Your Mission
Commit to meeting 10 locals in the Valley for a coffee & conversation.
Less scrolling. More humans. You bring the curiosity and your favourite mug. We’ll bring the introductions. ☕️
1,000 Coffees. One Giant Community Experiment. ☕️
This is the story of why two women started a community experiment in the Comox Valley and what they're hoping unfolds, one coffee and conversation at a time.
Cohort 01 · Launch Day
Maxine & Marie-Clo outside Laneway, Cumberland — the morning the first hundred sign-ups came in.
The Mission
The mission.
The Collective Mission
Facilitate 1,000 coffee & conversations in the Valley in one year.
What happens when a whole community decides to meet each other? We want to find out.
The Backstory
How this actually got started.
Two women move to the Comox Valley.
One's an artist. One's a tech founder.
They meet over coffee and quickly realize something:
This place is full of wildly interesting humans… who don't actually know each other.
So they post a simple question in a local Facebook group:
"Would anyone want to get matched with 10 locals from around the Valley for 10 Coffee & Conversations?"
A few days later, 100 people signed up.
Which is when they looked at each other and thought:
…well, I guess we're doing a thing now. ☕️
The Faces Behind It
Meet the Founders.
Co-founder · Comox Valley Coffee & Conversations
Maxine Cunningham
Part economist, part tech founder, part global connector. Maxine has spent the last decade going after one really big mission: facilitating 1 million high-quality conversations between people.
When she's not thinking about connecting humans, you can find her playing beach volleyball, on a road bike, or somewhere up a mountain on two wheels.
- Economist
- Tech founder
- Global connector
- Beach volleyball
- Mountain biking
Co-founder · Comox Valley Coffee & Conversations
Marie-Clo
Marie-Clo is bilingual singer-songwriter, herbalist, dancer, actor, mentor, jester, treehugger, aspiring farmer & community builder. She's released award-winning music, performs all across Canada & Europe, and brings a bold, creative chameleon vitality to everything she does.
On stage, volunteering, mothering, or dreaming/scheming with you somewhere — Marie-Clo has a way of making you remember the importance of curiosity, connection, community, sovereignty & black sheep energy.
- Musician
- Artist
- Community builder
- Award-winning albums
- Ottawa → CV
THE WHY
Why we're actually doing this.
Modern life has quietly become incredibly disconnected. Not because people don't care about community, but because community now takes intentional effort. Most of us move between work, routines, responsibilities, screens, and the same familiar circles while quietly craving:
More real conversations.More belonging.More unexpected human moments.
This community experiment is our attempt to make that easier because we know with 100% certainty that one good conversation/connection can lead to:
•a surprising connection
•a fresh perspective
•an unexpected opportunity
•a really good recommendation
•a brand new friendship or social circle
•more connection to the place you live
•a reminder that the world is full of good people
•a new favourite human
At its core, it is about helping a community meet itself.
One coffee and conversation at a time. ☕
☕ So…
Want to Help Us Reach
1,000 Coffees? ☕️
Comox Valley, BC · Est. 2026