Ms Heard was recently named runner up in the Australian Apprentice of the Year category for the Australian Training Awards.

The awards are the peak, national awards for the vocational education and training sector and recognise individuals, businesses and registered training organisations for their contribution to skilling Australia.

Ms Heard completed her Certificate III in Commercial Cookery at FedUni Tafe in 2017 and works at Chalambar Golf Club in Ararat. 

In August this year Ms Heard was named the Victorian Apprentice of the Year, which led to her nomination and subsequent success in the national category.

The announcement was made November 15 in Sydney, and came as a shock to Ms Heard.

“I didn’t believe it, to be honest. It was pretty surreal,” she said.

Ms Heard added that the awards aimed to highlight the career paths available in the VET sector.

“The main goal is to encourage people into the VET sector and break the stigma that it’s a second choice to university, and to show how much success you can have.”

Although she is the only chef in the family, Ms Heard said that she inherited the cooking gene.

“I probably (got it) from my great great grandfather and my Nan. They were very into cooking,” she said.

“My Nan passed away when I was two so I didn’t learn very much from her but I think the influence passed through.”

Fortunately, Ms Heard’s mother helped nurture the budding chef, sometimes to the family’s detriment.

“With my neighbour I had a ‘Sunshine Cafe’ from the kitchen at home, and charged Mum to eat her own food,” she said.

“My parents owned a building company so when I was younger I would stay home before school and make slices and snacks for them and their workers.”

Ms Heard’s love of cookery remained steady throughout school, where she studied hospitality through a year 11 and 12 VET course and was then offered an apprenticeship at Chalambar Golf Club after she graduated.

Now she spends a lot of her free time making and selling cakes from home, which enable Ms Heard to maximise the creativity of cooking.   

“There’s creativity in all food but I guess I really loved art when I was younger, and (decorating cakes) is an art form in some way,” she said.

Ms Heard also recently completed Certificate III in Patisserie at FedUni Tafe and is now preparing to undertake further study.

She was recently named a recipient of the Lopez-Lochert Scholarship for Victorian Tafe students and will travel to Chile in January to study a course called World of Chilean Wine.

“I’ve never really looked into (wine and food pairings) so it will be good to gain some new knowledge,” she said. 

Ms Heard isn’t a wine drinker herself, but hopes the trip will convert her.

“I’ll definitely give it a go,” she said.

Here, Ms Heard demonstrates how to make a burrito bowl.