Chloe Thomas is launching her own drinks brand. Tobias Rowe is the proud product of a Bond University love story. We catch up with four alumni from the November 2024 graduation ceremonies.
Chloe Thomas
Chloe Thomas
Chloe goes from pitch to pour
Some university graduates celebrate with champagne. Chloe Thomas is toasting her new degrees with her own ready-to-drink beverage TQLA. Ms Thomas graduated with a Bachelor of Business/Bachelor of Commerce, weeks after her pitch for the tequila-based RTD won Bond University’s Transformer Launchpad 243 Competition.
Now her studies are over, Ms Thomas is free to devote more time to getting her 4 per cent alcohol Lemon Lime and Mango Passion TQLA drinks into bottle shops and bars. She said the agave spirit-based drink was unashamedly aimed at Gen Z drinkers, with low sugar, low calories and “unique digestive properties”.
“Our aim is to change the way people view tequila/agave,” Ms Thomas said. “Detach it from a shot you take at 3am; turn the shots into sessions; take the headache out of drinking.”
Ms Thomas has successfully trademarked the TQLA brand and hopes to launch the drink in her hometown of Adelaide on 25, March 2025. Winning the Transformer Launchpad netted her $2,000 and constructive feedback from judges Stuart Giles, James Birt and Claire Burns.
“The Transformer Program will connect you with some amazing people,” she said. “I always found it was the conversations I least expected that had the most longstanding impact.”
Ms Thomas said her stint at Bond was a time of personal and professional growth.
A plantation of agave, which is distlled into tequila
A plantation of agave, which is distlled into tequila
“Having to move away from home and fully immerse myself in a new scenario scared but excited me,” she said. “I knew I would be surrounded by like-minded people at Bond who shared my drive. I was always interested in business, seeing the success of my own grandfather and then father who grew our family business, was inspirational and sparked a passion to follow their lead.”
Manager of the Transformer Program Jodie Siggers said the Australian-first entrepreneurship program aimed to provide unique experiences and equip students with entrepreneurial skills and capabilities. The Transformer Launchpad, created in 2019, was established to support students with their idea, start-up or business and enable them to take it to the next level. The competition aims to simulate real-world experiences and prepare the student or team for meetings with investors or industry partnerships. Entry ideas can include a product, service, or social impact venture, and every student has access to mentoring.
Previous winners include Shai Hipperson’s plan to open a specialist trauma psychology clinic, business and science student Imogen Clarence’s establishment of an Indigenous art hub Maruma-Li Art, and business graduate Sebastian Fergusson who impressed the judges with his reimagining of the traditional surf lifesaving rescue paddleboard.
Josh, Tobias and Natasha Rowe
Josh, Tobias and Natasha Rowe
A love story with strong foundations
Tobias Rowe’s path to graduation with a Bachelor of Construction Management at Bond started long before tertiary education was on his radar. On the one hand, his parents are Bond alumni – more on that later – and on the other, his family moved homes nine times and lived in 10 different houses when he was growing up, something that exposed Tobias to the ins and outs of construction from a very young age.
“Once my parents involved me in their 'build-to-sell' projects, I realised how much I enjoyed being a part of the construction process,” he said.
Studying subjects like Graphic Technology and Engineering at school entrenched his interest and a degree that successfully bridged the gap between theory and practice was the icing on the cake.
“The part I enjoyed most about my course was learning and applying technical skills through industry-relevant software like Buildsoft Cubit Estimating, RIB CostX and Microsoft Projects. These tools gave me a hands-on understanding of what modern construction management involves,” he said.
He also enjoyed site visits and personal interactions with industry professionals that were part of his learning experience.
Professional development is one thing, but Mr Rowe said the best part of his Bond experience were the deep connections and relationships he made.
“Whether living on-campus at The Blocks, collaborating with classmates, being involved with the Bond Water Polo Club or just simply meeting people around the place, these relationships have been the foundation of my experience at Bond.”
This is a sentiment shared by Mr Rowe’s parents. After graduating with an LLB from Bond, Josh Rowe moved to Sydney where he practised corporate/commercial law for four years. Later he ran his own private equity firm. In 2012 he set up Centaur Property Funds Management, a real estate debt funds management business, where he’s still Managing Director.
Natasha Rowe (nee Gilbert) completed a Bachelor of Commerce (with a Major in Accounting) in 1996. She worked in finance in London for a while and on her return to Sydney landed a job at Macquarie Bank in their Property Investment Management team. Later she moved to AMP Henderson Global Investors and worked in risk management and compliance. Thereafter motherhood was front and centre, but she still dabbles in residential property development.
Josh has nothing but fond memories of his time at Bond.
"I made so many wonderful friends from all over Australia and the world,” he said, “including my wife! It truly is a world-class university in an idyllic setting and the staff and facilities are exceptional. The low student-to-staff ratio make learning at Bond far more involved and interactive.”
Natasha said the positivity of her experience must have rubbed off on her son.
“Tobey grew up listening to all our stories of the fun of living on campus, the Gold Coast lifestyle and meeting all our friends from uni who now live and work all over Australia and the world,” she said. "We always talked about how Bond was ahead of its time in technology, the subjects it offered and how professionally they prepared us for our future careers. The smaller class and lecture sizes meant your lecturers knew every student and took an interest in our learning."
Their son’s Bond experience isn’t over yet. Tobias has decided to enrol in a Bachelor of Property.
“Getting my degree is one step towards achieving what I desire to do in future," he said. "With the connections I’ve made and the skills I’ve developed, my whole experience at Bond has exponentially expanded the options available to me."
Mr Rowe's short-term focus is to pursue roles in quantity surveying, construction management or property valuation. Ultimately his goal is to own and operate his own construction company.
Amy-Lee Bowler.
Amy-Lee Bowler.
Amy-Lee shreds nutrition myths
Nutrition is often an afterthought for young skateboarders, as casual as grabbing a quick bite at Macca’s on the way to the skate park. But with skateboarding now an Olympic sport, skaters with dreams of competing at the highest levels must consider their diet in a way that other elite athletes have done for decades.
Leading the change is Amy-Lee Bowler, the National Nutrition Lead for Skate Australia and a fresh Bond PhD graduate. Dr Bowler, a sports nutritionist, also works with elite swimmers. When she made the switch to skateboarding she had to go back to basics with her athletes who include Gold Coaster Arisa Trew who won gold in Paris earlier this year. Not only had many of the Skate Australia athletes never been in an elite training environment, many were also young teenagers.
“Skateboarding is quite different in the sense that I am providing foundational learning for athletes - not only young ones but older ones too - to help shape their nutrition behaviours,” Dr Bowler said. “It’s simple things like taking a water bottle to the skate park so you’re well hydrated or eating the appropriate carbs ahead of a big skate session like muesli bars, bananas, crumpets and toast. Skateboarding is a lifestyle, it's not just a sport for those athletes, so it was about making them think, ‘I am going to training today, not just going for a skate’.”
At the other end of the scale are the swimmers Dr Bowler works with at the Queensland Academy of Sport (QAS).
“Given swimming has been in the high-performance system for a while, I would say on average the priorities here are finding the one percenters that can assist in shaving milliseconds off a time to achieve a podium position,” she said. “Working in skate and swimming are two totally opposite environments but it's given me different perspectives on where athletes can be at in terms of their performance and nutrition.”
Dr Bowler’s diverse experience in swimming and skateboarding, combined with her Bond PhD, recently earned her a full-time role as a lecturer at the University of the Sunshine Coast.
Sean Singh (in mortarboard) with mother Sukhvinder, father Daljeet and brother Jaden. Photo Cavan Flynn
Sean Singh (in mortarboard) with mother Sukhvinder, father Daljeet and brother Jaden. Photo Cavan Flynn
First doctor in the family
Don’t be surprised to see Sean Singh (Class of 2020) starring in your next true crime streaming series or podcast. The Bond medicine graduate founded the University's Pathology Society which now has 30 members and runs regular events, including a “forensic night”. It might not have the history of the Cambridge Footlights comedy series, but the society filled a niche for Sean and his fellow medical students.
“We made it like a true crime night," Dr Singh said. “We had a lot of first year students there and it was a lot of fun.”
Dr Singh's legacy will continue after the society's successful recruitment drive for 2025, placing it alongside affiliate clubs at Bond University including the Making a Difference global health group, the Bond University Surgical Society, the Physicians Society and the GP Students Network. He said he hoped to leave another lasting legacy through volunteer work, taking his medical skills to poorer parts of the world short of medical services.
“Earlier this year Bond took us to India to work for six weeks in a rural area, and the differences between what they do and us in Australia was surprising," Dr Singh said. "Things like tuberculosis. We saw a lot of TB there, yet we rarely see it in Australia. It got me thinking about volunteering and inspired me to definitely look at NGOs.”
Bond also takes medical students and their mentors to treat patients in the Solomon Islands, South Africa, and Taiwan.
Dr Singh said medicine was something he always wanted to do. The 30-year-old Singaporean entered the medical field by qualifying as a nurse. The move to Bond was almost a given as he repeatedly heard his father Daljeet Singh singing the University’s virtues following his own graduation with a Master of Business Administration in 1998.
Daljeet, who works in hospitality consultancy in Singapore, is currently the alumni president of Bond’s Singapore Committee. The family’s ties with Bond run deeper, with Sean’s brother Jaden Singh currently studying a Bachelor of Laws at Bond.
Daljeet Singh with a young Sean at his graduation in 1998
Daljeet Singh with a young Sean at his graduation in 1998
The Singh family, including mother Sukhvinder, enjoyed lunch together on campus after graduation, celebrating the first doctor in the family. The young medic will now serve a two-year internship at Robina and Gold Coast University hospitals, followed by a stint in rural Australia.
“I’m keeping my options open. I want to find out what I really like doing first,” he said.
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