Romina Boasso with her husband Cale Burns and son Mase. Photo: Geoff Vivian.
Among the 19 new citizens sworn in on Tuesday was former Weekender sales representative Romina Boasso.
“It’s a great feeling,” she said after the ceremony.
“Finally I feel like I can be here for good because I am really part of the community.”
Originally from Chile, Ms Boasso has been in Australia for almost nine years.
“I came here to live an experience because I was younger,” she said.
“My first goal was just to travel and learn English.”
Once she was here, Ms Boasso learned that she could extend her visa and work for longer.
“Then I studied for two years — I did a course on business management,” she said.
“During covid I thought I was going to go home because I used to work in hospitality, I didn’t have a job and it was a really rough time.
“But then there were no flights so I was stuck here.”
After some months, restaurants started opening again.
“My boss called me and after that I met my husband,” she said.
“Things started going well and the rest is history.”
While all of her jobs in Australia had been in hospitality, Ms Boasso came to Australia with two university degrees including a Masters in Journalism.
“Working for the Weekender was the beginning of my putting my foot in the industry,” she said.
“Now working for the Chamber (of Commerce and Industry) is corporate journalism which is what I did in Chile, it is what I love.”
Ms Boasso moved to Esperance earlier this year with her husband Cale Burns and their son Mase Burns, who are both Australian born.
