Eliza didn’t grow up on the South Coast, but she chose to make it home when she saw how special the place is… 

Eliza grew up in Cootamundra – a small town in Western NSW with a population of 8000 people. 

She worked in administration for a contractor for the RTA (Roads and Traffic Authority) contributing to major projects like the Gundagai Bypass. She transferred to the Shoalhaven in this role – taking part in a major project at Sassafras.  

When the project ended, and it was time to move on with the next one she knew she’d fallen in love with the area too much to leave. 

She applied for a sales job at Nowchem and while her application was impressive her interview skills were not as great at that time. 

“I did terribly,” she remarked. 

“But a few weeks later when the person they did hire didn’t work out they asked me back for a second chance.” 

Eliza admits she wasn’t well suited to sales, but Managing Director John Lamont could see how hard she worked and her potential, so she moved into an Executive Assistant role and continued her study. 

She already had a Certificate in Business Administration under her belt, then with the support of the company, she undertook a Diploma in Business and one in Management. 

Soon after Eliza moved in a Business Systems Coordinator role, before being promoted to Supervisor and later Manager. Today she is the Director of Compliance and Risk for the company – growing her career for a total of 15 years at Nowchem. 

During that time, she’s also completed a degree in Business – majoring in Management but also handpicked some ‘Risk’ subjects and had two kids now aged 7 and 5. 

“One of the things I love about the business is the family values, it feels like a family where everyone is supportive of each other, but you also have the flexibility to do things for your own family when you need to.” 

“I was able to work from home for a period when I had the kids and build my way up to being in the office again. I can now work school hours and do longer days if I want to get to a school assembly or something on another day.” 

“We even have Community Service leave, which I can use to volunteer at the school as a parent helper on an excursion without taking annual leave, which is really handy.” 

This is in line with the second major thing Eliza loves about working at Nowchem on the South Coast: 

“The community spirit is alive and well. We’re a big enough town that has everything you need but not too big that we lose that sense of community connectedness and that’s something I experience working at Nowchem especially because we are so involved in the community,” added Eliza. 

Some stand out moments for Eliza include winning the 2016 Young Business Executive Award at the Shoalhaven Business Awards and Illawarra the same year. 

Early on she was also given an opportunity to play an active role in the Cherub Rubs brand – writing a business case for the company buying into it and later developing a business/marketing plan, which she was not only able to use for her studies but also apply in real life. 

“I’ve had the opportunity to travel overseas, get to know the distributors and understand the market, study and also be involved in charity events in the local community.”  

“I love coming to work and I love that it’s a place people feel comfortable to bring their kids and grandkids when we have BBQ’s, it’s always a special time,” Eliza added.