Why Dopio
Born in Chicago. Rooted in Filiatra.
Dopio means “native” in Greek. To me, it means knowing the place, the people, and the work behind every bottle.
My promise is simple: all the olives for Dopio come from one area of Greece—the same area where my family’s trees grow. Our certified organic, Kalamata PDO extra virgin olive oil is never blended with oil from other regions or countries, and never mixed with seed oils.
Chicago & Filiatra
Filiatra was part of how I understood home.
I started Dopio after returning to Greece helped me find my way back to myself. Today, I bring olive oil from the place my family comes from to tables here in the United States.
I was born and raised in Chicago, but growing up, I went back to Greece every summer. My family was there. My friends were there.
The olive tree
Work that has connected people to this land for generations.
In that part of Greece, the olive tree supports families and shapes the rhythm of the year. I return to help harvest my family’s trees, taking part in work that has connected people to this land for generations.
The olive tree’s significance reaches far beyond our town. In the founding myth of Athens, Athena’s gift of an olive tree won her the city’s patronage and its name. At the ancient Olympic Games, victors were crowned with olive wreaths, not gold medals. And the olive branch remains a symbol of peace today, framing the world on the United Nations emblem.
A livelihood. An offering. A mark of achievement. A gesture of peace.
I thought I knew what opportunity meant.
For me, that history starts close to home, with my family’s trees in Filiatra. But there was a time when I let that connection slip away.
My parents made sacrifices to immigrate to the United States and give us better opportunities. For a long time, I thought honoring that sacrifice meant succeeding in my career.
I spent almost a decade in medical device sales. It was fast-paced, demanding, and intensely competitive. I gave it more and more of myself.
The summers in Greece stopped. I had less time for Chicago’s Greek community. My father runs a Greek school, helping keep our language and culture alive, while I was becoming less connected to that part of my own life.
I didn’t make a conscious decision to walk away from my identity. I just kept putting it off.
Then I nearly lost my life.
A motorcycle accident changed everything.
I bled out twice and was brought back both times. I suffered a severed iliac artery and extensive broken bones. A staph infection followed, requiring nearly a year of antibiotics.
Fourteen surgeries. Two years of recovery.
The physical injuries were only part of it. I lost sight of who I was. I felt like an empty shell—a ghost of my personality.
Returning to Greece helped me find my way back.
Being with my family and friends again mattered. So did returning to a place that had been part of my life long before my career or the accident.
In Greece, I began to feel like myself again.
That return changed how I understood the opportunity my parents had given me. I could choose what to do with my life. I wanted to spend time with the people I had missed, become involved in my culture again, and give my energy to work I cared about.
Without the accident, I would probably still be pursuing the same career. I wish it hadn’t taken so much to make me reconsider. But once I had, I knew I wanted to change direction.
That is where Dopio began.
Olive oil brought together the things I wanted back in my life: Greece, my community, and a connection to the place my family comes from.
My ambition is to bring you the best olive oil I can, and to be open about the people and work behind it.
That starts with explaining exactly where I fit.
Our grower
From Filiatra to your table.
My connection to olive oil starts with harvesting my family’s trees in Filiatra. It also connects me to George Panagopoulos, the olive grower and miller I work with for Dopio.
George’s trees grow in the same area as my family’s. He mills his own olives and handles the bottling of the certified organic, Kalamata PDO olive oil I source for Dopio.
I sell my family’s oil to George and purchase his certified oil for Dopio. Working with him lets me bring you oil from a place I know personally, with a clear connection to the person who grows and mills it.
A place at your table.
When I think about what I want to share through Dopio, I picture a table with family and friends. Conversation moving around it. Bread and olive oil within reach. Time to sit and enjoy being together.
I want Dopio to become part of those everyday moments in your home.
Cook with it. Pour it over your tomatoes. Put some out with bread. Share it with the people you love.
That is the part of Greece I grew up with, and the part I want to share with you.
Photos of Filiatra via Wikimedia Commons: clock tower square and Panagia Vlacherna by C messier, both CC BY-SA 4.0.