Mathilde Defarges is Co-Founder and President of Blue Star Strategies SAS.
Mathilde leads the company in its strategy alongside running the day-to-day business.
She advises international clients for whom she implements game-changing strategies. Mathilde has a broad campaigning experience, advocating for global coalitions in France and in the Brussels arena.
She has acquired deep knowledge in creating a constructive dialogue between key political decision makers and the private and non-governmental sectors. Her client engagements, emanating from diverse regions and cultures, have allowed her to develop a keen sense of understanding of transcultural management and strong mediation skills.

Mathilde has more than 25 years professional experience as a strategist and a lawyer, assisting clients in articulating and executing robust public affairs strategies. She launched her career as a lawyer, specializing in competition law, in 1996. After 10 rewarding years, including developing knowledge in the sphere of economics and politics, Mathilde moved over to public affairs. In 2007, she joined a European public affairs company as the executive director for France before becoming a partner in 2013 covering Paris and Brussels. In 2018, Mathilde made the leap to entrepreneurship and co-Founded Blue Star Strategies SAS along with her alter ego Etienne Bodard and Blue Star Strategies LLC with whom she had been working as a European Advisor.

Mathilde has many business and personal connection with the USA. She was awarded Young Leader for the USA and Italy in 2011 and is an active member of the French American Foundation.
She is convinced that tackling persistent inequalities in our societies is fundamental to economic prosperity and social cohesion. Mathilde has, in her previous position, initiated strategic partnerships with Ashoka for the regional branches of the group to provide pro-bono advocacy services for social entrepreneurs. These continues to be a key commitment for Mathilde who supports Crésus a foundation dedicated to preventing and fighting against over indebtidness.

Mathilde holds a first year PhD in economic law from the Paris-Sorbonne University and passed Paris bar in 1996. She successfully completed a post-graduate program at Harvard University to develop her skills in Systems-Thinking and American Government.

On a more personal note, Mathilde is a space nerd. She wishes she were an astronaut but due to her math grade and motion sickness she had to change direction!