to make a creative space for anyone in Cairns who can go to where they want to focus cooling themselves in an airconditioned room.
READ MORE: 30 CAIRNS INFLUENTIALS UNDER 30
PORT DOUGLAS
LONI FITZPATRICK
Harpist
Loni Fitzpatrick is an up and coming harpist in Port Douglas. At the age of 29 she plays at weddings and events. Ms Fitzpatrick is a freelancer and has recently gotten into sound healing where she hopes to connect with musicians. While she is located in Port Douglas, she has played sold-out crowds in Sydney Opera House.
RAINE WARD
Maker founder
Raine Ward started her own business in the middle of Covid at the age of 19 in Port Douglas. She opened a store with unique homewares and handmade products. Ms Ward wanted to create a platform to showcase and celebrate local artists.
She did this through her online blog — Meet the Makers where she celebrates local artists behind each piece of art in her store.
READ MORE: 30 PORT DOUGLAS INFLUENTIALS UNDER 30
CAPE YORK AND TORRES STRAIT
TALEI ELU
Advocate
From Seisia, a small Torres Strait Islander community, Ms Elu left her federal government job behind in Canberra to return to Cape York with skills and experience to transform her community.
Leading and advocating for grassroots projects, Ms Elu, 29, has witnessed the immediate effects of her work pushing for a cleaner environment free from littering and telecommunication services in remote areas where access to emergency services has proved difficult.
SHA-LANE GIBSON
Working as an economic development and trade investment officer with the Cook Shire Council, Ms Gibson loves her community and wants to develop the region to be sustainable, thriving and self-reliant.
Growing up in Hopevale, Ms Gibson is heavily involved in community engagement and will be shadowing the British Consul General to further learn key development plans and techniques to bring back to her region.
READ MORE: CAPE YORK AND TORRES STRAIT INFLUENTIALS 30 UNDER 30
TABLELANDS
TYLER WILLIAMS
Volunteer
Tyler has been an active volunteer with the Atherton SES for eight years. Finishing high school and an apprenticeship, he was eager to learn and build more skills when he joined the SES team.
Now trained in flood boat recovery and rescue, height safety and rescue, rooftop repairs following storm damages, and multiple land searches with positive results, he said working with the SES has been “an absolute pleasure.”
TAHNEE DILGER
Tablelands Young Citizen of the Year 2022
With aspirations of becoming an engineer, Tahnee is a recent graduate of Atherton State High School where she was involved in studying STEM subjects and was named the Peter Doherty Outstanding Rural and Remote Senior STEM Student. Also involved with volunteer firefighting at the Tinaroo Rural Fire Brigade, Tahnee was awarded the Tableland’s Young Citizen of the Year award for 2022.
READ MORE: TABLELANDS 30 INFLUENTIALS UNDER 30
CASSOWARY COAST
KITANNA GEIGER
Aerialist
Kitanna is an aerialist from the Cassowary Coast with dreams of running away and joining the circus. Starting her journey in the art at the age of 15, she now teaches at Sundance Studio in Mission Beach while saving money to audition for the National Institute of Circus Arts in Melbourne.
JACOB VECCHIO
Schoolteacher
Jacob Vecchio has shown what it means to be proud of your town. The Good Counsel College schoolteacher was once a student at the very school he now works at, and is one of the most popular local athletes. With a long junior history of local sport including cricket, soccer and school sports, upon returning to town and local clubs, Mr Vecchio’s passion for his team and his enthusiasm in motivating his peers is unrivalled.
READ MORE: CASSOWARY COAST 30 INFLUENTIALS UNDER 30
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Originally published as 150 most influential people under 30 in Far North Queensland
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