About Mission Equality

Val has spent over 15 years building and scaling remote-first product organisations, proving that high-performance teams don’t need offices, they need intentional systems and human-centred operations. She’s scaled SaaS startups from first client to six-figure MRR and successful acquisition, maintaining exceptional team engagement scores throughout hyper growth. More recently, she’s led product operations for 300+ engineers across Europe and India, pioneering AI governance strategies in conservative manufacturing environments and navigating complex European regulatory frameworks (GDPR, EU Data Act, AI Act) while keeping innovation moving forward.

Val’s operational philosophy is rooted in a simple truth learned from years in predominantly homogeneous leadership environments: the systems we build either perpetuate inequality by default, or create belonging by design. Her approach to operations focuses on intentional design, continuous iteration, and building frameworks that enable diverse teams to thrive – not just survive. Originally from Germany, Val lives with her 10-year old twins in a town close to Barcelona, modeling an open and alternative approach to community building and human relationships. She believes that building equitable systems requires the same discipline as scaling startups: refusing to accept “that’s just how it’s done.”

At Mission Equality, Val’s role is to build the operational backbone that allows our team to transform values into action – creating systems and processes that practice equality, not just preach it.

Mae has worked for over a decade in outside-the-box education modalities, applying progressive education principles to facilitate growth for learners from pre-K through to adulthood. Their on-the-ground teaching experience includes time both in and out of ‘the system.’

Mae was formally trained as an educator at the University of Toronto and has taught in a range of institutions from public schools to Nunavut Arctic College, while also creating community programming ‘around the edges,’ particularly geared toward the arts and Disabled youth.

Most recently, they led a team developing progressive education resources for a global audience at a disruptive EdTech company, with a strong emphasis on learner empowerment, diverse representation, and cross-disciplinary learning.

Mae lives in Canada with their partner and children as they work and learn alongside one another at home.

At Mission Equality, Mae’s role is to guide the educational impact our work has, developing and impacting learning frameworks that help ‘do education differently’.