MINE Maternity Founder Tackles 95% Maternity Benefit Gap, Wins $5K BBOP Grant to Expand Business

Pachet Bryant, founder of MINE Maternity, is leading a charge to bridge one of the biggest gaps in maternal healthcare: access to insurance-covered benefits. On the heels of winning first place and a $5,000 non-dilutive grant at the BBOP Academy’s Beyond Ideation pitch competition in San Bernardino, Bryant is expanding her company’s mission to demystify health coverage for pregnant patients and their providers.

The $5,000 award will fund the next phase of Bryant’s work: building a digital Maternity Insurance Navigation Engine—MINE—that simplifies how maternity and postpartum patients, along with providers, understand and access care that’s already covered under insurance policies.

Bryant, a Mission Viejo resident and Cal Poly Pomona graduate, began MINE Maternity as a senior thesis project while pursuing a degree in apparel merchandising and management with a business administration emphasis. What started as a maternity bra business evolved after conversations with her pregnant sister led her into the world of lactation consulting, maternal care access, and healthcare equity.

“Once I entered that rabbit hole, I never left,” Bryant said. “I wanted to do something different—something that solves real problems.”

MINE Maternity launched in 2017, initially offering care coordination. But in 2025, Bryant pivoted after realizing the true unmet need was in helping patients and providers understand what their insurance already covers—and how to access it.

Today, MINE Maternity functions as a service-based company, working with both maternity care providers and patients to produce insurance check reports. These reports break down what services are covered—including lesser-known offerings like doula care, pelvic floor therapy, lactation consulting, and chiropractic care.

“Most patients don’t know what their benefits are,” Bryant said. “The industry average is only 3 to 5 percent utilization of benefits. That means most people are leaving critical care on the table.”

Bryant said she’s uncovered cases where tens of thousands of dollars in employee assistance program (EAP) benefits were left untouched simply because families didn’t know they existed—or didn’t realize maternity care was included.

MINE Maternity helps clients access care through five financial pillars: insurance coverage, FSA/HSA accounts, employee assistance programs, government programs, and nonprofit services.

“It’s not just about insurance,” Bryant explained. “There are so many ways to pay for care—especially through EAPs or nonprofits offering group doula sessions or virtual support—but people don’t know where to look.”

She noted that many spouses overlook benefits extended to birthing partners, mistakenly believing that “maternity” doesn’t apply to them.

Bryant believes that part of the maternal health crisis lies not in a lack of services, but in how fragmented and inaccessible the system is.

“The summary of benefits you get from insurance doesn’t even mention terms like doula, midwife, or lactation consultant,” she said. “And when people call member services, they’re often asked, ‘How do you spell doula?’”

Even providers struggle with the complexities. Some doulas and lactation specialists, now recognized by insurers, aren’t formally credentialed or trained in billing—making it difficult to interface with systems like Kaiser or Medi-Cal.

The BBOP grant will support the development of a new digital platform that automates Mine Maternity’s benefit reports and introduces tools like a Patient Responsibility Calculator for providers.

“It will allow both patients and providers to see, in plain language, what’s covered under a specific insurance plan and estimate potential costs,” Bryant said. “It’s about making things clear before care begins—avoiding surprise bills, misunderstandings, and delays.”
Bryant’s mission is especially urgent given looming Medicaid changes in 2026 and ongoing disparities in care for minority women.

“We know there’s a maternal health crisis,” she said. “But instead of just sounding the alarm, I’m offering a solution: make people aware of what they already have access to—and help them use it.”

She encourages patients—especially women of color—to advocate for themselves.
“If your doctor says something is ‘normal,’ but you’re in pain or something feels off, keep pushing,” she said. “There’s a big difference between common and acceptable.”

Although based in Orange County, Bryant regularly travels to the Black and Brown Opportunities for Profit (BBOP) Center in San Bernardino to participate in programs like Beyond Ideation, a 10-week program that provides intensive entrepreneurial training.

“The space is beautiful. The mentorship is real. When we were sitting here at the table for the competition, we were just sharing what our businesses were that we were going to pitch,” Bryant said. “And immediately we said, ‘Oh, I can help you with that.’ ‘Oh, you do that. I can help you with that.’ Or, ‘Can I order your book? Can I order your app?’ Like, it just is fire.”

While many programs focus solely on ideation, Bryant said BBOP offered structure, accountability, and a foundation she could build on—even as an existing business owner navigating a new pivot.

As demand for maternity care increases—especially in underserved communities—and OB-GYN shortages worsen, Bryant believes MINE Maternity is uniquely positioned to be a solution.

“We’re already working independently of insurance companies. But the goal is to digitize our system and, ideally, integrate into those systems to scale access.”

She’s also passionate about helping doulas and other providers build sustainable, credentialed businesses that can work within the healthcare system.

“A lot of incredible doulas don’t know how to bill or structure their businesses to work with insurance,” she said. “They’re being left out—and so are the people who need them most.”
To anyone considering entrepreneurship, Bryant offers a word of encouragement.

“That spark you feel? It’s not random. It’s a calling,” she said. “I started a maternity-focused business 10 years before I ever had a baby. But I never left because the work matters. And the need keeps evolving.”

Learn more at minematernity.com or follow @minematernity on Instagram and YouTube.