A Seat at the Table

Originally published in The Nyngan Weekly

Business owners, friends, and family turned out to show their support for a new co-working space in Nyngan on Friday night.

To celebrate the opening of her new business venture, The Junction, Nichole Jenkins invited locals to a panel discussion,

A Seat at the Table, hoping to inspire people to pursue their business and career dreams. A Seat at the Table provided an opportunity to hear from local business women about the challenges, experiences, and opportunities life in and around Nyngan has offered them.

Annabelle Kennedy, of Kennedy the Label, Angie Armstrong, The Cocky's Wife, and Ms Jenkins herself, were the evenings panellists.

The trio spoke to their decision-making efforts behind opening their businesses and gave advice to others in the room who may be interested in opening their own business.

Their biggest piece of advice was to just do it, "it's better to be done than perfect," said Ms Armstrong.

Ms Kennedy spoke about her business as not only a dream come true but a way to express herself outside of motherhood.

After marrying young and having four children with her husband, she said she was getting itchy feet looking for something to do and decided to make her first children's clothing collection, something she'd always wanted to do.

Her label has since taken off and she said she learns something new from every release.

"You can see, oh well they didn't like that one extra neck ruffle, so you can learn from last time."

Her white linen collections have caused a stir in the past she said, with some commenting that the clothes weren't practical for farm life. "You have to know who your audience is, you can't be for everyone, and that's okay," she said.

The face behind The Cocky's Wife, Ms Armstrong, said she never could have predicted where her journey would lead her 12 years ago.

After moving to her husband's family farm, she explored a few business ventures, from her first catering event, a birthday party, to now, her catering business has flourished into a luxury farm stay.

"You need to find your niche and go with it. People thought we were crazy when we said we wanted to charter flights in, but now we have two charter partners," Ms Armstrong said.

Ms Jenkins, who owns the new space used to host the event, was a late call to the panel after poor weather unfortunately meant Anna Smith was unable to get to town from her rural property.

Not missing a beat, Ms Jenkins slid right into the mix and shared her experience as a consultant working in early learning centres in vulnerable communities.

Though each of the women were "imposters" as Ms Jenkins jokingly put it, they all heralded the Nyngan community

for welcoming and uplifting them in their business ventures.

They spoke to their individual experiences finding their way to Nyngan from metro areas and the isolation that they sometimes felt living regionally.

"Collaboration, not competition" was repeating theme, with each speaker excited to see other businesses within the region opening.

They said that more businesses don't harm them, but brings more people to town, in turn supporting each of them more.

"Nyngan is in this really beautiful spot where it is the gateway to everywhere, and we want people to be stopping here."

Approximately 30 people attended the event where canapes and drinks were served.