Monica Galetti Collection

Monica Galetti was born in Samoa, but at the age of eight, moved to Wellington, New Zealand, and lived there with her parents and five siblings. In 1999 Monica moved to London to work at the two-Michelin-starred restaurant Le Gavroche and worked rapidly through the sections of the kitchen to became senior sous-chef. She was the first woman to hold such a senior position at the restaurant. She was a judge on the BBC series MasterChef: The Professionals from 2009 to 2021 and has appeared as a presenter on other food-related television programmes.