“Abby Figueroa was two years into her entry-level job as an accountant at an energy holding company. The young finance grad sat surrounded by ledgers, invoices, spreadsheets, receipts, and bank statements. She analyzed data, KPIs, and metrics all day every day, and although she loved the math, she soon realized something was missing—the human element.
Life circumstances took Figueroa from New Mexico to Kentucky, and she took the opportunity to make a clean break and find something new. She started looking for the chance to apply her skills in a different, more people-focused industry. “Math is great, but I wanted to use math to help mission-driven people achieve more than pure business objectives,” she explains. “I wanted to make a difference in people’s lives.”
This decision was motivated in part by Figueroa’s parents. Her father came to the US from Mexico as a teenager and worked two jobs while going to night school to learn English. He followed his own passion by running an auto body repair shop. Her mother also attended night school to earn a nursing degree. “My parents showed me that you should be passionate about the work you do,” she says, “and that if you don’t have that passion, you should never stop looking for it.”
Figueroa found her passion in an unlikely place—the senior living industry. When she interviewed with Atria Senior Living—a top operator of independent, assisted, and supportive living communities with more than 430 sites in 45 states and 7 Canadian provinces—she noticed right away that something was different about Atria. Its leadership team really seemed to care about its residents and their families. To Atria, the forty-five thousand seniors it serves are more than just numbers or clients. They are valued members of a community who need a chance to contribute, live, and thrive in their new environment.”
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