Beth's Story: The Questions that Changed Everything

The Moment Maven Began

A few years ago, I was sitting in an investor pitch with a Canadian junior mining company.

It was probably the third or fourth meeting we had taken with the same group of investors. The faces, questions and tone were all familiar.

The company presenting was led by a woman. She was sharp, prepared, and deeply technical. She knew the geology, the economics, and the development like the back of her hand. There was no hesitation in her answers. She sounded confident and wasn’t putting on a performance.

We came to the end of the meeting, and we told: There would be no investment. There was not enough credibility in her or her team.

We dug deeper into their response, questioning what they meant. We heard that she had not been around long enough, had not built enough mines. They felt that she did not know the industry well enough. One investor suggested it would help to add more “credible names” to the board. He meant senior men with familiar reputations.

I remember sitting there, hearing the responses, and I realized that it was not a question of competence. It was a question of who is allowed to be trusted with mining investment.

That moment stayed with me. I asked the question that I often do in similar situations.

Where were all the women? Then the questions started to snowball from my mind.

Why were women largely absent as investors in mining? Did women know how to access these opportunities? Did we understand how deals were structured? Did we perceive risk differently? How did we view long-term value?

At the same time, I was leading Femina Collective. We were entering our third year, and our global community of women was growing quickly. We used to joke that one day we would invest in a mine together. A project shaped by women, backed by women, and led with long-term thinking.

It felt distant. Aspirational. Something that acted as a far off northern star.

But the two threads kept running in parallel. Two desires were unfolding. The first was to realize a radical change in women’s experience in mining. The second was to demystify what investing in mining actually involves. We wanted women to understand timelines, uncertainty, and risk. I had a thesis that if we educate women, the system would begin to evolve.

When you give ideas time, they tend to find each other.

In mid 2025, I was introduced to a project generator based in the United States. I was focused on how we could introduce our growing community of accredited investors to a potential opportunity.

Halfway through the conversation, I stopped them. Why are we not acquiring projects ourselves, I asked.

All of sudden, that North Star came exponentially closer, no longer theoretical, but within our grasp.

The conversation we were having made me realize that there was nothing structurally preventing women from owning a project. What was missing was access, confidence, and a company designed with that participation in mind.

Archaic systems was the barrier, not technical expertise.

I shared the idea openly amongst my network. What if we built a women founded resource company and designed it from the beginning to be transparent about risk, clear about process, and serious about long-term value. I asked a group of women and three of them said yes.

For months, we met every week. We talked about what needed to change for women to build wealth through mining investment, how decisions get made in this industry, who gets access early, and who is usually invited much later, if at all. We dreamt out loud about what it would mean to do this responsibly, without pretending the risks are small or the timelines short.

That is how Maven began.

Maven is built around a simple idea. Investment and participation in mining should not be reserved for a narrow group of insiders.

Mining is essential to our society, and it deserves full participation. It underpins modern life, shapes local economies, national infrastructure, and long-term energy and material security. Mining is also complex, slow, and investment-intensive. Could that, along with a tradition of select investors, keep many women at a distance, even as significant wealth is created?

We believe women belong in this part of the economy, not as a gesture, but as informed investors who understand how mining really works.

At Maven, we lead with investment access and participation. Mining and resource development is the context in which we operate, not something we apologise for. We will be clear about risk, timelines, and uncertainty. We are equally clear about why long-term, disciplined participation matters.

We do not build behind closed doors. We will talk openly about what we are testing, what we are learning, and what is still unresolved and we will share our process because confidence comes from understanding, not from promises.

Maven creates a new paradigm for women, and other value-aligned people, who want to engage with mining as investors and participants, moving past their roles as employees or community members.

We design pathways that make room for learning, agency, and long-term thinking, taking bold action and putting legacy into practice.

There are four of us building Maven together. We are in our early stages and we are building with intention. We know this will take time. But this is the work.

If you have ever felt that mining investment was opaque, inaccessible, or simply not meant for you, Maven exists to change that experience by opening the doors.

We are just getting started. If you want to stay close to what we are building and how we are thinking, join the list for updates.