I first met Dr Dolly Daou at l’Ecole de Design Nantes Atlantique where she was the Director of the Masters Food Lab. We worked alongside each other on certain projects and attended juries together and soon became close colleagues. I was recently honoured to be invited by Dolly, acting as Guest Editor of the Journal for the Design for All Institute of India to submit an essay in honour of its celebratory 20th anniversary to celebrate women designers working in this field.

For 20 years it has demonstrated its continuity, global and diverse expression, receptivity, and limitless achievement by inviting guest editors for its monthly publications.

Dr Dolly Daou’s academic and industry experience spans over 25 years, during which she has established higher education programs and led non-for-profit organisations in Australia, Asia, Europe and in the Middle East. Dr Daou is currently Chair of academic advisory board at Cindrebay University, Dubai, and, since 2018, has served as co-founder and co-chair of the Food Think Tank at Cumulus Association.

You can find out more about Dolly here.

This was a timely request, as I was retiring at the end of December, 2025, so a nice way to talk about what I had achieved in the field of Design for All, throughout my career at l’Ecole de Design Nantes Atlantique and Rennes School of Business.

It was very cathartic to write, as you tend to forget all the experiences that you have had in a career spanning over 30 years and the key word that kept coming up time and time again was ‘resilience’. I was delighted to see other women who I had read about or met along the way taking part in this special issue too.

It’s a way of celebrating all the experiences and adventures that I have had along my career, as well as the ups and the downs too, personally and professionally. I have met thousands of lovely students from all around the world that have taught me so much too. And it’s, finally, way of closing one door and opening another new chapter in my life.

I currently have lots of new projects to work on. I am in the process of writing a book and would love to carry out more research and learn new skills – but yes, I’d like to relax too! If you want to stay in touch please do. I will write updates here.

You can find my essay inside the document here on P.35.