Bridget Cordova enjoys helping other people accomplish their goals, no matter how big or how small. She currently serves two roles at Blue Shield, one is concierge customer service support, and the other is offering peer support on the helpline, that frontline workers can reach out to in real time when they are stumped on a member call.
As you can imagine, if the call needs escalation, it is usually a tough situation, but Bridget doesn’t mind. “I am happy to do it, I have been there and needed help too,” she said.
Bridget has been in customer service her whole career. She spent over two decades at a big box retailer, where she did everything from running the cash register to driving forklifts. But her daughter was concerned about this type of work being physically taxing and wanted her to change careers. Bridget didn’t think there would be much available to her because she didn’t finish high school.
“As a child, my home environment wasn’t pleasant. My father had alcohol dependencies, and unfortunately when he was under the influence, he was not kind to my mother to put it mildly,” she said.
Bridget grew up with a brother and a sister, and eventually they couldn’t handle it. Her siblings ran away from home, while she ran away from school. None of them graduated.
“My Mom eventually found a job for me at a medical office, I worked there for a few years. During that time I met my husband and we decided to have a baby. We were very excited.”
The excitement later turned to fear during the birth as the medical staff didn’t expect their daughter to live very long after delivery. She survived the odds, and after two weeks in the NICU, they could finally bring her home. They named their daughter Bianca. Bridget affectionately refers to her as a miracle baby, as she is their only child.
“As you could imagine I was terrified to leave her side. I didn’t go back to work until she started school, but without my diploma, my options were limited.”
This is how she began her retail journey. She and her husband worked hard to make sure they could put Bianca in private schools. She laughs that her daughter hated it then, but as an adult she appreciates the attention they paid to her education. Bridget was adamant that her daughter would have more success in school than she did. She remembers them driving her to school and all of them practicing for her spelling test while in rush hour traffic.
While her daughter pursued her education, Bridget thought about pursuing her own. With retail hours, it just didn’t seem possible – until she started to work with Blue Shield.
“My daughter is the person who told me about the position, she was also my loudest cheerleader for me to pursue my education. I was shocked when they offered me the job, I just didn’t think anyone would hire me given my education background, but my skills were transferable.”
Bridget admits onboarding for the position at Blue Shield stretched her out of her comfort zone, but she was determined to make it. Her previous job at the medical office and her decades of customer service experience made her a strong hire, but the technology aspect was new for her, and she was training remotely as this was during the pandemic.
“At one point my mom was sick and had to stay with me a bit. My brother had stopped by to check on her and it was fortuitous timing. They were telling me to push “F3” and I was pushing the letter F and the number 3 and nothing was happening. He saw me flustered and came quickly and showed me that there is an ‘F3’ key. We can joke about it now, but I was not smiling about it that day.” She keeps this experience in mind when a colleague reaches out on the helpline, she is ready to assist whether it is software or member support.
As she trained for her role at Blue Shield, she attended a special program that would allow her to get her diploma. She “graduated” from high school at the same time Bianca graduated from graduate school, and it was an epic weekend. This was a full circle moment for her as she feels like she was able to break generational cycles.
“I want everyone to know it is never too late to pursue your dreams. I am so happy I went back to school, and I am so lucky I have this job. I honestly feel like this position was meant for me.”
Bridget says she’s not sure what is next but believes anything is possible. One thing she knows for sure is she plans to stay at Blue Shield.
“I think this company is great for so many reasons. I love that our foundation is committed to ending domestic violence in the state. I absolutely enjoy my teammates and customer service is my superpower, I get to use it every day.”
