The owner/chef of fine dining restaurant Miss Amelie will speak about his life as a chef in some of the world’s most well-known restaurants as part of a Border Trust fundraiser on May 20.

Kapay got his start on the Border before he headed to England where he worked in restaurants owned by celebrity chefs Jamie Oliver and Gordon Ramsay.

The former Wodonga High School student spent four years in the kitchen at Oliver’s restaurant Fifteen before working in Ramsay’s Michelin-starred restaurant, Maze.

“Then I was working 14-hour days for nine months with no breaks and no staff meals,” Kapay said.

“Some staff would start (their new job) in the morning and be gone by lunchtime, the conditions were so bad.”

Kapay said the upside of having worked in that hostile environment was knowing what he wanted to avoid when he started his own restaurant in Wodonga.

He will share photos from his career as part of the On the Couch series, the Border Trust’s main fundraiser for the year.

Hosted by Australian actor John Walker, the series was established to celebrate “famous locals”, often with an emphasis on a defining time in their career or life.  

The inaugural guest was Tim Fischer AC, who focused on his 1000 days in Rome as the Ambassador to the Holy See. 

The second event featured political journalist Barrie Cassidy, who was born and raised at Chiltern and Rutherglen.  

He shared stories, show-reels and photographs from his early days as a cadet journalist at The Border Mail to his time as a speech writer for former prime minister Bob Hawke and presenter of ABC program The Insiders. 

A Wodonga-based former UN Peacekeeper, Matina Jewell, joined the series in 2014. 

Other guests were QC, author, barrister and writer, Charles Waterstreet and one of Australian Financial Review/Westpac’s Top 100 Women of Influence Suzanne Young, a former student from The Scots School Albury.

Border Trust has distributed more than $1.1 million on the Border since its inception in 2005. It includes $800,000 in grants to 100 local not-for-profit groups and $353,000 in $50 vouchers through the Back to School Program.

On The Couch will run at Regent Cinemas Albury on May 20 from 4.30pm to 6.30pm.

Tickets ($50) include post event refreshments.

For details visit bordertrust.org.au or trybooking.com/UASB