She left school at 15 years of age, was pregnant at 17 and arrived at university at 43.

On Monday, the successful businesswoman and advocate for the motorcycle industry was made a Member of the Order of Australia.

It is a journey that took a new route when she met future husband Colin in 1979, the owner of a one-man motorcycle shop - Robbo's Motorcycles - in Canberra.

''I worked for a financial company at the time, it was extremely handy for me to have that financial background, and I have completed two subsequent degrees. But I think I got my most amount of knowledge from working in the finance industry,'' Mrs Macauley said.

Co-owner of Robbo's since 1980 - despite ironically having never successfully operated a motorbike - it was a curiosity for how society worked that led to her mature entry to university study in 1992, the basis of her wide ranging industry leadership today.

''What I wanted was to understand that world around me, which is what led me to university, then that led me to join various committees because I wanted to understand and I wanted to be involved in the decisions that were going on and made around me and my industry,'' she said.

Now the president of Motor Trades Association ACT, in the last 15 years Mrs Macauley has chaired the Australian Motorcycle Industry Association and played leading roles in a range of business advisory bodies to government.

She has also returned to university to lecture and tutor in advertising, marketing and entrepreneurship.

''Education definitely changed my life and the way I looked at life, but what I believe it did for me, it opened doors, [and] whether you could say 'you don't need a degree for that', no, I needed a degree for that, for my self-confidence,'' she said.

Mrs Macauley said she didn't expect to be made a Member - AM - even when nominated, but was elated to find out when she was.

''I was hugely honoured and very excited,'' she said.

''You have to be recognised by somebody else, and for me that is really astonishing, astounding and gratifying, all in together.''

Made an ACT honorary ambassador due to her significant small business leadership, Mrs Macauley said she was trying to ''even out'' her home of Canberra, so it was not just a public service city.

And despite an indifference to the mechanical side of the bikes, she said she enjoyed spending time with motorcyclists.

''How can you not love being around people who are doing what they love, they're great people,'' she said.