Through drama she teaches kids to feel good about themselves, to develop an inner confidence that will benefit them on stage and in the playground. It's a life journey she began as a five-year-old and a calling that has never waned.

As a pupil she found acting, public speaking and then years of eisteddfods a chance to shine. Now she's passing on those attributes to drama students through her business Acting Up Drama Academy.

"I'm certain I'm on the right path in life," says Bubb. "For me this is it."

A former Wollongong High School of the Performing Arts drama student, Bubb abides by her old school motto "Age Quod Agis", Latin for "Whatever you do, do well".

It's a philosophy she lives by and the results are telling. The growth of her business and her passion for education has seen her named the 2015 Illawarra Young Business Woman of the Year.

Bubb is proud of the accolade, but more so of the success of her students.

She uses drama to help them understand the world, saying it gives children language and communication skills that help them to be the best person they can be.

She teaches from personal experience.

"I began speech and drama lessons at the same time as I was learning to read and write," she says. "I was about five and it helped me with English. It taught me to be confident and to stand up in front of my class. I find it can help with a lot with anxiety issues."

Bubb is also a primary school teacher. After a five-year temporary post with an Illawarra state school, a change in circumstance resulted in her becoming unemployed.

While it was a blow, Bubb never let it get her down, pouring her energies instead into the part-time business she started 10 years ago.

"I really loved teaching in a school environment," she says. "It was a difficult time for me. But it was the best thing that happened in the end because I really feel that this is what I'm meant to do."

A Salvationist at the Wollongong Corps, Bubb also leads free drama classes for lower-income families - kids who wouldn't normally be able to afford regular lessons.

"I wanted to make drama accessible to all kids," she says. "I really wanted to reach those children who may be disadvantaged because everyone can gain from creatively expressing themselves."

Bubb says drama also shaped her teenage years, and was helpful when she was made school captain of Wollongong High.

"Part of becoming school captain was being able to get up in front of an audience and talk," she says. "Public speaking is really a valuable lifelong skill."

She says many of her students take drama lessons because they are shy and prone to mumbling.

"The majority of my students don't come because they want to be the next Mel Gibson or Cate Blanchett," she says. "They come because they want to be able to confidently express themselves, not only in performance, but in life."

While she has performed in amateur theatre, she says teaching is where her heart lies.

"I love performing on the stage. I'd love to be in the Sydney Theatre Company. But at the moment I'm enjoying what I'm doing. I really think teaching is the truest form of live theatre because the audience is different every day. You are constantly trying to communicate a point. You have to sell what you're teaching. For me that scratches an itch."

Bubb will travel to Philadelphia over the winter, as she has done for the past seven years, to run a drama enrichment program for 300 students.

"Each year I've been offered a bit more responsibility and this year I'm leading a team of 20 staff," she says.

"It's really enhanced my teaching skills."

Acting Up Drama Academy is run out of Bubb's Cordeaux Heights home and she also holds classes closer to Wollongong, including at the Wollongong Conservatorium of Music.

She worships at the Wollongong Corps with her parents.

"The Salvation Army is like an extended family to me," she says.

"It's where I grew up. I do a lot of work with the Salvation Army for underprivileged kids teaching drama at two camps each year."

Being in the Salvation Army has moulded her teaching.

"I've grown up believing and understanding Christian morals in that everybody should be treated with respect and everybody should have the same opportunities," she says.

"So, in developing my business, that's what to do."

As for eisteddfods, she often feels her students' anxiety.

"I encourage my students to be proud of their performance no matter what happens.

"It's a hard lesson to learn. Just because one person at an eisteddfod thinks they are fantastic doesn't mean the next judge at the next eisteddfod will. Eisteddfods are like rollercoasters."

The Australian Music Examination Board has also recognised Bubb in the past three years with a a Teacher's Shield given to the teacher with the highest exam results in NSW.

Later this year, Bubb will direct her first student production, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, which will be performed at the Balgownie Community Centre at the end of October.

"I'm really excited," she said.

"I've got Oompa Loompa costumes being made and we've held auditions. It's going to be fantastic."