Vicky Suzuki

Victoria Rodrigeuro Yamauti Suzuki has a rich cultural heritage with Italian and Japanese origins, but her own life journey is even more colourful. Vicky and her brother were raised in Brazil by their mum with limited financial means. Money was so tight for Vicky’s family that she began working at the age of eleven, holding numerous jobs until she completed high school.

When her elder brother dropped out of university because he couldn’t afford the fees and with minimal prospects in Brazil, Vicky and her brother took up an invitation to live and work in Japan. It was an experience the naïve travellers weren’t really prepared for, but the years of working long and demanding hours began to pay off for Vicky when she got the opportunity to pursue her dream of tertiary study on the Gold Coast.  

Vicky enrolled at Southern Cross University to study a Diploma of Business, then a Bachelor of IT and her academic dedication was recognised when Vicky was awarded Southern Cross University’s Alumnus of the Year in 2018. Now working as developer for Coding Labs on the Gold Coast Vicky couldn’t be happier, as she says: “If you told me when I was a kid that I was going to be here doing what I’m doing now, I would never have believed it.”