Marni McCallum takes home a 'Rising Star' award from mortgage broking company Money Quest Group

It came as a complete surprise to Ms McCallum who said she was "shocked" she had been selected.

"When you plan and know you might be winning an award or your nominated you can think of what will happen but I was completely shocked. It felt really good and it still does," she said.

Ms McCallum, who works as a finance specialist at MoneyQuest Dubbo in Talbragar Street, was awarded the 'Managing Director's Rising Star Award' at MoneyQuest Group's recent national conference in Hobart.

The award serves to recognise an individual within the 130 plus broker network, who early in their mortgage broking career has demonstrated exceptional product knowledge and customer service, placing them at the very top of their cohort.

"It's a pretty big award to win. Matt [Wright] my boss won it around 20 years ago," she said.

Ms McCallum said there were a lot of other brokers that work for themselves that write "pretty big volume".

"I just expected them to win so it was nice to be recognised," she said.

Despite having only met the general manager and executive team once, albeit briefly, Ms McCallum was proud of herself having stood out to them enough for her to be selected for the award.

"You don't get nominated by a boss, the executive team looks at everyone, there's no criteria you need to meet," she said.

"It wasn't like we sit down and have coffee everyday, so to be recognised by them was pretty special."

Having previously worked at Westpac and the Commonwealth Bank in a personal bank role, Ms McCallum was itching to move into a lending position.

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"It's pretty hard to get into those sort of roles in the bank so I had about six months off where I worked a couple of casual jobs because I didn't know what I wanted to do," she said.

MoneyQuest Dubbo franchise owner Matt Wright approached Ms McCallum at the gym with a job offer.

"We knew each other for a long time and we got talking and I pestered him for a job and that's what happened and I thought, it will either work or it won't and it's worked," she said.

With Mr Wright taking a chance on her, Ms McCallum is doing everything she can to show him he made the right choice.

"I'm going to keep plucking away, it's sort of one of those roles where you're constantly learning and you never really know everything, you might be travelling and then a curveball gets thrown at you which is what I like the most," she said.

Ms McCallum loves a challenge and plans to continue to grow her knowledge and customer base.

"I love finding solutions for complex scenarios. It's very satisfying helping people get to where they want to be, especially when they don't think it's possible," she said.

"I love being able to offer a wide variety of loan options to my clients, and I also really enjoy the customer service side of the role - interacting with people, hearing their stories, filling knowledge gaps and building those all-important relationships."

Ms McCallum feels like she is riding Mr Wright's coattails at the moment, something she hopes to change very soon.

"It's something I don't want to do, I'm very lucky to, but my aim is for people to call and specifically ask for me to write their loan, that's what I want at the minute, and that's what I'm working towards," she said.

"I think I'm pretty lucky with my demographic, my age group and friends. A lot of them are buying their first or second home or investment, so I really try and remind people that I'm here."

Ms McCallum encouraged those considering a career in finance to go for it.

"It's definitely one of those jobs you can either do or you can't do but if you are that way inclined go for it. I was really bad at maths, I didn't even do maths in year 12, but I fell into working at the bank," Ms McCallum said.

"I would definitely recommend anyone to give it a crack, it's a really good job."

Mr Wright was delighted by his colleague's achievement, noting that Ms McCallum's thirst for knowledge, care for others and strong communication skills have been central to her success.

"Marni is a fast learner and a great communicator, and she has developed a solid understanding of the business and the broader industry in a short period of time," he said.

"She has only been with us for just over 18 months but is already demonstrating an exceptional level of expertise and is receiving glowing feedback from her customers. Marni's willingness to learn and her genuine interest in helping people has allowed her to thrive in the role."

When Marni was named MoneyQuest's national rising star, Mr Wright said he felt a deep sense of pride.

"It's one thing for her hard work and dedication to be rewarded, but it's another for a broker in a small regional city to be singled out amongst a national pool of brokers. It was an exciting moment," he said.

Money Quest Group's managing director, Michael Russell, lauded Ms McCallum's seamless transition into the industry.

"Marni has taken to mortgage broking like a duck to water and thrives on delivering an exceptional service proposition. Her enthusiasm is contagious, as is her love for helping her customers to secure the right home or investment loan," Mr. Russell said.

Ms McCallum said she would like to thank Matt and her husband Drew, as well as the administration staff at MoneyQuest.

"We are the face but they do a lot of the work and we wouldn't be able to do it without them, so I'm pretty thankful, we've got a really good team," she said.

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