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Joan Low
Founder & CEO of ThoughtFull, innovator in digital mental health
Joan Low is the Founder and CEO of ThoughtFull, a digital mental health company based in Asia.1 Here are some key details about her background and accomplishments:
Professional Experience
Joan founded ThoughtFull in August 2019 with the mission of making mental healthcare accessible and affordable across Asia.1 Prior to launching ThoughtFull, she had a successful career in banking:
- She worked at JP Morgan in Hong Kong for over 5 years, rising to the position of Associate.1
- As a banker, she managed a portfolio worth over $1.3 billion and covered North Asian markets.1
- She was part of the pioneering team that developed JP Morgan Private Bank's offerings for hedge fund and private equity clients in Asia.1
Motivation and Mission
Joan's passion for mental health stems from her 20+ years of experience as a mental health caregiver for a family member.12 This personal connection, combined with her global work experience across the US, Canada, France, China, and Hong Kong, drives her mission to empower everyone to prioritize mental health daily.1
ThoughtFull's Approach
Under Joan's leadership, ThoughtFull has developed innovative solutions for mental healthcare:
- The company provides end-to-end mental health services through its mobile app, ThoughtFullChat.1
- It offers personalized 1:1 coaching sessions with certified mental health professionals.2
- ThoughtFull partners with employers, insurers, and healthcare providers to integrate mental health support into existing systems.2
Background and Education
Joan was raised in Malaysia and has lived and worked across multiple countries.2 While her LinkedIn profile doesn't specify her educational background, her diverse experiences have shaped her global perspective on mental health care.
Joan Low's work with ThoughtFull represents a significant shift from her banking career to addressing the critical need for accessible mental health services in Asia.
Highlights
🤰🏻REPRESENTATION MATTERS🤰🏻
📸 PICTURE THIS: Fertility journeys aren’t easy. But after some time, the blessed good news arrives - you’re expecting! 🥳 You jump in joy, share the good news with your family, post your ultrasound photo on social media to celebrate with the world and prepare with excitement (and trepedition) for the next 6-7 months. Baby shower with your girlfriends, gender reveal, babymoon - the whole works.
💔 THE UNDER SIDE: You get the good news that you’re expecting - yay! Then panic sets in: 😰 Macro markets are tanking. Capital markets are halting. All else equal, it’s a crap time for high growth companies 😰 You look around, there are not many female (let alone pregnant) reps at the Investment Committees of funds, nor founders in the circuit. 😰 You quietly ask around, and what you find out is bleak at best. Unconscious biases, defensive vs promotive lines of questioning, ghosting after term sheets offered - these were just some of the stories shared.
⛔️ So there were no ultrasound posts, no photos of baby shower or gender reveal. I made all my friends swear to keep it on the down low.
👔 It was the year I was featured on the cover of Tatler Asia amongst others - I freaked out. Called the crew, asked for clothes 2x bigger. Many public speeches, panels - Uniqlo Size L men’s shirt.
💰 7 to 9 back to back investor calls in a day. Crash after. Repeat. 5 months to expected due date. 5 months to close round in tough market. Focus on mission. Focus on results. Focus on continued performance. Don’t give anyone a reason to doubt ThoughtFull - Employee Mental Wellbeing’s team’s work, Joan - just grind thru.
“JOAN, IT’S ALL IN YOUR HEAD”, I’ve been told.
Yes. It is. And these thoughts are also in thousands, if not millions of women’s heads around the world who might be fundraising, seeking a promotion, a new job. When you don’t see anyone else doing it, no other pathway - that’s all you know.
👶🏻 2cm dilated. Signed final contract. Raise closed. Healthy baby out 3.8kg. Relief. Just kidding - the work has only just begun, but grateful for every single soul that endured with and for me.
I’ve debated for a year on whether to share this deeply personal (yet not unique) experience openly. But representation matters. So here goes 😆
To all of you who “have this in your head” or silently panicking:
💪🏼 💁♀️SLAY IT LIKE YOU KNOW YOU CAN - YOU’RE NOT ALONE
In hindsight, I might: ✅ Be more open from outset ✅ Realize that the right partner/investor will honor, not discriminate my calling to be a mom and a business owner ✅ Find a community that supports and understands these internal battles more deeply ✅ Try to find more joy in my pregnancy vs worrying nonstop - it’s a special moment, cherish it
🫶 WOMEN CARRY HALF THE SKY YET HAVE LESS THAN HALF THE RESOURCES - SO, #leanin
Behind every successful woman is a balancing act of the many roles we can play in society - leader or contributor at the workplace, spouse, sister, daughter, mother, friend, mentor, etc.
When Cai Katherine asked if I could do a more personal sharing, I hesitated - because I usually don’t share the “behind the scenes” ( #bts )in public. But if I look back at the last 18 months of hitting some major professional and personal milestones, I realized 2 things:
☝️ The #bts is everything. There are many externalities - Tech winter, team changes, client pressures, transitioning to motherhood etc. - but at the end of the day, it’s how we pause, reflect, (re)organize ourselves, and importantly, get the right tools at the right time for ourselves, so that we can continue to push forward.
The “behind the scenes” is always a process (not always a glam one at that), so going at it alone can be daunting. Hence, I decided to share candidly about my process - from dealing with imposter syndrome to financial planning, to transitioning into scaling mode + motherhood at same time.
✌️Womanhood is complex and we’re blessed to be in an era where folks like Anna Vanessa Haotanto 陳安娜 of Zora Health can journey with us on the fertility journey. Often times, the fertility journey is as stigmatized as mental well-being. Thankfully, change is upon us 😉
When women (and men) come together to #HaveAThoughtFullChat beyond the humdrum of work, that’s when community is built ❤️ #athoughtfullworld
Thank you Heena Bose (She/Her) and team Pacific Prime CXA for having ThoughtFull - Employee Mental Wellbeing.
Neil Raymond Heidi Jezard Shirley Chua Aya Alimkulova Careen Chen Aryton Soliano Shao Yong Chew Anvy Lin
