Known better as The Jobs Queen, Sarina Russo has been awarded the Champion of Entrepreneurship at EY’s Queensland Entrepreneur of the Year awards.

Sarina went through many challenges before achieving success. In her younger days, she was fired as a legal secretary, and to pay off her mortgage, she opened a small typing school so that she would have a job to sustain herself. Initially, she had just nine students and she fulfilled her promise of getting them all jobs. Today, The Sarina Russo Group is a recognised global employment and training company with more than 1000 employees.

“It’s wonderful to be acknowledged by such an iconic company as EY but even more inspiring is the quality of Queensland entrepreneurs who will be representing the state at EY’s National Entrepreneur of the Year Awards later this year,” she said. “Congratulations to Brett Ambrose (Ambrose Building), Theo Vairaktaris (Usher and Son) and Jae Fraser (Little Scholars School of Early Learning). I have no doubt their dedication, enthusiasm and self-belief will create a life full of business opportunities which will take them into the See you at the Top! stratosphere.”

Sarina urges entrepreneurs to disrupt themselves and challenge the status quo. In today’s fast paced world, she sees going to war with complacency and protecting what you have as keys to success. “Entrepreneurship is a journey of transformation – it’s how you embrace the uncertainty of disruption along the way which governs your future. You must be ready for anything. You may not like it.  It may be painful but from pain can come incredible joy and fulfilment. Transformation through disruption forces you to harvest new ideas and opportunities and elevate your thinking as you prepare for the unknown.”

And with every success, Sarina continues to strive for bigger, better outcomes. “I continue to stay hungry for success because I believe I haven’t yet arrived at my greatest achievement – the quest for success is everlasting.”

Readers also enjoyed our story Advocates Honoured.