Michael Person
Team Lead Education Pathways, Garden and Volunteer Coordinator
Michael was born in the USA in Spokane, Washington. At 13, he moved to the UK to live with his mother, and in 2014 he came to Aotearoa.
Before taking on the role of Head Chef with us, Michael had worked as a restaurant chef for over ten years. At BGI, he’s dedicated to waste prevention and sustainable consumption practices, running creative Cooking on a Budget classes in the Community Kitchen and developing BGI's community garden spaces.
Michael loves ocean swimming, capoeira, dance, music (drumming), video games and comic books. He’s been a youth sports coach and capoeira teacher, which laid the foundations for his work at BGI.
Michael would have encouraged his younger self to begin dance earlier – he believes artistic self-expression is key to building confidence in young people.