The Kanellopoulos family

We live in Greece, we take care of our olive trees on our own. We love what we do and our aim is to share it with you.

Four generations of farmers, residents of a wonderful village of the Peloponnese called Ampelos. They all lived for almost a century, and were strong and healthy until the end of their life. Being a farmer is hard work. But none of them chose to do it in order to make their living; they did it because they believed this was the way to ensure a long and healthy life. They all loved mother earth, and felt grateful to feed themselves and their families with the goods it produced, while olive oil always had the most prominent place in their diet.

The precious team

Ioanna Kanellopoulou –  Founder

I was born and raised in Athens. I studied Communication and Mass Media and worked for many years on television as a reporter and presenter. At a certain point in my life, I decided to quit journalism and do something that could involve my kids and teach them something good. The answer I was looking for was in nature, in our land, in our origins. So, I decided to give a precious gift to my kids and myself and go back to nature. As a kid, I was lucky to spend the summer holidays with my grandparents in my village. They were farmers, and they wanted their grandchildren to love as much as they did their land. So all these memories from my childhood in our family grove are now my reality and what I can tell you is that it’s wonderful.

The beginning wasn’t easy. I found myself in the olive grove, in the mill -without my beloved grandfather who was taking care of our grove until the end of his life- trying to figure out how I could keep our heritage prosperous and sustainable. It took two years studying on olive trees and olive oil, talking with farmers and olive oil specialists, spending plenty of time in the grove. A new magic world of knowledge was there in front of me.

This procedure was so precious that I felt the need to share our family treasure with people who can understand the value of it. This is pretty much how My Precious Olive Tree was born.

Konstantinos Liris – Agronomist – Olive oil expert

Konstantinos Liris is an agronomist (MSc, MBA) and certified olive oil expert. He is a very experienced olive oil trader, analyst and taster. In 2014-2015 he was among the team of judges at the New York International Olive Oil Competition and panel leader for the 2016 competition. He has been collaborating with olive oil companies as their commercial representative, exports and quality control manager.

His effort to develop and promote Greek quality products worldwide was recognised by the former Greek Prime Minister, Mr. George Papandreou.

He is passionate about Greek olive oil and as an expert of all the stages of production (from the farm to the standardisation) he joined My Precious Olive Tree sharing our vision to protect and take care of our olive groves, following the best practices, in order to always produce the best quality of extra virgin olive oil.

Dorina Sialvera – Nutritionist

Dorina Sialvera is a Clinical Dietitian-Nutritionist and a Postdoctoral Fellow of the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, of the Unit of Human Nutrition in the Agricultural University of Athens, since 2013.

She graduated from the Department of Science of Nutrition and Dietetics, Harokopio University of Athens (2002) and she attended the postgraduate program leading to a MA in Science, specializing in “Applied Dietetics and Nutrition”, from Harokopio University (2002-2004). In 2012, she completed her PhD at the Agricultural University of Athens, on the field of nutrition and cardiovascular disease. She is a practicing personal dietitian since 2002, and she is a member of several scientific societies.

Since 2013 and up until now, she has been elected as Press & Public Relations’ Secretary of the Hellenic Dietetic Association. In 2013, she was the Chairperson of the Organising Committee of the 12th HDA congress.

Her research interest focuses on obesity and concomitant disease, hypertension, cardiovascular, hyperlipidemia and metabolic syndrome, and approaches child adolescent obesity, nutrition monitoring during pregnancy and breastfeeding according to cognitive behavioural therapy.

Moreover, she has contributed to academic books concerning Clinical Nutrition, in both Greek and English and she has participated in numerous local congresses as a guest speaker.

Jimmie Saliai – Head of workers

Jimmie Saliai is a resident of the village Ampelos, where our olive farm is situated. He is considered to be a member of our family. He is the head of the workers in the grove since he has great experience in the agriculture sector. He is the person who no matter how cold or how hot or rainy it might be, he will go to the grove to see the olive trees, even if there isn’t a planned job to be done. Apart from the work in the groves, Jimmie takes care of the garden with the vegetables, the vines of our family and the lemon trees.