Jules Mitry founder of Balinese Spice Magic Wollongong Local Woman of the Year

The women have been named the Local Woman of the year by their respective state MPs.

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Jules Mitry, is passionate about ensuring the Wollongong community doesn't feel the hunger she did as a young girl.

"When you are hungry for a long time you don't want people to feel that way," Mrs Mitry said.

"When you are hungry there's so many things that could go wrong too. Hunger is a cause of a lot of issues."

The founder and owner of Wollongong's Balinese Spice Magic restaurant is the 2023 Wollongong Local Woman of the Year.

Member for Wollongong Paul Scully recognised Mrs Mitry on International Women's Day for her community charity work.

While she may be humble about the award, Mr Scully said, it's one Mrs Mitry deserves after years of effort.

"Jules has been able to work out a way to tie her love of community her love of her cultural traditions and her love of community together to be able to provide some support for people who need it," Mr Scully said.

She came to Australia as a migrant at the age of 17 from Baturiti, a Balinese village. She lived with a sponsor family, Elle and Garth Peters from Dapto.

Mrs Mitry regularly hosts "mesangkepan dinners". Meaning "get together" in Bali, the proceeds of the dinners and the wages of those involved behind the scenes go to local and Balinese charities.

"I'm not really good at giving people advice about life, but I can feed them," she said.

The dinners have previously supported Southern Youth and Family Services, Women Illawarra, and Kind Hearts Illawarra.

During the COVID-19 pandemic she cooked pay-as-you can meals for the homeless and people struggling in Wollongong. The funds for these meals went to Project Nasi, a charity that provides essentials to Balinese communities.

"Jules consistently made sure that she was doing all she could to provide for people in our community who were struggling financially or sleeping rough," Mr Scully said.

As well as supporting the local community through food and charity she also cooks with food from local producers, providing them with the seeds.

Danna Nelse, a community service worker who has led the team at the Albion Park Rail Community Centre for 33 years, is Shellharbour's Local Woman of the Year

Ms Nelse has been supporting the community with her role as an active board member for multiple organisations including The Shellharbour Women for a Safer Community, Warilla Women for a safer community and The Illawarra Forum.

She was previously awarded an Order of Australia in 2019 for her work assisting and lobbying for Illawarra residents.

"Danna is a fearless and dedicated community leader who has devoted most of her working life to helping countless local families, children, and young people. She is a most worthy recipient of this award," Anna Watson, Member for Shellharbour said.

Staunch tourism industry advocate Michelle Bishop is Kiama's Local Woman of the Year.

The manager of Bangalay Luxury Villas and secretary of Shoalhaven Heads Chamber of Commerce and Tourism executive committee has been working with community and business to support the tourism industry.

"Michelle is also active in promoting the Shoalhaven Tourism industry, the official launch in November 2022 of the new South Coast Tourism Industry Association, proactively encouraging more and more people to visit, eat, stay and invest in our region and to help our local tourism industry to recover after a challenging few years," Kiama MP Gareth Ward said.

Mrs Bishop said it was an honour to be recognised in this award.

"The tourism industry on the NSW South Coast is one of the biggest employers and is a key contributor to the diversity of the local economy," Mrs Bishop said.

Renee Jurgielan, whose passion for supporting children with a disability or impaired balance to be involved in sport, is the Keira Local Woman of the Year.

"Renee is a passionate advocate who works tirelessly to help enrich the lives of others," Keira MP Ryan Park said about the director of Frame Running Wollongong.

He recognised the contribution she has made to the community: "The genuine difference frame running has made not just to the young participants but also their families."

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