Gemma Gallagher
Podcast | Gemma Gallagher: Design & Dine, Dubai
Gemma Gallagher is an award-winning Visual Artist and the Founder of Design & Dine, a Creative Workshop company based in the UAE and Northern Ireland.
The aim was to create an event where guests could discover their creative abilities and learn to make art in a fun, sociable environment. What started as a small workshop has now grown to become the UAE’s largest interactive, creative experience with consistent sell-out events and over 7000 guests having attended so far.
After founding Design & Dine in 2015, she has built the company up to operate across multiple cities with a team of Artists from around the world working with her to make Art fun and accessible to everyone.
Her vision is to grow Design & Dine to be a global brand, allowing anyone to have fun and connect through the joy of creativity.
In this episode Matt and Gemma talk about:
- Growing up on the Antrim Road in the 90s
- Working on a banana farm in Australia
- What brought her to Abu Dhabi in 2014
- Her experience working as a teacher in the Middle East
- Where she got the idea to start her business
- How she scaled her events from 15 to 25, to 50, to 100 people
- The secret to incredible in-person events
- What she misses most about home
- And her greatest highs/lows of the journey so far.
