By Kirra Livingstone
Maleny Accident Repair second-year apprentice, Liarna Jenner, is laying the foundations for a successful career, having been awarded the Glassies Bronze Employee Award for Maleny last month.
Ms Jenner is undertaking a trade qualification in vehicle painting, and her employer, Juan Perez, said her skill level surpasses that of many qualified tradespeople.
“I reckon she’s a fantastic girl, I’ve been in the trade for 35 years so I have seen heaps of girls come and go,” Mr Perez said. “I threw her in the deep end and told her to paint straight away, and she’s taken it like a duck to water.
“She’s been told by other painters, reps and people in general that she’s doing probably fourth-year or tradesman-level painting.”
Mr Perez added how proud he was of his employee’s successes so far.
“She is outpainting most painters, I’m proud of her because she’s obviously doing well here,” he said. “I leave her alone now, I don’t need to worry about her — I just let her do it.”
Originally from Bundaberg, Ms Jenner moved to Landsborough with her family at the age of eight. She attended Maleny State High School and later the Flexi School before commencing her apprenticeship at Maleny Accident Repair.
“I’ve always been into cars, and I like doing art and painting as well,” she said. “Probably a year before I started here, I saw a video of someone online doing car painting and I thought it looked really cool.”
She said she was thrilled to be nominated by Mr Perez and to receive the Bronze Employee Award.
“It felt pretty good, it’s nice to know I guess I get something back for trying really hard,” Ms Jenner said.
She also shared her hopes for the future, expressing a desire to further develop her artistic skills.
“I’d like to maybe in the future try to specialise in airbrush work or something like that,” she said.
Liarna added she was grateful to be as hands-on as she is at Maleny Accident Repair.
“I like the small shop and if I went to a bigger shop, I wouldn’t get to do nearly as much as I do here,” she said. “I probably wouldn’t even be painting yet, and it’s also a nice place to work.”