It was the spirit of “wanting to build something” that drove her interests in design, education, and entrepreneurship. She trained formally in engineering and developed her understanding of people, technology, and society by involving in social causes nationally and internationally for more than 16 years, including seven years working on aviation safety issues.

Since 2013, Dessy combined her knowledge and experiences in people, technology, and society to design targeted programs through social innovation and entrepreneurship education. Her experiences led her to serve Central Bank of Indonesia as Faculty Member and Research Fellow, innovation advisor in Central Bank, and subject-matter experts in various institutions and organizations, including BRI Micro-finance Center.

Dessy named for some achievements, including for 2019 Meaningful Business 100 Leader, Global Youth ICON Award 2019, STINT Scholarship from Sweden, The Rune Andersson Scholarship from Sweden, ICAO-WAI Scholarship from the USA, and NFP Fellowship from the Dutch Government. Dessy holds a Ph.D. in Business Management at Lincoln University – New Zealand, M.Sc. in Engineering at Chalmers University of Technology – Sweden, and B.Eng in Civil Engineering at Bung Hatta University – Indonesia.