Age: 58

State: Victoria

Occupation: Customer Manager

In 2024 the stars have aligned for Sue Bazely to open up a new world of opportunities and, with that, she hopes a new career path will lay ahead.

Married to high school sweetheart Glenn for 33 years, and together for 43, Sue is mum to son Weston, 20 and daughter, Mari, 18. Most recently, Sue was Head of Customer Experience for a building company, but when its collapse left her unexpectedly unemployed, she was able to reassess her priorities. With the encouragement of all at home, she is finally ready to chase her dreams.

Having immigrated as Ten Pound Poms, Sue’s Anglo-Indian (late) father Ted and Danish mother Lene settled in Adelaide, where Sue and her four siblings grew up. She has special memories of helping her mother tending, harvesting and cooking from their vegetable garden, as well as sharing varied cuisines with their multicultural community.

Inspired early on by her mother, now 88, and eldest sister Jane’s dinner parties in the 80s, Sue later learnt more from her Sri Lankan mother-in-law. Sue looks up to food icons like Maggie Beer, Yotam Ottolenghi and Jamie Oliver and loves to eat and cook a broad range of cuisines.

Sue expects her diverse tastes to be an advantage in the competition, as she is not easily pigeon-holed. She can be a risk-taker in the kitchen, but will back herself all the way, knowing she can rely on her intuition.

The loss of her father in 2021 made her realise the importance of doing what you love and Sue needs food to fill her cup, deriving so much joy from creating, learning and sharing.

A MasterChef Australia fan for many years, Sue is no longer content watching on from home; now she’s getting a piece of the action, role modelling to her kids that anything is possible.

Determined to immerse herself fully in the MasterChef Australia experience, Sue would love to publish her own handwritten cookbook, a 42-year work in progress! Having begun writing down her recipes when she was just 16, there are already more than 170 that she cannot wait to share.