Based in New Zealand & Serving Wellness Retreats and Festivals Worldwide
A Little Bit
About Me
I grew up in a multicultural household in New Zealand, where food was firmly at the centre of everything.
After receiving a Bachelor in Culinary Arts from AUT, I quickly found myself working multiple jobs in commercial kitchens. The relentless pace and culture of the industry left a sour taste. Craving change, I took off to Europe in 2019. While in Frankfurt I picked up bar work where I was told, firmly, I was too slow. Schnell schnell. I got there in the end, and honestly, it was a great time. But when an opportunity came to join the kitchen team at Suryalila, an award-winning retreat centre in the Spanish foothills of Andalucia, I couldn't say no. That was the turning point.
I returned to Suryalila many times over the next five years, diving deeper into their permaculture programs and eventually completing my 200hr Yoga Teacher Training.
Amidst it all COVID hit.
I was based in London at the time, working in the kitchen of a schnitzel restaurant - and I'll tell you, I had no idea schnitzel could be prepared in quite so many ways.
Turns out the world wasn't ready to find out either. With the industry at a standstill, I decided I wasn't going to sit still.
I retrained as a landscaper, joined Biotecture, the UK's leading living wall specialist, and worked my way up to manager. Funny enough, it was during my Biotecture days that leading retreat kitchens found me properly.
My first booking came out of my own request to volunteer at a festival in Ireland. When the organisers found out I was a chef, they practically threw the job at me. Cooking for that many people, after coming out of lockdown-induced hibernation, was a jump scare and a half... but I said yes anyway.
Fast forward to 2026, and I'm now in my second year of the head chef team at Mana Retreat Centre in the Coromandel, with each off-season giving me the opportunity to relocate to Austria, where I've since spent three European summers running the kitchen at Globeseekers Yoga Retreats.
food is my favourite way of bringing more joy into this world
To Your Plate
From My Heart
There's a moment at every retreat I've cooked at where the room changes.
Aromas waft in form the kitchen that stop people mid-sentence. Then the food hits the table and suddenly conversation picks up, guards come down, and people stop being strangers.
I've watched it happen every single time. It never gets old.
Want to bring that feeling to your retreat? Lets make it happen.