Madeleine Albert told recruiters early in 2021 that she was looking for a ‘unicorn job’. One which combined agriculture and finance with her experience in restructuring and system building in large organisations. Oh, and she had to be able to do it remotely, from Spring Ridge – a small town 400km northwest of Sydney, where her now-husband Hugh Brownhill lived on the family farm.
Impossible, the recruiters said.
But a couple of months later, she was living the fairy tale.
“I was on my honeymoon when I heard about the job as a change analyst with the Regional Investment Corporation (RIC),” Madeleine says.
She now works remotely with the added benefit of occasional trips to RIC’s national head office in the vibrant regional centre of Orange.
After 16 years in Sydney, Madeleine says that “COVID was the push, and the uptake of remote work made it possible” for her to combine a regional lifestyle with a satisfying professional role.
“We have a really strong community in Spring Ridge and there’s a lot of great events and things that people are part of,” she says.
“There’s a pub 15 minutes down the road and it’s a really nice place to meet your neighbours. There’s definitely no $20 cocktails in Spring Ridge,” she says.
“We live on the farm with other families and we’re almost a community within a community” – among them, farmers, nurses and a trick rider who’s been a stunt double for Israeli-US film star Natalie Portman, Madeleine says.
“It’s lovely. My city friends love coming here. They all have ‘their’ bedroom in the house, which is Hugh’s grandparents’ home. We have a lot of space,” she laughs.
Imagine that.
