Jillian's Story
I had spent my career building executive compensation programs, which involves working with Boards to create incentive structures that are motivating for executives but still appropriate from a shareholder perspective. I did this as a consultant, and at Aritzia and Lululemon, and enjoyed the day-to-day of this work. However, I couldn’t shake the feeling that I wasn’t passionate about what I was doing for the world.
In the context of the pandemic and many other intense events (regression of women’s rights, inequality, war, etc.), I felt like I needed to make a change. I left Lululemon to give myself space to figure out my next steps. I never really considered being an entrepreneur, but was trying to figure out how I could use my skillset for something I was really excited about.
Sophie's Story
I was working as a structural engineer, and was starting to spend more time and energy training and researching policies to build gender inclusive workplaces. The buzz in my ear that my part-time work should become my full-time vocation was getting louder. I started to think about how I could build this passion into a career that could make positive, meaningful change for women over the long-term.
Serendipitously, I heard that Jillian had recently left her job and was taking some time to plan her next steps. As a fellow feminist, and someone I had talked with often about women’s experiences in the workplace, I was very curious to hear what she was working on.
Our Story
A few weeks later, we found ourselves at a sushi restaurant talking about all of our goals to reduce gender pay inequity and build more inclusive workplaces for women. We had a name, a very basic website, and a plan to start a blog. What started as bi-weekly articles sharing our thoughts and experiences in the workplace became The Thoughtful Co, a business that supports women from both an individual and employer perspective. We coach women in effectively negotiating for the compensation they deserve and advise employers on retaining women and building more inclusive workplaces.
Our Purpose
Jillian Climie (she/her)
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Throughout my career, I had seen so many women not negotiating their compensation. And I knew that with compensation, if you don’t ask for something, you’re likely not going to get it. I really felt like the lack of negotiating was contributing to the gender pay gap. My ultimate goal of this work is to help reduce that gender pay gap, as well as the gender wealth gap, and therefore shift the power more equally towards women.
After supporting my first client negotiate and see her receive what she asked for I felt so much joy. Our client wins really feel like my own wins and I’ve never had a job where I experience such joy on a daily basis. So, the reason for why I do what I do is making a difference in the system, but also in each individual client’s life.
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Our Purpose
Sophie Warwick (she/her)
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Working in a male-dominated environment, I saw firsthand how challenging it can be to succeed when you don’t see people like you in positions of leadership. As I met more women through my non-profit work co-founding Women in Consulting Engineering (WCE) Vancouver, I heard the same stories playing out continually. Stories of women leaving firms, or the industry entirely, to find more inclusive and equitable workplaces. Too often they were tired of doing equity work on the side of their desks without proper recognition.
I wholeheartedly believe that most employers want to build more inclusive workplaces for women, but they often don’t have the capacity or tools to make effective change independently. I co-founded The Thoughtful Co so I could build more gender inclusive workplaces for women and build representation of women at senior levels in all industries.
Our Name
When we started The Thoughtful Co, we wanted to ensure we had the time, space, and capacity to do things really well, the first time. The goal was to never say or hear, “it’s good enough for now.” We didn’t want to produce deliverables for clients that needed multiple rounds of turns or revisions; we wanted to make sure every recommendation we gave was intentional and well thought out.
Therefore, “The Thoughtful Co” seemed right – we do things thoughtfully and thoroughly, from the outset, every time.
Meet the Team
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Jillian Climie, Co-Founder (she/her)
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Jillian Climie, Co-Founder of The Thoughtful Co., has spent her career advising and leading teams in executive compensation and corporate governance, both as a consultant, and in-house at two global retailers. Most recently at Lululemon, she led the global equity compensation and executive compensation programs. After taking a pause, she realized she wanted more of three things in her professional life: thoroughness, passion and freedom. She Co-Founded The Thoughtful Co so she can leverage her niche experience to empower women to get paid what they deserve, and to build more inclusive workplaces.
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Sophie Warwick, Co-Founder (she/her)
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Sophie Warwick, Co-Founder of the Thoughtful Co., specializes in developing in-house gender equity policies and chairing Employee Resource Groups and advocacy groups. She uses her data analysis expertise from her engineering background to define targets and track growth and retention. In 2018, she Co-Founded Women in Consulting Engineering (WCE), a non-profit organization with over 1,000 members and monthly events to support and empower women in engineering. She co-founded The Thoughtful Co so she could build more gender inclusive workplaces and build representation of women at senior levels in all industries.
Our Mission
To enable recognition, opportunity and influence for women in the workplace.
Our Values
Thoughtfulness: being intentional and thorough so we can do things right, the first time.
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Equity: enabling a diverse and inclusive environment reflective of the communities we operate in.
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Trust: providing our clients with honest, research-based, best practice advice to enable them to achieve their goals.
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Space: allowing the freedom and flexibility to produce our best work.