Some people don’t particularly like to discuss their work after hours. Bronte Holmes is not one of those people.
“I’m proud of it,” says Tellus’ Manager Sales & Business Development.
“It’s a real BBQ stopper. People say, ‘What’s it like working with hazardous waste?’ Well, we are putting this material in the safest place it could possibly go.”
Hazardous waste may sound like a vocation for Bronte now, but it wasn’t always the case.
Her first love was the theatre. As a 19-year-old she headed “out east” from Perth to try and make her name as an actor, in Melbourne.
“Unfortunately, it’s hard to get scouted socialising in pubs!,” she recalls.
Following a stint in advertising, she returned to Perth at the start of the century. There was the pull of friends and family, but also a desire to establish a career in sales.
Bronte’s first major gig was with Yellow Pages, managing existing relationships but also developing new business. This is where she cut her teeth with sales, in a face-to-face role.
Her next job was a breakthrough. At HSBC, her role was to drive interest-free finance, an area in which the British bank was virtually unknown, at least in Australia. Bronte managed to onboard a large international home décor and furniture franchise, and HSBC soon became the chain’s preferred interest-free finance provider.
After HSBC, at Medibank, Bronte drove new business in the corporate sector. When a large mining company introduced a health insurance package for its workers, Bronte got a hands-on taste of the mining sector, and the world of FIFO. It was to stand her in good stead for what was to come.
Bronte spent five years managing and selling to corporate clients for Qantas, until 2019, and got a taste of travel. She was able to explore many European countries with her partner. Germany remains their favourite.
Next, Bronte took a small break from the corporate world for a WA outback tour, and this inspired the next leap—purchasing a caravan. Van life is now a passion.
Following Qantas, Cleanaway introduced Bronte to the whole world of waste management—and the rest, as we say, is history. She joined Tellus in 2022.
Here, she feels she has finally found her “tribe.”
“I’m really proud of the team we have, and the facility we have,” she says. “The consequences of not having a place like Sandy Ridge could be enormous. We all remember the terrible events in Beirut, in 2020, where ammonium nitrate was not being stored or disposed of correctly.”
Bronte’s sense of mission now is focused on building awareness of Tellus, nurturing her existing customers, and guiding customers to realise disposing of hazardous waste is not complicated.
“I’ve always worked in business development, and hunting for new customers is my strength. It’s in my DNA.
“If you are a good salesperson, you can apply your skill set to whatever product or service you are working with. The diversity within my career is testament to this.
