In the male-dominated world of mining, Nadine Miller has emerged as one of its brightest shining stars.
If you could choose a person with a profession you’d think you could have a fascinating conversation with, it’s not likely that a mining engineer would be at the top of your list. That is, until you spoke with Nadine Miller, who is the founder and CEO of Tinkerer Borg, an AgeTech start-up whose flagship product, OurNightingale.com, is designed to help seniors age in place, thereby prolonging the need to transition into independent or assisted living facilities. Nightingale is based in Austin, Texas. Miller is an engaging young wife and mother with a personality as sparkly and bright as the precious minerals she has mined, driven by a fascination with diamonds and tiaras.
“Diamonds are my favourite and I’ve always loved them since I was a little girl — anything that sparkles, I gravitate towards,” says Miller laughing, during a recent interview with Dolce Magazine. “I like sparkly dresses, I like sparkly this and sparkly that, and I always wear tiaras. I want to be a princess all the time. I am openly and delusionally royal. I always have tiaras — it’s just a thing that I do,” she says. “The best thing about jewelry is when you can buy yourself your own jewelry. A lot of women wait for diamonds, but educated women acquire diamonds.”
Miller recently won an online auction and acquired a high-end tiara from the collection of noted entrepreneur, art collector and philanthropist Salah Bachir. Its tapering design, rendered in 18k white gold, is entirely encrusted with heart-shaped, oval, marquise-cut and round diamonds weighing approximately 26.40 carats. Faithful readers of Dolce may recognize this exquisite piece as the same crown worn by Bachir exactly ten years ago on the cover of Dolce’s Spring 2016 edition. (Proof, once again, that beauty endures!)
“I Want to Be a Princess All the Time. I Am Openly and Delusionally Royal – I Always Have Tiaras.”
Miller will be having a special silver case made for the tiara in India and then hosting friends at a tiara-naming party later this year in the United Kingdom. She and her family recently moved to Austin, Texas and, true to form, she has ordered a custom-designed cowboy hat that — you guessed it — will enable the tiara to fit over it. Miller is feeling very much at home in her new city, whose unofficial city motto is “Keep Austin Weird.”
Certainly not your stereotypical mining engineer. But lest you think this penchant for princesses may undermine her impact or hurt her credibility in the male-dominated mining industry, think again and consider her impressive academic credentials.
Miller, who holds a Bachelor of Applied Science degree in Mineral and Geological Engineering from the University of Toronto, graduated from the University of Oxford with an MBA focused on finance and strategy and also earned a Master’s degree in Civil and Environmental Engineering, specializing in geotechnical engineering, from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. (For those of you feeling a tad inadequate after reading that, you can join the line growing behind me).
Miller is the very definition of a self-made woman. “When I think back on my childhood, money came and went and there were struggles,” she says. “There were great times and there were tough times. But the one thing that I really learned was that people may take away your house, or take away your cars, but the one thing they can’t take away is your education. Life is all about knowledge and education. I believe that education creates fortunes.”
It is that education and knowledge, and her impressive skill sets that have propelled Miller to the top of her profession as one of its brightest and shining stars. For 13 years, Miller worked primarily on tailings projects before transitioning to business development. She led the Toronto offices’ business development departments for two of the world’s largest engineering consulting firms: Bantrel, which is backed by parent company Bechtel; and SNC-Lavalin’s Mining and Metallurgy division.
At JDS, Miller has focused on building a team specializing in cybersecurity and operational technology services, which it also provides to the wider resource industry.
Miller personifies the delicate balance of work-life responsibilities but says that family has always come first. “I’ve always juggled. When I was in engineering I was involved in all of these clubs and doing all of these things,” she recalls. “When I started my career, I got involved with the engineering society and the Professional Engineers of Ontario and I was president of the Ontario Society of Professional Engineers – I think at that time I was the youngest ever president and certainly the youngest female – I’ve always done multiple things. I brought my baby boy into board meetings of my volunteer associations when I was nursing him. Some people may not like that, but I’m going to do that. But it’s good that those attitudes are disappearing as a new generation emerges in the industry and the old fogies disappear.”
Miller is the epitome of style, grace and considerable substance | Photography by Farzam Hd
“Life is All About Knowledge and Education. I Believe Education Creates Fortunes.”
As a leading voice of that new generation, Miller has also been a strong advocate on issues concerning women in engineering. She received the 2017 Leading Women Building Communities Award for her tireless work in this area.
Her work supporting women in engineering extends globally. After the U.S. pulled out of Afghanistan in 2022, when she heard of a group of young women studying mining in Kazakhstan who had been ordered to return to Afghanistan to an unknown fate as it is illegal for women there to attend university, Miller stepped up. She and a few other people started called mining companies and within a month, had raised almost $500,000, enough funds to bring them to British Columbia, pay for their graduate studies at the University of British Columbia and also pay their food and housing costs to allow them to continue to embark on their mining careers.
“These are all women who have selected mining as their industry,” said Miller at the time of the fund-raising initiative. “These are women that as soon as the Taliban took over, can never go home. All of these women already have degrees in mining or geology. They’re unbelievable. They are so excited.”
From her champagne-and-caviar tiara-naming parties in the U.K., to her custom-made cowboy hats in Texas, to her influencing the mining community to help displaced refugees build their careers – all achieved with her signature style, swagger and substance – Miller continues to sparkle. The world needs more Nadine Millers.
