I am Queanbeyan

When I started out, it was just me selling fresh juice at local events, something that could fit nicely around my life as a busy mum. Over the last 10 years the business has expanded and I love seeing how it has grown. Last year when COVID shut down all events, I wasn’t sure what I was going to do. But it was actually a blessing in disguise because it pushed me to pursue something I was too afraid to do before which is selling commercially. Now I have built my own commercial kitchen, at home in Googong, and I’m bottling my drinks for the first time. A huge amount of work goes into it, but I love it. I’m only delivering to Queanbeyan, Jerra and Googong for now, so Canberra people will just have to wait!

I left the security of a public service job 6 years ago to follow my passion of becoming a chef. Being a chef can be stressful, but it’s an enjoyable stress for me because I love cooking.

However, opening Bean Central this year in the middle of winter and during a pandemic was tough. Luckily we have a great community here who have supported us throughout it all. I never regretted taking on Bean Central because it is about building a community and a place that we can all be proud of. I want everyone who walks through this door to feel welcomed and have a positive experience, the customers and my employees.

My husband and I moved from Armidale in July this year. It was something we had been thinking about for a while, and this year we decided to just go for it. My husband got a job locally and I started my own Remedial Massage business. It was quite risky, especially with COVID preventing me from doing a lot of things. But we have been really happy and don’t regret it at all. We are loving Queanbeyan. It still has that small town, country-feel so it hasn’t been such a shock to the system for us.

Purple is my favourite colour, the hair always gives it away. Today I woke up and decided it will be a purple day. I knitted this dress and I’ve got the scarf to match, so why not? 

I like being able to dress up again now I am finally back in the office. I’m a Naturopath, I help people who are sick & tired of being sick & tired. People often go to the Dr and are told that their blood tests show nothing is wrong. Those are the people I can help. When you know there is something wrong but conventional medicine doesn’t recognise it or have a solution.