For the families using Achieve to dig out of debt or build savings, the news out of Phoenix this month might seem distant — an award for a company executive they’ve never met. But the work that earned Jordan Figueroa the Diversity & Inclusion Champion Hero Award touches those customers directly. Figueroa is senior program manager of employee experience at the San Mateo-based digital personal finance company.
The Greater Phoenix Equality Chamber of Commerce gave out the award earlier this month at The Camby Hotel in Phoenix. It lands during Pride Month, when companies often roll out rainbow logos and call it progress.
Achieve has also been named a top workplace for LGBTQ+ employees. The chamber backs LGBTQ+ entrepreneurs and professionals. Its Hero Awards single out people doing the daily grind of building equitable organizations.
For Figueroa, that grind happens inside a company that handles money — something deeply personal. When people feel safe and valued at work, the thinking goes, they serve customers better.
Achieve’s mission is helping people take control of their financial lives. A workforce that looks like its customers and lets employees show up as themselves is part of delivering on that promise. This matters to the single parent in Phoenix trying to consolidate credit card debt.
It matters to the young couple in San Mateo saving for a first home. They are the ones who get a financial counselor who isn’t distracted by hiding part of their identity. They are the ones whose financial health depends on a company where the people designing tools and answering calls reflect the real world.
Figueroa’s job — senior program manager of employee experience — doesn’t just mean planning happy hours or running surveys. It shapes how people feel walking into work every day.
That work happens long before any celebration. The award from the Greater Phoenix Equality Chamber of Commerce carries real weight in the business community. It’s not a vanity plaque.
It signals that a company is doing the hard stuff. For Achieve, the timing matters.
Pride Month brings attention. But the recognition lands because of work that happens in January and July and October — the unglamorous months. The chamber’s award says Figueroa has been doing that work well enough for peers to notice.
The customers Achieve serves are often in vulnerable financial positions. They come to the company because they need help. They bring their whole financial lives — the mess, the hope, the fear.
If the people on the other side of the screen can’t bring their whole selves, something breaks. Figueroa’s role is to make sure that doesn’t happen.
The award ceremony at The Camby Hotel was a single evening. The work it recognized happens every morning, in every meeting, in every policy decision. For the families relying on Achieve to get their finances straight, that daily work is what matters.
They may never know Figueroa’s name. But they feel the effects.
