Ivy Huq Russell, Founder and ex CEO of Maya. After becoming a mother for the first time, Ivy originally founded Maya in 2011 as a blog for mothers in Bangladesh. Through her personal journey she experienced first hand the challenges faced by women in Bangladesh when trying to access the information and advice they are looking for.
These can range from geographic and financial barriers all the way to socio-cultural. After partnering with leading NGO, BRAC, the Maya service officially launched in Bangladesh in February 2015 with a clear mission to provide women with the information they are looking for, when they need it. Maya is an intuitive, anonymous messaging service that connects its users to qualified experts on health and mental health issues and each other. The service is available on app, web and recently in messenger. We have plans to expand abroad very soon.

After exiting Maya, she has started her own fund and joined one of countries first Angel netwroks investing in Startups and helping them scale

Ivy grew up in Bangladesh before pursuing her higher education in England. She completed her MSc. in Finance and Economics at Warwick Business School, before spending a number of years as an Investment Management & Hedge Fund professional at leading firms including HSBC, GAM and Barclays. She currently divides her time between Bangladesh and San Francisco, where she is based with her husband, Bickey and 2 children, Ameena and Emir.