Kristen Budd

My Coast KRISTEN BUDD: DYNAMIC, UPBEAT, AMBITIOUS AND MEDITATIVE.

KRISTEN BUDD STRIKES YOU IMMEDIATELY AS SOMEONE WHO LISTENS, WHICH IS PROBABLY A GOOD ATTRIBUTE FOR THE GENERAL MANAGER OF THE SUPERCHARGED AND HYPER-LOCAL RADIO NETWORK, SCA CENTRAL COAST, WHICH TAKES IN HIT 101.3 AND TRIPLE M 101.7.

‘As well as all that, I’m working alongside a team of highly talented individuals. It’s a huge role in a buzzing market and I’ve been so grateful for the opportunity.’

After taking her local community into her heart, Kristen and the network knew they wanted to support their small-business community when Covid-19 hit. SCA ran a “Small Local, Big Love” campaign, providing more than $500,000 in advertising for 120 local businesses on air, online, and on the ground to make sure their messages continued to reach HIT and Triple M listeners.

‘I’m so proud SCA leant in and provided no-charge ad support, voiced by our on-air talent,’ she says. ‘I’m proud it helped no small number of local businesses stay afloat in such a difficult business environment.’

Kristen is also super proud of her little family.

‘Our family unit is such a delight to be a part of. Seeing them smile and hearing them laugh fills up my heart. My life is definitely full, and achieving a balance is an ongoing journey in itself.’

It was radio that first brought Kristen Budd to the Coast from Sydney to manage 50 full-time, talented staff, a role she quickly acknowledges as one of the highlights of her life … immediately after husband, Pascal, toddler Georgette, and baby Lorenzo (who came into her life just last year).

For the 16 years ahead of moving to the Coast, Kristen had been an unstoppable force in the Sydney media scene, working on high-scale media solutions with MTV, Nickelodeon, Network TEN, Nine Entertainment, and National Geographic. It was with the last that she experienced, ‘The most notable, exhilarating adventure ever – hands down,’ she says, her face alive with the memory of riding in a hot-air balloon high above the Maasai Mara Desert with photographer, Jason Edwards.

It takes a special focus to be able to multi-task a busy life like hers, something that Kristen puts down to practising meditation, which she started 10 years ago.

‘It changed my life for the better,’ she says. ‘I am a lot more grounded, less anxious and more focused.’

Meditation can be dismissed as a New Age or hippy practice, but Kristen says it provides clarity to her thinking amid a hectic and busy life, and provides her with a beautiful sense of calm. It’s a benefit she loves to share on her Instagram page, @kristenbuddmeditation, which aims to help others find a technique that resonates with them. Kristen firmly believes the world would be a gentler place if everyone spent a quiet 10 minutes a day in meditation and contemplation.

It was while looking thoughtfully at her own family’s sea change to the Central Coast, that Kristen rated it as the best move they’d ever made. It lets them enjoy an outdoor lifestyle on Avoca Beach and, for Kristen, that also includes lunch-time swims at the Gosford Olympic Pool.

Some of Kristen’s favourite places:

The Mousehole at Avoca Beach for beautiful, locally made pottery pieces. Bay Rd Brewing for Thursday night trivia with Jimi Love. All Malay at Avoca Beach for a Kapitan curry with king prawns. Swims at Avoca Beach and Gosford Olympic Pool.