City’s the place to be

Elle Gray

I’VE lived here pretty much my whole life.

I went to Centenary Heights school.

Growing up in Toowoomba was pretty good.

All my friends and family live here. It’s all I’ve basically known from my teen years.

I’ve worked for SILVERSHOP for about six years. It’s a beautiful shop.

But I do plan on travelling – though I think I will always come back to Toowoomba. It’s a pretty city and I like it here.

Where am I travelling? I’ve got a visa for Canada, for a working holiday kind of thing.

Marisa Hurst

I’VE worked here at SILVERSHOP since October, so about eight months or so.

I wasn’t really looking to get into the jewellery business, I was just looking for a new job at the time, but once I got into it I realised its something I actually really enjoy and love. It worked out well for me.

I don’t have any grand plans at the moment, no. I’m just happy here for a while.

I was born here in Toowoomba. One thing I love about the city is that even though it’s a bigger sort of city, everyone sort of knows each other and it’s a friendly place.

Emma Benson

I WORK at Pandora. It’s so much fun. Obviously, we get to interact with customers a lot and help them find pieces (of jewellery) that mean a lot to them.

It is really satisfying working there.

I’ve been working there for about nine months.

I want my career to be in retail. I’m currently studying a business degree at Griffith University, so definitely wanting a career in the retail field.

I’m from Melbourne originally. I moved up here about two years ago because my partner is in the Defence

Force.

I just like the community. It’s so much smaller than Melbourne, and you get more of a sense of who everyone is, you’ve got your local customers and people you remember.

I really love it. I’d love to live here forever.

Hannah Jervis

I GREW up in Toowoomba but moved to Noosa for a little while, and then I fell pregnant with my first son, so we moved back.

I just think Toowoomba is such a family-friendly community and such a good place to raise kids – we have fantastic schools here.

My partner and I renovated our first home and then had another child – a little girl – and I’ve always worked in hospitality but I really wanted to try retail, just because the hours suited more school times.

So I’d never done retail before, and two months ago I got a job at Pandora and it’s just the best – I love it.

What’s one thing I love about Toowoomba? Probably our parks - the botanical gardens, and picnic point is lovely too.

Photo: Matthew Newton ALL THAT GLITTERS: Enjoying their work are (from left) Pandora's Emma Benson and Hannah Jervis, with SILVERSHOP's Elle Gray and Marisa Hurst.