Desta-Nation AI Agency Where Ideas Are Planted.
And Solutions, Grown.

Five platforms. Hospitality, travel, life witnessing, care, and shelter. AI built with humanity in mind, and at heart.

We build tools that let people do what only people can do.

"Solve Your Own Problems First"

AI isn't here to replace what makes us human — it's here to free us for it. Sophie was built so restaurant teams could focus on hospitality, not paperwork. Honestly, E was built so people could be witnessed, not optimized. Pas Perdu was built so travelers could explore with confidence, not confusion. MAUD was built because finding the right caregiver for someone you love shouldn't feel like guesswork. Haven was built so the ones we love — all of them — have shelter. Every product starts with a real problem we lived — and a belief that technology should serve humanity, not compete with it.

What We've Built

Products proven in production. Solutions born from necessity.

Hospitality Intelligence - AI Operations for Hospitality
Hospitality Platform

Hospitality Intelligence

Operational infrastructure, not a chatbot.

AI operational infrastructure built for hospitality. Voice agents, email triage, calendar management, HR workflows, and institutional knowledge — proven in production at Meritage Restaurant since December 2025. We build it for you, trained on your brand.

Why we built it Read more
Twenty years of building Meritage, and Desta watched the same thing happen every time someone left — the knowledge walked out with them. The training. The systems. The "how we do things here." Every departure meant starting over. Sophie exists so the investment stays. The knowledge compounds. And the humans can do what only humans can do — be present, be hospitable, be human.
The Investment
What's taking up too much of your time?
Are you ready to hang onto your institutional memory?
Explore the Platform
Karl - Honestly, E
Life Witnessing Platform

Honestly, E

A place for your story, from beginning to end.

AI companions who draw out stories you might not tell yourself — and hold them across a lifetime. From daily journaling to legacy memoirs to digital memorials. Not a coach. Not a therapist. Not a productivity tool. A witness.

Featured Companion
EMORY — The truth looks good on you. Writing partner, real talk, real feedback.
Why we built it Read more
Honestly, E started as a personal project. Desta has journaled since childhood and wanted a way to capture her life — not scattered across notebooks, but visible on a timeline she could actually see. Then winter 2026 happened in Minneapolis. The world intensified. And she realized what she was building wasn't just for her. There was no place online to simply be witnessed — not performed to, not sold to, just seen. No dignified space to think out loud, to process, to document a life while you're living it. Honestly, E is that place.
Start Your Story
Pas Perdu - Travel Intelligence
Travel Intelligence

Pas Perdu

Jamais perdu — Never lost.

Twenty years of insider knowledge about France, finally accessible. Build your own itinerary from vetted destinations, or let us plan it for you. Explore with the confidence of a local guide.

Sebastian — "Right This Way"
24/7 AI concierge with translation services. With us, you are never lost.
Why we built it Read more
Pas Perdu exists because two decades of knowledge about how to travel through France — the restaurants worth the detour, the châteaux that welcome visitors with warmth, the experiences that don't appear in guidebooks — was trapped in one person's head. Now it powers the Maison Meritage tour program and serves independent travelers who want insider knowledge without the full tour price.
Explore Pas Perdu
Maison Meritage - Immersive France Tours
Immersive Travel

Maison Meritage

Immersion, not tourism.

Hyper-small-group France tours since 2022. Maximum 8 travelers, nearly 1:1 staff ratio. We don't visit France — we live it. Spring and Fall departures through Bordeaux, the Atlantic coast, and beyond.

Travel with Esmé
Practice your French before you go. Keep a travel journal while you're there. From Honestly, E.
Why we built it Read more
Maison Meritage was built to inspire and reward the staff members who have given us their careers. Every journey includes Meritage team members gaining direct experiential education — your trip supports their professional growth.
Explore France
Maude - Care Matching Companion
Care Matching

MAUD | Maude

Care that fits. People who connect.

Caregiver matching for Twin Cities families. We connect families with compatible PCAs based on values, schedule, and fit — not just availability. Not a job board. Not an agency. A matchmaker.

Why we built it Read more
MAUD was born from a deeply personal search. When Desta's mother needed a PCA, the process felt impossible — scrolling through strangers, hoping for the best. Care shouldn't feel like guesswork. MAUD exists to match caregivers and families based on compatibility, because the right fit changes everything.
Meet Maude
Haven Habitats — Custom Pet Habitats & Accessory Dwellings
Habitats & Houses

Haven

Every animal deserves a haven.

Female-founded, female-built pet habitat company. Custom catios, screened rooms, tunnel systems, and foster kits. Built for Minnesota. Haven Houses extends the mission — accessory dwellings for the ones we love.

Why we built it Read more
Haven started with a simple observation: the animals we love deserve outdoor spaces that are safe and beautiful. Then it grew. Haven Houses extends that same philosophy to the people we love — accessory dwellings built by hand, designed for aging in place. Shelter isn't just a structure. It's a statement about who matters.
Explore Haven

On the Horizon

Spa'd

Spa is a verb. One spas. One has Spa'd.

Wellness travel discovery that connects the dots between where you are, where you want to go, and the restorative experiences waiting in between.

Coming Soon
Desta Marée, Founder of Desta-Nation AI Agency

About the Founder

Desta Marée is the founder and CEO of Desta-Nation AI Agency. She's spent nearly 20 years as the behind-the-scenes operational partner at Meritage Restaurant in Saint Paul, Minnesota, while also investing in her own interests and education — acting as Wine Director beginning in 2017, which led her to develop relationships throughout France as she pursued experiential education.

Since 2022, she has led immersive travel experiences in France, starting with Bordeaux and the surrounding area. The travel itineraries are under active expansion, as Desta augments her time overseas every trip, developing new destinations — this resulted in the need for Pas Perdu, a travel intelligence platform she has been building since late 2025. In 2026, she founded the company that built the tools she had wished existed, by leaning into AI and how it could be harnessed to create the very tools she needed to enact her goals.

She didn't set out to build AI agents. She set out to solve a problem. Running a restaurant means managing institutional knowledge that lives in people's heads — and disappears when they leave. Sophie was built because Desta was tired of watching that cycle repeat.

"The Sophie Project launched a new initiative:
Build the tools. Solve the problems. Then build the projects."

With a background in systems architecture since 2001 and over 20 years in hospitality, Desta brings a rare combination: she understands both how technology works and how businesses actually run. When something breaks, she doesn't call someone — she fixes it. When anyone says "that's not possible," she finds another way.

The Founder's Story →

Let's Talk

Questions about our work?
Interested in working together? Reach out directly.

creator@desta-nation.com