Drahoslava (Dája) Kabátová graduated from Charles University in Prague with a degree in Special Education. Until 1994, she spent 10 years working as a nurse at the Jedlicka Institute in Prague, managing a crafts workshop. Dája is an Ashoka Fellow, and has served on several evaluation boards for social projects sponsored by the Czech Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs. She has also developed many projects with grants from the Czech government and the European Union.