Coralie McCarthy riding high in new role advocating for region's businesses

Coralie McCarthy is what you could call homeschooled in business in a way that laid solid foundations for her future career in advocacy.

The newly-appointed Business Illawarra director grew up in Gerroa where her parents ran a successful beachside shop for 20 years.

“We lived above the shop, and business was very much the regular conversation at the dinner table,” recalls Coralie.

“My father had a great passion for antiques but he and Mum realised nobody would come to the beach for antiques, so they split the store, selling antiques on one side and ice cream on the other.

“My childhood was spent scooping ice creams, then running through an open doorway to sell antiques.

“Mum did all the accountancy.”

Coralie, now 44, says she learned a lot from those years including seasonality, business strategy, sales and accounting.

After leaving school, Coralie had a range of jobs and a business of her own for 10 years doing wedding photography.

But her real test came in the summer of 2019-2020 with the Shoalhaven bushfires, followed by flood then COVID, all in the space of a month.

“By then I was working for Shoalhaven City Council and Australian Regional Tourism (ART), which I chaired for six years,” says Coralie.

“During the fires I was working with all levels of government and business networks, as well as helping communicate key messages to visitors.

“So I had the blessing and the curse of helping business as the fires finished and the Shoalhaven went into floods.”

On top of that, Coralie was then drawn into emergency discussions on how to deal with a potentially deadly virus starting to spread throughout the world.

“I had to help take the COVID message into small regional communities through my role with ART, and I also had to help businesses understand how new legislation would affect them in my own region,” says Coralie.

“I somehow coped with that unprecedented workload because I seem to have a natural ability to listen to a lot of different stakeholders and then translate it in a policy.

“And to work with purpose and to feel valued is what everybody hopes for, so that helped me a lot.”

Coralie says her new role with Business Illawarra is well under way with discussions with the business community to identify areas of need.

“Running a business these days is a lot harder than it was 20 years ago … there is a lot more red tape and that’s something we need to raise with government,” she says.

“For mum and dad businesses who need to constantly evolve and be on top of legislation, it is harder than it ever was.”

Energy, payroll tax and insurance costs are also issues she will be pursuing.

When asked what advice she would give to young entrepreneurs, Coralie pulls no punches.

“I think fear of mistakes holds a lot of people back. We are a culture of not wanting to make mistakes. Social media amplifies that by showing everybody as perfect.

“However, I think authenticity and being brave are the key ingredients for success.

“My son is now 19 and my daughter is 11, and I want my kids to grow up and be in professional roles that provide fulfilment and make them happy, just like every parent.”

And does she have room in this busy life for downtime?

“I love riding horses in the bush. I have a horse, and my daughter has a pony and where we ride has internet black spots so that suits us just fine.”