Maria was born in Salento; she lives between Busto Arsizio, Rome and Sanremo.

She has a managerial career in the Public Administration for 28 years, in a Municipality and in a Ministry.

Maria works Free Lance, as a Journalist, PR, Communicator, Writer, and Event Organization. She has written books in teams and individually, and edited several texts and volumes.

She is a member of ONAOO and has become a professional oil taster.

She is also a chocolate taster on the Lindt panel.

For six years she has been in the olive sector, as a producer, taster, communicator, event organization.

George was born in Athens in 1978. He graduated with a Master of Science in Civil Engineering in 2002 and worked as a construction project manager until 2012.

For the past 10 years, he has developed an in-depth knowledge and appreciation for the cultivation and production of high quality olive oil, after undertaking a number of accredited training programs in Italy and Greece.

His understanding of the olive fruit and talent in sensory analysis has driven him to consistently produce EVOOs that have achieved top positions in most international olive oil competitions for his company Hellenic Fields.

In 2019 he began his journey of becoming a certified taster, which he completed by achieving the ONAOO Professional Taster Qualification in 2022. Currently he is honing his skills and knowledge even further by participating in tasting panels, as well as expanding his company’s portfolio of EVOOs with new varieties and blends.

I was born in Ankara in 1978. After graduating from the Faculty of Political Sciences of the University of Ankara, I graduated in Marketing from the Sorbonne University.

After working for many years in the fashion sector in Paris, I decided to return to Turkey and to settle in Urla (Smyrna) in 2011, where I got married and had 2 children.

With the aim of producing the best olive oil in Urla, I started my training at ONAOO (Italy). After 5 years of training, I obtained the qualification of Professional Taster, and I launched my brand “Hiç Extra Virgin Olive Oil”. “Hiç Edible Olive Forest” is the place where my family and I produce olive oil and it is made up of 60,000 olive trees; this olive grove is the center of our holistic approach where nature, sustainable agriculture and gastronomy meet.

In 2018 we opened our restaurant, “Hiç Lokanta ve Tadım Atölyesi” (restaurant and tasting laboratory), where we emphasize all this diversity, the seasonality of nature’s treasures with New Urla Cuisine.

Now the “Hiç” brand has become a gastronomy and agricultural tourism platform with the Hiç olive grove in the center.

I have been working for the trading company in Japan.

This company imports only Italian food products, such as high quality of EVOO, chocolate made by a genius chocolatier, many kind of balsamic vinegar and so on.

My speciality is selling these magnificent products. I try to convey not only the taste of product, but also how it is produced so deliciously.

Especially, what I gained from ONAOO changed my sales method from difficult to enjoyable. I will never stop learning and want to spread wonderful Italian products to Japan.