About yours truly...

Or, how a translator & writer became a caterer.

Come to think of it, starting to cook for a living is a sort of natural evolution to me, since I come from a family of foodies. Plus the fact that, back then, it was taken for granted that a woman would know how to cook well, in order to feed her family.

Therefore, my mother, grandmothers and great-grandmothers (yup, I met two of them) would all cook for us: three times a day, plus snacks. Weekends were special, important religious or national holidays, even more special: there would have to be a variety of plates on the table, enough to feed at least twice the guests around it --running out of food while the guests were still at the table was unthinkable!

"As much as it takes."

My sister and I would always watch my mom prepare our food, and sometimes we would even "help" with the preparations. Said help consisted of fighting over who would lick the batter-covered whisks from the mixer, or playing with cookie dough (to make the Greek "koulourakia") until this would take a very non-appetizing grey color.

Somehow along the way, though, we actually started baking and then cooking: there was this wooden stove at our place (no thermometer for degrees, of course), where I baked my first cake and later cooked main courses. Although for most of the desserts there was an actual recipe, when it came to the savory dishes, things were a bit trickier: there were rough measurements of most things and to the famous question "How much?" came the equally famous answer: "As much as it takes."

Growing up, things took a slightly different way: I studied to become a primary school teacher and, since I always loved languages, I studied a few and finally decided to combine my love for books and films with my love for languages; I worked as a literary translator, film subtitler and conference interpreter. I also wrote my own children's books: nine of them can be found on Greek bookstores' shelves.

The Amsterdam "aha!" moment

In April 2008, I decided to give my life a change I've been dreaming since I was very young: explore living in another country. For a series of reasons, Amsterdam was chosen and from the first moment there was chemistry between me and the city, so I decided to call it home. A few months later, while working as a translator and dividing my time between here and Greece (not as cool as I thought it would be, I must confess), the "aha moment" came: I wanted to start a business centered around olive oil!

It would take three more years for the plan to be materialized. During that time, the market was explored, suppliers were found, costs were calculated, accountants were asked. And after a large translating project was completed, I decided that it would be the last: instead of looking for more translations, I would take the leap of faith and make that idea come true. The dream hadn't faded in all that time, so this meant something, right? 

The rest, as they say, is history... or at least the first step to a wonderful, exciting adventure called Olivity.