The Philosophy
Some decisions ask for more than numbers can solve.
Red Thread Consulting is a private advisement practice for the questions that emerge when circumstances change, responsibility shifts, or an old definition no longer holds.
The work is not prescriptive. It creates room to observe what is true, discern what belongs, and consider what the moment is asking of us now.
The answers are not always found by adding more, but in the removal of what has been distorting the view.
An intentional space to find orientation.
To locate yourself within your own life, understand what came before, and find authorship in what is yet to be lived.
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Recognize what remains true.
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Hold space without an agenda.
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Thoughtfully guidance without judgement.
Meet Valerie Pickar…
FOUNDER,RED THREAD CONSULTING-THE 12 X 12 JOURNEY™|CHARTERED ADVISOR IN PHILANTHROPY®(CAP®)|AUTHOR
For over two decades, I worked in the financial industry as a wholesaler—a licensed investment professional who served as a strategic bridge between portfolio managers, broker-dealers, financial advisors, and the clients they served. The work required discernment, understanding, and relational depth. The numbers were rarely the whole conversation.
But it was the chapter that followed—a space of reflection and perspective while caring for retired Thoroughbreds from the racing industry—that revealed The 12 × 12 Journey™. Observing both humans and horses deepened my understanding of expectation, capacity, identity, trust, and how the structures around us can come to define a life.
I am also the founder of The Red Thread Thoroughbred Project, a nonprofit dedicated to the welfare and aftercare of retired racehorses. The project is a living expression of stewardship, dignity, and responsibility.
Why the Red Thread?
The red thread is more than a metaphor. Across cultures and traditions, it has carried many meanings: protection, fate, connection, destiny. It represents a thread between what came before, what exists now, and what is yet to be lived and understood.
At Red Thread Consulting, it represents the thread of what remains true beneath the expectations, structures, and definitions we carry.
The red thread is the connection between wealth, values, ambition, identity, and the definitions that organize a life. It allows for inquiry—honoring where you have been, reconnecting you to what matters, and creating the clarity to choose what comes next.
OUR VISION
At Red Thread Consulting, I see a world where humans and horses have the space to reclaim their agency, rediscover their purpose, and step into a new chapter. One not defined by past roles or expectations, but by future possibilities.
OUR Vow
I see you. I hear you. I am listening. In a world where so many feel unseen, unheard, and unsupported—this isn’t a slogan. It’s a vow. A commitment to presence. A reverence for your story, your time and your voice. A reminder that your story is relevant, your time sacred, your voice necessary.
The Red Thread Thoroughbred Project
Red Thread Consulting and The Red Thread Thoroughbred Project grew from many of the same observations.
Founded by Valerie Pickar, The Red Thread Thoroughbred Project is a nonprofit dedicated to the welfare and aftercare of retired racehorses.
What began with one retired Thoroughbred has grown into a commitment to providing horses from the racing industry with care, time, and the opportunity to live beyond what was once expected of them. The work is an expression of stewardship, dignity, and responsibility.
Acknowledge what we carry.
Discern what belongs.
Honor what is complete.
Trust what remains.
We hold the unresolved until we’re ready to meet the
choice.