Desta-Nation — We Build AI That Works

"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. 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.

AI for Hospitality

The Sophie Project

The remote employee who never calls in sick.

AI administrative assistance built for hospitality. Sophie handles institutional knowledge, HR workflows, shift intelligence, and the thousand small things that keep an organization running. She's been working at Meritage Restaurant since December 2024.

Why we built it: Restaurant knowledge walks out the door when people leave. Training restarts. Same questions answered repeatedly. Sophie holds the memory so humans can do the work.

Meet Sophie

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.

Why we built it: There was no place to be witnessed — not performed at, not sold to, just seen. No dignified space online for grief, legacy, or remembrance.

Start Your Story

Maison Meritage - Immersive France Tours

Travel Intelligence

Maison Meritage + Pas Perdu

Jamais perdu — Never lost.

Immersive small-group France tours since 2022, powered by Pas Perdu — a travel intelligence platform that makes 20+ years of insider knowledge accessible. Join a curated tour or explore independently with the confidence of a local guide.

Why we built it: Two decades of France knowledge was trapped in one person's head. Now it's a platform — whether you join an immersive tour or subscribe for $10/month.

Explore France

On the Horizon

Problems we're solving next

MAUD

Compatibility over speed. Shortlists over volume.

Care matching for families seeking qualified, compatible caregivers. Not a job board — a matchmaker. Because finding the right person to care for someone you love shouldn't feel like scrolling through strangers.

Coming Soon

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. Because self-care shouldn't require a travel agent.

Coming Soon

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.

Desta-Nation AI Agency AI That Works