“I was actually good at being a soldier. I was always on time, neat, good at instructing and had self-confidence and great organisational skills. When I was doing my job as a medic, I loved it. But military life wasn’t soul-fulfilling for me.”

After discharge, Christie spent seven years working for a medical company, travelling and interacting with medical personnel at all levels. Throughout, however, she still knew, “This is not the grassroots of who I am.”

Christie married a soldier and spent a portion of her adult life moving around the country, before she began to miss her family in Cudgen. The couple moved back home and her days were spent engaging in quieter hobbies such as making clay earrings on the kitchen table.

“Then I realised that I really loved making earrings and wanted to work at it, full time,” she says.

“I started selling the earrings online and at markets. From there, my business took off. It wasn’t an overnight success, but involved a lot of hard work. I knew then that creating is what gives me the most joy.

“For a start,” she laughs, “Earrings always fit!”

Those early days of working on the kitchen bench morphed into a thriving full-time business for Christie, supported by her husband, mother and sister. The earrings are now made of acrylic in all shapes, sizes and in all shades of colour with choices of glitter, matte or gloss. Each pair is unique, having been carefully designed, created and marketed by Christie and her team. 

“The ideas for new earrings just come to me all the time. I get inspiration from colours, designs or anything that catches my eye. I recently saw a great pattern on the floor of a pub and quickly took a photo of it! My mind is never far away from the creative side,” she says.

Christie’s family-owned and operated business is ever evolving. Each year in the lead up to Anzac Day and Remembrance Day she creates a collection of earrings that pay tribute to Australia’s, and her own, military heritage. The profits of these go directly to organisations that support veterans.

Tragically, her brother, Robert, was killed in a road accident in 2022. 

“Our family, as I had always known it, was now broken forever.” 

Although deeply traumatised, Christie wanted to pay tribute to Robert, and so curated a collection of earrings based on the artwork that adorned his bedroom walls. From this, Zest for Life was born, with Christie stating that she knows he’d want her to get on with life.

“He loved women and they were drawn to him. He’d love the idea that he’s swinging off the ears of women all around the world,” she says, laughing.

“This series of earrings opened my eyes and I realised that people love a sense of connection and a story. A cause and a purpose. Now, with everything we do, we try to find that connection to our audience. We’ve recently collaborated with a cancer charity in Australia, for example. Saying that, it’s still very important that I also stay true to my own vision.”

That vision, Christie tells us, is to encourage all to connect on a deeper level and to act with fearlessness. And through the development of that vision, she has discovered her true life passion.