By WorkLife community manager Jane Fullerton-Smith

Managing WorkLife’s Coledale premises is fulfilling on so many levels. I am in the privileged position of welcoming, settling and supporting our members, who work across diverse industries, including design, banking, law construction, health and wellbeing, journalism, architecture, real estate, to film and TV production. It is always so calm, yet active, productive and always buzzing with creativity and personality. We laugh a lot. Real friendships have been forged and I love that.

Away from WorkLife life, my day-to-day career is and always has been quite varied.

I am involved in my husband’s construction firm – Good With Wood Construction and have two teenaged daughters. My passion project currently? I’m writing a novel, or novella as I Iike to call it – it’s not very long although years in the making.

Merrigong [Theatre Company] kindly gave me some development funding earlier this year, so as to explore the concept as a potential theatre piece. It’s comedy, which is fun but not easy.

Born and raised in New Zealand, I trained as a dancer.

First ballet, then as a commercial dancer. I was in the fashion industry for a long time. I travelled and worked in Japan, Australia and the UK until I went to Drama School in the mid-90s. I also had a production company when I was really young which specialised in light entertainment, dance, fashion and lots of big hair. I was also an Auckland Blues and All Blacks cheerleader. Most of that nowadays sounds tacky but as a young 20-something creative, it was the most fantastic fun. A weekly audience of 50,000 is hard to beat.

I was lucky enough to be accepted to the National Drama School of New Zealand – Toi Whakaari Aotearoa at 25. It changed my life and gave me clear direction which focused on the arts and creation of theatre, film, storytelling and event production. In late 1999, I was cast in the Australian production of Chicago The Musical.
It was a dream job … then early on, during rehearsals, I blew my knee apart. Post op, although disheartened, I stayed on in Sydney, got a great agent and worked for years in TV, theatre, film (Rake, Packed to the Rafters, Home and Away, Headland, Crownies, The Combination, Walking on Water etc) and major events. 

My best life is producing theatrical special events.

I love it. I got a taste when I launched Sportsgirl into NZ at 21. I have since event-managed and produced for Australian, Melbourne and New Zealand Fashion Week’s and other major events.

Community events are super important to me. Hugely popular and unforgettable amongst our local community was Unexpected Magic held at Coledale Public School across a number of years and performed by every student at the school.

Importantly we recently produced a Climate Change Community Flash Mob (also at Coledale School during a market Sunday).

How did I discover 2515?

I had a small part on a show called Headland. We were shooting in the 7 Studios, and I remember asking, “Why is it called Headlands?” And they said, ‘There’s this place down south called Austinmer, and there’s a pub there called Headlands, all the creatives are moving there.’

The next weekend, a girlfriend and I drove down to Austinmer and up through Moore Street. It was reminiscent of a residential street in so many towns and cities in New Zealand, tree-lined with wooden homes, I just knew I needed to bring my small family to visit. I had two tiny babies and my husband, Matt, who didn’t want to live in the city anymore. We moved three weeks later.  Last minute we found a very old coal miners’ cottage in Wombarra. The girls called the ‘Fairy House’ (the fairies were water dragons). We lived happily in Wombarra for 14 or so years and have recently sold a renovated cottage and rebought in Thirroul.

I met [WorkLife founder] Kate Dezarnaulds almost 10 years ago. 

Kate is one of those incredible humans you don’t forget. She has always worked in the arts and or NFPs and is all about community. When we met, she was managing Sponsorships and Partnerships at Sydney Festival (not an easy gig).

In response to the impending Climate Change crisis, I had co-founded (2008-13) two start-up businesses specialising in Analytical Sustainable Event Management Systems (SEMS - Software Systems and Green Shoot Pacific Consultancy).

Greenshoot Pacific was engaged by Sydney Festival to create their sustainability vision. Kate and I connected, and we remained in contact.

Then I got sick, I think stress was a trigger … It was rheumatoid arthritis. We dissolved the businesses, and I spent the next seven or eight years just being part of the community and enjoying my friends and growing my children, eating really weird food and working in Matt’s business. I changed acting agents and starting to write again. I did yoga. I did home renovation. I got an awesome dog called Yindi. And slowly I got better and came back to work. 

One day Kate called me and said, ‘I have opened a community coworking business in Berry. 

‘I’ve now grown it to Kiama. Do you know of any venues in Thirroul that might support this kind of business?’ This place came up in Coledale… it just worked. Kate has a builder for a husband (J2 Build), who made fitting it out a dream, with the help of the incredible local architects TAKT Studio.

We had a soft opening last December; a day later lockdown happened. February 1 we officially opened, and we’ve had a really good mainstay of members. Everybody’s delightful and I love going to work. All employees in Kate’s WorkLife offices (Coledale, Berry and Kiama) are women. Everyone’s juggling kids and often have other businesses. Charlotte [our concierge at Coledale] is a floral designer and creates wedding installations and in addition has a budding social enterprise start-up in feminine hygiene products called Flossim with another friend from Stanwell Park.

Kate’s vision has always been to create a network of coworking spaces on the South Coast, but also to create a venue for exhibitions, art, food and beverage (Social Life just opened in Berry) and a place where communities can come together.  2515

WorkLife’s Christmas Market will be on Saturday, December 18, 10am-4pm, visit worklife.org.au