“Prior to moving to the West nine years ago, the only time I ventured over the bridge was to go on holidays! When we moved here, I didn’t know where to go, the Eastern suburbs was all I knew. My husband’s family is from Altona and when we had our first child we decided to move here for a place with more space. The West is so big and it’s separated by big freeways, it was daunting. I really struggled to find where to go. I was still travelling back to the East to do stuff.”
It took awhile, but I started meeting people and discovering the West. I’ve always thought ‘Gosh it would be so much easier if there was a site to find all these places.’ A place that connects you to the west. There are so many great businesses that you find and think ‘oh I have to remember that.’ You can drive past it one day and then can’t find it again. They’re either not online or you can’t remember the location or name.
That’s why I started ShopWest. I was chatting with my cousin Carla. She’s from Hampton, and we catch up often. She would catch the train in to see me and we would check out different westie cafes and shops. We would always chat about how there is such a great vibe and that the different pockets of the west have different personalities. The west still has this country feel to it, and it still holds on to that down-to-earth vibe. We wished people knew more about the West, and come over more often. It’s silly that people think there’s a divide.
So one day I said ‘I want to start a directory just for the West, do you want to help?’ Carla said ‘Okay!’ and ShopWest was born. It’s a central point to find all the different types of businesses in the west, including online, home-based, stores and hobby businesses. The aim isn’t just to create a business directory but also to help create a sense of social connectedness for those new to the west, inclusion, and pride of where we live. It’s a directory that’s handy for those living in the West, much needed for those new to the West, and a guide for those visiting the West.
My family and I originally lived in Papua New Guinea and we moved back to Australia when I was five. We lived in the mountain areas of the Dandenong Ranges near Olinda for most of my childhood so I have always been surrounded by forest and big green spaces. When I was 18 I moved out of home to Kew and completed my Bachelor of Applied Science (Health Science) degree at Deakin University in Burwood, majoring in Health Promotion and Nutrition. I’m the middle child of a big family. My parents are separated so I have five brothers and sisters plus 2 stepsisters and a stepbrother. Both my parents are from big families too, my Grandmother will turn 101 this year. I’m hoping I have her longevity genes!
I have moved around the inner eastern and southern suburbs a lot. From Kew to Caulfield, Camberwell, Elwood, Chadstone, Richmond, Hawthorn and Surrey Hills. I travelled overseas when I was 22 through France, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Scotland, England, Ireland, Amsterdam, and Southeast Asia.
My first professional job was working as a Dietary Monitor in a Rehabilitation hospital. I then moved into corporate health. I met my husband while we were working together in Richmond at one of the first online health websites. At the time he was building an investment property in Point Cook. I wish I had known it would eventually become the house that we call home as I would have taken more interest in the design! I left the corporate health sector after 5 years to Diabetes Victoria, working on projects to help reduce the rate of diabetes in older Victorians.
I completed my Master of Public Health Nutrition and went on to publish a review of the impacts the food environment has on Childhood Obesity. I’m a Public Health Nutritionist, which is different from a Dietitian. My focus is on how the environment impacts eating behaviours. For instance, does having a vending machine in a school or workplace impact people’s body weight and health over time. Or, how does the home environment impact children’s eating patterns?
My main focus is on helping families deal with fussy or picky eating in children. I work with them to identify and implement new behaviours to solve the issues they are facing. Next year both of my kids will be in school so I will be getting back into Nutrition consulting as well as focussing more on ShopWest which is exciting. We have lots of plans to improve the site and possibly creating an App to add in more functionality like alerting users to sales. Looking ahead we want to find and promote, trades and services more. Instagram is image-heavy so it can be difficult to promote all types of businesses. ShopWest will have organic growth, and we’ll just take it from there.
One of the biggest things we have noticed through doing ShopWest is that Westies are really passionate about the West. The Westies we chat with are really passionate about living and working here. It’s not just the people who were born here. It’s the new people coming in, and people are appreciating what the West has to offer. It’s got a friendly feel, really close to the city, with cool pockets of cafes and shops. I think that’s what people like, and you become part of the community.
In my free time, you can find me taking portrait and maternity photos for friends and family. Trying to try a new café and bringing the family to different places in the West. You can often find me at the You Yangs, walking or riding a bike. My kids and I are Westies now, and we’d never leave the West.”
