Rachel Syers has enjoyed a varied career in professional journalism and freelance writing for the past 30 years, involving some of Australia and the world’s most talked about people and events.

After graduating in Journalism and Arts from the University of Queensland, Rachel spent almost 20 years in the newsrooms of the Gold Coast Bulletin and Tweed Daily News, where she witnessed the rapid growth of the region. Her roles ranged from news reporting and sub-editing to feature writing, covering the broad spectrum of rounds from court to council, education to entertainment and a colourful decade as fashion editor.

 

A leap of faith for love and family then led to 10 rewarding years busily freelancing for national and international media organisations including Time Inc., News Custom Publishing and Pacific Magazines. During a decade as WHO Magazine Special Correspondent, Rachel built an extensive portfolio of articles on crime, current affairs, international news events and entertainment. Some of her most vivid days in journalism have been covering extreme events around Australia and overseas, including kidnapping cases, murder trials, terror attacks, air disasters, floods, earthquakes, landslides and incredible rescues.

 

The central element to all her work throughout the years has been reaching out to everyday people who’ve experienced the extraordinary, in a genuine effort to honour their experiences in her writing, anchored by accuracy, compassion and respect.

 

Along the way, Rachel also spent several years tutoring in writing and communications, won two Gold Coast media awards, enjoyed corporate media management roles, co-authored the late Roma Blair’s autobiography Roma: From Prison To Paradise (New Holland Publishers, Sydney 2004), and co-founded the Coral Sea Media company on the Gold Coast.

 

With the belief that everyone has an intriguing story, Rachel hopes to write more books about inspirational people who are ready to share their experiences with the world.