ABOUT ME:

I am a foodie bursting with knowledge and love learning new cuisines.  I am constantly improving dishes and developing new recipes. I love to cook healthy, wholesome food and love colorful plating! For me its all about taste and nourishing the body with healthy goodness! I follow a no waste system and always try use every part of the ingredient I am using for the dishes I create.  I love trying new things so always open to suggestions and ideas from my clients.

How it all began:

I was born in Johannesburg but we moved to East London when I was 11.  Cooking is in my blood.  My family loves to entertain and we would always get together for birthdays, holidays and special occasions and we always have the most amazing foods. I remember once when we had seven braais in one day!! True story! (yes you can braai for breakfast!) My gran was a great baker, my mom and aunt are amazing cooks, even my brother and dad has a couple of foodie tricks up their sleeves.  Cooking has always been a joy in our family and not a chore.  Dishes … now that’s another story!

In 1992 I worked at Mpekweni Sun as a casual.  I was thrown in the deep-end working front of house, being a waitress, serving customers, working at the bar and various food service sections. I got to do a bit of everything and instantly fell in love with the hospitality industry. I waitressed for extra money while I was a student and worked at various establishments from pubs to fine dining restaurants and my favourite place was always the kitchen. I love the energy in the kitchen and watching the chefs make incredible looking dishes. I would pitch in and help if they ever needed me –I fell in love with food and cooking even more.

My favourite colour is RED, that's why I usually have the most vibrant red hair colour!  It is the color at the end of the visible spectrum of light, it is warm, positive & passionate – just like me! It signifies action, energy, confidence, courage, excitement and determination and therefore had to be part of my business name Red events & photography. I started my own part-time business in 2005 focusing on events & hospitality and offer services including photography, event planning, graphic design services and catering. I started with snack platters and grew into small ladies event function catering to private chef as Chef Roelz services in recent years.

When my son, Ivan turned 18 I knew I could finally focus on my dream of travelling and going to chef on the superyachts and learning about new ingredients & styles of cooking. I completed yachting courses through PYT and my food safety lv 2 and food, prep & culinary arts training through City and Guilds.  I worked as a culinary instructor at Blue Ribbon Culinary School in East London and loved teaching and learning even more about food. When international travel went back to normal after the Covid-19 pandemic I finally got to work on a 55m sailing yacht as a crew chef, learning how to provision for an Atlantic Crossing and cook healthy varied meals to crews dietary requirements. I picked up great skills in the countries I visited which include St Maartin (Carribean), Gibraltar, Denia (Spain) and Sardegna (Italy). After that I have been working in the Caribbean area (St Maartin, Anguilla, St Barths, Antigua down to Montserrat....on motor and sail yachts as a sole chef, learning new cuisines and meeting guests from all over the world. I also did a short stint in San Blas, Panama. I am currently working as a yacht chef on a sail yacht between Bahamas, Cape Cod and Maine areas. 

I can offer a complete event management service in planning dinner parties and other functions if required.  My camera (aka my boyfriend) also always joins me when I cook for guests so I always offer them a couple of group photos at the beginning or end of service if they want some. Just an added little service because I love happy guests! As a graphic designer I also like to send them little digital menu’s and invites to send to their guests if they want to.  Its like a little tease of what’s to come…

My qualifications include a B.Tech Marketing degree, Advanced Diplomas in Graphic design, Photoshop & Photography as well as Wedding Photography. I have an Event Management Diploma and through the years I mastered various video editing programs as I worked part-time for a video production company for about 20 years. 

I am also a CPD qualified pilates instructor as I believe a healthy mind & body is key to success. Follow my youtube channel Core Being. 

My TV is permanently on the cooking channel and I cry more when contestants make great dishes and get amazing feedback from judges than what I would in a sad movie…. Food is my passion and something I should have made my main focus years ago! If I could turn back time I would have worked in professional kitchens rather than serve the food, but at least all that front-of-house training has taught me invaluable customer service and social skills.

Cuisine types:

African, Mediteranean, Asian, Mexican, Italian, British, Indian, French, Caribbean, Fusion and more