Meet The Team
Creating connections with our buzzy little friends
Beetopia offers visitors the opportunity to learn about pollinators and to see various types
of bees (native, honeybees, bumblebees, leafcutters) in their natural habitat while also providing an insight into the life cycles of each pollinator and how they interact with their surroundings. Meet the team and let us share our excitement for all things Bee related!
THE QUEEN
Grass
My name is Grass, and I am a passionate beekeeper and advocate for pollinators. Our small family business, Beetopia NZ Honey Tasting Shed, gives people the opportunity to savour amazing honey from throughout New Zealand. My journey also led me to take part in an amazing Honey Sensory Analysis course led by Maureen Conquer, thereby gaining specific insight, understanding, and appreciation of our unique native honey varietals. Another fun part of my job is our various collaborations with local schools in projects that promote children’s beekeeping courses. I feel that by demystifying bees and providing schools with beehives, hands-on education, and support, we can create future beekeepers with a greater awareness of the importance of the role of pollinators, a sustainable environment and ethical beekeeping. In my free time, I chase Minecraft dragons with my grandson Perry :)
THE WORKER BEE
Michelle
My daughter Michelle is also a beekeeper and helps in our apiaries by taking meticulous notes on what’s happening in each hive and updating our apiary agenda after each inspection.
As a bicultural ECC teacher, she has skills that are fundamental to engaging with and promoting our educational projects to Early Childhood Centres and primary schools.
Michelle also helps out in Beetopia’s Tasting Shed and store, and creates Kōpaki Mīere - beeswax wraps, which are very popular.
Her 10-year-old son Perry Paolo is our youngest beekeeper and savvy honey consumer! He, too, has been beekeeping since he could walk!
THE DRONE
Anthony
My husband, Anthony, is a full-time lifestyle estate manager, yet always gets called in to help with the grunt work of lifting or moving beehives and/or assisting in yet another one of my bee-related projects and swarm-catching antics.
He is also an artist extraordinaire and helped paint a GIANT beehive he built for the children at our Big Buzz Festival.
THE BA BEE
Perry
Meet our youngest bee enthusiasts Perry Paolo, who has been helping in the apiary since he was 2. Now at the age of 10 is a confident queen spotter and a connoisseur of fine honey ! His favourite honey is Lime and he loves building Lego bee related constructions.
