How offering a helping hand can help build a community

Sport has been a big part of Ms Ellis' family - her dad was a sport and music teacher, and her brother studied sports science and health.

Her brother started Genki Fit in 2009, which offered affordable group fitness classes to people in Smythesdale.

But in 2016, he wanted to travel around Australia with his wife and three children, and was planning to close down the fitness business.

Ms Ellis is passionate about making sure fitness support is accessible, especially to people living in towns surrounding Ballarat - she did not want to see the business close.

"I was attending and I knew all of the people and it proves an opportunity for people to get fit and healthy in a real community setting," she said.

"When he was like, 'we're going to stop Genki', I was like 'not a chance, I'll take it'."

Ms Ellis has made a conscious effort to keep the classes affordable.

"As soon as you step even 10 or 15 kilometres out of Ballarat you're getting a lower income most of the time," she said.

"I'm not there to make money, I am there to provide a service."

The business has now grown from two classes to six, and Ms Ellis said she has been fueled by seeing people be able to get involved on a level that suited them.

Working in the fitness space exposed Ms Ellis to the world of marketing and social media.

She said she enjoyed the challenge of working out different social media platforms and it soon became a passion.

Ms Ellis started her commerce degree at the end of 2019 and she has now almost finished it.

So when the Smythesdale Market put a call out for volunteers, she had some ideas.

"There were about 12 stalls, it wasn't huge, but it did what it was supposed to do," she said.

"It gave people somewhere to go every month in the centre of town and get the older people out and to have a chat."

To gain experience, Ms Ellis put together a marketing and communication plan, including revamping the market's social media.

Now the market has grown to more than 60 stalls a month.

"It's insane to see the town transform on those weekends," she said.

Ms Ellis said her drive to help out the community comes from her parents.

"They're both really community minded ... they basically just took me everywhere with them from when I was really little and I got to see the good that was being done by volunteers."

"Volunteerism is so much bigger than I think people realise from the outside."

She has hopes for the future of Ballarat and surrounds to be more connected and lively.

"I'd love to be able to hop on a train, a tram or a bus and get to the places that I need to get to," she said.