Rachel Crawford

WorldSkills Champions Trust representative for Oceania and ASEAN

To Rachel Crawford, the hospitality sector was a familiar environment. Both her parents being chefs, she was always around food and cooking. She used to spend her mornings in the kitchen, helping with small things. In 12th grade, Rachel applied for a school-based apprenticeship that allowed her to continue her studies while starting to learn the skill of Pastry. As per the Australian system, Rachel’s school hours dropped to fit 20 hours of apprenticeship work into her week so that she was able to combine both academic and vocational education. As soon as she completed school, she jumped straight into a full-time apprenticeship in a café, which allowed her to earn her first paycheck while learning the trade.

Rachel then enrolled for her Certificate III in Bakery to push herself and learn new skills. Having seen many of her peers lose their passion due to toxic behaviours at the workplace, she wanted to gain the confidence and expertise to stand up against such practices. Rachel says one of her motives for joining the Champions Trust is to make things better for future apprentices. After competing at WorldSkills Competition 2022 Special Edition in Lucerne, Switzerland, Rachel decided to live in different parts of Australia and work in different bakeries and has recently moved to Melbourne from Brisbane. She wants to absorb the diversity of food cultures so that one day she can apply all her learning to her very own bakery.