Editor’s note: This is the fourth of five profiles of the finalists for Startup CEO of the Year ahead of the 2023 GeekWire Awards. Previously: Humanly CEO Prem Kumar; Rebellyous Foods CEO Christie Lagally; Phase Genomics CEO Ivan Liachko; and mpathic CEO Grin Lord.
In a time when thousands of workers are getting rocked by layoffs, unions are pushing for labor rights and tensions are simmering over back-to-office orders, some employees are lamenting a dehumanized workplace.
Joon Care CEO Emily Pesce believes there is a different way.
“She cares about the people she works with and thinks the secret to the success of Joon is the people,” said Greg Gottesman, co-founder and managing director of Seattle’s Pioneer Square Labs.
Pesce’s philosophy is to enable, mentor and trust employees. Supporters additionally praise her clear vision of Joon’s objectives — to improve the quality of and access to mental health care for teens and young adults. They laud her skills to strategically execute on those societally important goals.
“Her superpower is this joint ability to energize the [company’s] mission, but also empower people with purpose and autonomy to go implement it,” said Amy Mezulis, Joon’s co-founder and chief psychologist.
“She’s just an extremely engaging, effective leader,” Gottesman said.
“She cares about the people she works with and thinks the secret to the success of Joon is the people.”
– Greg Gottesman, Pioneer Square Labs co-founder
Thanks to those leadership traits, Pesce is also among the finalists for Startup CEO of the Year honors at the 2023 GeekWire Awards.
Just as Pesce has embraced a less conventional approach as CEO, she has long sought different ways of seeing and doing things. That goes back at least to her days at Duke University, where her undergraduate degree spanned genetics, public policy and computer science.
“I was just curious,” Pesce said, “and trying to spend as much time in disparate areas as I could.”
After going on to earn an MBA at New York University in 2008, many of her fellow grads headed to investment banks. Pesce was drawn to Amazon.
“Why would you move to Seattle where it always rains to work for a bookseller?” Pesce recalled people asking.
But Amazon was already evolving beyond that scope and Pesce saw the potential for wide-ranging learning opportunities. During her six years at the company, Pesce hopped among programs, helping new ventures take shape. She was a manager for the nascent Amazon Fresh; Kindle e-reader content and marketing; and web services for game and app developers.
Following Amazon, she worked with entrepreneurs as a venture capital investor, a role she continues today. In 2020, Pesce took a job as general manager and vice president of Nerdy, the parent company of the online tutoring program Varsity Tutors.
She enjoyed the challenges and growth that the roles offered, but something was missing.
A professional and personal journey
Pesce admired her parents’ path in life. Both were the first in their families to go to college and they eventually created a mentoring program to aid other first generation students. It was their passion. Pesce craved that same sort of fulfillment.
As she was pursuing her professional perfect fit, Pesce was also embarking on life-altering personal journey.
In 2010, someone connected to her friend group made a gender transition, sparking an awakening for Pesce. In the years following, she was able embrace her own truth, that she was a trans woman. With the realization, Pesce was “able to understand myself in a way that I had never been able to before and simultaneously, I was absolutely terrified,” she recently wrote on LinkedIn. She began her transition about four years ago.
Gottesman knew Pesce and recognized her leadership potential. He approached her with an initial role that she declined, and then came the opportunity at Joon. PSL Ventures, the venture arm of Pioneer Square Labs, invested in the startup in 2020 as part of a $3.5 million round and Gottesman serves on its board. The venture capitalist saw a match.
Pesce loved Joon’s mission, but viewed the work as so important that she was afraid to take the job. Following a rigorous interview process and with words of encouragement from Gottesman, Pesce became CEO in October.
Joon launched in 2019. At the time, the mental health crisis for youth was already surging but had not yet reached its COVID-19 crescendo. By 2021, nearly 30% of U.S. teen girls in a national survey said they had seriously considered attempting suicide and 13% had made an attempt. The numbers were even more dire for LGBTQ+ teens: some 22% attempted suicide in the previous year. More than half reported recently experiencing poor mental health.
The current system was failing America’s kids.
Success through empowerment
Joon aims to address the health crisis imperiling youth. The Seattle startup delivers online therapy and mental health tools and resources to teens and young adults. It supports providers with evidence-based care strategies and patient assessments to track progress with treatments.
Joon has provided tens of thousands of completed therapy sessions, the startup reports, and its client base has grown “substantially” over the past 12 months. The company’s initial data shows improvements for patients suffering from depression and anxiety.
Given the magnitude of the mental health problem and numbers of kids who are suffering, “we really need this to be successful,” Pesce said of Joon.
That success will come, she believes, if she can help her team reach its potential.
Pesce has multiple strategies to get there. That includes taking chances on people, like hiring or promoting employees based on their potential rather than requiring impressive resumes or making them first prove themself for years in junior roles.
“You put people in positions to lead teams, set goals — that is structurally empowering,” Pesce said. “Then they lift me because they do an amazing job.”
“You put people in positions to lead teams, set goals — that is structurally empowering. Then they lift me because they do an amazing job.”
– Emily Pesce, Joon Care CEO
In the 19-person company, 15 of the employees are female or female-identifying. Pesce connects employees to mentors outside of the company and helps raise their visibility. She celebrates their professional successes. Joon doesn’t limit vacation or sick leave, operating on the principle that people will take the time they need and that will lead to a better performance when they’re on the clock.
Mezulis said Pesce always starts meetings with a few minutes of small talk to catch up — which she notes is particularly important for building relationships considering the startup operates remotely.
In addition to her humanistic leadership approach, Gottesman praised Pesce for her ability to effectively convey Joon’s mission to customers, investors, employees and partners.
“Being able to craft why you’re doing what you’re doing is such an underrated quality of leaders,” Gottesman said. Pesce “is one of the best storytellers I’ve ever heard.”
That storytelling is backed by Pesce’s conviction for Joon’s cause and her connection to colleagues.
“Everyday I wake up so personally and professional inspired to work on this problem,” she said. “I finally got my purpose.”
