28 August, 2020

The owner of a West Wyalong fashion boutique has set her sights on inspiring other local women to embrace the training opportunities on their doorstep.

TAFE NSW graduate Tiarna Robertson, 27, this month became the sole owner of popular fashion and giftware shop Pink Velvet after turbocharging her career by studying business administration.

She said she would never have realised her dream of running her own business if not for the new skills and networking opportunities afforded to her while studying a Certificate III and IV of Business Administration at TAFE NSW West Wyalong.

“When I enrolled at TAFE NSW I didn’t know what I wanted to do but I always knew I wanted to be my own boss,” Ms Robertson said. “There were practical skills I learned in the course, like accounts management, that I thought I would never use but now I use them every day.

“The networking opportunities at TAFE NSW were amazing and it created this little community of people I can lean back on.”

After a successful stint in business administration at Bland Shire Council, which culminated in Ms Robertson being crowned the NSW Regional Training Awards Trainee of the Year in 2015, she left to have a family before seizing the chance in 2019 to become co-owner of Pink Velvet.

“I just thought, you know what, with the skills I have I can make a go of this and I haven’t looked back since,” she said.

She has forged a reputation not only as a young leader in the West Wyalong business community but a passionate advocate for women’s empowerment.

“I’m all for women being in each other’s corners and backing each other up,” the mum-of-three said. “We have such a valuable asset in TAFE NSW at West Wyalong and I want to encourage everyone in the community to utilise it to reskill or upskill, especially in these uncertain times.”

TAFE NSW West Wyalong business teacher Angela Prest said the Certificate III and IV in Busines Administration armed graduates with lifelong skills that were also critical in small business, saying with the jobs market set to change markedly in coming years due to the impacts of COVID-19, small businesses like Ms Robertson’s would become an attractive option for many.

Small businesses account for 35 per cent of Australia's gross domestic profit and employ 44 per cent of Australia's workforce. Of the 877,744 total employing businesses, 823,551 are small businesses (93.8 per cent), and of those businesses, 627,932 are businesses that employ only 1-4 people, known as micro-businesses.

To find out more about studying business administration at TAFE NSW West Wyalong, phone 13 16 01 or visit www.tafensw.edu.au.

Media contact: Daniel Johns, TAFE NSW Media and Communications – Business Partner, 6938 1441, mobile 0477 722 428.