Fel’s Founder Story

Carolyn and Felicity started Tia simply from the idea that being a woman in the world seeking healthcare is an incredibly bad experience. They were patients and saw a real need for change. They asked the question — what would it be like to receive care in a way that feels different, better, less confusing? Issues in healthcare range from the bad system design that makes patients feel lobbed around the system without a real person they can trust and return to, the confusing nature of insurance and coverage, the often disdainful or desensitized way that providers engage with patients, the economic models that lead to a sense of being “herded” through the system. The system we are in today is far from helping people feel truly cared for.

The pair set out with a bold mission to enable women to live in optimal vitality, as defined by themselves and iterated towards the Tia clinic concept that you know today. One of the most astounding elements of the early crest journey for the founders was the sheer number of conversations they had with women who had a “bad healthcare experience”. They had over 200,000 conversations with women about their health before designing the Tia clinic experience. And, still today remark that every single woman they speak with about healthcare shares a bad experience.

Ultimately they landed on the concept that women need a real home for their healthcare. A place they can turn to, a place they trust and know has their back. A place that will have the core of what women need and help them get to other providers and practices if necessary. A place that celebrates being a woman and the differences needed in great women’s care. A place that puts the woman at the center… a real center for women. From there they established a 10 year vision of transforming the way women experience health care by raising the bar for women’s primary care — specifically transforming our standards for preventive care for women across the reproductive spectrum.

In 2019 Tia launched the first clinic in flatiron New York. Since it has expanded to many markets, expanded service lines, forged deep partnerships with health systems. All while never losing sight of the mission and vision. All the while continuing to build a team of incredibly devoted and passionate and talented team members to further expand Tia’s work and continually serve more women comprehensively.

Tia Mission — what makes Tia different?

Tia’s mission is to enable women to live in greater vitality, as defined by herself.

What is different about Tia’s mission compared to others is that we are anchored in choice and transparency for our patients. We believe that so much agency has been taken away from healthcare for patients, and agency taken from women in understanding their bodies and making the best decisions for their bodies. Our model, while complex and wide, holds these values closely.

The second incredibly unique aspect of Tia is more a byproduct of our mission. But, in being so mission driven we have attracted many women and advocates for women to work at Tia. The people at Tia are the patient we are designing for, “we are the user”. This is an incredible super power in knowing our customer and being able to build a product that is highly resonant with her.

Tia Values and Principles

✓ Reflect to Grow: Growth starts with reflection -- the process of candidly unpacking historical experiences, especially mistakes or bad outcomes, desires / fears and assessing the current reality. Critical in moving forward from reflection in Tia's culture is taking personal responsibility. This also helps you evaluate what your strengths, weaknesses, blind spots and capacity will be going forward. This is the place that we start from to seek help. Seeking (and giving) help is a core pillar of our way of being. Asking for help is a signal of strength in our culture, showing that you have done the work to accurately appraise what is needed to get something done and how to derisk and increase odds of success. As an extension of seeking & giving help is seeking and giving feedback. These are both roots of a flourishing culture of excellence and interdependence. Seeking feedback inherently demonstrates we can improve from others' perspectives and knowledge. Giving feedback recognizes that we have a role to help others improve. Both actions -- seeking and giving -- are critical to foster climate of excellence and interdependence.

✓ Live to Care: At our core, we recognize that this is fundamentally a people business. We don't simply manufacture widgets; we provide essential services directly to human beings. Every decision we make, whether it involves designing systems, building products, or creating processes, is guided by our commitment to caring for others. We understand that behind every decision, a real person experiences its outcomes. We believe that exceptional healthcare is built on a foundation of humanity and compassion. Our vision for the future of healthcare is deeply personal and empathetic, and our products and organizational culture embody this dedication explicitly. Internally, our commitment to "Live to Care" means fostering an environment of kindness, respect, and mutual support. By uplifting and genuinely caring for our teammates, we create a positive ripple effect that enhances patient care. This supportive energy impacts patient interactions, translating internal care into external compassion. Our collective commitment to "Live to Care" shapes every aspect of our work, ensuring that every interaction we have is grounded in empathy, intentionality, and the pursuit of meaningful human connections. We maintain a service-oriented mindset, approaching our work as an opportunity to make a meaningful impact rather than merely a job to perform.

✓ Diagnose and Accept Reality: The best way to get better is to build an accurate understanding of baseline is to fully understand our constraints (or limitations). Often times we are afraid of doing this -- or we don't take the time to do this, which leads to solving the wrong problems. Diagnosing reality accurately also can be painful, or lead to learning less-than-desirable information. But, if we don't accept reality, we also similarly cannot design for it. Accepting reality, challenges us to understand that constraints are the reality and in fact are necessary for creative problem solving. We need constraints for focus and build solutions. Definitely recognizing and clearly understanding what those constraints are as a baseline are the important first steps.

✓ Experiment Always: Experiment always is the process of being deeply curious, asking questions, forming hypotheses (or educated guesses), designing ways to validate or invalidate those hypotheses (check if our guesses are right or wrong) and summarizing the findings in service of how we might drive change. Experimenting is not “risk taking” for the sake of risk taking. Different from risk taking, it requires deep curiosity about oneself and the world, and a desire to think differently, to ask “how might we” rather than assume “why we can’t”. We operate in an interconnected system while constant change and evolution are core to our culture. This is not a move fast and break things environment. At Tia, we design experiments that are “safe to try” — as in, experiments that do not pose “existential risks” to our patients, providers, or the company more broadly. This allows us to move out of analysis paralysis by beginning to try in a responsible way. Experimenting means you could be proven wrong— an acceptance that your idea or hypothesis might be wrong and that the pursuit of finding out is valuable unto itself. We understand that failure is a normal part of our learning and growing, and we gain insights from every attempt. We approach solutions with optimism and a willingness to try new things. This curious approach helps us discover what truly works for our patients and our teams.

✓ Live interdependently: We recognize there is no "solo" action in healthcare. This is true both when we consider the bodies and minds we are healing, as well as the system in which we are operating. A deep awareness of the system and secondary / tertiary impacts is critical for success. Living interdependently at Tia means both giving and seeking help while maintaining self-reliance. It's not dependence, but a recognition that we are more impactful when we work together. Interdependence fosters a ripple effect, where helping others strengthens the whole team, making our system more resilient. We design thoughtfully with a community-oriented approach. We cultivate interdependence by building strong relationships as humans first and “co-workers” second. Offering help thoughtfully, asking for support when needed, and showing gratitude to keep this cycle strong. Model interdependence by proactively asking for help from your manager or teammates. At Tia, managers have a specific responsibility to develop their people. That means giving feedback — consistently and compassionately — and helping individuals find roles where they can truly shine. A huge part of people development is recognizing what team members are and are not good at, and supporting them in finding opportunities where they can succeed and grow. Feedback isn’t optional — it’s a responsibility. It’s one of the key ways we help each other grow, and it’s essential to how we work interdependently at Tia. Ultimately, interdependence at Tia is about finding strength through connection, maintaining individual accountability, and recognizing that we're most impactful when we support and rely on each other.

Are you a good fit for Tia?

Answer the questions below to see:

1. How do you respond to continuous improvement?
   1. Constant change triggers my anxiety
   2. Constant change fuels my growth
2. How do you approach discussing failures?
   1. My failures are setbacks
   2. My failures are stepping stones
3. When something goes wrong what is your first thought?
   1. Who is accountable
   2. What role did I play
4. What role does service play in your life?
   1. Service does not play a role in my life
   2. I find fulfillment in supporting others
5. How do you navigate working within a community?
   1. I prefer independence
   2. I thrive in collaboration
6. How important is personal recognition to you?
   1. Titles and hierarchy provide me comfort
   2. I prefer more fluid structures that give me opportunity by project

Did you choose mostly b's?? Come join us!

The Tia Timeline

Commitment to Diversity

• Include this graph:
• Include patient testimonials around care and diversity

Meet Our Leadership team-this would be in three buckets

• 1. All VP level and above for Corporate
• 2. All Director and above for Clinical
• 3. Advisory Board and Board of Directors

Will need bios for everyone listed above as well as a headshot

Future Awards-Here are the awards we will “apply for” but won’t have for v1

LinkedIn Best Midsize Company and Best Healthcare Company

BuiltIn Best Places to Work

Fortune-Best Places to Work In Healthcare, Best Places to Work for Women, Best Places Purpose and Values

Fast Company-Best Places for Innovators

Inc, Best Places to Work