Kate Dezarnaulds was genuinely surprised when her name was called out at the inaugural Kiama Business Awards.

The WorkLife founder took home the Outstanding Business Leader award, a recognition she describes as “absolutely delightful”.

“It was very unexpected from my point of view,” Dezarnaulds said.

“The camaraderie of other business owners is a real joy, and the respect and acknowledgement that's implicit in the award is so gratifying.”

The Kiama Business Network established the awards this year as a way to recognise outstanding business achievements in the area.

WorkLife was also nominated in the Excellence in Small Business category, dual recognition that shows the company’s impact in the region.

Dezarnaulds admits that she used to be cynical about business awards but made the decision to enter multiple awards the past few years.

The recognition has been valuable to the business considering the financial challenges many small businesses face.

“Small business is really full on and risky, and the last few years has not been very profitable,” she said.

“To take a moment to take stock on what you have achieved when you feel like the usual measure of success is dollars in the bank … it's been great to be able to actually say, no, it's OK, we've done some really great things.”

The journey to this success began when Dezarnaulds founded WorkLife in 2017 after getting tired of her Berry to Sydney commute for work that she’d made at least 882 times.

She tried working remotely from home and a local cafe, both of which weren’t working for her, so then she opened WorkLife’s first co-working space in Berry.

After WorkLife’s success in Berry, they expanded to Kiama and Coledale, though they lost their Kiama location during COVID, they bounced back by opening a space in Picton in 2023.

“We've got a lot of Kiama-based businesses that are working out of our location in the area at the moment,” Dezarnaulds said

“I think part of my surprise was the acknowledgement of the role that we play in the wider region here.”

Looking ahead, Dezarnaulds wants the small business community to build better connectivity with young people in the region.

“I would love for the small business community to build better connectivity with our young people in the region so that we can keep their energies and their intellects close to home,” she said.