I am a motivated forest professional with a lot of enthusiasm. I am holding a BSc Agriculture(forest) degree obtained at the University of Venda. During my final year (fourth level) of study as an undergraduate, I conducted a research project focusing on the germination of Eucalyptus cloeziana seeds. Poor germination performance of the species made me to consider tree genetic improvement as a tool to solve this problem. As a forest management student with less molecular genetics knowledge, I had to read more about tree molecular breeding during my spare time.

A passion for gene editing developed as I was reading and studying about molecular breeding. After completing my BSc degree, I joined FABI under the forest molecular genetics research group (FMG) as an intern for the 2020 calendar year. 2021 I started with my MSc in forest science degree under the supervision of Prof Zander Myburg. My MSc project focus on ways to improve Eucalyptus organogenesis using hormones and different growth regular genes.