Laurelle Harvey has worked incredibly hard to earn her new position as Head Cook at the Kitchen in the Commercial Hotel in Wallerawang.
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Laurelle has defied challenges that would have tested the strongest of people and has come out the other side.
"My husband had an accident, he had full seizures at work, and ended up on life support and was not able to continue the career that he wanted to do," she said.
"For a while there, I was the only breadwinner, a full time carer to my husband, and raising seven kids."
Hospitality was a familiar industry for Laurelle as she'd worked in it when she was younger. She also has a degree in Community Resources, but found her way back in the kitchen due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
"There wasn't as many placements with kids and things like that. And this was my first ever job when I was younger, so I came back here and started as a kitchen hand," she said.
Making news in the Lithgow region
Laurelle's passion in Hospitality would reignite, with the support of her boss, Tom.
"Tom kind of pushed me right from the bottom, all the way up to the top. I've had a good time progressing from here," she said.
"Now I'm cooking. I'm absolutely loving it, cooking big meals for lots of people is something I'm passionate about."
As a Head Cook, Laurelle is now able to have input in the restaurant menu.
"We're changing our menu next week. And it's going to more of a homestyle pub meals with more variety and options," She said.
"I was throwing suggestions and Tom was throwing out suggestions and it's just all come together now with everybody's ideas into one menu."
Having the support of both her employer and the community has played a role Laurelle's success, despite everything she has faced.
"I would be at work having panic attacks and Tom was like, 'You've got this. Come on, you can do it.' The community has also helped, so they kind of turned it back on me," she said.
"I'd be supporting them throughout their day and listening to them. Then it got to the point that I would come to my local pub for work, and they'd be like, 'Oh, how's your husband?' 'How's everything going?' 'Do you need us to do anything?' It's kind of a great, small community."
Despite earlier struggles, Laurelle is happy with where her life is at the moment. Her Husband has returned to work part-time and she is finding success in her work.
"I'm just happy where I am now. I started off beginning of the year, and I was like, I don't know how I'm going to do this, Now it's the end of the year and i'm going on loving life," she said.
Laurelles advice for women in the community is: "Just keep doing what you want to do, don't let anyone tell you any different."
Reidun Berntsen
Reidun is a Journalist and writer who lives in a country town 3 hours from Sydney, Australia. From a young age, Reidun has been in love with words and the infinite possibilities they bring. Stories, features and poems have been a major part of her writing career.
Reidun is a Journalist and writer who lives in a country town 3 hours from Sydney, Australia. From a young age, Reidun has been in love with words and the infinite possibilities they bring. Stories, features and poems have been a major part of her writing career.
