Shine Awards 2023: The Good Copy Company’s Lisa Lock helps rural women kick goals

Rural copywriter Lisa Lock is helping a band of rural women draw tourists to her hometown on the Eyre Peninsula. Here’s how.

Workshop26 at Kimba, SA. Picture: Marnie Hawson

You can’t be what you can’t see.

It’s a phrase Lisa Lock uses to explain why she loves telling the stories of rural women.

“The more that rural women see their peers doing incredible things, the more they can recognise that they have the power to do the things they didn’t see possible and achieve those amazing things themselves,” Lisa said.

Originally from a family farm on South Australia’s Eyre Peninsula, Lisa has been inspired by a group of five dynamic women in her hometown of Kimba who created Workshop26 – a not-for-profit collective born out of adversity.

“There had been a string of really tough years – three local businesses closed their doors within a space of a few months and things were grim in Kimba’s main street,” Lisa said.

“Five local women, four farmers and one publican – one was my mum – put their hands into their own pockets to purchase one of those spaces, an old garage that had been a machinery dealership for 90 years.”

Rural copywriter and The Good Copy Company owner Lisa Lock with her mum Heather Baldock at Workshop 26. Picture: Nadinne Wilkinson

They transformed the old tractor shop to house nine microbusinesses each founded by local women; makers, collectors and creatives.

The “slightly crazy idea” is now a tourist drawcard and favourite local retail, event and co-working space, community centre and small business incubator.

Lisa voluntarily does the social media and communications work for Workshop26 and is now also a proud tenant.

The Workshop26 team at Kimba, SA. Picture: Rebecca Smart

While Kimba has always been home, Lisa has spent nearly the past 25 years working across rural Australia.

After moving to Adelaide for boarding school when she was 15, she worked in corporate communications and community relations.

She spent 14 years in the Pilbara region of Western Australia and four years at Roxby Downs in Outback SA, then founded The Good Copy Company in 2019 to help small rural businesses, not-for-profits and community groups with copywriting and social media content.

She wanted to help the little communities she loved who were overwhelmed with work on things like grant writing, annual reports and newsletters but also farm and small business profiles and web content.

“I feel really privileged to work with these people because they are all doing something incredible and I’m just helping them get the word out,” Lisa said.

“There is a real creativity and innovation in rural communities, in women in particular, that they bring to problem solving and that comes from the knowledge that if you want something done or to change, then you need to drive that yourself.”

Lisa is a nominee in The Weekly Times Shine Awards, supported by Harvey Norman. Now in its seventh year, the campaign celebrates rural and regional women who make a real difference to their communities and industries.

Lisa was nominated by South Australian entrepreneur Emily Riggs, who said “Lisa is an incredible advocate for regional women. She is a quiet achiever, helping many businesses”.

Lisa said she was most proud of helping raise awareness and funding for the Youth Involvement Council at Port Hedland, WA.

Last year she, her husband, Andrew, and their three boys, Heath, 8, Liam, 6, and James, 2, moved back to Kimba to spend more time with family.

“It is really special to be back in my hometown but still have these amazing opportunities for work that 15-year-old me couldn’t have imagined when I left,” Lisa said.

“To come home and be surrounded by people who are working to build this great community up and ensure it survives for many years to come – I’m really excited and proud to be part of that.”

If you know a rural woman like Lisa, whose story deserves to be told, nominate her for the Shine Awards in the form below.