Talents of Talent

It goes without saying, Entry Level Talent Program participants are a talented bunch. But did you know, outside of work, participants are showcasing talent in other ways?

Here’s a bit of a snapshot:

It's a fact that we all love our caffeine. Robert Blanch has taken his love for coffee to the next level and has learnt how to do really cool coffee art and make exceptional coffee, having had competed in barista tournaments.

Fun fact: Rob has a really cool, professional coffee set-up (complete with coffee beans and the like) at home which allows him to make the perfect brew!

We also have multiple talented artists amongst us - both Samantha Read and Mathilde Ho are watercolourists.

Samantha loves that the nature of watercolour can be quite unpredictable and is always excited and curious to see how her idea will actually look when she is finished – whether it is creating an unexpected texture or colours mixing together in an interesting way. Sam mainly draws nature as she has been fascinated by how many shades and depth of colour a simple cloud or tree can have in real life.

Fun fact: Sam’s goal this year is to drive to Canberra and climb Mt Kosciuszko –which will inspire her watercolour art.

Mathilde has been doing water colouring for 5 years now. Mathilde was always interested in illustration growing up, and had tried some acrylic painting and sketching previously. She loves painting still life, especially food and finds that art allows her an outlet to de-stress and unwind.

Fun fact: Mathilde discovered watercolour painting after buying a set of watercolour paint instead of acrylic paint by mistake.

Elaine Luu does artworks with acrylic paint, having had tried watercolours a couple months before deciding she liked acrylic painting was the way to go. She mainly paints either landscapes or botanical images she finds online.

Fun fact: If Elaine does paint a landscape, it is often from a photo she has taken.

Rebecca Peacock is another addition into Talent Program’s artistic fold. Rebecca does pottery and has many creations under her belt, having started pottery last year as a way to find a creative outlet. Her go to creations are bowls. Bec loves that she is able to create a beautiful piece from just dirt and water.

Fun fact: Now that Bec has mastered bowls, she will be focusing on mastering mugs!

Our very own Ella Somerset has some very impressive vocal cords on her. She started singing before she could speak as music naturally runs in the family. Ella tried choir but hated it. She soon after focused on solo singing and trained for three years at Queensland Conservatorium.

Fun fact: Ella also played a whole range of instruments growing up, including piano, flute violin, clarinet and guitar!

We also have quite a few impressive sports-related talents.

Ally Barton Tedstone can shoot some hoops! Ally began playing basketball when she was six and progressed through the various grades of the sport. She was a representative at a national level for basketball and played on various representative levels throughout her 8 years of playing the sport at representative level.

Fun fact: Ally knows how to dunk – the highest score she has scored in one game is 45 points!

Olivia Hsieh knows how to make everyone sweat and ensure those endorphins are pumping! Having done a variety of sporting activities throughout school, Olivia took the leap about a year ago to become a fitness instructor and is qualified to teach martial arts cross cardio classes called “BodyCombat”. She has also done boxing, kick boxing and other martial arts and will hopefully be able to teach in those classes too!

Fun fact: Olivia can kick and jump fairly high – 2 metres in fact!

Another sports-lover is Jeffrey Min. You can find Jeff ripping it up on the ski slopes! He first started skiing around 9 years old and began going annually when he started university (he has an annual Thredbo pass!) Jeff wanted to try something different and then realised there’s no better feeling than slicing down a mountain on your own two feet!

Fun fact: Did you know skiing and snowboarding is really intense exercise; you could burn up to 400 calories in an hour!