Sandra Gray has had a major impact on the Sussex Inlet community since moving to the coastal village about seven years ago.
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And that influence has been acknowledged with Ms Gray being named South Coast Woman of the Year during a ceremony in Sydney.
The Sussex Inlet Chamber of Commerce president said she "a bit embarrassed and quite humbled" by the award because she was far from alone in working for the community.
"I have a team of people who support the stuff we do in Sussex, and what we've achieved in Sussex over the past six years is not just due to me," Ms Gray said.
However Ms Gray's work for the community is extensive, including being chair of the Inasmuch aged care board, vice-president of the Shoalhaven Food Network, being part of the Foundartion for Community Development and Shoalhaven Council's tourism advisory council, as well as running her own bed and breakfast business and working for the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations as the Illawarra and South Coast's employment facilitator.
Her local involvements started soon after moving from Orange, where she has also been active in the community.
"I'd always been involved in community things wherever I lived," Ms Gray explained.
After joining the chamber of commerce shortly after moving to the coast, Ms Gray was elected president about four years ago, and immediately went into action.
"We started really thinking about how we can value-add to the businesses, by bringing people here for events," she said.
"Because Sussex Inlet is not the type of place people drive through, by having events people come for that event, and then get a highlighted view of what we have to offer."
A prime example was the Viking Festival, which attracted about 4000 over the June long weekend, according to Ms Gray with some becoming regular visitors.
"People who would never come to Sussex now know what we have, and regularly come back," she said.
Ms Gray described Sussex Inlet as a "lovely community".
"We're an amazing village that becomes quite resilient, and we get on with things ourselves, we don't always wait for people to do stuff for us," she said.
"We tend to just think, 'Well we could complain that we haven't got it, or could we somehow work out how we could do it', and I think that philosophy is not dissimilar to the way Sussex grew in the past."
Ms Gray pointed to the way community volunteers raised money for and built the town's aquatic centre as a precursor to the range of community-led projects happening in recent times.
"I think we're quite independent, and we don't whinge about things," she said.
A key part of that has been building relationships with different organisations and government departments.
"My job has always meant that I work in partnership with many organisations, and if we build the strength the town, and we have optimism, gradually now we have confidence in people setting up a business in Sussex because they can see the opportunities," Ms Gray said.
