Maimie Pinzer (1885-1940) was a resilient and ambitious woman with a strong survival instinct, navigating poverty, sex work, and societal prejudice while striving for a better life. She founded the Montreal Mission for Friendless Girls in 1915, which supported young women escaping prostitution. Through her letters to socialite Fanny Quincy Howe, she left behind a valuable account of working-class women’s lives in the early twentieth century, revealing personal and societal challenges in an era when women’s voices were rarely heard.