The impact of COVID-19 on the business sector in Port Stephens has given locals the opportunity to pause, reassess and, in some cases, pursue exciting new interests.
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Nicole Macqueen-Jones, from Nelson Bay, and Anna Bay's Rebecca Mullaney are just two Port Stephens women who have decided to steer their careers in a whole new direction after having lost their jobs or were forced to reduce their working hours during the pandemic.
Both women say that they probably would never have contemplated a change in career paths had it not been for their time in isolation.
Having moved from Melbourne to Nelson Bay eight months ago, Nicole Macqueen-Jones was left without a full-time job after a set of circumstances saw her lose two jobs in a matter of a couple of months.
"I moved to Port Stephens to work with Ramada but in January due to company restructuring I was given the option of returning to Melbourne or taking a redundancy," she said.
"I decided I wanted to stay in Port Stephens and took on a job in March with a furniture store, but the pandemic meant I had to drastically reduce my working hours."
It was during the early part of the lockdown, and a wanting to help the vulnerable and elderly being impacted by the restrictions on travel, that the Nelson Bay entrepreneur decided to set up a delivery business.
"Delivery in the Bay began just as COVID hit with the intention of shopping for essentials (since people were panic buying) and to keep the elderly safe at home.
"When cafes and restaurants closed I was motivated to keep their businesses going and offered my services for meal deliveries. Basically, I was motivated by the fact that the more I delivered the more people stayed at home.
"This eventually morphed into a custom shopping service, especially for gifts for people in isolation and unable to see each other. I try to source local products and services where possible and hope to keep our community connected and progressing."
Rebecca Mullaney, a 40-year-old mother of five from Anna Bay, had been self-employed for the last two years as a travel agent when the pandemic hit and gave her time to rethink her future.
"I had been travelling in the United States in January, blissfully unaware of the threat of COVID-19 and the significant impact that it would have on my life, when I heard about COVID-19 on the news," Ms Mullaney said.
"Initially, we didn't take much notice - we just thought it was another flu and when we got to the airport to return home and saw people wearing face masks, we thought that was a bit dramatic.
"Then, in the week before lockdown, everything just stopped. Living in a very touristy area it was quite disturbing to suddenly have tour buses stop coming. The Bay became a ghost town and the phones just stopped ringing."
Having always had an interest in mental health issues and therapy, Ms Mullaney was the unprecedented times as an opportunity to retrain and enrolled in an online undergraduate certificate in counselling and mental health.
"I cannot think of a time when mental health was more important. I can see that this new career is something that I will be very passionate about."
The short course is one of many being offered by Western Sydney University to assist people who may be out of work as a result of COVID-19 in acquiring new skills or retraining for new careers.
"WSU was the first institution to commence the online delivery of its short courses, which were developed in response to the Australian Government's Higher Education Relief Package. The first intake of students in the undergraduate certificates commenced their studies in May, while the graduate certificates will be delivered during spring semester, which commences in July," said Nicolene Murdoch, CEO of the university's pathways provider.
"When developing the courses, we were conscious that COVID-19 was having a dramatic impact on the care sector, and areas such as counselling, mental health, and disability and aged care would be of national workforce need. What we weren't expecting, was the extent of the community demand.
"When the short-courses were uploaded to the website, we attracted the most page views for our counselling course."
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