She has received numerous awards for her rowing success and in 2012, she and fellow double sculler Brenda Lawson were inducted into the New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame.

Her siblings include Erin Baker (New Zealand triathlete) and Kathy and Maureen who were both national champions in swimming and aerobics.

Baker decided on Dick Tonks as her new coach and thus, in 1993, she moved to Wanganui to join the Union Boat Club.

[2][3] In the 1987–88 season, she was the first rower to win both the lightweight and premier open single sculls title; it was to be 29 years before the achievement was repeated by Zoe McBride in 2017.

[4] Baker competed in the 1986 Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh, Scotland, where she won silver in the lightweight women's single sculls.

[6][7] At the 1989 World Rowing Championships, she competed in the lightweight women's double sculls, partnering with Linda de Jong as stroke, and won silver.

Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Baker was the Waikato sports person of the year in 1989 and 1991; at the time, she was based in Cambridge.

[3][16] In the 1993 New Year Honours, both Baker and her sister Erin were appointed Members of the Order of the British Empire, for services to rowing and as a triathlete, respectively.

[26] After Laws announced his retirement from the mayoralty at the 2010 local elections, Baker was one of the five mayoral candidates, plus she also stood for the district council and the health board.