Jackie lives in Franschhoek, Western Cape, South Africa, in the heart of the olive and wine region of the country.
A foodie at heart, she has been tasting, cooking and experimenting with copious amounts of olive oil since her first introduction to olive oil in the late 90’s.
In 2019 she successfully completed the Savantes tasting course examination and participated in the Savantes Olive Oil Team Tasting World Championship held in Spain of the same year.
She served on the tasting panel of SA Olive, the South African Olive Association, for 5 years and presented food and olive oil workshops at various culinary institutions for the association.
Currently, she works as an independent olive oil taster, offering tasting workshops, with the main focus on the alchemy of food and olive oil.