Jess Cole joins Tribune team

An eager and enthusiastic journalist, the 26-year-old has only been at the Meehan Street office for two months but has already tackled some of the biggest issues in Yass.

Whether it's TransGrid's potential privatisation, the Murrumbateman house fire, the South-East Livestock Exchage approval, Murrumbateman expansion or Council's Main Street Strategy, Jess just throws herself into any promising story lead.

Her first couple of weeks were pretty full-on as one of only two journalists while Oliver Watson was away on leave. But she held her own and proved to be a great asset to the understaffed team. 

Originally from Eden on the far south coast and most recently working and studying in Wollongong, Jess didn't know what to expect when she drove into Comur Street.

"I hadn't been to Yass before so it was all new to me, but I felt that small town, friendly vibe straight away," she said.

Jess was working as a freelance columnist at a number of magazines and was offered the casual gig in Yass when long-time Trib staffer Katharyn Brine moved on.

"Yeah I was really excited to work for a small town paper, they always mean so much to the community and I was looking forward to being a part of that," she said.

"I'm loving the town and the people are so friendly."

Aside from her flair for writing Jess has many talents. She is the lead singer, pianist and saxophonist in her two-person band - The White Horizons and is an established artist, having sold many of her paintings.

Jess has fit in well at the Tribune, and hopefully will be a permanent feature of the award-winning rag for quite some time.