Maya Maasri Shaybane Turned Reinvention Into Creative Success

Maya Maasri Shaybane’s creative journey is not defined by one discipline, one award, or one business. It is a story of continuous reinvention, shaped by design, entrepreneurship, motherhood, culture, and a deep belief in the power of ideas.

A French Lebanese multidisciplinary creative director, designer, entrepreneur, and mother of three based in Doha, Shaybane has spent nearly two decades building a career across branding, interior design, visual communication, events, and experience design. Today, through Kimberlite Design Group, she is bringing these different worlds together to create work that aims to be memorable, purposeful, and emotionally connected.

Her journey reflects a broader understanding of creativity. For Shaybane, design is not simply about making something beautiful. It is about understanding people, telling stories, creating identity, and shaping experiences that stay with audiences long after they have encountered them.

From Design Education to a Multidisciplinary Creative Career

Shaybane’s professional story began with her studies in graphic and interior design at the Académie Libanaise des Beaux Arts in Lebanon. That foundation introduced her to two disciplines that would eventually become central to her creative philosophy.

Over the years, her professional experience expanded well beyond traditional design. She developed expertise across branding, visual communication, interiors, events, and experience design, allowing her to understand how different creative elements can work together rather than existing separately.

This multidisciplinary perspective became an important part of her identity as a creative professional. Instead of seeing branding, interiors, events, and experiences as isolated areas, she learned to view them as different ways of communicating an idea.

That approach continues to influence her work today.

Kimberlite Design Group and the Power of an Idea

The establishment of Kimberlite Design Group marked an important chapter in Shaybane’s career.

The creative studio was built around the idea that a strong concept can be shaped, refined, and transformed into something distinctive and lasting. Its work extends across branding, interiors, events, experiences, and visionary concepts, reflecting Shaybane’s belief that creativity becomes more powerful when different disciplines come together.

The philosophy behind Kimberlite is closely connected to the meaning of its name. Like a diamond emerging from a complex natural process, a creative idea can require patience, refinement, and careful shaping before its true potential becomes visible.

This idea captures Shaybane’s approach to her own career as well. Her path has not been a straight line. It has evolved through different professional experiences, personal responsibilities, challenges, and opportunities.

Rather than treating change as a disruption, she has learned to use it as a source of creativity.

A National Recognition That Put Her Design on the Road

One of the most significant milestones in Shaybane’s career came in 2022 when she won Qatar Tourism’s Iconic Limousine Design Concept competition in partnership with Mowasalat.

The competition attracted more than 450 submissions, with participating creatives asked to develop concepts connected to Qatar’s culture and heritage, its progressive future, and its sustainability vision. Shaybane’s design was selected by the jury as the winning concept and was chosen to be displayed on the new fleet of iconic limousines.

The recognition was significant not only because of the scale of the competition, but because the project required design to work in a very different environment.

A limousine is a moving canvas. A concept that works on a stationary surface must still communicate clearly when seen from different angles and while in motion. This required Shaybane to think about visual impact, balance, movement, and simplicity at the same time.

The winning design was later brought to life on the Iconic Limousine fleet, turning her creative concept into a visible part of Qatar’s visitor experience.

For Shaybane, the achievement represented more than an award. It was a moment when her creative vision connected with the identity and aspirations of the country she and her family had made home.

When Motherhood Became Part of the Creative Journey

Behind the entrepreneur and designer is another important part of Shaybane’s identity: motherhood.

Raising three children has added a different perspective to the way she observes the world. Everyday family moments, conversations, discoveries, and challenges have become sources of inspiration.

Motherhood has encouraged her to pay greater attention to the small details of life and to think more deeply about how environments and experiences influence emotions.

It has also reinforced the idea that creativity does not belong only inside a studio.

It can be found in the way people build relationships, raise children, travel, discover cultures, solve everyday problems, and create memories.

This understanding eventually contributed to another personal project, With Kate and Alexe.

With Kate and Alexe Creates Space for Real Life

While Kimberlite represents Shaybane’s professional creative world, With Kate and Alexe offers a more personal window into her life.

The platform brings together family, travel, creativity, discovery, and everyday experiences. Rather than separating her personal and professional identities completely, Shaybane sees a connection between them.

Both are built around storytelling.

Both are concerned with emotion.

And both are ultimately about creating memories.

This perspective gives her personal work an authenticity that comes from lived experience. It reflects the reality of balancing entrepreneurship with family life and finding inspiration in moments that might otherwise appear ordinary.

For audiences, that balance can make her journey particularly relatable. Behind every business milestone is a person continuing to learn, adapt, and navigate the demands of real life.

Creativity With a Bigger Purpose

Today, Shaybane is looking toward the next stage of Kimberlite Design Group, with ambitions to grow its presence across Qatar and the wider GCC.

Her interests increasingly move beyond aesthetics toward projects that connect design with culture, education, sustainability, and human experience.

This is an important distinction in an industry where visual appeal can sometimes become the main measure of success.

For Shaybane, the more interesting question is what design can achieve beyond appearance.

Can it improve how people experience a space?

Can it help organisations communicate more effectively?

Can it make learning more engaging?

Can it create stronger connections between people and culture?

Can it encourage more sustainable ways of thinking?

These questions are becoming increasingly central to her creative vision.

Teaching, Inspiring and Building Beyond Personal Success

Another meaningful part of Shaybane’s journey has been her connection with younger generations through teaching and creative guidance.

For her, professional success is not simply about building a portfolio or collecting awards. It also involves sharing knowledge, encouraging curiosity, and helping others recognise their own creative potential.

That belief reflects one of the lessons she has carried throughout her career: creativity is a way of approaching problems, not simply a professional skill.

The ability to look at something familiar and imagine what it could become can open new possibilities in business, design, education, and everyday life.

Reinvention Has Become Her Strongest Lesson

Perhaps the most powerful theme in Shaybane’s story is reinvention.

Careers rarely develop exactly as people imagine. Circumstances change, priorities evolve, and unexpected challenges can force people to reconsider their direction.

Shaybane believes those moments should not automatically be viewed as failures.

Instead, they can become opportunities to discover strengths that were previously hidden.

Her own journey demonstrates that philosophy. From design education in Lebanon to a multidisciplinary career, from establishing Kimberlite Design Group to becoming a nationally recognised competition winner, and from professional creativity to motherhood and family storytelling, each chapter has added something to the next.

Her story is therefore less about reaching a final destination and more about continuing to evolve.

Looking Ahead With Creativity and Courage

As Shaybane looks toward the future, her ambitions remain rooted in meaningful creativity.

She wants to collaborate with forward thinking organisations and partners who understand that design can contribute to lasting change. At the same time, she continues to develop her personal storytelling through With Kate and Alexe, celebrating family, culture, travel, discovery, and the everyday realities of raising children between different worlds.

Her philosophy can be captured in a simple idea: see the potential, then have the courage to shape it.

That principle extends beyond design. It speaks to entrepreneurship, motherhood, personal growth, and the courage to begin again.

Maya Maasri Shaybane’s journey shows that the most meaningful creative work often emerges when professional ambition meets personal experience. Her story is still evolving, but the direction is clear: create with purpose, remain open to change, and build work that feels genuinely human.

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