diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index a19da68..cd3418e 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -52,6 +52,7 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0
 
 ### Fixed
 - Fixed `TypeError: can't subtract offset-naive and offset-aware datetimes` in `process_mail_account` task when computing `duration_seconds`. After a database refresh, `started_at` may be returned as a naive datetime; it is now normalized to UTC before subtraction.
+- **Admin user not seeing admin dashboard**: Added startup auto-promotion in `main.py` lifespan handler — on every application start, if the user matching `ADMIN_EMAIL` exists in the database but does not yet have `is_superuser=True`, they are promoted immediately. This fixes accounts created before the auto-promotion-on-login code was deployed (e.g. `christianlouis@gmail.com` was logged in but saw no admin section).
 
 ### Security
 - Upgraded `python-jose` from 3.3.0 to 3.5.0 to fix CVE: algorithm confusion vulnerability with OpenSSH ECDSA keys (affected versions < 3.4.0).
diff --git a/backend/app/main.py b/backend/app/main.py
index ed40431..cd0e036 100644
--- a/backend/app/main.py
+++ b/backend/app/main.py
@@ -58,6 +58,34 @@ async def lifespan(app: FastAPI) -> AsyncIterator[None]:
     except Exception as exc:
         logger.warning("Could not seed default settings: %s", exc, exc_info=True)
 
+    # Ensure the configured ADMIN_EMAIL user has is_superuser=True.
+    # This runs on every startup so that existing accounts created before the
+    # auto-promotion login logic existed are also promoted correctly.
+    if settings.ADMIN_EMAIL:
+        try:
+            from sqlalchemy import select, func
+            from app.core.database import async_session_maker
+            from app.models.database_models import User
+
+            async with async_session_maker() as db:
+                result = await db.execute(
+                    select(User).where(
+                        func.lower(User.email) == settings.ADMIN_EMAIL.lower()
+                    )
+                )
+                admin_user = result.scalar_one_or_none()
+                if admin_user and not admin_user.is_superuser:
+                    admin_user.is_superuser = True  # type: ignore[assignment]
+                    await db.commit()
+                    logger.info(
+                        "Auto-promoted admin user to superuser on startup: %s",
+                        admin_user.email,
+                    )
+        except Exception as exc:
+            logger.warning(
+                "Could not auto-promote admin user on startup: %s", exc, exc_info=True
+            )
+
     yield
     # Shutdown
     logger.info("Shutting down application")
diff --git a/docs/TODO.md b/docs/TODO.md
index 87e711b..d13dc6d 100644
--- a/docs/TODO.md
+++ b/docs/TODO.md
@@ -245,7 +245,7 @@ because the API client layer is missing.
 - [x] Admin overview page (`/admin`) with system-wide stats
 - [x] User management page (`/admin/users`) — list, edit, delete users; assign plans; promote/demote admin
 - [x] Plan management page (`/admin/plans`) — full CRUD for subscription plans (mailboxes, emails/day, interval, pricing)
-- [x] `ADMIN_EMAIL` env var with default `christianlouis@gmail.com`; admin auto-promoted on login
+- [x] `ADMIN_EMAIL` env var with default `christianlouis@gmail.com`; admin auto-promoted on login and on every application startup (fixes pre-existing accounts)
 - [x] `is_superuser` exposed in `/users/me` response
 - [x] Admin badge (purple shield) shown in top bar for superusers