Ray Karam is a very broadly experienced and renowned Northern Rivers based business owner, former President and board member of the Ballina Chamber of Commerce and also the Lismore Chamber of Commerce and a former Police Officer.
He also recently ran as an independent candidate in both a Local and Federal Government election campaigns.
Community life and relationships to people and their wellbeing are central to all Ray’s projects and
businesses.
After being the front and owner operator of Nourish Bulk Health Organic in the Wigmore Arcade in central Ballina for the past 15 years a change has now come. He is still the owner operator of In-Detail Car Cleaning which centres around Ballina, Byron Bay and beyond but is mobile within the whole Northern Rivers and the owner operator of Nourish Distributors NSW, the now independent distribution arm of the once owned highly successful retail store.
His former wife Sarah is now the sole owner of the The Belle General Café on Shelly Beach and Belle Central in the Wigmore Arcade Ballina with her parents Kathleen and Andy taking over the iconic community hub of Nourish Bulk Health Organic.
This change has freed Ray up after many years of running these 7 day a week businesses to now more solely focus and expand his 'younger' businesses while offering more of his nature consulting experience officially to people and business. in all areas.
He also recently ran as an independent candidate in both a Local and Federal Government election campaigns.
Community life and relationships to people and their wellbeing are central to all Ray’s projects and
businesses.
After being the front and owner operator of Nourish Bulk Health Organic in the Wigmore Arcade in central Ballina for the past 15 years a change has now come. He is still the owner operator of In-Detail Car Cleaning which centres around Ballina, Byron Bay and beyond but is mobile within the whole Northern Rivers and the owner operator of Nourish Distributors NSW, the now independent distribution arm of the once owned highly successful retail store.
His former wife Sarah is now the sole owner of the The Belle General Café on Shelly Beach and Belle Central in the Wigmore Arcade Ballina with her parents Kathleen and Andy taking over the iconic community hub of Nourish Bulk Health Organic.
This change has freed Ray up after many years of running these 7 day a week businesses to now more solely focus and expand his 'younger' businesses while offering more of his nature consulting experience officially to people and business. in all areas.
Now with many moving family parts Ray has been able to offer that consistent steadiness to 'family life' as well as business.
Early years in Casino
Ray Karam was born and raised in Casino. He recalls growing up in the close-knit town, “There was a sense that everyone in the town was looking after each other. Whether it be riding home from school as a kid or later simply walking down the street and connecting with people, there was a definite community there that cared. People treated each other with decency and respect and this came to be my initial benchmark of what community life could be.”
People didn’t just know you, they knew your family, your whole context – there was a richness there of how they understood you. To me, Ballina has that same feel today.”
People didn’t just know you, they knew your family, your whole context – there was a richness there of how they understood you. To me, Ballina has that same feel today.”
Ray’s work in the Police
Ray Karam moved to Goulburn to train to become a Police Officer when he was 21. After graduating from the academy Ray was stationed in inner-city Redfern where he would serve for the next 10 years.
A number of life changing incidents punctuate this time and would eventually lead him to return to the Northern Rivers. Just 18 months into his time into the police Ray was involved in an incident where he and his partner were attacked by a mob in Redfern. Ray’s jaw was broken with a brick missile and 5 of his teeth were dislodged. There were 130 police at the station and when I first arrived no one knew who I was. After experiencing an incident like that there is an instant recognition you receive from the older more experienced police. A kind of acceptance that you know what it is like to have done it hard and been hurt like they have. I served for many years in the police after that and I was well known for the decency of my character and my way with people. But there is a toll that takes place being on the police front lines, that is not talked about or supported enough in our communities. When I eventually left the police I was not the same man that joined and those close to me knew that. You not only have the trauma of the affects of your experience, but you lose your place in a very close-knit community that is the police and you feel alone. This is not the case for me today. But this change was not made without a great willingness to look at and heal from my past experiences. This didn’t come through blame or a hand out it came from self-responsibility, looking honestly at what had gone on for me in situations. Not to condemn myself but to bring an understanding to what had happened. Today Ray works on a number of initiatives to support Police and their overall wellbeing. Contact Ray for more information on support for Police both former and current. One of these initiatives We Are People holds discussion groups once a month in the local area. |
About Ray's approach to Business
After leaving the Police, and having always been someone for whom hard work was second nature, Ray opened his own shop. It was a choice to make a big life change that inspired him to open a health food shop:
"The 'Short back and sides' structured routine of Police life was swapped for growing my hair longer and getting into health food. I thought that this would be a way to do things differently than how I had been living. In the end though it is not about the external changes but how you are with yourself and everyone else"
"Mostly though I opened the shop because I was keen to get back into the community. After some time off after finishing with the police I felt that opening the shop would be a different way to connect to people. When coming to a shop, people are coming to you in a very different way than how they come to you when you are in the Police, I had always loved people you couldn't get me away from that so this was a natural next step and besides that my family has been in fruit and vege since 1939 with Karam's fruit market in Casino being a much loved feature of that town until it just recently closed its doors in March 2015."
Today Ray continues to serve the community from his business Nourish and In-Detail as well as being involved in a number of other ventures that promote healthy food, wellbeing and ethical business practices including working with his wife Sarah in the growing Belle empire.
In 2014 and in 2016 he joined both the Ballina Chamber of Commerce and the Lismore Chamber of
Commerce to get to know more people working in the area. In 2015 he was appointed Chairman of the Chamber in Ballina: a role that to him is as much about community as it is about business and sat on the board of the Lismore Chamber of Commerce from 2016 to 2018.
"The 'Short back and sides' structured routine of Police life was swapped for growing my hair longer and getting into health food. I thought that this would be a way to do things differently than how I had been living. In the end though it is not about the external changes but how you are with yourself and everyone else"
"Mostly though I opened the shop because I was keen to get back into the community. After some time off after finishing with the police I felt that opening the shop would be a different way to connect to people. When coming to a shop, people are coming to you in a very different way than how they come to you when you are in the Police, I had always loved people you couldn't get me away from that so this was a natural next step and besides that my family has been in fruit and vege since 1939 with Karam's fruit market in Casino being a much loved feature of that town until it just recently closed its doors in March 2015."
Today Ray continues to serve the community from his business Nourish and In-Detail as well as being involved in a number of other ventures that promote healthy food, wellbeing and ethical business practices including working with his wife Sarah in the growing Belle empire.
In 2014 and in 2016 he joined both the Ballina Chamber of Commerce and the Lismore Chamber of
Commerce to get to know more people working in the area. In 2015 he was appointed Chairman of the Chamber in Ballina: a role that to him is as much about community as it is about business and sat on the board of the Lismore Chamber of Commerce from 2016 to 2018.