At only fifteen years of age, Tin Can Bay resident Rebeka Baldwin is well on her way to achieving her dream of becoming a chef. 

“Being a chef is all I have ever wanted to do,” says Rebeka.  She chose her secondary school subjects accordingly and is currently undertaking Advanced Hospitality and Home Economics, which will lead to her attaining a Certificate III in Hospitality.

She also impressed local restaurant owner and qualified chef Craig Stelmack (pictured left with Rebeka) by approaching him herself and asking for a job in his kitchen.  “I don’t take on every young person that asks me for a job, but Rebeka impressed me with how she serious she was about making a career of being a chef.  Her passion is plain to see.”

When asked what she likes most about working as a chef, Rebeka replies with an emphatic “everything!”  She continues: “I just love working with food.  I’m very adventurous with food and love experiencing the foods of all different cultures.  And my favourite thing about working with food is that you can design exactly how you want it to look and to taste.  It gets to be ‘yours’.”

Craig has firmly taken Rebeka under his wing, and she is relishing the opportunity to learn from the internationally experienced chef.  Working hard every weekend in the busy kitchen of Bistro on the Greens in the Tin Can Bay Country Club is giving Rebeka exposure to the ‘real world’ of being a chef, and “we haven’t scared her off yet!” says Craig.  There is opportunity for Rebeka to continue to develop her career under Craig, and they are currently looking at qualification options.

“I absolutely love it,” Rebeka says of her job.  “And I am happy to work hard to achieve my dream.”  This dream includes not only becoming a qualified chef and working all around the world, but also one day opening a restaurant of her own.  “Then I will be able to give someone else the same opportunity Craig has given me,” she says.