About us

Since I was little I always said I wanted to work with animals, 'BIG animals'. Well, now I work with BIG colonies!

My passion for honey bees started at university, while pursuing an Animal Science degree. I had worked with goats, sheep and cattle, as a 3rd year student, but none had caught my interest and curiosity. I then decided to apply for a volunteer job in the apiculture lab to learn more about bees. I instantly fell in love with them! I couldn't stop reading about bee biology and behaviour, and everything I learned about them was fascinating to me. My curiosity and passion for this social insect led me to the University of Minnesota, where I completed my Ph.D. studying social immunity behaviour and the bee immune system. 

Growing up on a farm and watching my parents work hard raising sheep, goats and cattle, made me appreciate the 'farm life'. I got my Computer and Electronic Engineering degree in South Africa in 2008. As an engineer, my goal is to make people's life easier by creating and designing tools that can make their work and life more efficient. My first personal project was to design an automated RFID cattle tag for my parents, to facilitate with their cattle management. Today, I am working on some projects to facilitate our beekeeping and queen rearing management.

Fun fact about me: I was born in two countries. At birth, Namibia(South West Africa back then) was managed as a province of South Africa so I was born in South Africa, and then later in 1990 Namibia became independent so I was born in Namibia as well. Dual citizenship at birth and now I have Canadian citizenship as well. 

Fun outside of work: I love triathlons and mountain biking and have completed a full ironman as well as a 24hour 230km single stage mountain bike race.