Dara didn't set out to become an expert in play.

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She was trying to survive.

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She spent most of her life not knowing she had ADHD. Diagnosed at 39, in the same year her marriage ended, a major contract collapsed overnight, and she was raising a young child alone on the other side of the world from her family.

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Her GP suggested antidepressants. She asked for an ADHD assessment instead.

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What followed wasn't a neat transformation story. It was the slow, confronting realisation that much of what she had built: the hustle, striving, overachievement and constant performance had become an unconscious workaround for a brain that never fit the systems she was trying to succeed inside.

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Then she read a line from Dr. Ned Hallowell that cracked something open for her:

 

"If you have ADHD, you need work that feels like play."

 

She cried because she realised she had already built it.

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For over a decade, she's been designing experiences around play, curiosity, experimentation, and human connection without fully understanding why her nervous system needed them so deeply.

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That insight became the foundation of Culture Hero.

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Today, she's helping reshape the global conversation around adult play, adaptability, burnout, and what it means to stay human in a world increasingly shaped by machines. Her work sits at the intersection of neuroscience, behavioural science, improvisation and lived experience.

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She doesn't just speak about these ideas from a distance. She lived them.​

 

Inspired by the wonder, adventure, and curiosity of our childhood days, Dara set out to create a summer camp for adults called Camp Kidinyou. Alas, the camp idea didn't quite take off as expected. But instead of losing hope, Dara saw an opportunity to transform her vision into something even more powerful.

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And thus, Project Play was born in 2016, a place where professionals could unleash their inner creativity and ignite their passion for play. With more experience and insights, guided by the incredible Danish learning design methodology KaosPilot, our team came assembled blending expertise in the creative industries, L+D, research, coaching and facilitation. Project Play matured into Culture Hero and launched in 2019, dedicated to an even bigger mission of building the human capabilities no algorithm can replace. ​​