Joan Low's journey from managing a $1.3 billion portfolio in Hong Kong finance to pioneering mental health solutions in Southeast Asia began not in boardrooms or pitch decks, but in her family's two-decade struggle with a loved one's mental health challenges.

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"Building mental health solutions... was always a calling I would say that's 20 years in the making now," Low explains. Her family served as mental health caregivers to someone navigating everything from stigma to fragmented care to the lack of affordable, personalised treatment. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, mental health wasn't trending on social media. It was, as she describes it, "quite a black box."

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This deeply personal experience shaped Low's worldview as she built her career across continents. Originally Malaysian, she spent two decades abroad, with stints in North America, Hong Kong, France, and China. Throughout her travels, she searched for answers to mental health challenges, growing increasingly frustrated by the lack of innovation and capital in the space.

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"Of all the therapeutic areas, it's probably one of the least developed," she observes. While working in Hong Kong's high-octane finance world, managing that substantial portfolio, Low felt the pull of a greater purpose. The catalyst wasn't abstract market opportunity but lived experience: watching someone dear to her struggle as a young professional facing corporate pressures without access to affordable mental health resources or tools to build healthier mental models.

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In 2018, Low made the leap, founding what would become ThoughtFull. The company's vision is elegantly simple yet ambitious: "to make mental health a priority for everyone every day." Launched during the pandemic's height in mid-2020, ThoughtFull Chat revolutionised mental health delivery by pioneering text-based coaching that breaks traditional therapy into daily, bite-sized interactions.

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The innovation addresses multiple pain points Low identified through personal experience. Traditional therapy often involves weeks or months-long waiting lists and confusion about which type of professional to consult. ThoughtFull's proprietary algorithms instantly match users with the right mental health professional, whether they need a life coach, counsellor, clinical psychologist, or psychiatrist.

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"We turned it on its head actually," Low explains. "Instead of your typical one hour therapy sessions, which not everybody needs, we basically broke it down to daily bite-sized coaching. So text anytime, anywhere and your mental health professional will check in daily."

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The approach resonated powerfully in the corporate world, where 90 percent of ThoughtFull's business now operates. In a groundbreaking move, they partnered with insurers like AIA and FWD to make mental health part of standard coverage in Asia, something common in Australia, the US, and Europe but notably absent in Asian markets.

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The results speak volumes. When AIA implemented ThoughtFull for their employees, utilisation rates jumped to 20 times higher than previous mental health resources. More importantly, clinical outcomes showed measurable improvements in stress, anxiety, and depressive symptoms among users.

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Low attributes ThoughtFull's momentum to what she calls "lightning in a bottle" timing. The pandemic accelerated a fundamental mindset shift where mental health transformed from luxury to necessity. Governments introduced mental health policies, with the Philippines mandating employer-provided mental health resources. Singapore's Healthier SG initiative embraces preventive mental health care. The private sector moved from ad hoc activities to building long-term mental health infrastructure.

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Yet success hasn't insulated Low from the harsh realities facing female founders. In Southeast Asia, women-founded startups received just 0.6 percent of invested capital in 2021, despite abundant funding. In the US, the figure barely improves to 2.4 percent. With only 12 percent of venture capital general partners being women in the region, the odds remain heavily stacked.

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Low's pregnancy during 2022's challenging fundraising environment crystallised these inequalities. She'd heard stories of female founders having term sheets withdrawn after revealing pregnancies. The anxiety was justified but ultimately overcome when Temasek led ThoughtFull's $4 million funding round in March 2023, with Low carefully choosing allies who would support her journey.

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"Things need to change and it can change with time," she reflects, having emerged as a vocal advocate for female founders alongside her mental health mission. Her experience navigating fundraising while pregnant transformed her into a "lending voice for all the other women out there who might be going through this very lonely journey."

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Looking forward, Low envisions creating what she calls "#AThoughtFullWorld" where mental wellbeing becomes as routine as brushing teeth, completely ingrained in daily habits rather than requiring special advocacy. It's a world where the infrastructure ThoughtFull builds today enables seamless, stigma-free mental health care tomorrow.

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One user's feedback during the pandemic's darkest days continues to drive Low's mission: "For the first time, I see myself in the future." That single line represents not just one life changed but the potential for millions more across Asia and beyond.

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From managing billions in finance to building mental health solutions that touch individual lives, Low's trajectory illustrates how personal pain, when combined with professional expertise and unwavering determination, can create innovations that address society's most pressing needs. In transforming her family's 20-year struggle into a scalable solution, she's proving that the most powerful innovations often emerge from our deepest personal experiences.

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"We'll continue to do that until it's done," Low states simply about ThoughtFull's mission. Given her track record of turning adversity into opportunity, from family caregiving to pregnancy during fundraising, there's little doubt she'll keep pushing until mental health truly becomes a priority for everyone, every day.

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